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Why LEDs should not be run in Halogen reflectors

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by crashnburn80, Oct 6, 2016.

  1. Feb 11, 2019 at 11:24 AM
    #141
    Sully38

    Sully38 Active Member

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    Excellent post and info. You are right. I tried it and it wasn't pretty.
     
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  2. Feb 19, 2019 at 8:57 AM
    #142
    tacoma-mama

    tacoma-mama Member

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    arent LED better in reflectors than projector type headlights?
     
  3. Feb 19, 2019 at 12:09 PM
    #143
    crashnburn80

    crashnburn80 [OP] Vehicle Design Engineer

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    No, you want the control of a projector to cut out the glare cause by using the wrong light source (LED) in a halogen housing. Reflectors won’t eliminate the glare and will be hazardous to oncoming drivers. LEDs don’t actually work in either housing, but at least with projectors you are not blinding others on the road.

    You can see a more in-depth explanation on why LEDs in a projector don’t project correctly and cause loss of distance projection among other issues here:
    https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/
     
    mcharfauros and Norton like this.
  4. Feb 19, 2019 at 12:36 PM
    #144
    replica9000

    replica9000 Das ist no bueno

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  5. Feb 19, 2019 at 12:47 PM
    #145
    crashnburn80

    crashnburn80 [OP] Vehicle Design Engineer

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    LOL! Seriously just snickered at my desk.
     
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  6. Feb 19, 2019 at 12:54 PM
    #146
    El Duderino

    El Duderino Obviously, you're not a golfer.

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    Stuff, things, this, an ADS
    That made me lol
     
  7. Feb 19, 2019 at 1:40 PM
    #147
    tacoma-mama

    tacoma-mama Member

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    LOL!
     
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  8. Mar 24, 2019 at 7:00 AM
    #148
    Boilerman

    Boilerman Well-Known Member

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    LMAO
     
  9. Apr 8, 2019 at 5:11 PM
    #149
    TacoCup

    TacoCup Member

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    This is a great thread!!!
     
  10. Apr 8, 2019 at 5:12 PM
    #150
    TacoCup

    TacoCup Member

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    And so is this, LMAO!
     
  11. Apr 8, 2019 at 5:14 PM
    #151
    crashnburn80

    crashnburn80 [OP] Vehicle Design Engineer

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    Even having seen that earlier when @replica9000 posted it, it is still hilarious to read again!
     
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  12. May 19, 2019 at 5:47 AM
    #152
    yoshm0

    yoshm0 Member

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    I appreciate you taking the time to write this up. Very informative. Going to stick with my halogens. Thank you!
     
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  13. May 20, 2019 at 8:58 AM
    #153
    MGM3Pedal

    MGM3Pedal Well-Known Member

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    Excellent thread Crash! Always enjoy following your research in this category. I took your advise on an easy upgrade for Halogens for the low beams. Bought the GE Megalight Ultra H11s. Love them. For the price, an excellent upgrade from OEM. Brighter and clearer with the appropriate cutoffs for my fellow motorists.
     
  14. May 25, 2019 at 12:37 AM
    #154
    AM7Jeremy

    AM7Jeremy Well-Known Member

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    Great thread!
     
  15. May 29, 2019 at 8:36 AM
    #155
    Jrgymie

    Jrgymie Tuf MuddR

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    Just to confirm again what OP said...

    Purchased the Spyder aftermarket headlights (also found on Tacomabeast) which look awesome but suck for light output. I had upgraded with Phillips halogens which helped some but decided to take a chance on the LED bulbs which in some ways did increase the light output BUT lost the focused center beam found in the halogen WITH lots of scatter. I found the high beam LED's to be more useful than low beam LED's which did not improve the light output.

    I purchased the GTR CSP mini LED H7 bulbs on headlightrevolution.com for $250 (this includes 4 bulbs for low and high beams). This is a high quality LED bulb and figured I would give it a go...

    Driver side has LED bulb, passenger halogen bulb
    IMG_0286.jpg
    IMG_0283.jpg

    Furthermore, the bulb housing needed slight modification with Dremel to slightly enlarge the opening which was very easy with this Dremel bit.
    IMG_0281.jpg
    IMG_0282.jpg

    The LED barely fit and was a tight squeeze with regards to screwing the water tight plastic cover back on but it does fit with some patience.

    Lastly, as noted in the beginning, the center beam was diminished with LED's. There is a screw in the LED bulb that can be loosened to rotate the bulb to adjust the lighting pattern. It took some trial and error but there was some improvement. The pic below was the first pic I took comparing the halogen to LED. The LED light pattern DID IMPROVE some with rotating the LED lights (pic not shown unfortunately since it was late at night and got tired of re-adjusting, etc).


    high beam first pic below, low beam second pic belowIMG_0295.jpg

    IMG_0296.jpg
     
  16. Jul 23, 2019 at 6:19 PM
    #156
    Tape

    Tape Well-Known Member

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    I bought 3 sets of AUXITO H11-LED-HeadlightBulbs and couldn't be happier. They are finless so no extra noise, my truck makes enough noise. The LED's work excellent in the projectors, the brights I do expect to scatter but its the brights... I'll take all the light I can get scattered or not for brights. The fogs were a real surprise, they light up great and only in the first 5 -8 feet, I have not had any drivers flash me. The install was simple, the brights only needed to be inserted at an angle starting at the 6 O'clock position then they just slide in.
    Plug & play
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2019
  17. Sep 19, 2019 at 10:18 AM
    #157
    mray

    mray Well-Known Member

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    SHHHHHHH!

    Blasphemy! LED are bad! /sarc

    I have 'em, no issues at all.
     
  18. Sep 19, 2019 at 2:43 PM
    #158
    NMTrailRider

    NMTrailRider Well-Known Member

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    Do you get decent distance projection on the highway with low beams?
     
  19. Sep 23, 2019 at 6:38 PM
    #159
    Tape

    Tape Well-Known Member

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    This is low beams and I think they are exactly like the original's but just white, you can clearly see the cutoff and as you can see it is just getting dark and does great when it's completely dark.leds.jpg


    and this is with the fogs

    leds2.jpg
     
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  20. Jan 2, 2020 at 7:18 AM
    #160
    VoodooPro

    VoodooPro Well-Known Member

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    This has convinced me to completely ditch my HAKARI ultras for some super high end halogens. If your dead set on LEDS, the hakari ultra is the best option on the market for plug and play performance on the 3rd gen taco. BUT, everything in the OP is true and I experienced it first hand. They were "brighter" but not "better". The Hakari has an INFINITELY better beam pattern than the LED used in this test and it still gets its ass handed to it by a good halogen in beam focus, and most importantly distance. I lost a lot of cast distance for a "gain" in brightness up close and a change in color which is subjectively better or worse. The Leds are actually noisy too, as the Hakaris are so powerful they REQUIRE the fans on their fins. Ive touched them while on parked and damn do they get stupid hot. Not the LEDs themselves, I mean the heat sink. So I can only imagine the LED itself is hotter than the surface of the sun. You can hear the fans running quite loud from inside the cabin with the engine off. I can definitively say I got scammed by the LED hype on this one. I even gave them the best chance possible by not buying the cheapo option.
     

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