LED Headlights in California

Hey All!

I've lurked on this site for years and now find myself asking the community for assistance.

I have a 4 door 2003 taco and am now living in California. My dad mentioned switching my bulbs for LEDs (headlights only, currently my taco is all stock configuration and using whatever oreilleys prescribes). I spoke with a couple of individuals at oreilleys and they mentioned legal complications with changing out my headlights.

I gathered that they must not exceed 2513 lumen and be between 5k and 6k Kelvins.

I recognize there are so many options on the market, so I'm turning to you all in hopes of pointing me in the right direction. What is recommended (and legal) in the state of California for LED bulb replacements for my headlights?

If there is a thread for 1st gen and I missed it, apologies. Link me please?

 

Given that every single LED is advertised way above its actual lumen output, that's going to be a difficult number to pin down. 6k is a little cool imo, 4-5k is perfect but harder to find. I'd be shocked if Cali had to run that cool given that stock bulbs ran on the much warmer side, but idk.

oh, and inb4 "REEE LEDS ARENT MADE FOR THESE HOUSINGS"

 

Because they're not. Anyone that uses them or says they're okay to use are idiots.

@OP do a proper retrofit and get the most out of your headlights instead of doing it the lazy way and getting terrible results for you and oncoming traffic.

 

Just retrofit, easy.

Don't be that piece of shit asshole that blinds everyone, super simple.

Or, keep your headlights stock cause you're dad can't force you to change your headlights anyway.

 

The tri-chip ones simulate a halogen bulb with 360* dispersion. In OEM style housing their beams are very close.

 

Crashnburn80 is the lighting expert on this forum. You might PM him or copy what he did here on his 1st gen build...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-double-cab-build.762757/page-4#post-27249022

 

He should try cleaning his headlight lenses before trying to upgrade lol

 

They cannot emulate a halogen. The size of the emission surface is also very very important to the bulb, specifically for focus and projection. Multi chip systems cannot come close to the size of a halogen filament and as a result will not be similar.

It's far more than 360 dispersion

 

yes, you do get more scatter because it's less of a point source.

 

Thanks all for weighing in!

@Nano909 I plan on it

@treyus30 good to know. Thank you.

@MGMDesertTaco thanks for the connection I will reach out to your suggestion. Thanks!

@Kwikvette bruh, my love for tacos came from my dad's influence. Wouldn't have bought it 20 years ago if not. Just trying to give it some TLC in this weird time we all live in. So don't blind people. Got it. Is there a replacement housing that will better suit the use of LEDs that you can suggest? One that won't blind people but fit the truck?

 

Hey, watch your mouth. I enjoy having my forward facing light bar... For those idiots with HID/LED. That's the only time they get power.

 

Ultimately all that matters in the end is the control you have over the beam. Sometimes you have to be experimental. I took some regular chinese LEDs and tossed them in some Hella 5x7 housings made for halogens, and I ended up with a decent cut off. Pull them up to your garage door and look at the light pattern. You might get lucky. I had to tilt mine down just a little. No blinding other drivers, and my high beams fill out the road like I need them to.

 

same my 9inch solar death rays are my go to if I don't see the high beams dip down. there is a VW Tiguan around my area who drives with the high beams on all the time has been flashed by them several times.

 

back in my youth, i spent many an evening up on mulholland drive racing my old english car. i had an aircraft landing lite hung on the rear bumper - worked great to blind the cops if they got too close. or a**holes that owned porsche's that thought they could drive

 

I hate to disappoint but it is not that simple. Beam control is one aspect, but changing the size of the emitter does funny things and although the beam may look right on a garage door that is only part of the story. I can pretty much guarantee that you still have more light outside the main beam and less throw in the main beam. It looks right on a garage door but what happens 500 feet away is where it matters and the beam does not tell the whole story.

Take a look into near field and far field when it comes to lighting and electromagnetic propagation.

 

Well, I have seen what a real scattered beam looks like on a garage door and this isn't it. There is hardly any light bleeding out in places it shouldn't be. It fades out perfectly at far distances and I can aim it right where I need it just fine. I've passed the truck on the highway before and it wasn't in my line of sight at all, and I was also driving a lower car. I've also never had anyone in my area flash their high-beams at me either. I can upload some pictures of it at some point.

 

Some bulbs are better then others. That said it's impossible to tell from pictures what is happening. You really need to get in and do intensity measurements at various points in the beam, and also do intensity measurements at various distances as the very size of the led impacts projection distance significantly. For distance projection intensity per mm squared is what really matters and small emitters with less power can throw light further than big emitters with higher power. I have seen little emitters with just a few hundred lumens far far out throw big emitters with lumen measurements in the thousands.

This comparison here shows a middle of the road led compared to an h9. This led won't throw light as far as the h9.


This is the Hikari Ultra (one of Crash's better bulbs) compared to the same h9. This will throw better than the previous bulb and depending on output may or may not exceed the h9. Both however have similar beam patterns