H5001/H5006 Headlight Upgrades/Conversions

[Turboomni]

I have been looking around at the progress of Led head lights. Main reason for my interest is they consume much less power for the light output compared to Halogens and the original Edison style sealed beam.
I would think running 4 head lights that are 90/100 watt is going to take a toll on your wiring and at least on my 69 I don't want to cut things up to make it work safely. Equivalent wattage/light output to stock/halogens the led's consume approaching one half of the old style head lights. But I have never had any first hand experience with them. I'm not talking about those halo bs lights. They are glass Hella's made to run led bulbs.
I installed 4 Led tail lights last year and and my front running lights [normal bulbs] are much brighter as well as the tails with the led's because of reduced current draw. I swallowed a lump and bought an extra new nos headlight switch just in case. I run my headlights [low beam] even in the daytime .

 

[Turboomni]

Here is a vid with Hella housing. I am not recommending led's , I am just considering the possibly as they are much more efficient and easier on our 50 year old wiring.

 

[300rag]

Here is a vid with Hella housing. I am not recommending led's , I am just considering the possibly as they are much more efficient and easier on our 50 year old wiring.

The beam pattern on those lights is horrendous on low beam. There is really no upper level cut-off of the light beam. Light in the sky is a waste. A quality reflector and lens will give results like these and not offend others if properly aimed. I had a set with the pattern in the first picture in a van with stacked rectangular headlights, and never had an issue with oncoming drivers.

 

[Big_John]

I ran them for about a month. It wasn't worth it.
On LO BEAM, I couldn't see because everyone was blinding me back flashing their HI BEAMS and the HI BEAMS were useless because the overshot the line of sight so bad they were onky usefull for duck hunting at night.

I've thought about using only one 100 watt high beam bulb and using the other for filling in the difference.

BTW, here's a simple headlight relay "how to". Installing Headlamp Relays - Dodge Diesel - Diesel Truck Resource Forums

 

[Moparmat2000]

If you use hi and lo beam relays, and put them close to the battery you wont get much of a voltage drop, plus it 2ill save your headlight switch, and high beam switch plug from melting. Running 12 feet of wire from battery to switch and back to the lights is where you get a voltage drop. Without relays your probably only seeing 10 volts at the lamp.

 

[commando1]

Aftermarket LED headlights are the worse. Pure Chinee P.O.S.
No QC, early burnout, etc.
OEM LED lamps on the new cars are highly engineered for quality, reliability, and beam pattern.
Hell, get the ones with the neon halo around them in purple and really trick out your C-body ricer style.

 

[althepal]

I am so tired of people blinding me with their extremely bright lights. Newer GM trucks are the worst. OEM lights are out of control these days. I have to drive with my mirrors adjusted so far out that I cant use them. Its a safety concern to me. We need laws in place and they should be enforced. I cant believe our government lets car companies get away with it.

 

[Turboomni]

No Halo for me,,ask my wife.

 

[commando1]

Your Daily Food for Thought.

 

[Turboomni]

I don't want super bright head lights. Or a fricken halo. I want head lights of standard brightness that tax my electrical system less. With Led's the possibility exsists. With the Stock wiring.

 

[commando1]

I don't want super bright head lights. Or a fricken halo. I want a head lights of standard brightness that tax my electrical system less.

Bingo. Thank you.

 

[Big_John]

I don't want super bright head lights. Or a fricken halo. I want head lights of standard brightness that tax my electrical system less. With Led's the possibility exsists.

I dunno... While the LED technology is pretty good in new cars, I don't think there's a good retrofit using LED bulbs. The technology for the lenses exists, but working it into a "fit all" replacement might not be possible. I don't think the Chinese junk that is flooding the market even starts to come close.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think a good halogen system with relays to minimize both voltage drop at the lights and amperage draw through the switches are the way to go.

Of course, my solution is just not to drive very much at night.... But that's not always possible.

 

[Turboomni]

I agree John and that's why I haven't bought any Led head lights yet.
The tech does exist but it hasn't been around long enough to trickle down I guess. If it was of good quality and engineered well it would give you all the light you wanted without taxing the stock wiring. At least on paper it should pull 1/2 the current of filament style bulbs for the same amount of light.

