Safe aftermarket LED headlight bulb info, finds and discussion

[danbfree]

so in a word yes, i like them.

TL;DR

so im not happy with the 2stroke 2.0. they are better then the factory halogen in just about every measurable way, but something isnt quite right.

pros
theyre small. easily fit in the housings with no modding. ive made them fit with the factory dust covers, the wire slightly pushes against it.
the bulbs also throw light much wider then the halogens. its wider, farther down range as well.
color temp (imo). on dry nights theyre obviously bluer vs hids, but on the rainy night that i did the initial install, i swore they were the same color as my mustang.
brighter then the factory halogens, when you can use the light.

cons
the hot spot isnt as focused, and "pokes" above the general light cutoff, when compared with the halogen. to compensate ive aimed the lights down a little, so the hot spot is level with the cutoff of the halogens (~2 inches at 25 feet). the effect is that the range of the light, on road, is about the same as with the halogens.
the beam pattern is more scattered. not just in the hot spot, but you can see the reflections on the road (which ultimately reduces the usable light imo).
obviously cost

im not happy with them, especially at $120. i plan to order the HIKARI Ultra and techmax led bulbs to see if i like them more, or if my complaints seem to be an led thing.

You gotta post some pics man, so we can see! But seriously, they have been shown to have a near perfect cutoff in actual testing but I'm thinking it's because they are just a touch too bright for our housing and start scattering... It looks like that our housing just sucks so hard that if you put any decently bright bulbs in then at a certain point you are going to get an almost diamond pattern or kaleidoscope effect from too much light for the housing to handle... Since all the other LED's are over 6000k anyway, I say stick to the TechMax if you want the cleanest output, at 4100 lux, they don't have the scatter brighter ones do and you sacrifice nothing in paying more for the Hikari (same exact performance as Morimoto in blue) or Nineo (possibly going to be too bright)... In fact, I now have the MaxGTRS and MaxTech sitting around as spares as even though they are slightly cleaner output, I strongly prefer the whiter Morimoto's color... But thinking about it more as I've typed this, I'm even more certain that any sets above 4100 lux or so, as shown on the BulbFacts chart, is going to start having that diamond/kaleidoscope/scatter from being too bright.

When you say you can see the reflections on the road, that is the housing, period, ANY bulb will have this to an extent, the brighter they are, the more it will show.

Tl;DR - I think the Morimoto might be borderline a touch too bright for our housings, I think the MaxTech are the ones you will like best, all cost aside.

Now... not sure if I've brought this up on this thread, but for those who are interested in the Euro projectors but don't want to pay $650+, there are very decent TYC aftermarket ones for about $315 shipped for the pair. They will immediately solve the reflector issues for sure!

They are the ones for about $125 each HERE.

 

[danbfree]

Please don't throw a 100 watt high beam bulb in. Not only are you going to blind somebody unless you're always perfect about cutting your high beams off. You also stand a chance of melting your wiring harness, and damaging the assembly.

Even at 55w you better have high beam awareness, so that much is a non-issue but absolutely agree that 100w is going to be pushing it big-time as far as heat, I'm not going to go for more than the Sylvania... and that's because I don't use high beams enough to worry about bulb life anyway. Because of how they are oriented/aimed, just about ANY LED would work fine there if they could fit but also would need a bit of wiring work they way they connect. I believe someone has done this on the FB groups but I don't know enough to tell how they did it and to me it's just not worth it.

 

[jfv302]

You gotta post some pics man, so we can see! But seriously, they have been shown to have a near perfect cutoff in actual testing but I'm thinking it's because they are just a touch too bright for our housing and start scattering... It looks like that our housing just sucks so hard that if you put any decently bright bulbs in then at a certain point you are going to get an almost diamond pattern or kaleidoscope effect from too much light for the housing to handle... Since all the other LED's are over 6000k anyway, I say stick to the TechMax if you want the cleanest output, at 4100 lux, they don't have the scatter brighter ones do and you sacrifice nothing in paying more for the Hikari (same exact performance as Morimoto in blue) or Nineo (possibly going to be too bright)... In fact, I now have the MaxGTRS and MaxTech sitting around as spares as even though they are slightly cleaner output, I strongly prefer the whiter Morimoto's color... But thinking about it more as I've typed this, I'm even more certain that any sets above 4100 lux or so, as shown on the BulbFacts chart, is going to start having that diamond/kaleidoscope/scatter from being too bright.

