Best Upgrade for Headlights

I would like to look into that H9. If it only requires cutting a piece of plastic, I would try it when I get the time ... so which H9 bulb is best for this? Thanks

 

Even the cheapest H9 will be a significant improvement over the H11's. Stick to something basic for longer life, or you can get higher output bulbs with reduced lifespan.

Yes, you just have to remove a tab inside of the connector, and trim a little metal tab. Here is a very short video showing the modifications:

https://youtu.be/BFp-d-ZDC0E

 

It looks easy, I just ordered that same one in the video... thanks

 

If you have the time when you install them, take some before and after shots with the lights pointing at your garage or something.

 

When I first tried the H9’s I was blown away. I could see the cut off on a building about a hundred yards out and literally laughed out loud. The increased brightness from H11’s is quite large. It was like shining spotlights. That’s why I wasn’t comfortable driving around with them shining in others eyes.

H9’s don’t have a glare cap on the glass (that gray paint stuff on the tip of H11’s). With the side entry T4R projector housing… I’ve wondered what effect it has with no glare cap. It’s gotta be throwing light places it’s not supposed to go.

I’m not arguing here. H9 is a great upgrade. To each their own.

 

Huh?

Here's a quote from the Tacomaworld thread that I linked earlier:

"An H9 halogen bulb is a significant output upgrade over the standard H11. The standard 55w H11 is 1200 lumens, a 65w H9 will boost that to 2100 lumens. The mild increase in power draw is easily handled by the Tacomas headlight circuit. Light color temperature and beam pattern will be identical to the stock standard bulb, just significantly brighter. H9s are standard bulbs, they are not designed to enhance focus or extend distance projection. As a high beam bulb, the standard H9 is optimized for output, it will have a much shorter bulb life than a standard H11. While a standard H11 is rated at 1000 hours, the H9 is rated at roughly 250 hours. The H9 will mount into the Tacoma headlight assembly, however the plug will not fit without modification to the bulb. There is an internal tab on the bulb that must be shaved down to fit the plug. It only takes a couple minutes with a small knife to make it plug and play."

 

H9 bulbs are great and the best bang for the buck. However, you must remember that headlight cutoff is not the absolute upper part of the headlight beam (nor should it be). For all road-legal headlights, there is a soft pattern above the horizontal cutoff that is meant to gently illuminate reflective road signs as well as diffuse the hard edge of the hotspot (otherwise your eyes would be unable to process anything beyond the hotspot as the contrast would be too great).

As the H9 is nearly twice as bright as the stock H11 bulbs, this "uplight" will be twice as bright as well. It may be too bright to be acceptable as glare to oncoming drivers- though generally, warm halogen headlights are much less harsh than cold bluish LED glare.

 

Right.

But, the post I quoted stated that the H9 bulbs must be throwing light where it doesn't belong due to the lack of a "glare cap".

Are you saying that that is an accurate statement?

Edit:. What I'm saying is that it's not throwing light in the wrong place as stated in the post I quoted, but rather throwing more light in the same pattern.

 

I believe you are correct, but I don't know what changes with/without the glare cap. I haven't had a chance to dig into that info yet. I've moved onto OEM LED headlights anyway

 

It was definitely worth pointing out that with any brighter light source you are going to have more light above the cutoff, just like you're going to have more light below the cutoff. That's something that affects H9's, HID's, LED's, and even high output h11s.

I suppose any type of lighting is going to cause you to shine more lights into oncoming driver's eyes.

I can't wait until everything comes with OEM LEDs so that I won't have to worry about getting blinded so much on the back roads.

 

I’ve been through that TW thread up and down. Great info.

 

I should have been more specific. There is a spot I drive over some railroad tracks. A big hump. And when I go over it, the lights shine way far ahead onto the side of a building. And I was just blown away by how much brighter H9’s are over the H11. “Twice as bright” seems accurate in this case.

About the glare cap… with our “side entry” style of headlight assembly, you’re not looking at the bulb straight on from the front. So, there is actually more bulb exposed to the optics with an H9 than there would be with an H11. What affect this has, I don’t know. But I speculate that this must throw some light in places that it wouldn’t go with a glare capped H11.

Hope that makes sense.

 

Screen grab of an H11. I chose this one to illustrate my point, because I knew it was one with an even longer glare cap, presumably because it’s a high performance bulb. Why do they put an extra long glare cap on it? Maybe to restrict width of the beam a little because it’s so bright? (think oncoming traffic)

Now imagine this H11 bulb in the 4runner side entry housing. Realize how much of the bulb is covered/exposed.

