LED headlight kits

[Nick Halstead]

I bought an HID headlight to replace the halogen assembly - just one. My Ford parts dealer convinced me that the wiring option would not work because of some BCM or lighting control module issues. I went with upgrading the HIR2 bulb (in the original headlight housing) to LED.

But no, I'm looking at this hid headlight assembly I have here. No need to take it apart. I'm really not be interested in going that route to retrofit either with projectors.

I presume you're talking about aftermaket 2015 HID's?

Everything I wrote was about 11-14 except the last sentence. I had a 2013 from feb 2013 till august 2015

Edited December 8, 2015 by Nick Halstead

[a2zed]

Just installed the passenger side LED with canbus and stopped there as the diodes were offset 30 deg from 12 oclock. Information I have says they should be oriented to 3 and 9 positions. I'm not sure if that matters here but will check with customer service. Here are 2 pics from about 15 ft.

 

 

 

Different light dispersion, definitely brighter. The OEM Phillips HIR2 are 1800 lumen vs 2500.

 

Some notes:

Newer HIR3 bulbs are rated 2400 lumen, almost as bright as these LED's.

The driver side install has less room but once the bulb assembly lock ring tabs are oriented -in line at the housing, they will click in/turn in place easily. Be patient.

High beams are incredible. Just got dark so I'm off for a run around the block.

 

Customer service not much help in positioning these to 3 and 9. At present, I do not know how to change the orientation.

Edited December 8, 2015 by a2zed

[Nick Halstead]

back up about 35 more feet to get a good idea

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

On the halogens, some tab trimming would have helped change orientation (essentially increasing flexibility).

[a2zed]

On the halogens, some tab trimming would have helped change orientation (essentially increasing flexibility).

 

Don't know about the halogens but the LED light dispersion [in front of the vehicle] is terrible. There is a dark spot cast on the driver side.

Either the bulbs are not seated or the diode orientation has to be 3 and 9.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Does the product have a bulb-like casing around the emitters, or are they "naked"? vLEDs use a casing to improve dispersion, should help even with projector headlights.

[a2zed]

Does the product have a bulb-like casing around the emitters, or are they "naked"? vLEDs use a casing to improve dispersion, should help even with projector headlights.

 

Have a look here: http://www.xenondepo...9012-led-hl.htm They are naked. Cree LED's have a bulb like casing.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Compare the vLEDs product (in this case, the 9005):

[a2zed]

 

From the folks at betterautomotivelighting.com. The pic below shows the firing positions of the diodes.

 

 

After looking at this.. I see your point about casings or tubes. Impressive; The dsipersion is solid.

 

 

Too bad these have fans on them. I'm sticking to the copper braid heatsick application.

 

In my case with the 11Edge, I'm inserting the diodes [into the headlighthousing] at the 3 and 9 positions, then rotating aprox. 45 deg to lock in place.

A dark spot appears on the driver side. I can eliminaate that by rotating the diodes further another 45 deg. That would mean they too will be firing in the up and down positions.

 

I have to figure out how to rotate the lock ring on the headlight casing. The beam pattern will improve immediately in front of the vehicle and eliminate the dark spot.

[a2zed]

Just to elaborate. Looks like the JTR lighting kit went into a reflector housing. "We recently had an opportunity to install new 7×6 headlight housings and high power LED headlight bulbs into a 1995 Toyota Tacoma. This truck originally used H6054 sealed beam rectangular headlight housing".

[TheWizard]

I had tried the V-LEDs VX3 Gen 2.0 kits in my Mustang projectors but had two concerns about them... they weren't quite as bright as the HID kit I was replacing but more importantly they have no fan and the airspace behind my headlights is quite cramped causing concerns about sufficient cooling. So I upgraded to their LMZ Platinum LED kit and couldn't be happier. The LMZ kit produces a claimed 4500 lumens per bulb (I know that is exaggerated but even so it's still more than HID), has fan cooling and an adjustable mounting collar that allows some flexibility in changing the depth and alignment of the LEDs in the housing. They have all the advantages of LED - low current consumption, instant on, accurate color that doesn't change over time, and a life expectancy of more than the car. I don't have to worry about using the flash-to-pass feature (HIDs don't like that) and the beam pattern is as sharply defined as with the original H9 halogen bulbs that came with the lamps... despite some claims to the contrary. It's like going from conventional oil to synthetic.

[a2zed]

Nice design on the bulb stem. That probably helps with light dispersion. I like the Philips Luxeon MZ diodes.

Whats this about their note? "Not for use in low voltage high/low beam DRL applications."

Perhaps a canbus is required in those cases?

Edited December 10, 2015 by a2zed

[TheWizard]

That would apply to vehicles that use their headlights at reduced voltage levels (usually by PWM - Pulse Width Modulation). The LED driver doesn't work well with input voltage below a certain level (9V is the common lower limit) and being a digital device it suffers from the same PWM issues as many HID ballasts - flickering and intermittent outages. A relay harness is a simple solution to that problem.

