LED Projector Headlight Retrofit

[SOcalTRAIL]

I was thinking the other day about a city bus I saw that had some very clean looking, tiny projector lights for headlights, and I could have swore they were LED's. After doing a bit of research, I found them! DOT approved and perfect for a headlight retrofit, here they are:

JW Speaker Model 90

Headlights - Products - J.W. Speaker Corporation

http://www.jwspeaker.com/products/headlights/model-90-90mm-led-headlights

I have been kicking around the idea of doing a HID projector retrofit, but was hesitant just because I want to get away from using "bulb" type lighting on my rig. The LEDS are far more efficient, withstand vibration and harsh environments, and last many times longer than HID bulbs. Plus with the HID's (which I currently run) you have a ballast, ignitor, and the bulb... 3 potentials for a failure.

My dad has these LED headlights in his rubicon LINK and they are absolutely impressive. Clean cutoff and ultra bright high beam.

Anywho, I got a quote back from a JW speaker distributor and a pair of the Hi/LOw LED projectors are $502 and the single beam version is $412 - 4 week lead time. Not too bad considering all that is required to complete the project after than is a standard HID projector shroud from TheRetrofitSource.com


Thoughts???

 

[McFly2003]

I say do it! If it turns out, I'd likely follow shortly thereafter. Not that you would likely burn them out, but if a situation arises that would call for you to replace one or both, would you have to replace the entire unit, or just a diode within?

I was thinking the other day about a city bus I saw that had some very clean looking, tine projector lights for headlights, and I could have swore they were LED's. After doing a bit of research, I found them! DOT approved and perfect for a headlight retrofit, here they are:

JW Speaker Model 90

Headlights - Products - J.W. Speaker Corporation

http://www.jwspeaker.com/products/headlights/model-90-90mm-led-headlights
I say do it! My only reservation would be throw but since you'll still have halogen hi beams, that won't really be an issue. I love the look of the LED headlights. If your's turns out, I may follow shortly thereafter. Not that you would ever burn them out, but if something happens that requires a replacement, would you have to replace the whole unit, or just a part within?

I have been kicking around the idea of doing a HID projector retrofit, but was hesitant just because I want to get away from using "bulb" type lighting on my rig. The LEDS are far more efficient, withstand vibration and harsh environments, and last many times longer than HID bulbs. Plus with the HID's (which I currently run) you have a ballast, ignitor, and the bulb... 3 potentials for a failure.

My dad has these LED headlights in his rubicon LINK and they are absolutely impressive. Clean cutoff and ultra bright high beam.

Anywho, I got a quote back from a JW speaker distributor and a pair of the Hi/LOw LED projectors are $502 and the single beam version is $412 - 4 week lead time. Not too bad considering all that is required to complete the project after than is a standard HID projector shroud from TheRetrofitSource.com


Thoughts???

 

[philsey]

Interesting. I've taken the same notice of our buses. Remind me of Prius lights, color-wise. Subscribed.

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

Ok so my opinion follows.

LEDs are awesome and the tech is getting better. But what I have noticed is the LED lights don't "throw" light as far as HIDs do. I think as reflector tech gets even better (and cheaper) LED headlights will be a great retro fit.

Since you already have the HIDs in your truck, it would be cheaper just to get a projector and use your existing kit.

I have seen Jeeps with the LED headlights and have not been impressed. While looking at them they look bright but as you look from the driver seat over the hood the light output and spread is not as good.

If you want to do the LED retro and be the first, I say go for it. You might change my mind on the HID vs LED battle. But I would have to see it in person.

On a side note. For my auxiliary lights I am thinking of getting my big LED bar up top (for spread and fill) and then two HID lights on the bumper (for distance).

I will stay subscribed to see your decision.

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

I say do it! If it turns out, I'd likely follow shortly thereafter. Not that you would likely burn them out, but if a situation arises that would call for you to replace one or both, would you have to replace the entire unit, or just a diode within?

Good point you bring up, I will do a bit more research tomorrow. I think I am going to buy just one and see how they look before I dive in head first.

Ok so my opinion follows.

LEDs are awesome and the tech is getting better. But what I have noticed is the LED lights don't "throw" light as far as HIDs do. I think as reflector tech gets even better (and cheaper) LED headlights will be a great retro fit.

Since you already have the HIDs in your truck, it would be cheaper just to get a projector and use your existing kit.

I have seen Jeeps with the LED headlights and have not been impressed. While looking at them they look bright but as you look from the driver seat over the hood the light output and spread is not as good.

If you want to do the LED retro and be the first, I say go for it. You might change my mind on the HID vs LED battle. But I would have to see it in person.

On a side note. For my auxiliary lights I am thinking of getting my big LED bar up top (for spread and fill) and then two HID lights on the bumper (for distance).

I will stay subscribed to see your decision.

Its not that LED's don't throw as far as incandescent or HID, its that you hardly ever see them in a reflector that is designed for "throw" The little reflectors that we have on our LED light bars are hardly designed for throw, we achieve the throw by way of brute horse power, ie. tons of lumens. Take a look at the light bar I am running on my roof, over 27,000 lumens! That light bar is almost all 10 degree optics, designed for max throw. Compare that to the 50 watt Hid's I used to have behind my grill putting out only 5,000 lumens a piece and those would handily out throw that 27,000 lumen bar. A big, deep reflector calibrated to the unique light out put of the LED emitter will, pound for pound, out throw the equivalent wattage incan, or HID.

We are finally seeing proper reflectors for LED's! The Vision X Cannon light are a great example of this. A single 25-watt emitter throws over 1,000 feet!