Now imagine removing the glare cap (ie. H9). Won’t there be a lot more light hitting the optics?

I don’t know the answers to these questions (and I’m not arguing with anyone here- just thinking out loud). I enjoy visiting with you guys about this stuff.

 

I will add… I tried those Tungsram bulbs in the 4runner and although slightly brighter, light to the sides was less, as compared to a standard bulb with a shorter glare cap.

 

I get what you're saying. But, if Crashnburn didn't mention it in his thread, I just assume it's not an issue. If it were, it would show up in the testing.

Ok, I just googled it. It seems that the glare cap is there to reduce glare in reflector housings that do not have a built-in anti-glare shield. Here is what I found, and here are a few paragraphs explaining:


https://www.goodmoneysense.com/h11-to-h9-conversion/

"Increased Glare
The H11 bulb has a black glare cap at the tip of the bulb. The H9 does not have this cap. On cars that use reflector housings without a built-in glare shield or cap, you may be blinding oncoming drivers.

Should you have a car with reflector headlights, you may want to use brighter H11 bulbs such as the Philips X-TremeVision or Sylvania XtraVision instead. The Sylvania XtraVision for instance is rated at 1,345 lumens.

Projector headlamps are generally considered safe for doing this conversion. Since you are throwing a lot more light down the road, you may want to make sure your headlights are aimed correctly after performing the H9 low beam conversion.

You should avoid putting LED or HID bulbs on a H11 base in reflector or projector housings. LED and HID may be brighter, but when the filament or light source is not in the correct position that the headlight was designed for, there is a higher likelihood of increased glare."


So, it sounds like the cap does serve a purpose. But, it is not relevant in our projector housings.

 

I’m not saying you’re wrong… I truly don’t know.

I would agree with that IF our T4R bulbs were inserted with the tip of the bulb pointed straight forward (like almost all other vehicles with H11’s). That’s what that link you posted is assuming.

BUT we have these weird ass funky side entry bulbs. And I don’t think that website link takes that into consideration.

Optically, there’s undoubtedly a significant difference between “side entry” and “rear entry” projector housings. The T4R headlights are running the bulb filaments perpendicular to the center line of the highway as opposed to parallel (so to speak). So the glare cap is not doing what that link says it’s doing (as you suggest).

So the question remains… what does the glare cap do in the T4R? And what happens when you eliminate it? That was never really discussed by crash (or anyone else).

 

Just to add… they clearly designed the housings to perform well with a glare capped bulb. If you remove the glare cap, what happens to all that extra light?

Maybe it goes nowhere?? I’m open to that possibility! But I’m skeptical. I really want an answer to that question lol. I think Crash could answer it but he’d have to move his equipment around a bit and I’m not sure he has enough room in his garage. And he’s also not really a 4runner guy. I haven’t suggested he go on this goose chase. Tacoma guys keep him busy enough.

 

I highly doubt the 4runner is the only vehicle that has side entry projector housings.

The article does not specify anything about which way the bulbs are inserted. It states that the glare cap is to reduce glare in reflector housings that do not have glare shields.

Then it states that it is not generally an issue in projector housings, and does not specify anything about which way the bulbs need to be inserted.

 

4Runner halogen assemblies tested here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ctor-headlights.589465/page-240#post-25619503

The glare caps aren't specifically discussed, but I think he would have mentioned any pattern changes during the back-to-back testing.

 

Ok guys, so I got the H9 and made the mods. I only changed the bulb on the passenger side, and i can already see, it is brighter, and it projects a little higher. I'll do the other side tomorrow.

 

To what do you attribute it being a little higher?

 

The light shines a little higher when I look at it shining in my garage. You can also see it on my picture I posted, the right side is a tad h8gher conpared to the left, or maybe it's just brighter.

 

I might be mistaken, but I believe the cutoff is slightly lower on the left.

 

I think you’re correct. And that would become even more noticeable with H9’s.

 

Found this interesting article thought it might be an interesting topic for you all to research.
It says human eye can see better blue'ish/ white spectrum at night vs yellow'ish / amber light. (So on this topic white'ish LED provide better visibility over yellowish halogen? or even amber lights some people install?) Found few more relative articles that might be boring to the forum but something you can search. Some articles says blueish white LED will make roads safer than yellow lights. This blueish white LED also keep drivers more awake.

Here's the first article and you can take key words from this and search more if interested.
(Scotopic Vision = Night Vision | Photopic vision = Day time Vision)

https://light-measurement.com/spectral-sensitivity-of-eye/