Headlight Opinions?

Discussion in 'Cosmetic & Restoration' started by 81X11, Sep 26, 2017.

  1. Brad

    Brad Moderator Staff Member Moderator

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    It would be nice to see the beam pattern against a wall.
     
  2. 81X11

    81X11 Well-Known Member

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    So I started Googling around and found this: "LED headlight bulb designs with 3 sides should have the high beam side facing downward and the other two will face diagonally upward to where one chip sits at around 2 o’clock and the other 10 o’clock."

    OK then. I will go home and re-position my lights tonight and see how they look. Will share what I find!

    -Mike
     
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  3. Grizz

    Grizz Are we there yet???

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    They looks great!!! Gives the wagon a "crisp" look. I wonder what they look like to other drivers? I've been opposite lights like this sometimes thinking I'm getting high beamed until I flash mine to let them know and then BAM! They turn their high beams on dang near running me off the road... I bet you'll never hit another deer!
     
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  4. 81X11

    81X11 Well-Known Member

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    Re-clocked the headlight bulbs so the high beam LED points down. It's an improvement, but still need to aim them just a bit better.

    [​IMG]
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    [​IMG]

    The view from the driver's seat is odd. The light is so....white. Ghost light, ha!

    -Mike
     
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  5. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    The pattern seems to be, well...crosseyed. The center of each beam should be almost parallel with the car's center line horizontally; at the distance you're from the door, there should be a little more space between the beam's inner edges. Otherwise, the light is excellent quality; I'd like to see a couple pics shot from the driver's seat in a dark area in both low and high beam.
     
  6. 81X11

    81X11 Well-Known Member

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    Wanted to update this. Around town I wasn't sure about these LED bulbs. It does kind of create a "white fog of light" in town. Not very focused, and there is not a sharp cutoff or even a distinct "beam" from the driver's seat.

    BUT

    Driving home from the Texas Hill Country to Austin this past Saturday night, on dark, winding, blind turns on Hwy 1431 (the roller-coaster-road), these headlights worked amazingly well. I could see much further, and the woods on both sides of the road were lit up as well. I was really impressed!

    I was also happy that not one driver coming toward me, flashed me, so I guess these don't blind oncoming traffic like I was worried about.

    I am not in love with these, but after this weekend, they are staying.

    -Mike
     
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  7. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    That's good to hear, that they light up the surrounding area. I was thinking the beams were 'cross-eyed,' but if it does a good job illuminating the sides of the road, then you should leave it as-is.
     
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  8. Grizz

    Grizz Are we there yet???

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    Ah the hill country! It's funny driving around the rest of Austin you can see for miles. Watch tremendous thunder storms and never get wet. But then you go to hill country, around is it lake Travis?, and you might as well be in France. (Or at least from the pictures I've seen of France. Or is that Italy:coco:) steep narrow winding roads. what's the story on that ? Something about a fault line? Glad the lights are working. I might search for a set for the truck
     
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  9. Poison_Ivy

    Poison_Ivy Dogzilla Fan

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    I wonder how long it'll take for you to bag your first LED deer with the new bait, since now the surrounding area gets lit up with an previously unknown form of unfamiliar lighting.
     
  10. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    We don't want that to happen again... :rolleyes:
     
  11. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    What gets me is that his rigs don't have deer whistles.:slap:
     
  12. Poison_Ivy

    Poison_Ivy Dogzilla Fan

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    It could be, he's an off-season closet deer-bagger? The way to tell is to search his rig for a hunting knife. Well, I guess, if he isn't bagging deers, the weekends would get boring, since there won't be front clips to change and only processed meat will land on the grill. We don't want that, now, do we?
     
  13. ModelT1

    ModelT1 Still Lost in the 50's

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    I'm not sure deer whistles work or it's just luck. I had deer whistles on most of my vehicles and never hit a deer. In fact a few times deers ran out then stopped. Working whistles or smarter deers?
     
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  14. 81X11

    81X11 Well-Known Member

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    After running the LEDs on my wagon for a while, here is how I feel. I did as many people said and installed the high beam LED pointing straight down, with the two low-beam LEDs at 10-11 and 1-2ish positions. This for-sure works best in my Roadmaster Wagon.

    -The low-beam: The low beam is very bright when looking at the car from the front, but I think more of a function of the headlight housing design itself that was not meant for LEDs, the view from the driver's seat is kind of a white "fog" of light, not a defined "beam" of light. Considering how dim the standard headlights are, this is not really a downgrade, but it's not a huge upgrade when driving in the city....on roads with streetlights, bright highways and in town, where the headlights are not...sharply defined. You don't really SEE your headlight beams under streetlights and such with these. HOWEVER on a dark back road, the low-beams are much better..not like the two flashlights before, but the entire road and the SIDES of the road are lit up in a white "fog of light". It's almost spooky.

    -The high-beam: The high beam is disappointing. There is not a big change when the high beam is on. It does light up more of the road directly in front of the bumper, and the "fog of light" may be brighter, but I don't see the major change from low-to-high like I did with standard bulbs.

    Concerns:

    - First, I worry that I'm blinding other drivers. I've aimed the lights as best I can against my garage door, but still, standing in front of the car, even well in front, these things look SOO bright. I don't want to be an a-hole to other drivers (one of my pet-peeves is seeing idiots that run their fog lights all the time..or worse, not dimming their high beams to oncoming traffic...I am not that guy!). I worry that others will think I'm driving with my high-beams on.

    - Second...longevity. I do believe you "get what you pay for", and while these things have DETAILED aluminum housings and appear very well made, I worry that for the less-than-$20 I paid for them, that they won't live long, especially considering they have little fans that run whenever the lights are on... It's odd to get out of my Roadmaster with the Twilight Sentinel on and hear the headlights whirring away with the engine off. And considering Sentinel is very sensitive, my headlights come on under bridges and way before dim dusk, they headlights are on a lot when I drive this car. Moving parts...fail. And as cheap as these bulbs were, this concerns me.

    My Roadmaster is retired from daily use, and is not driven in rain. It's a weekend toy these days. I would be more concerned with all the above if this car was my daily driver, especially if I lived somewhere up north where you deal with more gloomy weather and dampness all the time. I don't know how these will last in constant use, especially if soaked in water or freezing salt slush. Happily....I won't be finding that out myself.

    SO do I like them? Well...they're different. Driving the 40-miles home through pit-dark twisting back roads in the Texas Hill Country from Marble Falls to Round Rock a few weekends ago, I was AMAZED at how these lit the road and woods on both sides, so that I DO like.

    Honestly, the biggest shock is how these things light up reflective signs....in that they light up signs a way-Way-WAY down the road! I can see road signs over a mile a way at night, and the headlights even lit up the reflectors on the fully-up railroad crossbars through an intersection and at least a 1/2 mile away when I was waiting at a light. It's WILD!

    I have gotten compliments on how they look when on at the car meets. They do LOOK neat.

    So that's my thoughts so far!

    -Texas Mike

    [​IMG]
     
  15. 81X11

    81X11 Well-Known Member

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