LED Bulb vs Headlight Replacement

[Bgirup]

There’s no way those “work perfect”. Physics says that’s impossible. The manufacturer hasn’t even made any attempt at getting the LED emitters in a location that’s remotely close to where the incandescent filament would be. They may “look good” to you from inside the cab, but you’re still getting less light where you need it, more where you don’t, and blinding other drivers.

I don’t know why people refuse to accept this, but putting an LED bulb in a halogen housing is like putting on glasses with the wrong prescription, none of the light goes to the right place.

Let’s see…. I have experience using these and they are incredibly good. They are Tremendously better than the halogen which are borderline dangerous they are so dim. Just drove 4k miles with not one flash except when I forgot to turn the brights off. Still getting less light where I need it?? I’d love for you to prove this. Let me understand your credentials that lend you the ability to make such a statement. Some of you guys just wash, rinse and repeat everything you hear/read with not so much as an ounce of experience. My lights are excellent. I have zero complaints and that is the best I can offer someone. Now….blinding other drivers?? I doubt it. I’ve had my buddy drive from the opposite direction and he had no issues. That said, it seems to me that a lot of the factory led lights can be really offensive to my eyes at night. I’m not sure there is a great solution to that unless we adopt the European standard that has lights that are adaptive.

 

[MrSteve]

I have the morimoto 2 stroke 3.0 led bulbs with pwm modules and they’re light years better than the stock halogen bulbs. Been running them for 3 years or so in this truck.

There is no stray light because of the way they’re designed I guess that’s why they’re so expensive. I’ll leave it to them to explain how they pull that off

“
SUPERIOR BEAM QUALITY: The advanced PCB technology at the core of the 2Stroke 3.0 sets a new industry benchmark emission surface interval of just 2mm total. The PCB core itself is just 1.0mm thick. The dielectric layer: 300um. The circuit pattern: 140um, and the Osram Oslon HKL351.TE LED chips: just .43mm each. Paired with the 1.03 x 4.33mm light-emitting surface area of the LEDs: this adds up to a total cubic volume of 4.46mm. At the end of the day, no LED bulb in the world more closely simulates the filament size of an incandescent bulb more accurately than the Morimoto 2Stroke 3.0--and for those in the know, this is critical when it comes to proper beam distribution.

“


Only negative is The cooling fans are a little loud when you unlock the truck and the lights come on, but you certainly can’t hear them when the vehicle is running.

Cooling fans!!? When did that become a thing? And why?

 

[jsalbre]

Let’s see…. I have experience using these and they are incredibly good. They are Tremendously better than the halogen which are borderline dangerous they are so dim. Just drove 4k miles with not one flash except when I forgot to turn the brights off. Still getting less light where I need it?? I’d love for you to prove this. Let me understand your credentials that lend you the ability to make such a statement. Some of you guys just wash, rinse and repeat everything you hear/read with not so much as an ounce of experience. My lights are excellent. I have zero complaints and that is the best I can offer someone. Now….blinding other drivers?? I doubt it. I’ve had my buddy drive from the opposite direction and he had no issues. That said, it seems to me that a lot of the factory led lights can be really offensive to my eyes at night. I’m not sure there is a great solution to that unless we adopt the European standard that has lights that are adaptive.

Sure, we can do this.



Above is a real H11 bulb. Notice the filament is slightly off-center, and is a coil. That coil emits light in a 360 degree pattern (including from the ends). The light is slightly dimmer at each end, but for the vast majority of the filament is very even.



This is that DDM Tuning bulb you linked above. Notice the LED emitters are flat, centered (not offset) when you look at the bulb’s “flat side”, because the mounting surface has thickness if you looked at the bulb’s “skinny side” you’d also see the the emitters are further apart, and they’re closer to the base than the filament in the tungsten bulb. The emitters are also only putting light out on two sides (assuming the bulb is double-sided), not all the way around, and not from the ends. Those emitters are even slightly recessed in the housing, so they’re putting even less light out to the sides.

The reflectors in a reflector light housing (and the lenses in a projector housing) are designed around the exact output of the intended light source and can only function properly with an identical light source.

Saying this isn’t true is akin to saying that if you put on someone else’s glasses prescription you’d be able to see just fine, or that if you held a shiny metal mixing bowl behind your light bulb it would create the same pattern as an actual professionally designed headlight housing. That’s just not how light works. Go shine a flashlight at the mirror in your bathroom. If you change the angle of the flashlight then the light will reflect back to a different place, right? That’s all a reflector housing is: a bunch of mirrors carefully curved around a very stringently controlled light source.

Now don’t mistake anything I’ve said above to mean I think the stock halogen lights are good. They’re terrible, which is why I opted for the LED projector lights in my truck. A ground glass lens is much more efficient and effective at putting light where you want it.

