LED Headlight bulbs

[ohiovx]

I did some research on LED bulbs & decided to go with these. From www.briteassleds.com

[Y33TREKker]

Nice.

Kind of liking that license plate too.

[yellowgizmo99]

Got shot of the output on a garage or something

[ohiovx]

I'll do that tonight. I can say about 150' & closer they light up EVERYTHING in front of you. These will be perfect for off roading at night. In the little bit of driving I did since putting them in no one has flashed their high beams at me which is very surprising.

[johnnyapollo]

I just recently went with a different bulb recommended to me by Al Cairo:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Newes...856507804.html

They are similar to those from BrightAssLEDs but a bit less money - I bought the set for $85 plus shipping (they're currently on sale for $78.63) and although they aren't quite as bright, they are half the money. They also take about 2 weeks to ship since they're coming directly from China.

BrightAssLEDs Specs:

Beam: Dual Beam (high/low)
Color Temperature: 6500K (pure white) - this has a bit of blue tint
LED Manufacturer: CREE
LED Power: 40W per bulb
Light Output: Low beam: 3200 lumens/bulb High beam: 3600 lumens/bulb
IP Rating: IP67 (submersible)

Suparee brand from alibaba:

Beam: Dual Beam (high/low)
Color Temperature: 6000K (pure white) - this is closer to the 5000K "white"
LED Manufacturer: CREE
LED Power: 35W per bulb
Light Output : Low beam: 1800 lumens/bulb High beam: 3200 lumens/bulb
IP Rating: IP66 (wet rated but not submersible)

Now for my opinion.
I've been using a HID kit that I purchased from Tone in 2003 for about 12 years - they were simply amazing with a focal length about 3-4x a typical 55W halogen bulb. The passenger side went "pink" and lasted about a week before dying completely - on examining the bulb you can see a pink bubble where the bulb went bad. This new set of LEDs do not have the same focal length on low beams - they are about 2-3x a 55W halogen. The high beams are a different matter - those are about the same and will basically blind anyone in front of you. It's interesting having high beams again after relying on the HID-low/Halogen-high configuration provided by Tone's kit.

All that being said, I'm not sure if it's worthwhile having the brighter set for 2x the money, but that's a personal decision. I don't get flashed all the time with this LED set like I did with the HID set so there's definitely a different appearance. They are also slightly cooler at 6000K (the HID set were 5000K). Personal preference I guess but I'm happy with what I currently have. In 12 years if these go bad I'll use whatever technology is available for that time.

If you plan to do a lot of off-roading, the BigAssLEDs are probably a better choice due to the IP rating (IP67 submersible) - my VX is a daily driver and it's not an issue for me.

-- John

[ohiovx]

I thought about buying less expensive lights. But they are pretty much all made in China or Korea. The reviews I saw had a lot of premature failures in the lights. The briteassleds are American made & the quality is better. That's the main reason I went with these. It was either these or the ones from vleds.com. They had 1 year warranty & these are 2 year.

[johnnyapollo]

Yeah my main concern would be the submersion rating. I'm hoping these will last long enough for the tech to become cheap. The latest don't have ballasts - plug-and-play.

-- John

[ohiovx]

I took this at 5:30 am this morning. It is overcast so no moon light. My back fence is 40-50 ft away.

[ohiovx]

"The latest don't have ballasts - plug-and-play."

I don't think the boxes are ballasts. From what I read LED's are extremely susceptible to voltage variations. Cars in general have voltage spikes all the time that can take out LED lights. That's why the Chinese plus-n-play ones fail.