Old school LED headlights

[Shimmy]

I haven't had any problem with that. I'm sure some bulbs would not behave properly but mine worked out fine. Pattern is just as crisp as it is with the halogen bulbs installed.

hella definitely makes a fine housing... but bottom line is your housing is not designed for an LED. I'm a lighting nut so this kinda thing would drive me bonkers.;D

 

[Slowleak]

hella definitely makes a fine housing... but bottom line is your housing is not designed for an LED. I'm a lighting nut so this kinda thing would drive me bonkers.;D

I can understand that, but the bottom line for me is that it works just fine. Hella sells retrofit LED bulbs for halogen housings.

https://www.hella.com/partnerworld/us/Product-range/Lighting/LED-retrofit-32407/

 

[Broncobowsher]

Even those Hella retrofit lights have cooling fans. Do you really want headlights that have to be fan cooled?

(The Holley lights are NOT fan cooled. The housing has a large heat sink)

 

[MarsChariot]

Speaking of hilarious, alien headlights.......

 

[Shimmy]

I can understand that, but the bottom line for me is that it works just fine. Hella sells retrofit LED bulbs for halogen housings.

https://www.hella.com/partnerworld/us/Product-range/Lighting/LED-retrofit-32407/

don't fall into their marketing tactic. this is a fancy way of saying "we make LED bulbs for common halogen sized bulbs/housings." notice these aren't DOT and only for offroad use.

BUT, as long as you're happy thats all that matters in the end.;D

 

[Slowleak]

don't fall into their marketing tactic. this is a fancy way of saying "we make LED bulbs for common halogen sized bulbs/housings." notice these aren't DOT and only for offroad use.

BUT, as long as you're happy thats all that matters in the end.;D

I'm not burning anyone's eyeballs, or “falling into marketing tactics”. Bulbs have changed a lot, and a proper LED bulb will work fine in a Hella H4. My current bulbs have heat sinks, not fans, and are not as bright as my previous halogens from Tom's so I am not worried about the headlight police. I also like the stock look of the Hellas better than the Grotes. Didn't mean to stir anything up….

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...-with-halogen-in-reflector-headlights.336022/

 

[Germd]

I like them but I can't get over the plastic lens, and the $400 priceÂ…..

^^this^^
..doesn't mean I won't buy a set though - provided they get rave reviews here on CB.

 

[TTownEP]

I'm not burning anyone's eyeballs, or “falling into marketing tactics”. Bulbs have changed a lot, and a proper LED bulb will work fine in a Hella H4. My current bulbs have heat sinks, not fans, and are not as bright as my previous halogens from Tom's so I am not worried about the headlight police. I also like the stock look of the Hellas better than the Grotes. Didn't mean to stir anything up...

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...-with-halogen-in-reflector-headlights.336022/

Luckily most of the reputable manufacturers have likely figured out they need to place the chips at the correct focal distance, so they will work out.
Slapping eBay LEDs into something can definitely go wrong though.

EDIT: I clicked on your link after I typed, and realized it just backed up what I said, haha.

I expect that Morimoto designed these Holley reflectors exactly for these bulbs, and the output will be as good as you can get without a projector.

 

[75MIKE]

Morimoto hit it out of the park with XB's in the 2017-19 Super Dutys. Best improvement I made on the truck.

 

[Slowleak]

Luckily most of the reputable manufacturers have likely figured out they need to place the chips at the correct focal distance, so they will work out.
Slapping eBay LEDs into something can definitely go wrong though.

I expect that Morimoto designed these Holley reflectors exactly for these bulbs, and the output will be as good as you can get without a projector.

I think you are right. I noticed the LED and halogen headlight kits that Tom's sells are stated to be DOT compliant. They sell DOT compliant LED bulbs so that you can upgrade your halogen versions. I see those housing sold by other vendors as well. They just don't look “stock” enough for me.

 

[Shimmy]

I would love to see a "stock looking" LED headlight comparison thread with pics. I really wanted a close to stock look so i ended up with the grotes headlights. The Holleys look even closer to stock and Slowleak's setup with the Hella housing would look really close too!

Can you guys post up your beam patterns from 20'? I'll try and do the same.

 

[nvrstuk]

If I had access to the Holleys, I'd gladly do a side by side test. I did a lot of comparisons between the Grotes I purchased and several other brands of LED headlights for my use.

Comments on tests-
1- Shining lights on a wall 20' away is a great way to make any quality of light look decent.

2- pics of how a light works on city street is essentially worthless also. You need a dark street or country road so the only light in the pic is from the test light.

3- comparison pics btw different tested lights so if you only test one it looks good because you haven't compared it to a great beam pattern showing light intensity & pattern.