If you don’t want to believe me, then read this article. It features an interview on this topic with Daniel Stern, one of the preeminent experts in automotive lighting. It’s also packed with links to additional information. https://jalopnik.com/why-most-led-headlight-upgrades-dont-really-work-an-ex-1843070472

Edit to add: Part of the reason (a big part actually) that the stock halogens suck is because the bulbs they use from the factory suck. They’re “long life” low output bulbs, which are designed to last a long time, but sacrifice a lot of output power for that. It’s a huge improvement to put quality name brand (GE, Sylvania, etc) halogen bulbs in.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Cooling fans!!? When did that become a thing? And why?

Yes. I don’t know. For cooling.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Sure, we can do this.

View attachment 60598

Above is a real H11 bulb. Notice the filament is slightly off-center, and is a coil. That coil emits light in a 360 degree pattern (including from the ends). The light is slightly dimmer at each end, but for the vast majority of the filament is very even.

View attachment 60599

This is that DDM Tuning bulb you linked above. Notice the LED emitters are flat, centered (not offset) when you look at the bulb’s “flat side”, because the mounting surface has thickness if you looked at the bulb’s “skinny side” you’d also see the the emitters are further apart, and they’re closer to the base than the filament in the tungsten bulb. The emitters are also only putting light out on two sides (assuming the bulb is double-sided), not all the way around, and not from the ends. Those emitters are even slightly recessed in the housing, so they’re putting even less light out to the sides.

The reflectors in a reflector light housing (and the lenses in a projector housing) are designed around the exact output of the intended light source and can only function properly with an identical light source.

Saying this isn’t true is akin to saying that if you put on someone else’s glasses prescription you’d be able to see just fine, or that if you held a shiny metal mixing bowl behind your light bulb it would create the same pattern as an actual professionally designed headlight housing. That’s just not how light works. Go shine a flashlight at the mirror in your bathroom. If you change the angle of the flashlight then the light will reflect back to a different place, right? That’s all a reflector housing is: a bunch of mirrors carefully curved around a very stringently controlled light source.

Now don’t mistake anything I’ve said above to mean I think the stock halogen lights are good. They’re terrible, which is why I opted for the LED projector lights in my truck. A ground glass lens is much more efficient and effective at putting light where you want it.

If you don’t want to believe me, then read this article. It features an interview on this topic with Daniel Stern, one of the preeminent experts in automotive lighting. It’s also packed with links to additional information. https://jalopnik.com/why-most-led-headlight-upgrades-dont-really-work-an-ex-1843070472

Edit to add: Part of the reason (a big part actually) that the stock halogens suck is because the bulbs they use from the factory suck. They’re “long life” low output bulbs, which are designed to last a long time, but sacrifice a lot of output power for that. It’s a huge improvement to put quality name brand (GE, Sylvania, etc) halogen bulbs in.

Now do the morimoto ones.

Here they are above my Baja designs SAE Gen2 (my driveway is sloped, btw, so ignore the height of the pattern)

Looks like an about perfect halogen beam except much brighter and whiter. Very good cutoff with very little light spill. Halogens spill a little, too. Never been flashed. That’s why I think they’re worth the extra money over an Amazon special. Perfect? Probably not. A projector retrofit or upgrade to better oem housings would be better. But it’s as good as it gets with a halogen housing IMHO

 

[Poolmonkey]

Sure, we can do this.

View attachment 60598

Above is a real H11 bulb. Notice the filament is slightly off-center, and is a coil. That coil emits light in a 360 degree pattern (including from the ends). The light is slightly dimmer at each end, but for the vast majority of the filament is very even.

View attachment 60599

This is that DDM Tuning bulb you linked above. Notice the LED emitters are flat, centered (not offset) when you look at the bulb’s “flat side”, because the mounting surface has thickness if you looked at the bulb’s “skinny side” you’d also see the the emitters are further apart, and they’re closer to the base than the filament in the tungsten bulb. The emitters are also only putting light out on two sides (assuming the bulb is double-sided), not all the way around, and not from the ends. Those emitters are even slightly recessed in the housing, so they’re putting even less light out to the sides.

The reflectors in a reflector light housing (and the lenses in a projector housing) are designed around the exact output of the intended light source and can only function properly with an identical light source.

Saying this isn’t true is akin to saying that if you put on someone else’s glasses prescription you’d be able to see just fine, or that if you held a shiny metal mixing bowl behind your light bulb it would create the same pattern as an actual professionally designed headlight housing. That’s just not how light works. Go shine a flashlight at the mirror in your bathroom. If you change the angle of the flashlight then the light will reflect back to a different place, right? That’s all a reflector housing is: a bunch of mirrors carefully curved around a very stringently controlled light source.

Now don’t mistake anything I’ve said above to mean I think the stock halogen lights are good. They’re terrible, which is why I opted for the LED projector lights in my truck. A ground glass lens is much more efficient and effective at putting light where you want it.

