The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

Turns out my assemblies need to be replaced. Riddled with imperfections.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-not-led-or-hid.398066/page-159#post-24595268

 

Osram Superbrights with the standalone harness. Or for bulbs that don’t require a harness, the Philips Racing Vision +200s.

 

Got all my parts in last week and wired it all up this weekend. Let me just say WOW what an upgrade. The yellowish/warm color isn't ideal in my opinion but these are absolutely as bright as my wife's new car's LED projectors. VERY clean cut off. Bright and filled in mids. Nice coverage outward. When we test drove the finished truck she agreed the lights looked exactly like hers just warmer in color.

Great upgrade and WAY less expensive than aftermarket headlights when the general quality of those are questionable at best. AND this costs about 20% what a full replacement would run you.

Last note: 2012 Tacoma Offroad tested out as "power switched" not "ground switched." The harness (which is absolutely beautiful) has 2 relays in this setup and worked great and was easy to test/install. Great write up @crashnburn80 keep up the solid contributions.

 

That's awesome. Love hearing this. Got my harness and bulbs in. Still trying to find the 05-11 TRD TSB set. I may just clean mine up for the fourth time and install them in my original headlights

 

By TSB set are you referring to headlight fixtures? I had extensive yellowing/oxidizing on my lenses and included a good scrub with a 3M headlight resto kit during this process (actually that's why it took 2 days lol). What a difference that made.

 

Yes. The original 05-11 headlights had an issue with a melting optic in the DRL. Toyota fixed the design flaw in updated TSB assemblies, but it seems the updated assemblies are sold out so Toyota is now selling the flawed original units. Using an LED for the DRL will likely prevent the melting issue.

TSB with the info is available here.

 

I bought a set of used stock HLs many years ago and ran a standard DRL/TS bulb for many years. One of the bulbs burned out so I replaced them both and then started noticing the burned lens issue. Immediately replaced them with LEDs and no further burning. BUT, with LEDs comes the issue of dealing with hyperflash from those LEDs. Just noting it for anyone reading.

 

Big oof on those fixtures, I didn't even know there was a TSB for headlights a year before mine. I forgot to mention I found my way into some Osram "Offroad Only" 100/90 (pn#? 62204) headlights and had another drive home tonight after the Sun was down.

WOW. Only way to describe it.

 

Please explain what hyperflash is and what LED bulbs you went with to replace the standard bulbs?
So much of this bulb talk is way over my head and I am lost when people start using abbreviations. I am replacing my headlights with some new OEM ones I just got in the mail and would like to avoid the burning issue of the lenses from the stock bulbs. So I was thinking that replacing the parking light bulbs and turn signal bulbs should do the trick. However I read you may have to change the relay? I have no idea if that applies or where to find the relay if I need it. I did order some

$40 Philips RacingVision GT200 H4 car headlight bulb +200%, set of 2 White

Philips RacingVision GT200 H4 Headlight Bulbs to put in the new lenses as my understanding is that I wouldn't have to replace the wiring harness to use those.

 

I had a set of LED headlights years ago from a group buy here. We had to cut the dust boot back to make room for them (I later had to replace the boot completely), they died within a year or two and the company was gone with everyone's money.

I also felt like the bulb light was generally un-desirable, albeit brighter, and I noticed far more people reacting to my headlights when I'd pull up behind them. They lasted about a year to 18mo. I wouldn't recommend doing LED bulbs to anyone after that experience.

 

When I purchased my truck the previous owner had installed LED bulbs in the original headlights. The light sucked. Absolutely were dim and not dispersed well in the OEM assemblies. So I ordered a more expensive pair of LED bulbs and thought that would fix the problem. It did not. Only thing it did was cost me a $100.
Last week I ordered some new OEM headlights as mine were in pretty bad shape. I wanna be sure those babies last as long as possible and I don't want any burning to occur from the old type bulbs.

Anybody have some part numbers for the LED replacement bulbs for the turn signal and the parking lights?

 

LED DRL/TS bulbs provide lower resistance in the light circuit. The flasher relies on the resistance being at a certain level, otherwise they will flash at a faster rate than normal. The fix for the second gens that I know of is either; add load resisters in-line on the TS bulb signal wires; or, modify the TS flasher unit, by grinding the resistor internal to it down to a point that the hyperflash stops. Note that some gens you can purchase a new TS module that handles LEDs/hyperflash, but I never found one for the 2nd gen, also some LED bulb manufactures say that their bulbs have an integrated resistor that eliminates hyperflash, but I tried a couple and none worked.

I ended up buying a new TS module and grinding the resister down to eliminate the hyperflash. I only bought a new one as a "just in case" something went wrong when grinding it.

 

Wow that is completely over my head. Any link to buy these "load registers" and how to install them? I have no idea what the TS flasher unit is or how to "grind" it down. That is completely greek to me.

 

I can tell you from personal experience that although pricy, these bulbs actually work, don't hyperflash (they have built in resistors) and are very well made:

V6 TRITON AMBER 3157CK + HYPERFLASH FIX (vleds.com)

 

Good Gravy those are expensive bulbs!!

Are these for the blinker or parking lights?

 

Expensive? Yes. The V6 Triton Extreme's are even more expensive. The ones I posted the link to are running / turn signal bulbs, not the side markers.

 

They are expensive. BUT they are the most reliable and brightest signal/drl LED out there. Period. It is one of the only LED signal/DRL bulbs that fills the signal reflector bowl completely due to it's optics. A lot of PNP LED signal bulbs don't illuminate the bowl very well and is sometimes less noticeable than the standard bulb. My buddy bought his original V6 Tritons in 2016 and has transferred them into 3 separate vehicles since then, still going strong to this day! I have had the 921 V6 Extreme Reverse LED's in my Subaru Ascent for 2yrs without any issues also.

 

While it certainly is true that LED's draw less current. But why is that a concern? DRLs, signals and marker lights are a drop in the bucket in electrical load on a vehicle relatively speaking.

3157 incandescent - 27w/7w or 1.92A/.5A at 14v
194 incandescent - 3.8w or .27A at 14v

Diode Dynamics XP80 3157 5.4w max or .38A at 14v
Diode Dynamics HP5 194 - 3.8w or .07A at 14v

So at best you save 3.48 amps (or 43.2 watts) on your electrical system assuming 2 3157's and 2 194's at full power. Not to mention that the resistors that need to be added create an equal load to the original bulb to avoid hyperflash, so no power savings on the turn signals. Your electrical system won't even notice the 3.48 amps difference. If you are getting to a point where 3 amps is a big deal, then the charging system needs to be re-evaluated. Now for interior lights, LED's help a lot to reduce electrical load since those are more likely to be used while the truck is not running.

For what it's worth, the VLEDS V6 Triton Extreme claim a power usage 27W/1.9 amps on high, just like an incandescent bulb.

I have a set of these in my 2015 Tacoma and they are as bright or brighter than most LED's since they are 29w bulbs, other than the V6 Tritons of course. Plus they have lasted 5yrs in my truck and I had a set go 8yrs before I sold the car with those bulbs.

$25 Sylvania 3357A/3457A ST SilverStar 29-Watt High Performance Signal Light

Amazon.com: Sylvania 3357A/3457A ST SilverStar 29-Watt High Performance Signal Light : Automotive

 

I believe he was saying the less current is a concern because it causes hyper flash, which is obviously not desirable.