Best non-LED headlight option?

WDE said:
Hella E-Code buckets for @ $75 then add your favorite H4 bulbs. Standard H4s were such an improvement over the sealed beam, I didn't see the need to go with higher watt bulbs which would require upgrading the wiring harnesses. I think I went with the mid-grade Sylvania Xtra-Vision since the Silverstars don't seem to last too long in other applictions.
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So, lots of confusion looking at amazon reviews about not DOT compliant, US/Euro, etc...

So I went to the Hella website and found these:

http://www.myhellalights.com/index....eadlamps/vision-plus-7in-conversion-headlamp/
Are these H4? They list Hella part number 002395301 as DOT approved

 
Jerry Bransford said:
One nice benefit to LED headlights, no relay or upgraded wiring harness is needed. They draw something like 1/3 the power that the OE incandescent head lights do.
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My main problem with LED headlights is that although the light output is okay, the quality is not; a great many of the inexpensive options are marginal at rendering certain colors (and therefore objects) in the driving path, very artifact-heavy in their output, or both...and this is also true of the higher-end aftermarket stuff, for the most part. In the last year or so the OEM options have begun to produce decent light that can compete with a halogen lamp in terms of light quality, but as you're well aware: nothing in this world is free. If you want great light output and you want low current draw, you're going to pay a few hundred dollars per unit to get it (or buy a car with a good-performing set). Last I checked, an acceptable set of LED units for a TJ was about $600 for the pair (Speaker), and in terms of light quality, they're okay: I had a set, ran them for a few weeks, and then took them out because I didn't particularly like the beam pattern or how glaring they were on wet pavement. (I also duct-taped and wire-nutted an OEM Porsche projector/harness to my passenger lamp housing one time just to see what it would do, and HOLY FUCK...but that's another story.)

The main reason that LEDs got so popular was because the factory TJ headlights were abysmal - you could have strapped a pair of fireflies to the front of a Jeep and gotten better light output - and because the LED manufacturers were very smart to make their systems plug-and-play...so even Joe KnowNothing could slap a pair into his grille, look at how awesome they seemed to be, and then tell all of his buddies how his $100 LEDs were fuckin' insane bright, brah. That's literally all it took: a bunch of people with information but no understanding. You've heard that phrase before, yes?

Regardless, an LED is still an acceptable option for trail use, as you well know...but I, for one, will happily take a bit more current draw in exchange for what I consider to be better light output on the street. As usual, it's all a matter of what you consider to be valuable and acceptable, and we all have different standards for that...so, it's an anything-goes situation, in the end.

Except for LED light bars, which should be installed in the bottom of dumpsters.
 
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What I currently have is LED headlights and halogen spots and fogs.

I originally was planning to stick with all halogen, because I liked the beam pattern and that they melt snow.

First thing I did was replace the OE fog lights with the KC 100 watt fog lights. Those fog lights are much brighter, almost too bright for on road use. They’re great for lighting under the headlight beam cutoff and the sides of the road. Not good for distance, obviously.

I then also came across a set of 130 watt KC spot lights for $50. Those spot lights are not legal for road use, but they do help when nobody is around. They cast a very small pattern far ahead, further and brighter than stock or even aftermarket LED headlights.

But even still, the OE lights sucked on low beam, even with the supplemental lights. I decided to try the heated Truck Lites for $470. I am happy with the purchase. They should melt snow no problem, and have a much better beam pattern than the OE lights. Best of all, they don’t blind oncoming traffic like the cheap LEDs.

With those I barely ever use the fog lights or spots. (If I really want to light the world, I can run high beams, fogs, and spots all at the same time)
 
Slightly off topic- when I switched to LED's in the house they were awesome, but started slowly dimming after about a month. Not as bad as those twisty florescent ones, but still did. No matter what brand or $. Do these 12v. Lights do that too? Lota $ to go dim in short order.
 