 

[stubs300]

I ran them for about a month. It wasn't worth it.
On LO BEAM, I couldn't see because everyone was blinding me back flashing their HI BEAMS and the HI BEAMS were useless because the overshot the line of sight so bad they were onky usefull for duck hunting at night.

Sounds like you need to adjust your lights, which I'm sure you probably didn't when you did it.

 

[saylor]

i heard to wire it such that the headlight switch at the dash only powers the relay trigger, so no load is on the switch anymore.

i also heard that LEDs will freeze/frost in cold weather .. no heat from no incandescent bulb = frosted over lens.

not that its any issue down here in TX,, just throwing that out there . . .


try not to blind commando -

- saylor

 

[Big_John]

i heard to wire it such that the headlight switch at the dash only powers the relay trigger, so no load is on the switch anymore.

That is correct. The current draw from the low beams is about 8 amps. The relay would be controlled by the headlight switch and is less than .2 amp draw.

Here's some good reading for a better understanding of how the relays work.... especially the Bosch/Tyco relay that's become the standard.

Relays

 

[commando1]

Sounds like you need to adjust your lights, which I'm sure you probably didn't when you did it.

Wrong. Right after I installed the bulbs, the first thing I did was bring it up the street to the Inspection Station.
They were dead on accurate but the reflection pattern was huge and I knew right away there was going to be a problem.

I'm insulted that you think of me as a person that wouldn't care about alignment.

 

[Gerald Morris]

I would love to use LED efficiency to draw less current per lumen from my headlights, but the stuff out there still is about 1 year from being affordable and of some useful quality. I likely will succumb to the urge to wire them off my battery with relays, as this will relieve the headlight switch and wiring of the entropy coming from 4 - 8 A current @ 12-14 VDC. I'm very happy with the lighting from the 1157 amber and red LEDs I bought for turn signals, braking and tails. Will do the reverse lights next.

For this year at least, good old halogen 500x bulbs will have to do for the headlights. I get them at the junkyard for a couple bucks if I need to.

 

[cantflip]

I just wish I could pop into the local parts store and buy original incandescent bulbs...
Halogens draw more current and should be put on relays, IMO. Everything else is crazy right now.

Xenon Bulbs (HID) are illegal without a proper shield for blocking the upper beam or a motor/sensor to auto-dip for oncoming traffic. The Chinese stuff that say "DOT" is crap too, DOT leaves it to the company... in the case of China made... the importer. I could have a couple shipping containers here in a month or two, I could recoup the investment in about a 1/4 of the first container and if I ever did run into legal troubles (unlikely), I would just roll up my LLC and rename everything and continue selling.

LEDs or HIDs with proper shields should be easy for our cars, maybe a brand name even has them available (china doesn't). The bulb only installs one way, and they were used for a long time... but it seems the popular thing is to grab some cheap POS that doesn't work right and blind the world around you.

I haven't researched lighting standards lately, but the newer stuff is getting pretty ignorant. Even the tail light LEDs are getting too bright. I'm not driving on rural roads as a rule, I don't even know if my high beams still work (since I last checked the fleet for safety). For those that do, I understand the desire, just build the relay circuit.

With some spade connectors and sealant you could wire from the original pigtails for the headlights to control a couple relays and minimize the wiring and the change from original. As mentioned before, short runs all but eliminate voltage drop issues. Also fuse any add ons as close to the battery as you can.

Zac, I wouldn't try your plan until after Carlisle... many states can/will address illegal lighting...FL is useless... the cop cars don't get lights aligned correctly and half the dealer techs don't even know they are supposed to or even can align headlamps.

 

[ceebuddy]

If you buy the Hella headlights, it should allow you to install regular wattage H4 bulbs. The bulb base should be the same.

The rather "crisp" line between dark and bright of the low beam pattern with an H4 bulb is why the sealed beams are officially outlawed in Germany. Sealed Beams achieve assymetry of the low beam pattern by placing the filament out of the center of the reflector (plus the lens pattern). This allows a little less wattage to get the same amount of light out. But the downside is the somewhat diffuse zone where the low beam ends.

H4 on the other hand achieve assymmetry by placing a small steel cup right under the low beam filament, allowing the light only to go up on th upper half of the reflector, then being projected downwards from there (plus the lens pattern).