LED HEADLIGHT BULBS

[AvockAdoo]

The amount of anxiety about this just tells me you don't know what you're talking about.

There surely are LEDs made for reflector housings, dude. Give me a break.

I don't have to worry about it anymore with my Lariat, but when I had my XLT, I would take the LEDs and be able to see better at night every single time over the much worse halogens.

And no one ever flashed me in two years.

Sorry you seem to have some kind of hang-up on LEDs or something, but use smart people will take their safety over your unsubstantiated fears every time.

Sounds good buddy - we can just call it an impasse, but I do encourage you to do some of your own research.

I'm a huge proponent of LEDS, thats why I ponied up & spend the money on the Lariat LED Swap. I can see fantastic, and I know that I'm not blinding other drivers.

Do some googling, even just about how the physics of light works, and why LED & Halogen act so much differently. There's a reason its not legal to do it, and its because the LED light doesn't bounce correctly within the Halogen housing, and blinds oncoming traffic (especially in harsh conditions)

I'm out on this argument, its pretty tough to argue with someone who's got absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

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[ArchitectThom]

Sounds good buddy - we can just call it an impasse, but I do encourage you to do some of your own research.

I'm a huge proponent of LEDS, thats why I ponied up & spend the money on the Lariat LED Swap. I can see fantastic, and I know that I'm not blinding other drivers.

Do some googling, even just about how the physics of light works, and why LED & Halogen act so much differently. There's a reason its not legal to do it, and its because the LED light doesn't bounce correctly within the Halogen housing, and blinds oncoming traffic (especially in harsh conditions)

I'm out on this argument, its pretty tough to argue with someone who's got absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

I'm an Architect, my man. I work with light all the time. I actually took lighting courses in college. And bouncing light in a reflector means nothing. Position the LED bulb correctly in the housing and it reflects just like a halogen. Light is light, my man. The only thing that really matters is intensity and color. Whiter light shows better detail than yellowish light. Thus why you would want 5000k to 6000k light ideally in your headlights. It allows for the best detail on the road to be shown. Which is also why you DON'T want 5000k lighting in your home. You want "soft white" or about 2700k to 3000k light in your home as it softens details and makes human skin tones look better. Put a 3000k LED bulb in your fixture over your vanity mirror and then put a 5000k bulb in and you can see which one makes you look better.

I know you wish you could have all people who run LEDs in their headlights stopped and arrested, but the truth is, nobody cares. Even the articles you brought up there say just that. Nobody really cares. Cops certainly don't care. In fact, I would venture to guess cops would rather you have brighter, whiter headlights. It helps you see them and pedestrians much easier.

But you can sulk if you want, though. I won't stop you.

 

[AvockAdoo]

I'm an Architect, my man. I work with light all the time. I actually took lighting courses in college. And bouncing light in a reflector means nothing. Position the LED bulb correctly in the housing and it reflects just like a halogen. Light is light, my man. The only thing that really matters is intensity and color. Whiter light shows better detail than yellowish light. Thus why you would want 5000k to 6000k light ideally in your headlights. It allows for the best detail on the road to be shown. Which is also why you DON'T want 5000k lighting in your home. You want "soft white" or about 2700k to 3000k light in your home as it softens details and makes human skin tones look better. Put a 3000k LED bulb in your fixture over your vanity mirror and then put a 5000k bulb in and you can see which one makes you look better.

I know you wish you could have all people who run LEDs in their headlights stopped and arrested, but the truth is, nobody cares. Even the articles you brought up there say just that. Nobody really cares. Cops certainly don't care. In fact, I would venture to guess cops would rather you have brighter, whiter headlights. It helps you see them and pedestrians much easier.

But you can sulk if you want, though. I won't stop you.

It’s really to each their own, I’m not policing anyone, just stating factual information on a forum.

Architect. Haha. I have to deal with you people all day. I won’t belittle your profession, but the architect vs. engineer battle is REAL. You know how to make things look pretty, that’s for sure. As far as functional, and proper..hahaha!!