When you say you can see the reflections on the road, that is the housing, period, ANY bulb will have this to an extent, the brighter they are, the more it will show.

Tl;DR - I think the Morimoto might be borderline a touch too bright for our housings, I think the MaxTech are the ones you will like best, all cost aside.

Now... not sure if I've brought this up on this thread, but for those who are interested in the Euro projectors but don't want to pay $650+, there are very decent TYC aftermarket ones for about $315 shipped for the pair. They will immediately solve the reflector issues for sure!

They are the ones for about $125 each HERE.

so i tried posting pics of the cutoff and couldnt figure it out. i still need to get general pics of the bulbs tho. most of my issues cant be seen from 25 feet

i ordered the techmax and hikari. ill return the one i dont go with, or both if i like the morimotos more.

just a note on the tyc housings, it says allow 30 days for handling

 

[danbfree]

so i tried posting pics of the cutoff and couldnt figure it out. i still need to get general pics of the bulbs tho. most of my issues cant be seen from 25 feet

i ordered the techmax and hikari. ill return the one i dont go with, or both if i like the morimotos more.

just a note on the tyc housings, it says allow 30 days for handling

Yeah, it really depends if you use your phone or a computer for the forum to start with and if you upload the pic from your phone to your PC or a photo service, blah, blah, I know it can be a pain. I think the easiest way is to upload phone pics to Google Photo's or Imgur and download to your computer from there, let me know your setup and I can help further...

Anyway, I have a feeling that you'll like the TechMax better as they will likely have a cleaner look, but also the Hikaris are great and were the best for a longtime until others came around, also don't forget the Nineo or did you already try those?

But indeed those aftermarket Euro's do take a while to ship, absolutely, I definitely wouldn't order those for replacements after a collision when you need to get your car back on the road, but for the price I'd gladly wait if they are just for an upgrade.

 

[LanT5]

Yeah, it really depends if you use your phone or a computer for the forum to start with and if you upload the pic from your phone to your PC or a photo service, blah, blah, I know it can be a pain. I think the easiest way is to upload phone pics to Google Photo's or Imgur and download to your computer from there, let me know your setup and I can help further...

Anyway, I have a feeling that you'll like the TechMax better as they will likely have a cleaner look, but also the Hikaris are great and were the best for a longtime until others came around, also don't forget the Nineo or did you already try those?

But indeed those aftermarket Euro's do take a while to ship, absolutely, I definitely wouldn't order those for replacements after a collision when you need to get your car back on the road, but for the price I'd gladly wait if they are just for an upgrade.

Looking at the link for the Euro headlight assemblies it appears they are all right-hand drive configurations so the beam pattern isn't going to be correct for left-hand drive, or did I not read the specs correctly?

 

[danbfree]

Looking at the link for the Euro headlight assemblies it appears they are all right-hand drive configurations so the beam pattern isn't going to be correct for left-hand drive, or did I not read the specs correctly?

Yep, you are reading it wrong, right hand traffic is the opposite of right hand drive.

But the cutoff would still be different than DOT standard too but no one would care


My concern is that I'd have to get H7 LED's after I've got all these extra H11 laying around now, but at least I could sell them to help fund the new housings and throw in whatever I can find until they arrive.

 

[LanT5]

Yep, you are reading it wrong, right hand traffic is the opposite of right hand drive.

My concern is that I'd have to get H7 LED's after I've got all these extra H11 laying around now, but at least I could sell them to help fund the new housings and throw in whatever I can find until they arrive.

