LED Headlight Bulbs - Check em out!

[SOcalTRAIL]

I'm a big V-Leds fan so naturally when I recieved theri Labor Day 20% off coupon and flyer on their new CXA High Output Headlight bulbs, I had to pull the trigger.

I ended up ordering the 9005 version for the high beams. I have had the HIR bulbs in my high beams for 2 years now and have no complaints, but the specs on these bulbs were worth a look; 1,800 lumens per bulb, designed with headlight applications in mind, genuine Cree LED's, and only 26 Watt power draw. This is not as much light output as a HID light, but it is more than an incan bulb, and with a longer life and instant start up.


I have been out of town a lot lately so hopefully I can get these installed and some beam shots up soon.

Product link: 5K WHITE 1800LM LED HEADLIGHTS DRL FOG LIGHTS 9005 9006 H11 H7 H4 | 1 PAIR - Featured

Here are some pics of the product.

 

[WV runner]

VLEDS fan also. Haven't seen those yet, let us know how they work out. I put their H11 6K LED in my fogs and love the look. Have all the interior lights in VLEDS LEDS also. Good stuff.

 

[harper7]

I'm a big V-Leds fan so naturally when I recieved theri Labor Day 20% off coupon and flyer on their new CXA High Output Headlight bulbs, I had to pull the trigger.

I ended up ordering the 9005 version for the high beams. I have had the HIR bulbs in my high beams for 2 years now and have no complaints, but the specs on these bulbs were worth a look; 1,800 lumens per bulb, designed with headlight applications in mind, genuine Cree LED's, and only 26 Watt power draw. This is not as much light output as a HID light, but it is more than an incan bulb, and with a longer life and instant start up.


I have been out of town a lot lately so hopefully I can get these installed and some beam shots up soon.

Product link: 5K WHITE 1800LM LED HEADLIGHTS DRL FOG LIGHTS 9005 9006 H11 H7 H4 | 1 PAIR - Featured

Cool project as I'm a LED nut! Curious to see the light pattern and output compared to HID's which are 3500+ lumens each and hard to beat for output from a single bulb and a good projector.
The new Lexus LED headlights are using multiple LED's in each lens and maybe we can double them up or put them in the high beam buckets too. No need for high beams with gazzilion lumens in you other lights. I never even use my high beams as I just use my LED's.

New Lexus LED headlights....

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

I juuuuuust swapped one of my HIR bulbs out with one of the new LED ones. Its still light out so no beam shots yet, but first impressions are solid. The kit sure is nice quality thought, all the components and machining on the aluminum bulb bases is top notch.

 

[KVA]

I juuuuuust swapped one of my HIR bulbs out with one of the new LED ones. Its still light out so no beam shots yet, but first impressions are solid. The kit sure is nice quality thought, all the components and machining on the aluminum bulb bases is top notch.

Share the pics when you've got them - definitely interested in their low/high beams. Would also like 20% off lol...

 

[Go JayBee]

I am a big fan of LEDs as well....but was not convinced they would be adequate for headlamps. Looking forward to reading your review of these. I do like bright headlamps...converted some H9 bulbs to fit H11 sockets for both Low-Beams and Fog Lights. They put out the lumens all right.

 

[SigSense]

Thanks for posting, great find. When you take your pics, could you please snap a comparison; one side fitted with the OEM and the other with these new VLED's?

 

[jangoforhire]

I have the LED DRL package from V-LED's and they look very similar to what you just got. I definitely agree on the quality. Very nice stuff. Keep us posted on these bulbs!

 

[1engineer]

I juuuuuust swapped one of my HIR bulbs out with one of the new LED ones. Its still light out so no beam shots yet, but first impressions are solid. The kit sure is nice quality thought, all the components and machining on the aluminum bulb bases is top notch.

Please excuse my ignorance (@philsey...nevermind) with most things electrical but the retrofit is just plug and play? I do quite a bit of driving at night and would like a "whiter" light with a few more lumens but do not want to make major mods. Please post some pics and complete p/n's of what you purchased for both low/high beam!

 

[eddiebx]

Please excuse my ignorance (@philsey...nevermind) with most things electrical but the retrofit is just plug and play? I do quite a bit of driving at night and would like a "whiter" light with a few more lumens but do not want to make major mods. Please post some pics and complete p/n's of what you purchased for both low/high beam!

Are you looking for "whiter" aesthetically speaking (OEM xenon color), or just a brighter (and inherently a wee bit whiter)? If it's the latter, I would suggest going with an H9>H11(low) and 9011>9005(high) conversion, which is pretty simple and costs ~50 bucks if that. Alot of people here including myself this done and could not be any happier. If you're interested PM me and I'll walk you through the parts and process, don't want to clutter Shawn's thread

The package Shawn used should be 100% plug and play...VLED is pretty good about providing all appropriate connectors and what not to accomplish this. Think of that above setup just like a typical xenon bulb + ballast; pop the bulb into the reflector housing, connect the ballast to the bulb, then connect the ballast to the OE bulb connector. The only bit of "modding" you'd need to do is mounting the ballast out of the way. Just in case your were curious, the "ballast" is actually just an LED power driver that regulates the power going to the emitter to keep it happy since a bare emitter does not like to run off ~12 volt.

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

So I swapped the passenger side Hi Beam bulb out with the VLED's LED and left the Philips HIR Bulb in the drivers side.

A little info on the 9011 HIR bulbs - HIR stands for Halogen Infrared Reflective. They are a direct replacement for 9005 and 9006 bulbs and offer substantially more output while still being DOT approved. They are very very bright. For those of you wishing to get more info, see here: New Genuine Philips HIR1 (9011) & Philips HIR2 (3rdGen) (9012)

HIR Headlights 9011 9012 bulbs


That said, I forget the exact luminous output of these bulbs but something stands out in my mind as them being between 2,100-2,200 lumens each.

