The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

Any chance you've done a side by side comparison running high wattage bulbs through stock harness and then through aftermarket? I have enjoyed reading a lot of your posts that I've come across, always packed with good info and interesting viewpoint.

I'm sure I won't be getting max lumens, but I'd imagine 90w low beam will still be a significant improvement over stock, not to mention bulb lifespan won't take a hit from running at higher voltage.

 

I haven’t, something that might be good for academic purposes though. Since each filament is on its own circuit, I wouldn’t need to swap both as a shared circuit running one bulb would provide different results than running two, as shown here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...s-high-power-leds.474996/page-6#post-16615068

 

At a certain point, yes, they are separate circuits, but in the beginning part of the circuit they are combined.
Battery>wire>headlight relay>wire>dim relay>wire>junction where it splits to left and right. I would imagine that a lot of the voltage drop is from that 1st part of the circuit.

http://www.customtacos.com/tech.old...6toyewd/06toypdf/ewd/2006/tacoma/h/em01d7.pdf

 

Good post and point. I should add that wiring schematic to the original post.

 

What came in the mail today, a handful of the best H11 stock wattage lights on the market.

Having to keep up with @Unchained 5150 high performance stock wattage light buying.



Bets on hot spot intensity/distance projection ability compared to LED?

 

Here is the answer:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...alogen-reflectors.454371/page-6#post-18994810

 

Let's see high wattage bulbs stock-harness vs $100 12awg-harness

 

Might be a bit overdue, but here it is:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...lighting-using-leds-hirs-and-halogens.574930/

 

Has anyone made there own upgraded headlight harness and wired it into a Bussman RTMR?

 

I know people have made their own harnesses, and people have wired purchased harnesses to standalone fuse blocks. Headlight Services even offers a kit to build the harness yourself.

 

I'll bet most of them will reach farther than any LED. Then again, I'm eagerly awaiting your detailed testing!

 

Easily. The GE +130s were the best of the bunch by a good margin. These were purchased for 3rd gen headlight testing, which take H11s.

You can see the comparison here to LED (scroll past the HID):
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/headlight-upgrade-2017-trd.575174/#post-19026245

The GE bulbs even beat out higher power H9s:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/headlight-upgrade-2017-trd.575174/page-2#post-19035062

 

Nice, I will look into the kit. Have you come across a upgrade wiring schematic for ground switched Toyotas?

 

Doesn’t look like they offer a kit for switched ground systems though, you could always contact them and see. Here is schematic info from 4crawler:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Headlights.shtml#TechInfo

 

Do you think the diode and resistor are necessary? If the dash light is still visible, I think i will try to find a simpler wiring diagram like what "Headlight Services" offers for their harness.

edit:
Does Headlight Services provide a wiring schematic? Anyone have it for ground switched?
edit 2:
I will send them an email and ask.

 

Do they make anything in a 9003 for 2nd generation Tacos?

 

GE does make an H4 +130, but it has blue coating over the high beam filament. I’ve ordered the GE +120s to try out, which leaves the high beam uncoated.

 

I'm not certain if that is necessary to maintain the dash light indicator in a ground switched harness. The ground switched harness is a bit more complicated than the conventional harness.

 

Do you know if anyone makes any good bulbs in a H11 or H9?

 

The H11 GE Megalight +130. The bulbs even beat out higher power H9s:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/headlight-upgrade-2017-trd.575174/page-2#post-19035062

I tried a few including Osram Nightbreaker Silver +100 and Osram Nightbreaker Laser +150 and Volsa H9s in an H11 housing. The GE +130s were the best by nearly 20%. The +150 lasers were really not impressive for the claim and price, I think they got way to overzealous with the blue coating encroaching around the filament. The H11s have the advantage of only being single filament vs the dual filament H4, which means that the manufactures don't cover the high beam with performance robbing blue tint when trying to make the beam appear whiter at the edges as the high beam is a separate bulb.

There are no performance H9s that I am aware of, so it is really about buying quality reputable German manufactured bulb like Osram, Sylvania, Philips, Volsa.