Going to blame my middle-aged eyes

I've actually been pleased with the TechMax bulbs. I have tried most of the ones mentioned in this thread as well as a few others and they are the first to produce a good cutoff and pattern. Do wish the color temp wasn't as blue. I'd be interested to hear how the switch to projectors works out. I take the plunge but I'm going to be ordering a Woosh V2 FMIC, have a set of the elusive Konig Dekagram 16X8's (bronze) on order and am watching the Woosh big brake kit thread. Spring is coming and I plan on more track days at UMC.

 

[danbfree]

Going to blame my middle-aged eyes

I've actually been pleased with the TechMax bulbs. I have tried most pf the ones mentioned in this thread as well as a few others and the are the first to produce a good cutoff and pattern. Do wish the color temp wasn't as blue.

Me too, actually. Since it appears our housing are SO sensitive to bulbs that are too bright, I would have to recommend the TechMax above all else for our cars, all cost aside... The Nineo don't cost much more at all but the TechMax at 4100 lux appear cleaner than the Morimoto at 4350 lux, so the Nineo at over 4800 I'm sure would be a kaleidoscope, just not as bad as the DeAuto I tried that are over 7000 lux... I posted a pic of those a while back, what I need to do is get a street shot of each I've tried and put them all in one post for people to compare.

 

[danbfree]

These are the switchbacks I've got:

https://www.diodedynamics.com/3157-hp24-switchback-dual-color-led.html

I think they used to offer them in different color temps but by the time I ordered them they only offered 6000k. They should all be the same brightness no matter when they were made. I'll get you a pic of the front of the car when I get off work.

Yes, I trimmed the inner ring off around where the bulbs sits. The passenger side is a few mm tighter than the driver's so I had to keep shaving until the bulb fit. The plastic is somewhat soft so it wasn't too difficult to do. I'm probably going to modify the stock protective caps to allow for airflow, right now I've got them off completely.

Edit: here's a picture of the lights and switchbacks together

First, do you have a shot of the street output with your Nineo? I'm trying to see how clean they look compared to the others as they are pushing the brightness and wondering if you get much kaleidoscope effect... also, are "swithcbacks" just the front markers as in the pic I removed for space purposes? Thanks for your help!

 

[danbfree]

OK, couple of quick updates: First, Bulbfacts has added bulb dimensions and temperature after some feedback from me. Interesting to see other than the TechMax, the other 4 of the top 5 Amazon sets are all short and wide and run cool enough to use the rear covers if you want. Front page main post updated... Secondly, I got a $10 set from AliExpress in, they are supposedly 4300k for my fog lights but after installing last night, they still look pretty blue so I'm fairly disappointed. I think I might just go for full on 2700k yellow LED's at this point and maybe rip of the yellow Lamin-X on the fog covers.

Also, after all this talk about the Morimoto, I fully agree that they are not worth $120, in any way, when the TechMax seems to work better for less than $35. I'm not going to recommend them at this point because of cost and how they perform in our housings.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

OK, couple of quick updates: First, Bulbfacts has added bulb dimensions and temperature after some feedback from me. Interesting to see other than the TechMax, the other 4 of the top 5 Amazon sets are all short and wide and run cool enough to use the rear covers if you want. Front page main post updated... Secondly, I got a $10 set from AliExpress in, they are supposedly 4300k for my fog lights but after installing last night, they still look pretty blue so I'm fairly disappointed. I think I might just go for full on 2700k yellow LED's at this point and maybe rip of the yellow Lamin-X on the fog covers.

Also, after all this talk about the Morimoto, I fully agree that they are not worth $120, in any way, when the TechMax seems to work better for less than $35. I'm not going to recommend them at this point because of cost and how they perform in our housings.

Good to know!

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk

 

[jfv302]

Yeah, it really depends if you use your phone or a computer for the forum to start with and if you upload the pic from your phone to your PC or a photo service, blah, blah, I know it can be a pain. I think the easiest way is to upload phone pics to Google Photo's or Imgur and download to your computer from there, let me know your setup and I can help further...

Anyway, I have a feeling that you'll like the TechMax better as they will likely have a cleaner look, but also the Hikaris are great and were the best for a longtime until others came around, also don't forget the Nineo or did you already try those?

its a custom rig. nothing super special. i usually use chrome. firefox when chrome has issues.

i haven't tried them, but have seen that they require trimming which i dont want to do. which is why i wanted the 2strokes to work. tiny and require no trimming.