 

On a related note, I found that the LMZ LEDs are quite sensitive to minor fluctuations in voltage. I noticed that they would flicker ever so slightly at idle. It was only visible when stopped at a light behind another car and seeing the reflection of the headlights off the back of the other car. Installing CAN BUS adapters (basically just inline capacitors) took care of that problem and they never flicker anymore.

[a2zed]

Yes, canbus for DRL's is reccommended, at least for LMZ diodes.

[Nick Halstead]

 

From the folks at betterautomotivelighting.com. The pic below shows the firing positions of the diodes.

 

 

After looking at this.. I see your point about casings or tubes. Impressive; The dsipersion is solid.

 

 

Too bad these have fans on them. I'm sticking to the copper braid heatsick application.

 

In my case with the 11Edge, I'm inserting the diodes [into the headlighthousing] at the 3 and 9 positions, then rotating aprox. 45 deg to lock in place.

A dark spot appears on the driver side. I can eliminaate that by rotating the diodes further another 45 deg. That would mean they too will be firing in the up and down positions.

 

I have to figure out how to rotate the lock ring on the headlight casing. The beam pattern will improve immediately in front of the vehicle and eliminate the dark spot.

looks like your driving with your hands cupped beside your eyes. Where's the width at?

Edited December 10, 2015 by Nick Halstead

[a2zed]

I had tried the V-LEDs VX3 Gen 2.0 kits in my Mustang projectors but had two concerns about them... they weren't quite as bright as the HID kit I was replacing but more importantly they have no fan and the airspace behind my headlights is quite cramped causing concerns about sufficient cooling. So I upgraded to their LMZ Platinum LED kit and couldn't be happier. The LMZ kit produces a claimed 4500 lumens per bulb (I know that is exaggerated but even so it's still more than HID), has fan cooling and an adjustable mounting collar that allows some flexibility in changing the depth and alignment of the LEDs in the housing. They have all the advantages of LED - low current consumption, instant on, accurate color that doesn't change over time, and a life expectancy of more than the car. I don't have to worry about using the flash-to-pass feature (HIDs don't like that) and the beam pattern is as sharply defined as with the original H9 halogen bulbs that came with the lamps... despite some claims to the contrary. It's like going from conventional oil to synthetic.

 

Just noticed that your LMZ Platinum LED bulb has 4 diode chips per bulb -thats impressive. 2 LMZ diodes are rated at 2500 lumens so ya.. I can see them claiming 4500.

Also, they're not using silica light tubes for dispersion.

[PrinzII]

Anyone else get these on their Edge yet?

[mallard]

Anyone else get these on their Edge yet?

 

I have, installed the XenonDepot 9012 LEDs 4 days ago, the ones that a2zed linked to. My thoughts:

• They can be installed so they line up at 3 & 9. The tab openings for the 9012 base are such that the bulb will go in oriented at 2 and 8, if that makes sense. I then rotated the bulb base slightly clockwise to align it at 3 and 9 and the bulb is secure even though I didn't rotate it to full lock.
• No Canbus connector is needed. I have a 2013 model that was formerly a rental vehicle which was ordered with the headlight DRLs, same spec as the Canadian models. I ordered the Canbus connectors from XD but took a gamble and didn't install them. The LED bulbs come on just fine, no flickering at DRL or full brightness. The bulbs dim slightly when I have the headlamp control set to auto and it is daylight and the DRL function is active. They come on full brightness at night, no issues.
• Until I started reading the hidplanet.com forums I had no idea what foreground illumination was. These do have more foreground than the halogens and I'm not sure whether that bothers me yet but the prevailing opinion on hidplanet is that it is not a good thing.
• Color is great, much better than the crappy HIR2 halogens.
• Wish they threw more light farther down the road, whether they are brighter than the old halogens I can't say. They do light up road signs better than the halogens though and they have better peripheral illumination to the side of the road.
• The design of the heat sinks means you can stuff the connector wires, controller and the heat sink in the open areas behind the reflector/lens and still put the dust cap on. This is the way the heat sinks are supposed to be installed according to XD and so far I have not had any issues with overheating (but it is winter).

I'm going to give these a few months before rendering a final verdict. I'll be interested to see what others think of them in the Edge.

Edited January 1, 2016 by mallard

[Nick Halstead]

yeah Foreground illumination is a false sense of lighting to the unknown. Those who put plug n play kits in and are like. My lights are 10x brither now!!! No buddy they just focus the light directly in front of the car now instead of throwing it down the road where you need it.

