3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

Linked in post #2.

Hella H9 Performance 2.0 bulbs vs Philips H9 in post #1577 here.

 

So while I don't own a Tacoma anymore (I have a 4Runner now), I had to log back in after getting linked to this thread on T4R.org to say thank you for the information. I was considering getting LED bulbs for the 4Runner, but the info here made me realize that they're not what they are cracked up to be.

 

With the bulb side-entry T4R headlights, LED results will be way worse than the PnP LEDs tested in this thread, as the opaque LED will block a good portion of the projector bowl, vs the clear halogen bulbs that allow the light to pass through from the back of the projector. Philips H9s are the way to go for the halogen assemblies. OEM hybrid LED (LED low with halogen high) is by far the best for the 4runner platform.

 

So I just swapped out my XD HID kit for the H9 Phillips (Germany) bulbs, and ew. Instantly reminded why I went away from halogens.

Going to do my best to bug fix my Xenon Depot HID kit to get it back in the taco ASAP.

 

If coming from HID I would have suggested the Hella Performance 2.0 H9s for their slightly whiter color for best results, but you could also look at Sylvania Silverstar H9s which will be 4000k+ to look closer to the color temp it sounds like you are looking for. The whiter the halogen, the lower the output, which is why I haven’t bothered with Silverstars in this thread. The Philips perform best, but are very traditional halogen colored. The silverstars would be significantly whiter than the Philips, still just a bit shy of the natural 4300k HID temp, but pretty close compared to the very halogen/yellow 3200k Philips.

Note that HIDs in a halogen projector are illegal and provide blinding amounts of glare, even though they are in a projector due to the halogen uplight in the projector which is massively amplified with an HID light source.

 

Blinding amounts of glare for whom? I never had anyone flash me, and I had nothing but raves for the amount of throw.

 

This logical fallacy is the reason I flash every single vehicle I see with leds/hids in halogen housings with blinding up light.
People not flashing you isn’t a valid justification. Go to a parking lot with a friend and sit in their vehicle, facing your truck, a lane or two away.
People don’t flash you because you’re one of an army of inconsiderate drivers they see every day, not because your up light is acceptable.
You can run whatever you want, I’m not telling you what to do, but say it like it is. You like your lights and don’t care that they aren’t street legal.

 

K. Glad I don't have halogen (reflector) housings then.

I aim my projectors to ensure I'm not blinding anyone's mirrors either. I hate the jackasses in the lifted RAMs with LEDs that blind everyone. I do my due diligence to make sure I'm not that person.

 

I was going to say - queue the "no-one flashes me" comment incoming
and there it is.

Just because people don't flash you, doesn't mean you aren't blinding everyone.
Most people can't be bothered to flash since inconsiderate lighting is so ubiquitous now.
But since this comes up all the time as justification, I now flash all of you people since that seems to be the metric you guys go by.
I'm sure being flashed would go right over your head anyway; "that guy flashed me because my lights are so awesome"

Fortunately the projector cut-off saves us mostly, but as already pointed out, the uplight is still a problem.

You are that guy.

If you insist on HID, please do it properly with a HID designed projector (eg. RX350 retrofit), or not at all.

 

Reflectors have nothing to do with it. HIDs in halogen projectors also have the same problem with excessive uplight. Go pull up facing a wall with your lights on at night. You’ll notice 2 very bright boxes above your cut off line that is uplight. Those are supposed to be mild, but with HIDs being far brighter than halogens, those boxes above the cut offs are very bright! And this is the blinding glare to other drivers. It is there and easy for you to check yourself.

To run HIDs you need HID projectors, which have the optics and uplight appropriately tuned for the HID light source to perform correctly without causing blinding glare.

 

The Hella H9s are pretty decent. Good enough for me. For $25, you might want to try them out.

 

Looks like to TODO knock offs are coming through now with the added "TRD" and "PRO" theres no way there even close to the same quality with that price-point though. At least they tried to do the same number of reflectors unlike some of the other knockoff replicas.

 

Yeah, there is a lot more to headlight optics than looks. Many of these knock-off reflector LED headlights have irregular patters, dark spots, low output and in the end you throw away $750 on Chinese knock-offs that could have been put toward the real thing. Reflector LED optics are much more challenging than projector optics that can just use an off the shelf projector. Unfortunately those do not spell out aftermarket anywhere in the listing title and use the OEM part number, so I'm sure they will sell a ton, likely many will mistake them for a good deal on OEM when ordering.

 

Agreed, I think there would be a bigger secondary market if there was a tab repair kit for the OEM leds because there are a lot for sale off of totaled tacomas.

 

@6MTPro any chance of repairing them with a plastic welder?

 

A smart design could employ replaceable breakaway tabs. Similar to how bicycle derailleur hangers are bolt on for many bikes due to how frequently they get bent.

 

I mean if you put enough expoxy or anything it will stick, its more the rigidity, other ones in the past had tab repair kits that you could purchase.

 

Apologies if this has been addressed elsewhere in the thread but do you happen to know if you (the consumer) can source OEM spec replacement LEDs that are of the same quality as the original?

I have to believe there will eventually br a cottage industry for LED replacements but I’m curious how tough it will be to get pieces that equal the factory efforts.

Obviously that’s the inherent downside moving towards sealed headlight technology. It’s also why I kept my halogens as an all purpose backup if I ever have a diode burn out.

 

$50 says you never use those halogens. Replacement LED assemblies are easy to get and prices aren't likely to go up, hopefully they either go down or we get a newer version which has a lens heating feature.

 

If you know what the emitter model is you can certainly buy them on your own. Whether it is cost effective to do so without buying bulk is likely the bigger issue. Even so, by the time an OEM grade component has LED failure, those specific LEDs may not be in production anymore and the assembly is likely going to be weathered and could use replacement anyway. I don’t see much of a market for replacing OEM LEDs in old LED headlight assemblies, especially when factoring the cost of labor. Look at the early 2nd Gen headlight market, and most all the original assemblies have UV breakdown. People wouldn’t spend money replacing a component on those vs just buying brand new assemblies. With molded plastic lens headlight assemblies, the lenses will eventually wear out unfortunately. Modern LED headlamps are supposed to be lifetime units, so it seems the market opportunity would be small to begin with. TBD on how it plays out over time.