 

[danbfree]

its a custom rig. nothing super special. i usually use chrome. firefox when chrome has issues.

i haven't tried them, but have seen that they require trimming which i dont want to do. which is why i wanted the 2strokes to work. tiny and require no trimming.

Sorry, meant are you using an iPhone or Android to take the pics, but either way, since you do use PC a lot like me I'd use Imgur or Google Photo's to upload to first then they are easy to attach here...

And indeed, for the price the Morimoto just aren't that great, but mainly because of our ghetto housing, so might as well stay with ghetto priced bulbs that work well with them, heh... Was it you who mentioned the switchback for markers or blinkers? I'm trying to figure out how that works, I LOVE having nice and bright LED's for my reverse lights and trunk and am looking at doing more for other locations...

 

[jfv302]

Sorry, meant are you using an iPhone or Android to take the pics, but either way, since you do use PC a lot like me I'd use Imgur or Google Photo's to upload to first then they are easy to attach here...

And indeed, for the price the Morimoto just aren't that great, but mainly because of our ghetto housing, so might as well stay with ghetto priced bulbs that work well with them, heh... Was it you who mentioned the switchback for markers or blinkers? I'm trying to figure out how that works, I LOVE having nice and bright LED's for my reverse lights and trunk and am looking at doing more for other locations...

iphone pics. i need to find a better camera because its not showing the kaleidoscope effect that is present with the 2stroke.

it wasnt me who mentioned the switchbacks

 

[danbfree]

iphone pics. i need to find a better camera because its not showing the kaleidoscope effect that is present with the 2stroke.

it wasnt me who mentioned the switchbacks

OK, thanks anyway... so yeah, I've found that Imgur.com is a good free photo sharing site to upload pics to if you're like me and actually mostly use a computer and not a phone for this forum... and yeah, it's weird but sometimes I get that kaleidoscope effect and sometimes don't, I think it's when the bulbs are not running at peak output is actually when it looks cleanest... so do you plan to send them back and get a refund? I'd try to for that much money spent for sure...

 

[Intuit]

I have to ask what are you guys running for high beams and is there an led option worth doing for the high beams I got regular halogen for high beams and would like to upgrade to the whiter light. any thoughts and pics even more appreciated thanks.

Leaving my high beams halogen for extreme Winter storms that might completely cover the LED lenses because they don't get warm enough.

 

[danbfree]

Leaving my high beams halogen for extreme Winter storms that might completely cover the LED lenses because they don't get warm enough.

Depends which set, but they all get to at least 84 degrees, most 110 degrees plus, not sure where you heard they don't get warm enough?

 

[danbfree]

So here are my pics of the Morimoto 2stroke 2.0... Not sure if I'm going to keep them. In pics, the wall shot looks great and the road looks pretty good too, but definitely a little more kaleidoscope effect than it shows... Definitely like the more white than blue output, I might keep or might send back to Blaise of BulbFacts.com, he said he can send me more to try for our FiST's!

 

[Intuit]

Depends which set, but they all get to at least 84 degrees, most 110 degrees plus, not sure where you heard they don't get warm enough?

Your heat is being exchanged mostly via heat sink in the rear, as opposed to the front lense. If the LEDs themselves were allowed to get as hot as a filament, they would burn out. Last I checked, halogen bulbs don't use heat sinks.

 

[danbfree]

Your heat is being exchanged mostly via heat sink in the rear, as opposed to the front lense. If the LEDs themselves were allowed to get as hot as a filament, they would burn out. Last I checked, halogen bulbs don't use heat sinks.

We could discuss how still a lot of heat is dispersed from the stalk too but what matters is that earlier in this thread they tested actual housing temps and they were well over 100 degrees with the stock rear caps on. Last I checked, that's plenty warm enough to keep snow from sticking and not melting.

Edit: It was actually 150 degrees. https://www.fiestastforum.com/threa...g?p=316946&highlight=housing+temps#post316946