My TJ has the JW Speaker Evo 2 lights (PO liked expensive stuff). @BuildBreakRepeat has ProComps. To my eye, his ProComp lights are equal to the JWs.
LED headlight shootout
- Thread starter Mike_H
- Start date
I have the heated Truck Lite LEDs and am happy with them. They melt the snow and ice pretty quickly. I also strongly considered the heated JW Speaker LEDs, but cost won out.
Turdworlder
TJ Enthusiast
Parking lights not working on my jeep. The back parking lights work no problem. The fronts work only as turn blinkers and emergency blinkers. I cleaned the connectors, still not working. I noted some jeeps have 3 wires while mine is only 2, could this be the reason of absent parking lights?
Are those the front turn signals or the sidemarkers? Sometimes the sockets go bad. I've had to replace a couple.
Are you using LEDs anywhere in the system?
Turdworlder
TJ Enthusiast
Yes its front blinkers, not sidemarkers. The headlights are cheap led lamps from china. I installed it as i had plan to install 90ies japanese yellow fog lights, it pretty rainy and foggy here, i dont need headlights.
I'm not familiar with how the international models are wired, but with the domestic US models, the sidemarkers have to be converted to a 3-wire setup in order to put LEDs in the front.
Try flipping the LED bulbs 180 degrees in the sockets and see if that makes a difference. Many cheaper LEDs do not have a rectifier, and will only light up in one orientation. If the socket is designed to flow both ways, that could cause a polarity issue, preventing one function from working properly.
Turdworlder
TJ Enthusiast
Here is the lamp itself, its not led inside blinkers, only headlights are led. Parking lights didnt work even with halogen hella headlights. There are 2 core springs inside
Turdworlder
TJ Enthusiast
Also i guess my problem is with wiring it has only 2 wires, all the threads with same problems had 3 wires. I will try to connect parking lights with headlights on relay
Interesting. The headlights shouldn't affect the circuits, at least with what I'm used to seeing.
The best recommendation I have is to look at the wiring diagrams in the FSM, particularly for the international models, to figure out how it is wired.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...ice-manuals-fsm-technical-documentation.4618/
I have these and have not regretted them one bit. They are amazingly bright and of very high quality. I got them about 2 yrs ago for around $450. I think there was a coupon or a sale going on. Look around for them, and I'm pretty sure you can get them for less than the Quadratec price.
My JW speaker knockoffs were a huge improvement over stock. They have a great cutoff, but the hot spot is a little weird...like in that video, it has a stark boundary around the square shaped spot, though unlike the video it's at least up where it's supposed to be.
I'm just over the multiple projector look and wanting to go with a reflector type. Wish that video covered the amazon trucklite knockoffs. Seems like reflectors might be harder to pull off, since even the kc reflector pattern didn't look that great.
I always prefer American made and for things like control arms or bumpers where the American one is maybe 50-75% more the choice is easy. It's a harder pill to swallow when the American one has a 400% premium for a maybe 15% improvement that I might never miss.
I'm just over the multiple projector look and wanting to go with a reflector type. Wish that video covered the amazon trucklite knockoffs. Seems like reflectors might be harder to pull off, since even the kc reflector pattern didn't look that great.
I always prefer American made and for things like control arms or bumpers where the American one is maybe 50-75% more the choice is easy. It's a harder pill to swallow when the American one has a 400% premium for a maybe 15% improvement that I might never miss.
I paid for the original product not necessarily because of how the light looked from the car, but more over concern of what it would look like to an oncoming car. Good LED headlights have an asymmetric beam that illuminates the side of the roads without blinding oncoming traffic. It annoys me how many Jeep owners (especially JKU owners for whatever reason) buy extremely bright lights with poor optics and/or fail to aim them.
In addition, the diodes themselves are very likely higher quality. When LEDs (the actual diodes) are produced, they are tested and then binned according to power output and efficiency. High quality ones are sold at a premium to high end manufacturers like Rigid. Low quality ones generally go into the knockoffs and the Amazon specials. This happens even when the knockoffs are made in the exact same factory as the name brand items.