Goatman said:
Slightly off topic- when I switched to LED's in the house they were awesome, but started slowly dimming after about a month. Not as bad as those twisty florescent ones, but still did. No matter what brand or $. Do these 12v. Lights do that too? Lota $ to go dim in short order.
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Cheap ones often do. It’s often the power supply failing, not the diodes themselves. Though cheaper/lower bin diodes will fail individually and reduce light output over time
 
TJ's-TJ said:
So, lots of confusion looking at amazon reviews about not DOT compliant, US/Euro, etc...

So I went to the Hella website and found these:

http://www.myhellalights.com/index....eadlamps/vision-plus-7in-conversion-headlamp/
Are these H4? They list Hella part number 002395301 as DOT approved

​
​
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I went with the E-Code 002395801. It been a few years, but the consensus at the time was that the e-codes had much better spread and output than the DOT version and did not negatively affect on-coming traffic when properly adjusted. Alabama does not have vehicle inspections, so that was not an issue for me. I doubt any state inspection would bother to check since they look like any standard headlight.
 
I went with the Hella H4 E code lights and 55/65 watt bulbs when I replaced the factory sealed beams on mine. I'm perfectly happy with them. I don't have a particular need to blind everyone else on the road and see just fine with them. While I was doing lights up there, I replaced the fog light bulbs with yellow 55w ones.
 
pagrey said:
This is a good video to watch regardless of what you end up deciding.

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If this video is the same one I watched, they test a couple dozen types of LEDs, and they ALL have "hot spots" , dim areas and various "patterns" of light. My Hella E codes don't. Not to mention that LEDs kind of wash out everything. Like the contrast is up too high on the T.V.
 
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C.J. Roberts said:
Not to mention that LEDs kind of wash out everything. Like the contrast is up too high on the T.V.
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That's usually due to most of the visible spectrum being missing from the light source.

jesseshoots said:
I need to hear more about this story!
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Imagine a bunch of duct tape, a bit of wire, and the worst wiring job you've ever seen, and all of it connected to a bunch of high-end projector technology that's been drunkenly stuffed into the hole where a 7" TJ headlight used to be.

Got that in your head? Good.

What we did was nowhere near that elegant.
 
Imagine a bunch of duct tape, a bit of wire, and the worst wiring job you've ever seen, and all of it connected to a bunch of high-end projector technology that's been drunkenly stuffed into the hole where a 7" TJ headlight used to be.

Got that in your head? Good.


What we did was nowhere near that elegant.
[/QUOTE]
Pics! I want pics
 
C.J. Roberts said:
Pics! I want pics
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I'm pretty sure that I don't have any, but I'll look through the archives, nonetheless. I'm not kidding when I say "drunkenly stuffed": to put that in perspective, I will admit that I'm lucky that a Porsche projector assembly was the only thing that was drunkenly stuffed that evening.
 
I used arb/ipf housing and bulbs for years with a harness and was happy, but did upgrade to jw speaker this last year
 
WDE said:
Hella E-Code buckets for @ $75 then add your favorite H4 bulbs. Standard H4s were such an improvement over the sealed beam, I didn't see the need to go with higher watt bulbs which would require upgrading the wiring harnesses. I think I went with the mid-grade Sylvania Xtra-Vision since the Silverstars don't seem to last too long in other applictions.
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The brighter the silverstars are, the less time they will last. I had them in Alaska, they lasted about a year running day and night, with a lot of night...if one burnt out, the other was not far behind. i would just change them both and keep the good one for a spare. Changing them was a pain in that vehicle.
 
One more endorsement for Hella E-Code housings and Philips Xtreme Vision +130 bulbs, which are 60/55W and require no wiring upgrades.

The +130 refers to the color temperature of the bulbs being +130% of stock color temperature, so they appear brighter to the driver but are not "blue" like too many of the LED options and they do not irritate oncoming traffic.

The Hella E-codes and bulbs are actually less expensive than the cheap Chinese Truck-Lite LED knockoffs.
 
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