Anyway, just some random thoughts. There's a few of us that daily drive on County roads so actually having a great beam pattern is more important that how it looks so without street lights and having deer jumping out from the ditch sides or from behind trees several times week (damn critters!) Is extremely important. lol

Just some thoughts is all.

I know 95% of the guys with restomods in our club, hot rods& Broncos, never and I mean never drive at night so looks (like a great paint job) is their highest priority.

 

[TTownEP]

If I had access to the Holleys, I'd gladly do a side by side test. I did a lot of comparisons between the Grotes I purchased and several other brands of LED headlights for my use.

Comments on tests-
1- Shining lights on a wall 20' away is a great way to make any quality of light look decent.

2- pics of how a light works on city street is essentially worthless also. You need a dark street or country road so the only light in the pic is from the test light.

3- comparison pics btw different tested lights so if you only test one it looks good because you haven't compared it to a great beam pattern showing light intensity & pattern.

Anyway, just some random thoughts. There's a few of us that daily drive on County roads so actually having a great beam pattern is more important that how it looks so without street lights and having deer jumping out from the ditch sides or from behind trees several times week (damn critters!) Is extremely important. lol

Just some thoughts is all.

I know 95% of the guys with restomods in our club, hot rods& Broncos, never and I mean never drive at night so looks (like a great paint job) is their highest priority.

I would add that a camera with manual exposure settings would be important too, so that the difference isn't negated by automatic compensation.

 

[Jdgephar]

I've been perfectly happy with the halogen Hella conversion on my '68. Now I'm getting to where I need to figure out what to put on my '72. I love the look of the Holley's, but that's way over what I wanted to pay. So are the KC Gravity lights, but would be another style I could live with.

I'm thinking about these right now:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RXZJK6...bc_AB18WV6Q6QG47PPJEN4Z?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

They look like they should fit with little or no modification.

At least they look decent, and claim DOT approved.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

 

[nvrstuk]

That's why I went with the Grotes. For literally hundreds of dollars less (money is/can be an important factor lol) than the KC's & Holleys.

Agreed a timed manual exposure would be best

 

[Slowleak]

This is what I did in the link below. They show the beam pattern with the Hella housings that I have and their own housings. They use a relabeled Beamtech H4 LED which closely matches the light pattern of a standard H4 bulb, so I just bought the Beamtechs for $40 and plugged them in.

Hella also makes a DOT approved housing however, plugging a non DOT approved LED bulb into an approved housing makes you “unapproved”.

Scroll down and click on “Hella Lens Lo” to see the beam pattern. Then you can scroll left or right in the picture to see the full pattern. My Hella “E” codes have a sharper cutoff at the top of the low beam.

https://vintagecarleds.com/shop/7-inch/vc3500-classic-kit/#1567778994334-3ae826b3-399c2a26-f703

 

[Jdgephar]

I got jaded on the LED H4 bulbs by a pair I had that started to flicker after only 6 months of very light use. That, and I don't trust that the heat sinks without the fans work well enough to keep the die temperatures low enough to prevent failures. The halogen bulbs work well enough for my application.

I have the Hella DOT housings, not the E code. Maybe I can give those LED bulbs a go next time I need to replace bulbs.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

 

[nvrstuk]

I ran Hella Ecode housings and 60/100W halgens for years. Thought they were great... till I realized my F150 and my wife's CRV blew them away! lol

So as I was trying LED bulbs, LED lights, etc I ordered some 90/130 Hella bulbs... THESE WORKED! lol

Thought the H4's would be great for off road but since 90% of my night driving miles are on the road and even tho I sit lower than almost all other Bronco's with 40"s... it's TOO high for the street.

That's when Wayne directed me towards the Grotes. Couldn't be happier.

 

[ntsqd]

I've a set of these Holley HL's in the cart @ Summit, but would be interested in a group buy if one happens. I'd actually like to have a set of both the 3k's and the 5.7k's to compare them by driving behind them in the '73 SBSS.

I figured out the LED fix for our '96 CTD's dismal headlights. On the advise of Lars P I added a set of Baja Designs Squadron Pros with the combo lens on them. Went thru a period where the HL's would click off, and then back on after ~150 seconds or so. Can't tell that they've done that with the Squadron's lit up so it took me a while to realize that I had a problem.

I have a set of large rectangular Hella E codes in the 4runner with Hella 55/100W bulbs in them. They're OK, but not great. This is my second set of Hella E code large rectangular HL's and I've not been nearly as impressed with them as I was with most of my round H4 lens/reflectors. Thinking that I need another set of Squadron Pro Combos for it too.

Been debating a third set of SP's for the Blanc-oh, but it's HL's seem to be almost decent if I take the time to aim them (something that has to happen with almost every new loading due to the supple Deavers).

 

[sprdv1]

Thanks for sharing.. don't hurt to have options