High Beams on 75th Anniversary

[tuckjack]

Was driving at night out in Wyoming on our return to Colorado from Yellowstone/Grand Teton. One thing I noticed is that I didn't see much difference in brightness between high and low beams. Anyone else seeing the same? Or is the difference quite clear?

 

[el_barto]

Idk I have a serf/commoner-edition PW with the regular led headlamps ... if you live in the Denver area I’d love to meet up and compare headlamp out and beam pattern between the reflector led lights and premium projector led lights.

I will admit on my regular reflector led headlamps the difference between low beam and high beam isn’t as pronounced as on some vehicles. I attribute this to the fact the low beam uses 2 led reflectors and the high beam adds just one more reflector bay(with a different beam pattern). Vs some cars I’ve had that have two entirely unique bulbs and reflector areas, typically with the high beam bulb being more powerful. That said the light output and CRI is really good on these lights.

low

Low and high

 

[Crusty old shellback]

Are you sure they came on? Did the blue high beam indicator show up on the dash?

with the auto dim feature, even though you turn them on, if the ambient light is too high, they do not come on. It has to be pretty dark for them to come on.

And yes, you can tell the difference.

 

[Wobly]

Are you sure they came on? Did the blue high beam indicator show up on the dash?

with the auto dim feature, even though you turn them on, if the ambient light is too high, they do not come on. It has to be pretty dark for them to come on.

And yes, you can tell the difference.

I would agree with this. When I flip my high beams on, it is significantly brighter farther out. But, even a shiny street sign can cause the auto-low beam feature to turn the high beams off.

 

[tuckjack]

Are you sure they came on? Did the blue high beam indicator show up on the dash?

with the auto dim feature, even though you turn them on, if the ambient light is too high, they do not come on. It has to be pretty dark for them to come on.

And yes, you can tell the difference.

Yes, definitely came on with blue high beam indicator and fog lamps turned off when the high beams activated. Part of the reason I noticed it was that I was paying attention to when auto high beam would turn on and off and what would trigger it. So, I can tell the high beams turned on, but the difference was negligible. You could see certain things like reflectors would become visible, but otherwise it wasn't as great a difference as I've experienced between high and low beams over my years of driving. I had a 2017 VW GTI and it was a marked difference between the two and the low beam was really good to start with. Admittedly, the low beam on the PW is good to start, which is why I twas looking forward to the high beams being even better.

 

[jetrinka]

Mine throw light much farther and seem to work well. I turned off the auto-off function because reflective signs would turn them off.... Really annoying....

 

[Crusty old shellback]

Took these this morning. Not sure if you can see the headlight reflection in the window. But low beam has just a little of the lower part of the bulb lit.
High beam lights the whole bulb.

Low beam


High beam

 

[el_barto]

Took these this morning. Not sure if you can see the headlight reflection in the window. But low beam has just a little of the lower part of the bulb lit.
High beam lights the whole bulb.

Low beam
View attachment 21358

High beam
View attachment 21359

Since it doesn’t light up a different section of the headlamp, I’m guessing there is a shield that moves, similar to a “Bixenon” projector headlight...which would result in more light being making it to the road, but not necessarily more light produced.
However leds are small so maybe they have more LEDs behind the projector that turn on when the high beam is activated
I thought the 4 -dot lights were more than just decorative but it doesn’t look it??

 

[Crusty old shellback]

The 4 dot lights are the 'signature" lights. No way to turn them off. They do go dimmer when the running or headlights are turned on.

You can't see it in the picture, but on low beam, you can see like a row of lights at the bottom of the projector light. Then when you go high beam, the whole projector lights up.

 

[Hooligan]

Idk I have a serf/commoner-edition PW with the regular led headlamps ... if you live in the Denver area I’d love to meet up and compare headlamp out and beam pattern between the reflector led lights and premium projector led lights.

I will admit on my regular reflector led headlamps the difference between low beam and high beam isn’t as pronounced as on some vehicles. I attribute this to the fact the low beam uses 2 led reflectors and the high beam adds just one more reflector bay(with a different beam pattern). Vs some cars I’ve had that have two entirely unique bulbs and reflector areas, typically with the high beam bulb being more powerful. That said the light output and CRI is really good on these lights.
View attachment 21311
low
View attachment 21315
Low and high
View attachment 21316

Geez, that looks good. Can I retro those into my 2012?

 

[el_barto]

Geez, that looks good. Can I retro those into my 2012?

No.

 

[Wpg_Ram]

To increase the light a bit you can do the AlfaOBD mod where you cancel the fog light drop out with high beams. Its not alot, but it helps

 

[HW285PW]

I have a ‘20 level 2 package and the factory fogs/dims were always sufficient but the brights left something to be desired. I recently sent a log accidentally through my passenger side fog light which was a perfect opportunity for improving. I ordered and installed the CJC/Baja Designs Squadron Sport fog lights and I drive with my dims/fogs more then I do my brights.
I am in Colorado also and understand the importance of having nighttime visibility with wildlife etc.