Are LED headlights worth the trouble

You realize having the driver in the bulb housing isn’t good? There is a reason no one does that, because it substantially reduces performance. Heat is the enemy of LEDs, as LEDs get hot, output and performance go down. The driver is one of the hottest parts of the LED unit, so the obvious solution to reducing heat at the LED is to place the driver away from the LED. Keeping the emitter portion cool is challenging enough to maintain high output. The last thing you’d want to do in a replacement LED headlight design would be to take the hottest part of the assembly and strap it to the back of something you are trying to keep cool. It might package better, but not good for performance.

 

And that's my reaction to people paying $750+ when one of their headlights fails or gets damaged.

 

Oh I know, I still dont like the design of a box hanging from 3 inches of wire though. Someday we will have better drivers and wont have the heat issue.


EDIT @crashnburn80 related side question. How do ditch lights and the such do their drivers? take the baja design s2 for example, isnt it all on 1 pcb inside the light? Does having the chip and driver right on the heatsink allow them to cool enough to not need a external driver?

 

Top is halogen. I wish I would have gotten a before for the beam pattern, but it’s night and day. Price tag sucks, but I have no complaints

 

anybody got the part no. for OEM LED headlights?

 

So I take it you've driven a Taco with the OEM LED Headlights to compare? Or do you not drive at night?

As far as the cost to replace a failed unit goes, that logic goes for just about anything which can or will fail on any modern vehicle. Parts for modern vehicles are expensive! As an example have you priced what a replacement OEM headunit for our trucks costs?

 

I agree to a certain extent. I think it is location (lighting) dependent.

When I lived in the city, halogens were more than enough. I live about an hour out of it now, and there is ZERO lighting, curvy roads and deer. LED’s were a night and day difference and worth every penny.

the high beams on my halogens still give out less lighting (or so it seems) than my low beams. It’s pretty nice

 

2012 TSX - 9 years - 0 issues
2016 WRX- 5 years - 0 issues

2021 Tacoma = 0 future issues.

BUt hey man if you like your candles - no problem with me.

 

Truth brotha!

If anybody thinks Halogens are bright enough compared to OEM led - the conversation should end there.


(Owned a 18 SR halogen 3 years. 21 LED 3months) - some of us have real world experience and aren't hating like some other folks

 

I believe the spectrum of light in a given environment makes a big difference as well.

 

For this reason, I swap back to halogens in the winter. The halogen output is more than adequate with the white environment of the snow.

 

If you live in a major city not a big deal to have LED as there’s tons of light already. Anywhere outside the city could be a different story

 

LEDs are dangerous in snowstorms! Should’ve done more research since I live in the Midwest.

 

These are for the Pros

 

Yeah, you worry about reflection off of the snow but with a proper beam pattern, that's not an issue. You don't really think of heat and the ability to clear snow and ice/slush.

 

Thanks man!!!

 

Man, with how completely useless some of you people claim halogens are, it's a miracle anyone ever survived driving at night before LED's were invented.

 

People used to cross continents in horse drawn buggy too .... progress is an interesting phenomenon

 

Pod style architecture allows you to mount the emitters and driver directly to a huge aluminum heat sink (the pod body). The large aluminum body is able to conduct the heat away from the driver and LED, and typically has the back of the pod designed for maximizing the cooling surface area, so cooling is typically a non-issue. In a replacement headlight LED, the LED must be made as thin as possible to try and replicate a halogen to get proper focus, though they are all still too large. Making the design as thin as possible means that there is very little material to conduct heat away from the emitters. They don't have the massive aluminum block with a very large surface area for cooling right behind the emitter and driver like a pod, they have a very thin blade of little material to try and transfer the heat away. It doesn't work great, which is why they then add fans to aid in the cooling which are not necessary in pods, even though the pods can be far higher power. You're dealing with an optimally poor design for LEDs, forced by trying to replicate a halogen. With such limited conductive ability of a replacement LED and limited cooling ability, the first thing you do is remove the primary performance robbing heat source from the design, by making the driver external, which isn't needed if you can properly cool the light with a massive heat sink like a pod.

 

Are LED headlights worth the trouble? Yes. I think so.

I bought the AlphaRex LED lights. Best light upgrade - ever. Great visibility at night, looks better than the TRD Pro LED lights too.
I get a TON of comments about them - people love them.






Full on LED (left) and Sad Sad TRD Pro (Right)...