3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

Cannot mash like button hard enough!

 

Theres a lot of interesting (for better or worse) stuff in the bill and is somewhat difficult to read, at least for a simple mind like my own. If you care to look for yourself here ya go https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/text?r=1&s=2

In addition to that (sec 30129) ALL vehicles will be required to have a front collision detection systems, automatic braking, lane departure detection and correction. Time frame will TBD by Secretary of Transportation.

Sec 24219 is interesting and slightly concerning if you're thinking along the lines of everybody being connected or tracked, sorry tinfoil hat stuff. It refers to "connected vehicle technology". "Expand vehicle-to-pedestrian research efforts focused on incorporating bicyclists and other vulnerable road users into the safe deployment of connected vehicle systems." The study report is due in 2yrs, so I guess we'll see what comes out of that.

Sec 24220 refers to "advanced impaired Driving Technology" It states that within 3 years a final ruling will be required. Additionally it states that ALL new passenger vehicles must passively monitor driver performance and "can" passively and accurately detect blood alcohol concentration of the driver is greater than law requirements. Granted this does not mean it WILL be required, but that it requires it to be researched.

Here is the text regarding the headlights...

SEC. 24211. GLOBAL HARMONIZATION.
The Secretary shall cooperate, to the maximum extent practicable,
with foreign governments, nongovernmental stakeholder groups, the motor
vehicle industry, and consumer groups with respect to global
harmonization of vehicle regulations as a means for improving motor
vehicle safety.
SEC. 24212. HEADLAMPS.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Adaptive driving beam headlamp.--The term ``adaptive
driving beam headlamp'' means a headlamp (as defined in Standard
108) that meets the performance requirements specified in SAE
International Standard J3069, published on June 30, 2016.
(2) Standard 108.--The term ``Standard 108'' means Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 108, contained in section
571.108 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on
the date of enactment of this Act).
(b) Rulemaking.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Secretary shall issue a final rule amending Standard
108--
(1) to include performance-based standards for vehicle headlamp
systems--
(A) to ensure that headlights are correctly aimed on the
road; and
(B) requiring those systems to be tested on-vehicle to
account for headlight height and lighting performance; and
(2) to allow for the use on vehicles of adaptive driving beam
headlamp systems.
(c) Periodic Review.--Nothing in this section precludes the
Secretary from--
(1) reviewing Standard 108, as amended pursuant to subsection
(b); and
(2) revising Standard 108 to reflect an updated version of SAE
International Standard J3069, as the Secretary determines to be--
(A) appropriate; and
(B) in accordance with section 30111 of title 49, United
States Code.

 

Note to self, start buying pre-08 vehicle spare parts.

 

Haha, I'm not trying to make things conspiratorial but theres more to these bills than what meets the eye. I wished I had the time and motivation to look into the 2 new bills, but I don't. There is a lot in there about EV's as well.

Anyways, pretty cool that they are allowing for more advanced headlights!

 

I'm ok with the headlight addition. It's all the monitoring equipment that I take issue with. If the glowies want to monitor me in real-time they should at least have to do a little leg work. Put some effort into it.

And more frankly, the active monitoring seems to run afoul of the whole idea of the right to person and papers/right against self incrimination. Fuck drunk drivers - and here's the "but" - BUT everyone has rights, and those rights should not be legislated away so glibly.

 

I know there are lots of interesting things that will possibly come to be along with adaptive headlights but we should probably keep this thread on the topic of lighting.

 

I grabbed some tungsram mega lights for the wife's Crosstrek along with SS3 selective yellow sports recently and they really paid off in or recent snow storm. This doesn't get said enough, thanks @crashnburn80 for all of the time you put into these threads.

 

I've tried this several times now, but the side-loading bulb sockets for the 5th gen 4Runner make this very difficult to do without feeling like you'll break something. So now I just trim the metal tabs and it's very straightforward.

I also just trim the plastic tabs on the bulb and plug in directly. Don't know why adapters would be burning up, my stock wiring never does.

 

Well if you have a smart phone you're already tracked against your will no matter how you have your settings set up, even a flip phone for that matter. But this is a bit of over reach IMO. I'm guessing your activity would be tracked via gps and rate of speed to identify what type of pedestrian you are.

I agree with your thoughts on f*ck drunk drivers, but this is a bit overkill and encroaches on our personal privacy.

