KC or PIAA light upgrade for retro look...

[nvrstuk]

Well, I can't find any old skool 7" with an led upgrade headlights that work any better than my Euro code Hella's with 100W H4's. Maybe they are out there but I don't want to spend $400 + on a couple lights... so, my question...

I won't go with an "Alien" halo style... don't like the look.

Has anybody bought KC's, PIAA's, old Hella's in a 6" round reflector and upgraded the bulb with LED's and have an excellent beam pattern?

 

[spap]

I have bought Hellas 7 inch round old school looking and swapped in HiD s
I know not led, but couldn’t get an led bulb to put out the right pattern the hid s did
I agree with you I like the older look

 

[nvrstuk]

I know you can't just stuff an led bulb in & expect the beam pattern to be perfect... but has anybody succeeded in doing this?

I've got a lead on a set of Hella's... keep the 100W halogen bulbs or ??

I'll try contacting Hella and see what they say??

 

[DirtDonk]

Good luck. Let us know if you get any kind of a response from them. And if you do, please also post up the contact info.

Thanks!

Paul

 

[nvrstuk]

spap... how'd it turn out? I mean, do you have a 500' long alley or driveway with something at the end that you can now LIGHT UP like daylight with the retrofitted Hellas but your headlights cant touch??

Guess that's what I'm looking for... Ferrari expectations on a Kia budget... lol

Just seems hard to spend 500 bucks on a couple lights when I used to buy Wagner replacement headlights all the time for .99 at the parts store... old guy is in sticker shock! lol

I know, night and day difference...literally but $$

 

[spap]

Let me if I can get some pics they are plastic and I had to heat up the back of the case and push in with the butt of a screwdriver to make the pocket deeper . I have the regular hella H4 s for the main headlights 55/100 .
I’m cheap and I had the HID laying around

 

[nvrstuk]

Sounds like a cool conversion/upgrade. If I could buy a 200W halogen and keep the housing from melting...lol

Just want some major light at night... we have as many deer wandering around our place as moths around a porch light in August... 12 of the little buggars coming out of our barn yesterday as I forgot to shut the sliders to the hay storage.

These guys are fun to have clunking around on your wooden porch at night - that happened 2 weeks ago!

 

[.94 OR]

What kind of pattern are you looking for at the 500' line?

I used to have some pencil beams on my Baja years ago and they would light up reflectors at 2 miles but were lousy at seeing anything beyond the width of the vehicle. Upgraded to some 9" round narrow beams and they had some peripheral but still not enough as it took too long to travel 2 miles to see what I was looking at.

Seeing as how I drive in the woods in the dark for work, something with more of a Euro pattern is what I would look for so you have lateral light a short distance out in front of the vehicle plus more longer range illumination.

I haven't found what I'd be willing to spend money on yet either. My Bronco has some old KC type chrome lights with a 5 3/4" headlight in it so I have a hi/lo driving light but they obviously don't shoot any further than the headlights but add more fill as I angle them out slightly.

 

[nvrstuk]

Since you're asking... I'd like to have great peripheral vision up to 500'.. I used to run lights on my cage at about 15% angled for seeing trail cutoffs for TeamTrophyChallenge day/night competitions and now for deer.

I used to run Bi-Oscars. Pencil beam combined with an excellent peripheral light.

I run 100w Euro headlts now and I would like something with 2-3x the coverage and distance.

Am I dreaming? Hope not...

 

[gnpenning]

Have you by chance looked at lazer lights? Not what you are asking about other than distance.

 

[nvrstuk]

They have the "pin point" spot reaching out a couple thousand feet right? Yes...

 

[Jdgephar]

I honestly dont think you'll find anything better for the headlights than tbe 100W H4s you have now. I've tried cheap LED bulb replacements, but they dont last, and dont light up the road as well in my opinion.

I do have an old school pair of something like 5.5" KC daylighters in pencil beam at about 150w each. I think its a wagner 4049 bulb. Those things throw some light out there!

I think something like that combined with your H4s would be good.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

 

[nvrstuk]

Hella has some 130/90W bulbs

Phillips has some new bulbs that sound good but no wattage #'s....

Here's a chart from Hella.

Hella bulbs in Hella ecode lenses should matchup for good pattern.

 

[DirtDonk]

Agree. As much as I like to see out to even greater distances too, I found that for the driving of the Bronco the 55/100's in Hella or Cibié housings work extremely well both up close and at a very reasonable distance.
On low beam they put out an amazing amount of light in front of the vehicle and to the right side where you can really use it. And on high are virtually as good as many driving lights. With more usable light nearer to the vehicle and to the sides than most of them.

I know modern lights "could" do a better job, but they don't seem to get it quite right most of the time.
Be nice if someone could do a test of all available LED H4's (or at least half of them!) in particular housings to see which ones actually have a good position and reasonable focus.

Paul

 

[nvrstuk]

I will attach some comparison pics of headlights from my Hella 50/100W in my Bronco, my '18 F150, my wife's CRV.

1st pic Bronco w/LED

2nd pic '18 F150

3rd pic '18 CRV

This is part of my driveway. Level spot. Fence is 20' to the right, bushes at the end (corner to my bridge) are about 750'. You can see that I stopped close to the same spot but not exactly. I will mark the exact spot next time. I was so bummed out that the LED lights didn't do well I wasn't as concerned about having all 3 rigs being within 10'.

 

[gnpenning]

They have the "pin point" spot reaching out a couple thousand feet right? Yes...

Yes. Thought you may run with someone that has them.

Thanks for the comparisons.

 

[nvrstuk]

I had another set of led's to test but I would have had to cut/trim the hole in the back of the hdlt housing to make them fit... they were marginally "stock" looking.

 

[nvrstuk]

I tried some led's, I put 90/130W Hella bulbs in my Hella Euro Code lights (worked good in one headlight... don't ask why I couldn't try the bulbs in both of them! but I didn't like anything compared to these.

Here is a link to what I think is the best OE look bulb but an led that has a great beam pattern and doesn't break the bank. I got these with a 20% off coupon also.

I put this upgrade on my build thread but linked it. Scroll down to post #552 I think.
https://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=278607&page=37

Thanks Wayne for the tip.