Now back to the LEDS...

The install was just as expected... a simple plug and play deal. The appearance is very nice when looking at how the light fills the reflector. When you look at the truck, the LED bulbs appears brighter, the light color appears slightly less than 5K, it is just slightly cooler in tint than my 4300K Philips HID headlight bulbs.

The beam pattern comes off as much more diffused with no apparent "hot spot". Also, the center of the hi beam projection is substantially higher than the hotspot of the HIR high beam bulb. I just got back from a backpacking trip through the Sierra's so I spent all last night cleaning gear, no time for pics. I hope to have some up by Friday. I think I am going to disconnect the low beam bulbs so I can isolate the output of the hi beams and get a good comparison.

 

[Madiusmax]

I was just about to make the H9>H11(low) and 9011>9005(high) switch, but now I'm glad i waited a bit longer. While a bit more expensive I love me some LEDs.

Very interested to see any comparison shots.

Thanks again for taking the time to share.

op2:

 

[eddiebx]

We need a new rule here, no post about mods without before and after pictures. As a fellow LED nerd, the suspense is killing me, lol. Hurry it up Shawn!

 

[<<<<]

I hear mixed reports from Mazda forums that LED's are weaker when compered to HID in 3000K fog light comparison.

 

[PhoRunner]

Interested in this mod a well. Originally wanted to to projector retrofit with HIDs but this mod may hold me over for now.

 

[McFly2003]

The suspense is brutal! I was just about to pull the trigger on an HID setup last night when I stopped by here and saw this. Here's to getting some pics up

 

[McFly2003]

I hear mixed reports from Mazda forums that LED's are weaker when compered to HID in 3000K fog light comparison.

The LED's will put less light out almost every time, but in an application like this its a tough call. To make the best use of HID lights, a projector is the best route. Another big thing to think about is power consumption. The LED's will draw a fraction of the power of either an HID or traditional halogen setup. For most of the folks on here, if more light is needed down range, there are aux lights to help

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Hold for massive multi-quote response.....

I was just about to make the H9>H11(low) and 9011>9005(high) switch, but now I'm glad i waited a bit longer. While a bit more expensive I love me some LEDs.

Very interested to see any comparison shots.

Thanks again for taking the time to share.

op2:

Welcome! I will get some pics up ASAP. Gotta bust out the DSLR and tripod. I'll tell ya what though, the 9011 bulbs are damned impressive. The pics will tell the true tale though.

We need a new rule here, no post about mods without before and after pictures. As a fellow LED nerd, the suspense is killing me, lol. Hurry it up Shawn!

I'm on it like stink on (***feces***).

I hear mixed reports from Mazda forums that LED's are weaker when compered to HID in 3000K fog light comparison.

Interested in this mod a well. Originally wanted to to projector retrofit with HIDs but this mod may hold me over for now.

I think a projector retrofit will accomplish a few different things like a ultra awesome radical cutoff and nice beam pattern. I'm not sure how these would interact with the low beam reflector housing in terms of beam pattern, brightness and cutoff.

The suspense is brutal! I was just about to pull the trigger on an HID setup last night when I stopped by here and saw this. Here's to getting some pics up

Hopefully tonight.

The LED's will put less light out almost every time, but in an application like this its a tough call. To make the best use of HID lights, a projector is the best route. Another big thing to think about is power consumption. The LED's will draw a fraction of the power of either an HID or traditional halogen setup. For most of the folks on here, if more light is needed down range, there are aux lights to help

Well... technically these put out more light (lumens) than a standard 55W halogen bulb. As I mentioned in another thread, the problem with the LED's is how they interact with the reflectors. The reflectors on these trucks are dialed in for the light output of the halogen bulbs and the LED is an entirely different animal. So even if you have an 1,800 lumen LED bulb and an 1,800 lumen halogen will have vastly different lux (the measured luminous emittance) measurements outside of the reflector. The LED will undoubtedly have lower LUX measurement at all distance due to the reflector not being optimized for the LED.

Also, these LED's draw 26 Watts in comparison to a standard halogen which draws 55 Watts. A standard HID draws 35 Watts.

 

[swimmerdude1127]

Can't wait to see how these work out for ya. Also lightly considering going with HIDs but would love to see if these are a good plug-and-play solution.

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Sooooo…..

Long story short, I didn't have enough time to take the photos I wanted and unplug the low beams due to some nosy women who I am pretty sure were on the phone with the police when I was taking my pictures in the parking lot at the local high school, they looked like they thought I was up to no good…. some people… ugh…. anyway, I digress.

So here they are, and I must say… I am impressed, I am going to install the other bulb tomorrow and see how both look. You can judge for yourself.

*** All photos taken with tripod mounted Canon EOS 7D w/24-105mm lens @ 24mm - F/5 - ISO 400 - 1.3 sec This closely mimicked what I observed with my eye.

PIC #1 - Philips 35 Watt 4300K HID Low Beams (both left and right)



PIC #2 - Passenger side low beam + VLED's 9005 LED High Beam (Driver's side was covered up.




PIC #3 - Driver's side low beam + Philips 9011 HIR High Beam Bulb (passenger side covered.




PIC #4 - Philips 35 Watt 4300K low beams (both) and HIR High Beam in driver's side and LED in passenger side. All on.




And for shitz and gigz - High Beams + Low Beams + Grill mounted 14,790 lumen Vision X light bar + Rack mounted 26,622 Lumen Light Bar = A metric buttload of light.