As far as the drunk driver stuff. Thats a slippery slope. If it's based on your driving habits then it could very easily be engaged and turn the vehicle off by people with Parkinson's, elderly drivers or even snowy conditions where you may be slipping and sliding around by accident (or on purpose). Especially bad if the car turns off in the winter in frigid conditions and you're stuck with no heat. I know my in-laws Forseter has the facial recognition deal where it will alert you if you are not looking straight ahead and will turn off the cruise control if it is set off for too long, pretty freaking annoying. The other aspect they are looking into is passively and accurately detect whether the blood alcohol concentration is equal to or above the legal limit and preventing the vehicles operation. That's some Big Brother stuff there.... My thinking is if it can detect that, what else are they trying to monitor and how the hell is it going to monitor your blood alcohol level? Not to mention since vehicles are now more and more being connected to LTE, they can track that behavior and there many things that can go with that.

(B) can--
(i) passively and accurately detect whether the blood
alcohol concentration of a driver of a motor vehicle is
equal to or greater than the blood alcohol concentration
described in section 163(a) of title 23, United States
Code; and
(ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation if a
blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit is
detected

Sorry guys...I'm not trying to derail the thread, these are just other automotive industry things I found interesting or possibly unsettling. But the Headlight stuff is pretty cool, child safety standards are being updated and more crash standards/safety tests are being added to the NHSTA ratings. Which helps Japanese vehicles since they already have high safety standards that aren't normally rated.

 

This thread has been super helpful. Was thinking of going LED, but didn't want the expense of buying whole new units for my SR. Gonna try the H9's and see how they do.

 

Good lord that is a lot of great and very in depth information.
The wife and I recently drove towards Seattle from Boise in rain and in the dark and it was like I didnt even have headlights. Freaking terrible and it was kinda of scary at one point trying to get through the fog.

With that being said, in the Idaho environment where it does get pretty cold (thankfully I have a garage to park in).
Would anyone have a recommendation with experience for 2019 SR5 stock upgrade, both headlights and fog lights?
I think the high beams are pretty good as they are, but if I upgrade the headlight, it feels like I need to upgrade the high beams as well?
Cost is also part of this equation... dont have the scratch to upgrade the entire headlamp, so just looking for bulbs at this time.

 

Philips H9 for the lowbeams, same H9's for the highs, they're about the best Crash has tested.

For fogs, in the lighting subforum Crash has an excellent foglight thread. But basically diode dynamics SS3 Pro in selective yellow for fog and ice/snow. Over the Sport model, the Pro runs hot enough (and the selective yellow model has a hotter lens due to filtering losses) to guarantee its not going to freeze over and be able to keep the lens clear. The Max model offers a sharper cutoff and higher intensity, and also runs hot enough to keep the lens clear, but it'a $200 more than the pro's. If you want to upgrade high beams, you need to add auxilisry driving lights, and there is also a great thread (much shorter so far than the fog light thread) with test data, and pics from crash and other forum members.

 

Interesting development tied to infrastructure bill pertaining to adaptive headlights

https://jalopnik.com/finally-our-headlights-will-suck-way-less-1848067412

 

Like Toy_Runner said, Philips H9's are the best cost vs performance ratio and widely available at most local stores but does require some small trimming of one tab, very easy. Otherwise if you want to stick with an H11 specifically (output performance performance best to still great) the Tungsram Platinum (replacement for Tungsram Megalight Ultra), Philips Racing Vision and Osram Nightbreaker Laser are great bulbs that isn't too far off the performance of the H9 and is a slightly whiter light.

As for your fog lights. Unfortunately since you have the SR5 your have the H16 fog lights that are almost worthless, more of a running light at best. You have 2 options IMO:
- Option 1 - Find used H11 Tacoma Fog Lights. The mounting is the same and the plug is the same for the bulb as well, wiring is capable of the additional load as well. Do not use an H9 in the fog light as it does not have a glare cap, use one of the above H11's I mentioned or just use the H11 you pull from the Low Beam. The H11 fog lights can be used from a 2012-current Tacoma, only one version available. They are the "wide" pattern fog lights that are probably one of the best OEM halogen fog lights out there which is why I still haven't felt the need to upgrade to the Diode Dynamics SS3's though I have them on other vehicles.
- Option 2 - Get yourself the best aftermarket option out there that likely won't be beat for quite a while. Enter the world of Diode Dynamics SS3 Fog Lights! For your weather and environment I would recommend getting the SS3 Pro or Max with the yellow lens. The Sport model is great too but the light does not produce enough heat to effectively melt snow and ice. The Pro's are a really good price point (especially with upcoming sales, keep an eye out here for @memario1214 to post about his sale). The MAX is insane if you can justify the price. The Selective Yellow (yellow) cuts through rain, snow, fog and dust like you wouldn't believe!

