LED Lighting Conversion

That is kind of how I feel. I guess I was expecting more being use to HIDs and this being my first LED.

 

I think they are as good as we can get with only a bulb swap for under $100. I am very satisfied with Hikari. I did it more for the color without losing much on the reach. I like the way it whitens up the forward view. Not as much distance but much better clarity of what you can see. I see no real loss in the high beams.

 

I agree. The color temp change alone makes this mod worth it. Be it LED or HID. That warm yellow is crap compared to the white.

 

Its funny that now my other cars look weak in the lighting department. Between headlights and the meso interior lights everything else looks lame to me.

 

Yea, I've sort of become an elitist. When I see other vehicles on the road with yellow halogens I snicker to myself and think "lame-o"! LOL

 

Well crap. I really was looking forward to doing a HID vs Hikari comparison, but I managed to break one of the HID bulbs. Damn thing burned the back of my hand and the contact caused it to fail a few minutes after turning it on. grrr.

So yeah...sorry about that guys. I'm not buying a new set of HIDs. All I can say is that light output and even beam pattern were comparable from my limited few minutes doing both. However, I can't comment on projection observations or provide nifty pictures like I was hoping to do.

I will also add (beyond how fragile the HIDs are, I also disliked how long they took to warm up. I LOVE how the LEDs are instant on! I have to get another set for HBs so that I have some instant flashing power now!!! But I do plan on waiting until the end of this year to do that...I want to save a bit and get one of the more expensive sets to see how they compare to the Hikari. The winner gets to become my LBs.

 

Oh yeah...Might have to visit Diode Dynamics since they are located 30 minutes away in St Louis.

 

But I will, and I'll test them with the same brand digital spectometer equipment Toyota uses for light testing. I was also planing on doing mild distance projection measurements as I have made some interesting recent observations in light projection. For HIDs I was going to use Xenon Depos true Philips 4300k HIDs.

 

Awesome!!! Definitely look forward to that...but you need to finish the LED pod review first!

 

Guys, I can also confirm that the passenger side HBs are off by a lot. I temporarily put the LEDs in there just to check it out and while the driver's side was slightly off, the passenger side was ridiculous as @mrproduxn showed us earlier with his pics (probably a zillion pages back now).

I did mark the tops of the LEDs before I installed them in the LBs and they are pretty spot-on vertical inside the projector housing.

 

I've actually been learning a bit more about lighting testing the pods with the new equipment. It is very eye opening and not quite what I expected.

In addition I have several new ideas for LED lighting threads based on my findings. Number 1 will be the effects of laminex on LED lighting and how to do it better.

Edit: I also have a new LED mounting idea for 2nd gens that I need to try out to see if it works.

 

thanks for the Amazon product list. i can find many useful products.

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Who has spent the most money testing these LED vs whatever?

 

@Parker315 hands down!

 

I was thinking that myself but all I see when I look at this thread is damn $$$$$ signs.....

 

I havent even looked yet but, how are you guys adjust the low beams? I would like to see if I can raise the cut off...

 

To adjust the headlight housing up and down there is a small sliver colored skrew on the back of the light. I believe it’s clockwise to adjust up, but not 100% sure.

This is not the Tacoma housing but the skrew looks like this. The one the guy is pointing at at the bottom.

 

I thought I saw a thumb wheel type device to adjust them. I can run over to the garage at lunch and take a pic if needed.

Ok, just found this on the interwebs. This is a 3rd Gen housing. This is what I remember seeing on mine:

 

Found this thread!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/aiming-3rd-gen-headlights.467447/