The beauty of the projector is it uses a convex or fresnel lens to converge the light beam into a very exact pattern with little scatter.

I bought my dad those 7" Round Truk-Lite Jeep JK Headlight replacements for Christmas last year. I was skeptical at first, but quickly changed my mind. They have a perfect, projector -like cutoff and an intensely bright high beam. I will do my best to get a shot of em at night.


I had that exact setup on my truck at first, 2 50-watt hide in the grill and the LEDS on the rack and swapped em all out to the more powerful HID bars. I guess you could say I am an LED whore now! :bounce:

This is not a cheap experiment but I may just buy one of the lights to run on a 12v source and see how it looks before I buy 2 and cut up my precious lights.

I'll keep this thread updated, this will be interesting!

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Question... Since LEDs don't throw light well, couldn't you do sort of a reverse of how we set up most halogen lamps today? The LED faces towards the rear of the vehicle towards a reflector designed to through the light back out? I'm sure you could design it in such a way that you don't have a dead spot in the center of the pattern?

 

[eddiebx]

Question... Since LEDs don't throw light well, couldn't you do sort of a reverse of how we set up most halogen lamps today? The LED faces towards the rear of the vehicle towards a reflector designed to through the light back out? I'm sure you could design it in such a way that you don't have a dead spot in the center of the pattern?

Someone beat ya to it , check out these aux lights by PIAA, I think it's exactly what you're talking about right?

PIAA | LED Reflective Facing Technology

[MENTION=74569]SOcalTRAIL[/MENTION], as far as the pricing goes, do you mean its ~500 bucks for a "pair", as in one low beam projector and one high beam projector? And respectively, ~400 bucks for a single low beam projector?

As far as wondering if you can replaced just the diode if it burns out, wouldn't these projectors be a bit more complex than that? I figure each one has a lot more going on in there like the LED driver circuitry and all that stuff. Not so sure if these are going to be easily user serviceable...kind of like all your LED light bars and such. I dug around on their website a bit and couldn't find any warranty info, but hopefully they've got a nice warranty!

I hope you do decide to go through this and test them out, I'm willing to bet that you won't be disappointed at all...being compliant to ECE standards for the low beam and high beam position says a lot. Besides, it's not like our OE headlight's beam pattern is all that great to begin with, I couldn't image these being any worse :nod:

PS: Shawn if you have time, plz check PM, sale ends soon and it's my last question I swear, lol :cheers:

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Damn... PIAA why you steal mah money making ideas! :O

Now I want a set of those in my SW!

 

[McFly2003]

Not to get off topic, but as far as those PIAA's go, I was looking at getting a pair until I spoke with some owners about their impressions. One gentleman at I work with has a pair behind the grill of his Power Wagon and despises them. When he showed me what he meant, it was simply that the light output almost seemed useless. For as bright as they seem looking at them, looking out of the cab it looked like someone was out there with a simple surefire light. Granted, he had them mounted behind the factory grill so I wouldn't be surprised if that had a lot to do with it. What I like about them is that they don't scream "steal me!" nearly as much as the RI bars.

 

[Okki]

Overland Journal did a review of the ARB lights as well.

They had a seal issue on the submersion test, but that was with a pre-production model. In the current issue they did a follow up with the current customer version and it got good reviews with no seal issues.

Stuff, and Things: ARB Intensity LED Lights

ARB Press release:
http://www.arbusa.com/Uploads/PDF/newProductAdvice/ARB_Intensity_LED_light.pdf

Okki

 

[bimrunner]

Ok so my opinion follows.

LEDs are awesome and the tech is getting better. But what I have noticed is the LED lights don't "throw" light as far as HIDs do. I think as reflector tech gets even better (and cheaper) LED headlights will be a great retro fit.

Since you already have the HIDs in your truck, it would be cheaper just to get a projector and use your existing kit.

I have seen Jeeps with the LED headlights and have not been impressed. While looking at them they look bright but as you look from the driver seat over the hood the light output and spread is not as good.

If you want to do the LED retro and be the first, I say go for it. You might change my mind on the HID vs LED battle. But I would have to see it in person.

On a side note. For my auxiliary lights I am thinking of getting my big LED bar up top (for spread and fill) and then two HID lights on the bumper (for distance).

I will stay subscribed to see your decision.

I think it isn't that they don't throw enough light. My wife has the 2014 MDX and it throws a ton of light with LED headlights. I am interested in this option and hope you pave the way so I don't have to try it first. :naughty:

 

[adam2562]

i've started seeing these in Semi's lately. the new buses at my airport have them also. i like them! would be nice if the aftermarket ones actually have a good output/beam pattern

 

[sven]

Thoughts???

I'm thinking about doing the same thing, but am waiting for the 2014 Corolla to go on sale since it's coming with LED headlights standard and it looks like they might be projectors. I don't know if I can just buy the LED and socket from the Toyota parts counter for a retrofit on my 4Runner or if I have to buy the two Corolla headlight assemblies and scavenge the parts from them.

The press release for the 2014 4Runner stated that it's headlights will be "featuring LED lamps", but I don't know if the LED's are for the DRL's, parking lights, marker lights, or the low-beam driving lights. I doubt it's the driving lights because Toyota would have made a bigger deal about it in the press release, which stated: "The headlamps have also changed from halogen to projector beam, with both the headlamps and redesigned rear combination lamps on all 4Runner grades now featuring LED lamps." Does anyone know which part of the headlights on the 2014 4Runner are going to be LED?

Toyota | New 2014 4Runner Features Rugged Exterior Design to Match Its Authentic Off-Road Heritage