There are other aftermarket options. But in my opinion they aren't worth stressing over as the performance per dollar for the DD SS3's can't be beat. If you do look into other aftermarket options that are yellow, beware that Yellow and Selective Yellow are completely different! Most "yellow" options are simply just a lens that does not filter out the blue wavelengths which is why some look greenish yellow. Diode Dynamics guys are more nerdy than most of us and understand proper lighting, hence why their lights are a TRUE Selective Yellow and why they are so well regarded. Plus they are made in the freakin US of A and have the best customer service I have experienced with any company!!!! Win Win there!!

Hopefully this helps without having to go through 270+ pages.

EDIT: See edit above to H11 recommendations, I forgot the Tungsram Megalight Ultra is no longer widely available hence the Tungsram Platinum is the replacement and even slightly better. This edit is for people who may reference this post in the future.

 

Ok. So I was in the market for new headlights today. My wife wants to get me a set for Christmas. Doing my research, I was looking at the AlphaRex or Morimotos.

Stumbled on this thread and wow. Just fricken wow. @crashnburn80 this is unreal. Thank you.

GE Megalight Ultra H11 +130% Light Car Headlight Bulbs (Twin) 53110XNU

GE Megalight Ultra H11 +130% Light Car Headlight Bulbs (Twin) 53110XNU

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XRS9LBR

Since these are unavailable now, which should I get? I’m sure it’s in this thread somewhere but damn, there are a lot of pages to go through.

 

Interesting product by Morimoto at SEMA:

Classic car, truck, big rig and classic conversion crowd, the wait is almost over!

Meet the Holley RetroBright by Morimoto, a "period correct" LED headlight assembly. These are designed to fit the shallow buckets of the classic cars and big rigs like the Peterbilt 359 and Kenworth W900A. If you want a modern upgrade to your lighting but can't stand the Modern LED look, these were built specifically for you!

Holley chose Morimoto with this task for good reason. Morimoto is the industry leader in automotive lighting and specialize in high quality engineered optics. What does this mean? While most LED companies just slap an LED chip behind a lens and call it good, Morimoto's master engineer spends a great deal of time specifically designing where in the beam pattern the light needs to be distributed for the safest driving experience.

The RetroBright will be available in 5.75", 7" round, 5x7 and 4x6. They will come in your choice of a classic 3000k output color to match the color of your current halogen lights or a more modern 5700k for a pure white look.

There will be 2 adapters available as well-one to easily hook between newer style plugs and the older "center ground" ones, and an adapter to wire these in for a quad low/high beam. The RetroBright will have a sharp enough cutoff line from its superior engineering that you can get away with running all 4 on low beam without bothering others on the road for maximum light output.

The Holley RetroBright will go live on www.btslighting.com on Nov 19/21 with first orders shipping out the first week of December.

BTS Lighting is the only company focused on big rigs. We see a great market for these in the 359 and W900A, as well as the 379/389 with the united pacific housings as they tend to suffer from the buckets loosening too often from the heavy LED assemblies. The RetroBright will be lighter and slow these issues.

It will be asked, over and over so we will address this here. No, these are not heated and as of right now there is no plan to make them heated.

Please reach out to us if you have any questions about this product, or any other we carry.

 

Do you have a cite to source this info?

 

If looking for LED assemblies, the OEM LED is what I would recommend covered in post #3626 here. These are the highest quality product with best beam pattern. They will require a basic adapter harness. The Morimotos are higher in output intensity, but have several flaws including a critical lack of uplight, you can see them in review in post #4548 here.

For replacement bulbs, GE was bought out by Tungsram, so the product is now called Tungsram Megalight +130. However the Tungsram Platinum H11s tested even better. I just realized this isn't linked on the front page, I'll update it. See post #5003.

The Platinums are amazing for an H11, but you can get slightly better performance with a simple H9 swap into the low beam Philips H9s are tested as best, with the Hella Performance 2.0s coming in a close second while also being whiter in color temp.

 

I really like this concept. A 3000k LED headlight will draw market attention if it performs well. Though ideally it really should be ~3500k like a performance halogen, stock halogens are typically ~3200k, so 3000k flat would be a bit yellow. But hopefully they are just being generic in terminology. I'm pretty interested in seeing where this product goes and how it performs.

Although I have never head of any big rigs buyers reference BTS. What I do regularly see in that market is JW Speaker and Trucklite, both of which offer heated versions of their headlights. If they want to seriously serve long distance trucking, heated headlights are a must.

A post I found on their site:

 

Thanks @crashnburn80 This was on page 251. I made to page 7 before I decided to post.

Would these be the same for the high beams? Just planning on bulb replacement now. I believe the highs are H9.

Planning on the platinum H11 for low beam.