All in good fun though, you do you, I’ll do me.

 

[Glocker]

All the carrying on about the lightbulbs being illegal, and this was in one of the articles...
(From Motortrend - pay attention the the bolded, italicized, underlined part.)

Aftermarket LED Lights
Yes, LED replacements are available via the aftermarket. Installing them is technically modifying your headlights and not allowed by national law through FMVSS. Yes, you only changed the bulb, but the headlamp no longer conforms to factory—i.e. legal—specs.. The reflector and lens of American vehicles' headlights are designed to work with those halogens, which is why using an LED replacement bulb is both illegal and typically results in crappier lighting than the OEM units.
Before you suggest changing over to an OEM LED housing, that's potentially illegal as well. If it doesn't have DOT or SAE markings on the part, that would also be considered an illegal modification according to FMVSS. However, it's also federally illegal to swap an LS7 into your Mazda MX-5 but federal law really hasn't stopped that from happening. Sort of.

That being said, does anybody have a good source as to the proper way to aim/adjust headlights? I am lifted roughly 3' to 3.5" up front, I have a set of these Auxito bulbs, and I want to make sure I'm at least aimed correctly as a courtesy to other drivers.

 

[philanderer]

all out of popcorn. heading back to the kitchen for more. i tend to overdo things so wish me luck

 

[SigOris]

It’s really to each their own, I’m not policing anyone, just stating factual information on a forum.

Architect. Haha. I have to deal with you people all day. I won’t belittle your profession, but the architect vs. engineer battle is REAL. You know how to make things look pretty, that’s for sure. As far as functional, and proper..hahaha!!

All in good fun though, you do you, I’ll do me.

“ I'm out on this argument, its pretty tough to argue with someone who's got absolutely no idea what they're talking about. “ ?????? ???

 

[NotBudule]

If your getting flashed more than once or twice, then you might need an adjustment, remember , the blinded old guy might "go to the light" by default , but his face should be well lit right before impact if you have a dash cam...

 

[XLT and me]

I'm an Architect, my man. I work with light all the time. I actually took lighting courses in college. And bouncing light in a reflector means nothing. Position the LED bulb correctly in the housing and it reflects just like a halogen. Light is light, my man. The only thing that really matters is intensity and color. Whiter light shows better detail than yellowish light. Thus why you would want 5000k to 6000k light ideally in your headlights. It allows for the best detail on the road to be shown. Which is also why you DON'T want 5000k lighting in your home. You want "soft white" or about 2700k to 3000k light in your home as it softens details and makes human skin tones look better. Put a 3000k LED bulb in your fixture over your vanity mirror and then put a 5000k bulb in and you can see which one makes you look better.

I know you wish you could have all people who run LEDs in their headlights stopped and arrested, but the truth is, nobody cares. Even the articles you brought up there say just that. Nobody really cares. Cops certainly don't care. In fact, I would venture to guess cops would rather you have brighter, whiter headlights. It helps you see them and pedestrians much easier.

But you can sulk if you want, though. I won't stop you.

Maybe if your eyesight is that bad you struggle to see with modern headlights you could give the rest of us a break and not drive at night. All these shitty halo to led conversions do is blind others, period. Why don't you just get a big ol' led light bar and drive around with it on?

 

[philanderer]

Maybe if your eyesight is that bad you struggle to see with modern headlights you could give the rest of us a break and not drive at night. All these shitty halo to led conversions do is blind others, period. Why don't you just get a big ol' led light bar and drive around with it on?

yes! had em on my raptor. only used em when driving on the highway at night, and turned them and the highs off when approaching traffic came along. they would blind the shit outa ya!