[a2zed]

 

I have, installed the XenonDepot 9012 LEDs 4 days ago, the ones that a2zed linked to. My thoughts:

• They can be installed so they line up at 3 & 9. The tab openings for the 9012 base are such that the bulb will go in oriented at 2 and 8, if that makes sense. I then rotated the bulb base slightly clockwise to align it at 3 and 9 and the bulb is secure even though I didn't rotate it to full lock.
• No Canbus connector is needed. I have a 2013 model that was formerly a rental vehicle which was ordered with the headlight DRLs, same spec as the Canadian models. I ordered the Canbus connectors from XD but took a gamble and didn't install them. The LED bulbs come on just fine, no flickering at DRL or full brightness. The bulbs dim slightly when I have the headlamp control set to auto and it is daylight and the DRL function is active. They come on full brightness at night, no issues.
• Until I started reading the hidplanet.com forums I had no idea what foreground illumination was. These do have more foreground than the halogens and I'm not sure whether that bothers me yet but the prevailing opinion on hidplanet is that it is not a good thing.
• Color is great, much better than the crappy HIR2 halogens.
• Wish they threw more light farther down the road, whether they are brighter than the old halogens I can't say. They do light up road signs better than the halogens though and they have better peripheral illumination to the side of the road.
• The design of the heat sinks means you can stuff the connector wires, controller and the heat sink in the open areas behind the reflector/lens and still put the dust cap on. This is the way the heat sinks are supposed to be installed according to XD and so far I have not had any issues with overheating (but it is winter).

I'm going to give these a few months before rendering a final verdict. I'll be interested to see what others think of them in the Edge.

 

I should have posted earlier but was trying to figure out how to seat the 9012 LED properly... then it got cold.

 

Malard, my LED bulb goes in at aprox 3&9 then rotates and seats at 2&8. Thats how the original 9012 LL bulb goes in the housing; The connector faces up at 12 then rotates to the right to 2&8. The 13 headlight housing should be the same as the 11.

I need some help here. What am I missing?

 

In Canada here so I have the DRLs and in my case needed the Canbus adaptor. One LED would not fire without the Canbus in line. Don't know why.

Yes, the color is great but as far as not throwing light further down the road I would have to look into that. They do appear to me more scattered as you suggest. XD support says that the LED light is more concentrated forward than immediately in front. Front light dispersion greatly improves with the LED at 3&9.

WWWPerfA_ZN0W has an earlier explanation in this thread about light dispersion in the Fresnel lens that would apply here as well with the dimpled glass giving off a "wider (flood) beam spread".

 

Anyway, the reason I went with the XD LED kit was that I wanted the Philips diode for one, and this kit was ~$120 + tax cheaper than the Pudco kit. My dealer recommended (or at least suggested) the Pudco LED at $265 + tax CDN.

Comments from anyone that installed Pudco LED kit would be appreciated. They have different optics and I believe the diodes lock in seated at 12&6 by design.

 

As a side-note, XD offered their HID extreme kit for an additional $50 because of the alignment problems I encountered, [also because I already had the Canbus].

Edited January 26, 2016 by a2zed

[mesaman]

 

I have, installed the XenonDepot 9012 LEDs 4 days ago, the ones that a2zed linked to. My thoughts:

• They can be installed so they line up at 3 & 9. The tab openings for the 9012 base are such that the bulb will go in oriented at 2 and 8, if that makes sense. I then rotated the bulb base slightly clockwise to align it at 3 and 9 and the bulb is secure even though I didn't rotate it to full lock.
• No Canbus connector is needed. I have a 2013 model that was formerly a rental vehicle which was ordered with the headlight DRLs, same spec as the Canadian models. I ordered the Canbus connectors from XD but took a gamble and didn't install them. The LED bulbs come on just fine, no flickering at DRL or full brightness. The bulbs dim slightly when I have the headlamp control set to auto and it is daylight and the DRL function is active. They come on full brightness at night, no issues.
• Until I started reading the hidplanet.com forums I had no idea what foreground illumination was. These do have more foreground than the halogens and I'm not sure whether that bothers me yet but the prevailing opinion on hidplanet is that it is not a good thing.
• Color is great, much better than the crappy HIR2 halogens.
• Wish they threw more light farther down the road, whether they are brighter than the old halogens I can't say. They do light up road signs better than the halogens though and they have better peripheral illumination to the side of the road.
• The design of the heat sinks means you can stuff the connector wires, controller and the heat sink in the open areas behind the reflector/lens and still put the dust cap on. This is the way the heat sinks are supposed to be installed according to XD and so far I have not had any issues with overheating (but it is winter).

I'm going to give these a few months before rendering a final verdict. I'll be interested to see what others think of them in the Edge.

I installed some of these the other day.

mallard I would like to know your thoughts over the past few months.

 

I for one, am not impressed yet. I have adjusted them up some and will take it out tonight to gauge my efforts.

 

I'll let you know.

[Nick Halstead]

People are still trying to put LEDs into halogen lights?

[candurin]

LEDs will catch up and surpass HIDs and halogens for intensity, lumens and field of view in headlights. They certainly have in flashlights.

 

My kids have these things and they are ridiculously bright:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Collections-Etc-Flashlight-Huggable-Loveable/dp/B00TO46JFS

 

I swear, I thought about pulling one apart to see how bright I could make puddle lights.

 

We just took had a family camping trip and the entire tent looked like the top of the Luxor in Vegas.

 

I think Dan might have to reach out to them.

[Nick Halstead]

I totally agree but a drop in led will never surpass an actual oem led setup

[mesaman]

I drove the vehicle over the weekend and was still not totally impressed. I'm going to reorient them to 6 & 12 and see if that helps in anyway.