If you don’t want to believe me, then read this article. It features an interview on this topic with Daniel Stern, one of the preeminent experts in automotive lighting. It’s also packed with links to additional information. https://jalopnik.com/why-most-led-headlight-upgrades-dont-really-work-an-ex-1843070472

Edit to add: Part of the reason (a big part actually) that the stock halogens suck is because the bulbs they use from the factory suck. They’re “long life” low output bulbs, which are designed to last a long time, but sacrifice a lot of output power for that. It’s a huge improvement to put quality name brand (GE, Sylvania, etc) halogen bulbs in.

It says in the link provided that they aren’t legal to use, the goofy DOT must think they have issues.
Any headlight made today kicks butt on those used in the fairly recent past, kids nowadays…pfffft.

 

[jsalbre]

Now do the morimoto ones.

Here they are above my Baja designs SAE Gen2 (my driveway is sloped, btw, so ignore the height of the pattern)

Looks like an about perfect halogen beam except much brighter and whiter. Very good cutoff with very little light spill. Halogens spill a little, too. Never been flashed. That’s why I think they’re worth the extra money over an Amazon special. Perfect? Probably not. A projector retrofit or upgrade to better oem housings would be better. But it’s as good as it gets with a halogen housing IMHO

View attachment 60610

Same exact problems, for the same exact reasons. Emitters are the wrong shape, in the wrong place, and don't put any light out in two directions. Those little bright "wisps" of light above the cutoff on your picture are a great example of the problem. They shouldn't be there and are indicative of the light not being reflected the right directions. The hotspots are also smaller than they should be, shaped wrong, and more pinpoint than is proper, instead of diffused.

This is what an H11 beam should look like:

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Same exact problems, for the same exact reasons. Emitters are the wrong shape, in the wrong place, and don't put any light out in two directions. Those little bright "wisps" of light above the cutoff on your picture are a great example of the problem. They shouldn't be there and are indicative of the light not being reflected the right directions. The hotspots are also smaller than they should be, shaped wrong, and more pinpoint than is proper, instead of diffused.

This is what an H11 beam should look like:

Not all reflectors are created equally. Ours are not great. We’re doing the best we can out here

I happen to think my pattern is flatter and wider than the one you posted despite mine having a little spill

 

[Bgirup]

My lights are awesome. I encourage anyone to buy them. You will love them and see so much better. I bought them planning on returning them for led housings because I expected disappointment but they are anything but disappointing. Not invalidating that they are not DOT approved. The fact that the oem halogens are DOT approved is what gives me concern. Travel at your own risk but I’m really picky and these are great. I have a lx570 with HID lights and I still think these are better than those. If you must follow the rules then you do you. I like breaking them. I also drive 72 in a 70 sometimes and sometimes I look at my phone while driving to change the music. I might even not put on a seatbelt until I’m pulling out of the driveway. Living on the edge I know.

 

[dmhines]

I installed LASFIT LED bulbs in my 2023 Tradesman low and hi beam. They are excellent in my opinion - super bright .. the way they are constructed they are adjustable and have a super sharp cut-off at top of beam pattern. I have had no nobody flash me when driving at night. The set of Low and High were less than $100 on amazon.

 

[AH64ID]

I used GSP Mini’s in the fog/low/high’s of my 2018. Fantastic results, they really improved the stock housing and didn’t have blinding overspray.

That reminds me, I need to get them listed in the classifieds.

 

[wherezat]

If this is a little off topic then I apologize but would we have the same problems using led bulbs in the halogen tail housings?

 

[jsalbre]

If this is a little off topic then I apologize but would we have the same problems using led bulbs in the halogen tail housings?

No, tail lights don’t rely on a specific beam pattern.

 

[wherezat]

Will led bulbs have issues in projector housings?

 

[AH64ID]

Will led bulbs have issues in projector housings?

I did not with the upgraded projector housings on my 2018.

 

[SpeyRam]

Another thing to mention here is that in snowier climates LED bulbs don't give off enough heat to melt snow like Halogen bulbs do. This can be more of a problem with LED Fog lights that can often get snow-encrusted during long drives in the mountains during Winter.

 

[Scubaz66]

Let’s see…. I have experience using these and they are incredibly good. They are Tremendously better than the halogen which are borderline dangerous they are so dim. Just drove 4k miles with not one flash except when I forgot to turn the brights off. Still getting less light where I need it?? I’d love for you to prove this. Let me understand your credentials that lend you the ability to make such a statement. Some of you guys just wash, rinse and repeat everything you hear/read with not so much as an ounce of experience. My lights are excellent. I have zero complaints and that is the best I can offer someone. Now….blinding other drivers?? I doubt it. I’ve had my buddy drive from the opposite direction and he had no issues. That said, it seems to me that a lot of the factory led lights can be really offensive to my eyes at night. I’m not sure there is a great solution to that unless we adopt the European standard that has lights that are adaptive.

