****Just a heads up!!!
I spoke to VLEDS and they are going to be coming out with a "newer" version with a different heat sink and 2,100 lumens / bulb at the end of the month. I will have these to do a photo review for your guys. I would suggest holding off until then, 2,100 lumens is a nice number and the output on the current ones is already awesome, the new ones should be better.
They look nice, only thing I would be concerned about over time is that little fan mounted on the back of it. If water, dust, sand, mud, get built up over time and it fails, wont this LED unit as well?
Only time will tell, but what I noticed is the fan doesn't even come on until the lights have been on for a little bit. I am thinking the new version VLEDS will be releasing might address this…
I keep mine uncovered all the time as well, but I do have the covers laying in the back. Don't think it's an offence that most cops are looking for, but as you said; if they have a reason to pull you over and you piss them off, they may tack on.
Okki
Exactly, most cops don't care and aren't out to enforce petty traffic laws, as long as you aren't being an ass and driving around with your 40,000 lumens of light bar turned on, etc.
How would a policeman know to ticket you for these lights? Wouldn't they have to pull the bulbs and reference a Toyota spec sheet to know that?
David
Some times its obvious, like the JDM import tuner crown who commonly run the purple and real blue tint headlights…. its not like a mfg. would ever put those on a vehicle. Other times its not so obvious.
I'm looking at these as well. For DOT legality, I have LED headlights in my bobbed deuce and a half and the lights do say DOT legal, or approved or something of that nature on the plastic covers. This is in VA, which has some pretty strict laws on the books when it comes to vehicles. I would ASSUME (yeah I know) that as long as the headlights were "aimed" correctly they would not present a problem.
One interesting thing that I noticed with the LEDs on the deuce is that they do not produce enough heat to keep the headlights from collecting ice when driving in bad weather in the winter, not sure if it is really an issue here, just something I thought was worth mentioning.
I am keeping these in the Hi Beam location for the time being, I only use the high beams when other traffic is not in view so there should be no problem, even if they are not DOT approved.
Never thought of that heat / ice thing…. interesting!
Not sure about 'Merica, but in Canada that varies by province. In B.C. they need to be covered but not in Alberta. I drove by lots of cops in B.C. with mine uncovered and they never stopped me, though I'm sure they would've ticketed me for it if they pulled me over for speeding or something else.
I have never had a problem with auxiliary lights on my trucks, ever… even here in Cali…. I have on the other hand been busted for window tint, tinted tail lights, and no front license plate… those are prized offenses to bust drivers for here.
Anything not DOT approved is technically illegal ... and VLED has nothing listed on their site about DOT approval that I could find.
Also aux lights that are positioned higher than the factory headlights should technically be covered up when on public roads.
Okki
Correct…. they are not DOT legal… just like most HID retrofit kits, HID upgrades, and lots of other bulbs.
Okay I have read through the thread, and just want to understand here.
This product allows me to pop out my OEM H11 bulb from the low beam, and pop in this brighter LED replacement correct? No wire changes, or ballasts or anything stupid like that? Just pop it in?
I'm pretty sure the driving lights (fogs) turn off when you have your high beams on but the low beams stay. Usually when you have separate high and low bulbs all four will be on. The reason the driving lights turn off is I think there's a law that only allows four forward facing lights to be on at once.
Yes, it is plug and play. There is a small box that you have to mount somewhere near the headlight, I would assume this is a resistor of sorts or something…. It also has a separate lead to control the fan on the back of the bulb.
I bet California cops would know right off the bat, I have some friends out there and they've told me that their cops don't play around when it comes to learning illegal modifications. Granted not all states are like commiefornia, but I wouldn't be surprised if some more educated officers are out there lurking.
With that said, the chances of getting pulled over with illegally modified high beams would probably be next to nil. I mean if you think about it, you shouldn't be driving with your high beams on in the first place, how can they see it? And well I doubt they have superhero vision to spot the LED bulb from 100 yards away while travelling at 50mph :lmao:
My thoughts exactly.