The low binned LEDs are less efficient and produce less light, and have a higher failure rate. So not only are you paying for a pattern, you're paying for a higher grade diode.
In addition, the diodes themselves are very likely higher quality. When LEDs (the actual diodes) are produced, they are tested and then binned according to power output and efficiency. High quality ones are sold at a premium to high end manufacturers like Rigid. Low quality ones generally go into the knockoffs and the Amazon specials. This happens even when the knockoffs are made in the exact same factory as the name brand items.
The low binned LEDs are less efficient and produce less light, and have a higher failure rate. So not only are you paying for a pattern, you're paying for a higher grade diode.
That is more or less the same way I see it. Specially when people lift their vehicle and do not re-aim the lights after doing so.
I went with JW gen units, because of the amazing cut-off and 4500k light temperature they offer. Still yet to mount them, but everything I have read and seen about them makes them a great upgrade. No shimmery blue hue on oncoming traffic and the light is aimed where it needs to with a great cut-off
I'm with Jerry here. There are some things i don't mind buying knock offs of.
These work fine for alot of us. And i have way more areas on my jeep to spend five hundred dollars on than headlights. A lot of us run these for $65.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/replaced-headlights-with-truck-lite-knockoffs.6239/
$500 for headlights just will never be in my budgets. Maybe I am to old! Lol. Idk. If i needed $500 worth of lights... Hell I am never going to need $500 worth of headlights. Lol. But to each their own.
But the halos of the Vision X...the halos alone are worth $500. You have never seen halos like these (sarcasm).I'm with Jerry here. There are some things i don't mind buying knock offs of.
These work fine for alot of us. And i have way more areas on my jeep to spend five hundred dollars on than headlights. A lot of us run these for $65.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/replaced-headlights-with-truck-lite-knockoffs.6239/
$500 for headlights just will never be in my budgets. Maybe I am to old! Lol. Idk. If i needed $500 worth of lights... Hell I am never going to need $500 worth of headlights. Lol. But to each their own.
. Lol
I have them and really like them. I chose them because I watched the above video and felt they had the best pattern.
Just today I saw a -lifted on 24'' rims- JKU with red fog lights blasting during the day(yes in the front of the vehicle) and LED blue headlights, with yellow halos and with the hood light bar on and pretty much every other accessory associated with the angry bird grill. It reminded me of this post. Peacocking IS a thing I guess. I just imagine the same guy driving at night on lighted roads with all of those lights on and bright, aimed all over the place.
If you are running brighter than stock lights(most lights can be) they should at least be aimed properly. Specially if lifted.
If you are running brighter than stock lights(most lights can be) they should at least be aimed properly. Specially if lifted.
If you guys really want to nerd out on LED headlight info, give the article below a read. Regarding Jeeps, Daniel Stern gives a shout out to the JW Speaker Evo J3, Evo 2, Peterson Manufacturing 701C, and the Truck-Lite units.
https://jalopnik.com/why-most-led-headlight-upgrades-dont-really-work-an-ex-1843070472
https://jalopnik.com/why-most-led-headlight-upgrades-dont-really-work-an-ex-1843070472
FWIW, I have the Trucklite knock-offs from Amazon for about $100 a pair ... they are bright and they suck to any oncoming drivers. The pattern is so bad I had to look twice to make sure I didn't install them upside down. They are now aimed so low to compensate somewhat but that compromises the distance visibility.
I've bought plenty of knock-off parts over the years which work as well as the real thing (iRobot vacuum service parts come to mind), but this one is a fail. I'm thinking I may yank them back and just toss in the sealed beam halogens again.
I've bought plenty of knock-off parts over the years which work as well as the real thing (iRobot vacuum service parts come to mind), but this one is a fail. I'm thinking I may yank them back and just toss in the sealed beam halogens again.