I like what you have to say regarding the Factory Halogens being replaced with LED's. The Factory Halogens are absolutely dangerous on any two lane road at night. I'm surprised the Government allows these cheap bulbs to be used, but then again I understand our Government. Can you provide me a link to the LED's you purchased for your stock factory housings?

 

[Scubaz66]

My lights are awesome. I encourage anyone to buy them. You will love them and see so much better. I bought them planning on returning them for led housings because I expected disappointment but they are anything but disappointing. Not invalidating that they are not DOT approved. The fact that the oem halogens are DOT approved is what gives me concern. Travel at your own risk but I’m really picky and these are great. I have a lx570 with HID lights and I still think these are better than those. If you must follow the rules then you do you. I like breaking them. I also drive 72 in a 70 sometimes and sometimes I look at my phone while driving to change the music. I might even not put on a seatbelt until I’m pulling out of the driveway. Living on the edge I know.

Can you provide me a link to the LED's you purchased?

 

[Scubaz66]

I installed LASFIT LED bulbs in my 2023 Tradesman low and hi beam. They are excellent in my opinion - super bright .. the way they are constructed they are adjustable and have a super sharp cut-off at top of beam pattern. I have had no nobody flash me when driving at night. The set of Low and High were less than $100 on amazon. View attachment 60659

Did these fit directly into the stock factory housing without any modifications? Did you have to purchase separate CANBUS wiring ? Year, Make, Model of your RAM?

 

[Scubaz66]

Sure, we can do this.

View attachment 60598

Above is a real H11 bulb. Notice the filament is slightly off-center, and is a coil. That coil emits light in a 360 degree pattern (including from the ends). The light is slightly dimmer at each end, but for the vast majority of the filament is very even.

View attachment 60599

This is that DDM Tuning bulb you linked above. Notice the LED emitters are flat, centered (not offset) when you look at the bulb’s “flat side”, because the mounting surface has thickness if you looked at the bulb’s “skinny side” you’d also see the the emitters are further apart, and they’re closer to the base than the filament in the tungsten bulb. The emitters are also only putting light out on two sides (assuming the bulb is double-sided), not all the way around, and not from the ends. Those emitters are even slightly recessed in the housing, so they’re putting even less light out to the sides.

The reflectors in a reflector light housing (and the lenses in a projector housing) are designed around the exact output of the intended light source and can only function properly with an identical light source.

Saying this isn’t true is akin to saying that if you put on someone else’s glasses prescription you’d be able to see just fine, or that if you held a shiny metal mixing bowl behind your light bulb it would create the same pattern as an actual professionally designed headlight housing. That’s just not how light works. Go shine a flashlight at the mirror in your bathroom. If you change the angle of the flashlight then the light will reflect back to a different place, right? That’s all a reflector housing is: a bunch of mirrors carefully curved around a very stringently controlled light source.

Now don’t mistake anything I’ve said above to mean I think the stock halogen lights are good. They’re terrible, which is why I opted for the LED projector lights in my truck. A ground glass lens is much more efficient and effective at putting light where you want it.

If you don’t want to believe me, then read this article. It features an interview on this topic with Daniel Stern, one of the preeminent experts in automotive lighting. It’s also packed with links to additional information. https://jalopnik.com/why-most-led-headlight-upgrades-dont-really-work-an-ex-1843070472

Edit to add: Part of the reason (a big part actually) that the stock halogens suck is because the bulbs they use from the factory suck. They’re “long life” low output bulbs, which are designed to last a long time, but sacrifice a lot of output power for that. It’s a huge improvement to put quality name brand (GE, Sylvania, etc) halogen bulbs in.

Thanks for the explanation regarding the difference in Halogen vs LED's. Like many of the posters have stated, the factory halogens used by the factory today are not much better than the old sealed beams of the 70's. I live in the country and seldom drive on interstates, mostly 2 lane 35- 55mph roads. I have flashlights that can outdo the factory bulbs.

In your opinion, how much better are the GE, Sylvania Halogen bulbs vs Factory Halogen bulbs? I like a wide Low Beam pattern that actually lights up the edges of the road so I can see deer. My 2004 Chevy Avalanche had awesome headlights that did just that, as well as would shine further down the road without blinding oncoming traffic. I drove this Avalanche all over the USA for 18 years 200k miles and rarely even used my high beams.

This 2022 RAM 2500 will be the death of me if I don't update the lighting. My Brother has a 2019 RAM 2500 same model as mine with factory LED's I won't allow him to follow me at night because his factory LED's blind me because they are so bright. I don't think the engineers at RAM got it right the last few years as its too much LED and not enough Halogen.... LOL