The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

both relays work to power DS. Fuses are good. Going to try to check voltage

 

The relays mike uses are dual 87 rather than standard 5 pin 87 / 87A so it’s possible for one of the outputs to work and the other not as a potential failure.

But having both low and high beam out on one side, if power switched, makes me think the ground? Probe at the passenger connector and see.

 

A few of us have had the (Hella) relays in our harnesses die early deaths. I recommend you start troubleshooting there.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Problem solved. My 2 spare bulbs were bad. Maybe rattled too much in the glove box? I had voltage at the plug. Swapped DS bulb to PS and it worked. Bummed because those were 2 osram spares. Good to go and may look to order the new bulbs posted recently and keep those in the house until needed.

 

Long odds on that, but happy to see you got it sorted.

The new DSL +250 bulbs are impressive...

They offer STOCK wattage performance that's CLOSE to Osram Super Bright 100/90 bulbs with TWICE the predicted lifespan. For those not running an upgraded harness, they're the obvious choice.

IMO, Osram Super Bright 100/90 remain best for those of us with upgraded harnesses. They provide low-beam performance that's almost 10% better (1732lux vs 1590lux) and high-beam performance that's roughly identical (3204lux vs 3192lux). Their ~50% shorter lifespan (200hr vs 400hr) is more than offset by an almost 70% cheaper price ($18/pr vs $58/pr) at Bulb America.

 

Got tired of carrying these small boxes for bulbs so I printed these up.

 

Care to share the file? Got the same bulbs and the same problem, don't want to mess them up.

 

@BenMara
What 3D printer do you have and do you like it? I’m considering getting one.

 

Headlight bulb H4 case by gbazil - one I printed
9003/H4 Bulb Case by Moto | Download free STL model | Printables.com - another one I found

I picked up a Bambu P1S during the Christmas sale, I've been tearing up some pla since. Im just trying to get set up to print ASA and ABS. Ive been looking at printers for years, I've been reluctant because it wasn't plug and play for a long time.

 

@vssman forgot to mention I did not get the AMS Automatic Material System. I don't do multi color prints

 

One of my Philips RacingVision GT200 H4 bulbs just burnt out so needing to replace. Came here to find out if they are still the best ones to use. Went back a few posts to try and find the answer to that but see now there's talk about a better bulb but it needs a harness upgrade?

I'm hoping someone can just give me the coles notes version of what the 2 best options are!?!

Thanks a lot

Edit: Looks like it's the DSL +250s

 

Due to ease of purchase and price difference between the specific DSL 250s and the

$31 OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER 220, H4, 220% Brighter Halogen Headlight Lamp, 64193NB220-2HB, Folding Box (2 Lamps)

Osram 220's ($52 Canadian on Amazon), can anyone comment on the difference in performance? The DSL's would be probably be at least double the price after exchange and shipping to Canada

 

Would getting these high output halogen be better than LED without the harness. Do I need the harness for 2015 TRD pro headlights?

 

I have not yet tested the Osram 220s in H4. You can see the Osram 200 review here: Osram Nightbreaker +200. The Philips came out slightly ahead of the Osram 200s. I'd speculate that low beam performance is going to be similar between the Philips 200s, Osram 220s and DSL 250s, maybe a couple/few percentage points swing one way or another but not likely something that is readily noticeable to the naked eye without testing equipment. However, the high beam performance of the DSLs will completely blow away the Philips and Osrams, so is it worth the price difference to have significantly better high beams? Decision is up to you.

"These" being the DSL +250 bulbs? The DSL +250 bulbs will absolutely be far better than PnP LEDs, they are the highest performing PnP bulb option or any type. PnP LEDs perform poorly and are never recommended. You do not need a harness for the DSL +250 bulbs with the standard or TRD headlights, they work on the stock wiring.

 

I just installed mine on the weekend and had the same concern. I actually took the little retainer spring things and bent them slightly so that they hold the bulbs with more force. That made a significant improvement. I have to wiggle the cables quite a bit to get the bulb to move now.

 

Based on this incredible thread, I upgraded stock bulbs to Osram Night Breaker 60/55W mid last year not wanting to do the harness upgrade then (but did get the 27F AGM battery also recommended by you since the battery in the truck was almost 7 years old). Been thinking of doing the harness upgrade. But now with the DSL +250 release, would just changing to these bulbs without the harness upgrade get me practically the same performance? 2014 Tacoma 4L, tow package.

 

In a word, yes. In a more complete answer...

 

The DSL +250 bulbs will net you a 10% increase in output intensity over the Nightbreaker +200s and a massive improvement on the high beam vs those coated bulbs. A harness will net you +0.2-0.3v at the very best, which will translate to about a ~7.5% improvement for the stock wattage bulbs. Between getting the harness with your current bulbs or going with the DSL +250s, you'll get better performance out of the DSL +250 bulbs alone, while also getting improved high beam performance. There are no downsides to the harness of course, aside from cost and additional relays.

Did you add the 0.5v booster with the AGM? That will also provide halogen performance returns above that of the harness with stock wattage bulbs.

 

Thank you, both. That’s very helpful and the new bulbs seem to definitely be the easier way to go. Yes, I got the micro 0.5V fixed voltage booster from HKB. Funny you didn’t think I would have gotten the adjustable booster!

 

Just did the upgrade with Headlight Services harness and GT200 bulbs. I've been running 4500k (were probably closer to 5500k in reality) 35w HID for the past 11 years in the OEM reflectors. Kit was a cheapy one from DDM tuning, but I was honestly pretty impressed with how well they worked and lasted (the bulbs anyway, ballasts were crap). I finally got sick of replacing ballasts so instead of upgrading to a higher quality set of HIDs, I decided to try this highly recommended upgrade instead.

FWIW, the HID's were definitely brighter. That's even with the harness and AGM 0.5v booster on the halogens. But you could tell the light concentration was off (no real defined bright spot) and I also had a considerable amount of wash above what would be the cutoff line. Not as bad as some HIDs in reflectors though, and I think that was mainly because of the shape of the metal reflector on the bulb (all H4 hi/low HIDs are like this, but each brand does it a bit different). I think I just kinda fluked out with the particular bulbs I used and how they worked in my 2013 reflectors. In any case, it was rare that I would get flashed but I knew that I was still causing glare for others.

However, even though the HIDs were noticeably brighter, the new upgraded halogens clearly have better light distribution and cutoff. It's a much more even spread of light, with more reaching the sides/ditches while still having a nice concentration of light straight forward. I actually had to aim the headlights down quite a bit after the upgrade. Apparently the HIDs bright spot was much lower than the halogens. which I'm sure wasn't helping the upper wash problem. I would say that I can still see nearly as well as with the HIDs, but now I am not blinding anyone else. It's especially better for the car in front when at a stop now too. The one downside is that reflective traffic signs were much easier to see with the HIDs, due to the lack of sharp upper cutoff. But that's a subjective downside that came at a cost to others lol.