Headlight comparison stock vs others

Additional wattage is more a concern if the harness wiring is adequate for the draw of amps. I have not seen anyone do the math.

 

Lots of good info and pics. Thanks.

One thing that is key to the effective “brightness” of a particular light source (bulb) is how well the filament (or LED) aligns with the focal point of the reflector parabola.

(Disclaimer: Due to the miles on 4x Old Guy’s grey matter, the actual wattage numbers and bulb model numbers may be slightly skewed from reality. However, the following is an account of actual events and illustrates real technology.)

I’ve had a few Honda ST1100 and ST1300 motorcycles (over 200,000 miles ridden, completed Iron Butt Association 1,000 miles in 1 day and 2,000 miles in 2 days rides). The OEM halogen bulbs where decent, but Honda wanted $$$ for replacement bulbs (one for each of two headlights). These bulbs were 50w/50w (high and low filaments were the same wattage). I presumed low used one filament, and high used both. After the sticker shock of replacing the original bulbs, I did some research and found that the hot mod was to use a standard automotive H9 bulb and cut a tab so it would fit. The replacement bulb also had a higher wattage (75w) high beam filament than the OEM bulb (this should be great). However, to my disappointment, the new, higher wattage bulbs, though much more affordable, performed worse than the OEM bulbs. Back to the drawing board.

After more research, I found an outfit that made adaptor rings that allowed the H9 bulb to be put in the housing without modifying the bulb while “maintaining focal alignment”. Hmmm. Interesting. I tried the rings and voila! Respectable, polite low beam, blazing high beam, and it only cost $!

What Honda had done with their OEM bulb was that the high beam filament (only used for high beam) was positioned exactly at the reflector’s focal point (the entire 50w of light went to one place) where the low beam filament (only used for low beam) was not at the focal point so it’s 50w of light was scattered over a much larger area (same idea as those flashlights where you twist the head to change from wide to narrow beam by moving the bulb in or out). The ring, in addition to allowing the H9 bulb to simply fit, it also re-aligned the bulb so that the high beam filament was again at the focal point of the headlight reflector.

The misalignment of the filament with the focal point of the reflector parabola could also account for the darker patches in the coverage area that some have reported. Food for thought as you pursue your ultimate lighting system.

 

Update: They're installed (without any grinding, btw) and to date, this is the happiest I've ever been after purchasing aftermarket headlight bulbs. Absolutely awesome lighting with a nice upper cut-off on the low beams which helps avoid annoying the cars in front of me.

To the OP ForRun, thanks again for this thread. If you're ever in Montreal, I'll gladly throw a beer down your gullet!!!

 

So they are just plug and play? I didn't want to grind them down, but if this doesn't have to be done then I may pull the trigger.

 

Low & high beams took me a total of about 10 minutes, absolutely no grinding. So either they changed the housing or I didn't put mine in properly. I'm paranoid about making sure that base-type of bulb is in there securely, so I doubt I screwed anything up

 

Would you mind posting links to what you ordered. There seems like numerous options and I don't want to pick the wrong things.

Thanks!

 

Outfit's called Headlight Revolution

 

Thanks for the fast response. Greatly appreciated!

 

Update OP. I bought the Anzos and never did a comparison pic. Anzo ships them with an A7 halogen, never looked into an upgrade because the output driving is decent... I like them but being a headlight junky, I ordered retrofits with the BiLed 2 projectors....should be delivered this coming week.






Here's what the Anzos look like

 

I'm not trying to one up you, there are some deals out there.

 

Took some before photos last night in preparation for installing the H9s in the low beams & the SS3 Sport fog lights.

I will post photos of before & after when done.

 

Here’s a quick analysis.
The OEM H11 55 Watt bulb is drawing about 4.6A, (i.e., 55W/12V). The 65 Watt H9 bulb draws about 5.4A, an additional 0.8 Amps flowing through the wires and connector pins. The 14 AWG wiring is rated for at least 24A. Toyota has de-rated the wiring and connector interfaces by a factor of about 5x to account for worst cases. The additional 0.8A is not going to melt any wiring or properly installed connectors.