 

[WolfgangVTS]

All I know is my personal experiences from having the drop in LEDs in my lows, which is why I removed them. I have also been on the receiving end of the same drop in LEDs in other vehicles. It can be a blinding experience. Again, why I no longer run LEDs in my lows. I do it as a common courtesy to other drivers. If the Ranger came with projector style lenses then fine, I’d run them, but it doesn’t. Now that being said they do make led reflector lenses. GTR Carbide is a great example of this. But if you look closely at the lens you can see that the led fires in a downward direction into the reflector instead of outward 360 degrees like a halogen bulb. Even the shape of the led reflector “bowl” is different. It’s essentially half a normal reflector:

I have seen many led reflector designs just like this. Quite simply the Ranger reflector lens is not designed for led bulbs. But I’m not here to tell people what they can and cannot do with their own vehicle. I just thought I’d share why I don’t use LEDs in my Ranger low beams.

 

[WolfgangVTS]

All the carrying on about the lightbulbs being illegal, and this was in one of the articles...
(From Motortrend - pay attention the the bolded, italicized, underlined part.)


That being said, does anybody have a good source as to the proper way to aim/adjust headlights? I am lifted roughly 3' to 3.5" up front, I have a set of these Auxito bulbs, and I want to make sure I'm at least aimed correctly as a courtesy to other drivers.

Here. This should help:

 

[ArchitectThom]

Maybe if your eyesight is that bad you struggle to see with modern headlights you could give the rest of us a break and not drive at night. All these shitty halo to led conversions do is blind others, period. Why don't you just get a big ol' led light bar and drive around with it on?

I have 20/20 vision, my friend. But that doesn't mean I should drive around with shittier headlights that don't show as much detail. I guess I'll leave that to you. Just don't do any driving anywhere in my neighborhood. Thanks.

 

[ArchitectThom]

It’s really to each their own, I’m not policing anyone, just stating factual information on a forum.

Architect. Haha. I have to deal with you people all day. I won’t belittle your profession, but the architect vs. engineer battle is REAL. You know how to make things look pretty, that’s for sure. As far as functional, and proper..hahaha!!

All in good fun though, you do you, I’ll do me.

I should've figured you were an Engineer.

Us Architects make the world look good.

You Engineers make it work.

 

[Big Blue]

I have 20/20 vision, my friend. But that doesn't mean I should drive around with shittier headlights that don't show as much detail. I guess I'll leave that to you. Just don't do any driving anywhere in my neighborhood. Thanks.

You may see fine and make things look good. But there is not a drop in LED bulb made that exactly matches the location and light emissions of a halogen filement, which is what the reflectors in our truck is designed for. They can come close but never match. So unless a housing is specifically designed to use LED bulbs the will ALWAYS be stray light scatter. The other issue with drop in LEDs is most people think brighter is better so they put in way too bright of bulbs, which just over power, yes that is a thing, the reflectors and compound the light scatter.

So, just stick to designing your pretty buildings and leave the automotive headlight design to the engineers.

 

[ArchitectThom]

You may see fine and make things look good. But there is not a drop in LED bulb made that exactly matches the location and light emissions of a halogen filement, which is what the reflectors in our truck is designed for. They can come close but never match. So unless a housing is specifically designed to use LED bulbs the will ALWAYS be stray light scatter. The other issue with drop in LEDs is most people think brighter is better so they put in way too bright of bulbs, which just over power, yes that is a thing, the reflectors and compound the light scatter.

So, just stick to designing your pretty buildings and leave the automotive headlight design to the engineers.

Never thought at all that the LED bulbs could actually be designed for the reflector housings, though, huh?

Didn't think so.

Know how I know my headlights weren't overpowering while driving on the road? Because I turned them on and stood way out in front of the truck. Yes, they were bright, but not any more glaring or overpowering than any other nice white headlights on the road.

It's pretty easy to figure out, bud.

Sorry you can't drive at night very well, but most of us out here don't really have that problem. I will keep my nice bright headlights that allow me to see really well at night so that I don't run over you while you're walking your dog along the side of the road at 9 pm.

You can thank me later.

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