The lens material itself is most likely polycarbonate which has a glass transition temperature of 147C. At that temperature the lens gets rubbery and would start to slump. I have never heard of anyone having this happen. I’ve measured the external temperature of the lens material with a hand held infrared device after 5 minutes and I got 50C. No problemo.

You may have heard of one Camry user who “melted” his headlight connector. But only one. I suspected he made a poor connection with that connector when he plugged it in.

 

Do you think the bulb base hitting temps of 200°F+ could cause any problems? My concern is on a road trip where you’re driving on a warm summer night with headlights on for 4 hours.

 

Nope. Consider that the bulb is inserted into a metal housing which conducts heat away. The metal also radiates heat away. As you’re driving the air flow moves heat by convection. This counteracts the bulb heat, engine heat and solar heat, otherwise there would be thousands of stories out there about disfigured headlights. Maybe if you parked facing the sun in 130F air temp in Death Valley with headlights on with engine running, very close to a roaring campfire you could get close to 297F at the surface of the lens and get it to start to melt. But you’d probably also damage the paint and plastic front end of your 4Runner. People have been making this mod for at least 15 years, as I’ve seen it discussed in other auto forums from the early 2000s. Haven’t seen any melting stories.
I’ve had mine modified for almost two years, made several hot trips from CA to AZ, headlights on for 4-5 hours. No headlight damage, but lots of bug splatters.

 

I think my hunt for headlights is over.
Kustom54 fitted with Morimoto Bi-LED: M-LED 2 projectors. If you can bake a headlight you can put these in the oem housing. I can't that's why I bought some.

 

I'm installing these tomorrow

 

Can you take a picture of the "dummy light" in the high beam reflector housing? Does it still perform DRL duties?

 

The headlight has a stock bulb where the high beam goes, no wires go to the bulb and covered with a rubber boot. With his headlights you need to disable the DRL or get his(the white led strip). I'm thinking I may put in a dedicated DRL bulb and just run a dash switch to it

 

Is the point of baking the headlights so you can crack them open?

 

Yep, it softens the permaseal/butyl rubber.

 

Interesting. One thing that I suspect is that the factory DRL is better at shining light further than an LED strip, because it's using the giant factory reflector. Around town this isn't much of an issue, but on long 2 lane highways the factory DRL could be visible further out. Sort of a moot point with them painted black though.

 

LED’s luminance can be hard to detect during the daylight. If you’ve ever replaced side marker, parking, or blinker lights with LED’s you can see what I’m talking about. They just don’t show up like their halogen counterparts during the day.

 

There have been many times while preparing to pass a semi on a two-lane when I pulled back because I saw an oncoming car’s DRLs in the distance. They do help.

 

I updated the OP with Morimoto projector retrofits and Alpharex nova. Also expanded explanations of each headlight or bulb

 

Good to know, but I went on the site mentioned by the OP. Next time *wink*

 

Does anyone have a link to the Phillips H11 OEMs?
the ones I bought from Amazon said they worked in my car, but the plug on the bulb was different.

 

Check and make sure you're replacing the low beam bulbs and not the high beams. The low beams are behind a dust cap (about 2.5" threaded plastic plug).

 

Just watched a how to video and I believe you are right.
thank you so much!

 

Also, don’t blindly trust the Amazon parts matcher thing. It’s often incorrect.

 

So got a 21 runner as a loaner and finally able to toss OEM led into the mix. My take, Not as good as the Kustom54 BiLed but not bad either.
Note#. This is a stock brand new runner and can't vouch it is aligned properly but assume the factory did that for us.
Only down side I see to OEM? that dark spot..egad's they could have done better with the cutoff but not a deal breaker. I got over it in a short time.