LED lightbulbs

[benji]

I did led gauge cluster bulbs but it was crazy bright at night haha. I'm gonna use leds in my brake/tail just for the look. I wanna do the turns too, I like the way they flash crazy fast

[johnny248]

I did led gauge cluster bulbs but it was crazy bright at night haha. I'm gonna use leds in my brake/tail just for the look. I wanna do the turns too, I like the way they flash crazy fast

I used .5w blue led's in my cluster lighting. It's not OK bright. As far as the turn signals go, I used an adjustable flasher to control the speed. For the headlamp, I actually used a different switch and made it fit in the frame of tge original low/hi switch. I used a dpdt 3 positin switch that allows on/off/Hi and it is powered from the DC battery side instead of the AC headlamp circuit. I like have the option to turn the headlamp off is needed.

Here are a couple of pics. My camera on my phone isn't very good at capturing lights very well.






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This last, small "black" looking picture is a short video of the headlamp in action If you click on it.

[johnny248]

Dang that's impressive! Need a headlight solution for my spree. Hmmmm

i came across this... http://hondaspree.net/wiki/index.php5?t ... p_retrofit
i dont need hid's but if a h11 hid bulb fits so should a regular halogen h11 right? so i bought one, and am going to pick up my connector for it tomorrow. i dont think i geat high/low beam anymore but i should get a good deal more light im sure. i'll let you know how it works

I have one that I did like that with an HID bulb. The problem is that that your bulb alignment in the housing is not ideal. it works and produces light, but the beam pattern isn't that great. I've been very happy with the 01 Composite lamp along with a different H4 bulb setup.

[benji]

I've noticed the same. I have a h3 "mini" bulb for hid in a fog light, and the beam was way more usable, but I like the yellow h11 one for the look.

[johnny248]

I've noticed the same. I have a h3 "mini" bulb for hid in a fog light, and the beam was way more usable, but I like the yellow h11 one for the look.

I stuck an H4 HID bulb in the same housing that I am currently using the LED in and I will tell you that it definitely produces a better and more useable pattern than removing the filament from the original sealed beam style bulb and gluing whichever HID bulb into it.

If you want to use and HID setup of whichever color choice you like , I'd highly recommend spending the $35-40 to buy an '01 style Composite housing and boot. It fits exactly the same as the sealed beam, already has the mounting bracket installed, and not only lets you use whatever H4 style bulb, whether it be halogen, HID, led, but also you will get MUCH better light on the road to see where you are going. It works much better because you actually are using a housing that is designed for an H4 (actually an HS1 which is basically a motorcycle H4, but H4 offers higher wattage) instead of sticking a different bulb inside of a sealed beam housing that was never designed to use anything like that. There is a pretty significant difference in beam pattern and ability to light the road ahead of you.

Here is a picture of a pre-01 style sealed beam with the bulb de-soldered and an hid bulb expoxied in it. This is with a 5000K bulb (which provides more useble light than a higher color temperature like the blues) and a 35w AC ballast @12v As you can see, the light pattern is very focused and does not really give you much lighting around the side. Compare to the '01 Composite housing with an h4 bulb. Low followed by high. As I mentioned, that 01 housing pattern is with an inexpensive eBay 30w LED H4 lo/Hi @ 12v. You could honestly more than likely get an even better pattern and output using a high quality 55w/60w automotive H4 halogen bulb, but I wanted to go LED on mine.

Pre '01 modified with HID


'01 Lamp Low Beam


'01 Lamp High Beam

[johnny248]

IMO those beam patterns should be enough to make someone akip trying to desolder their sealed beam and jam an HID bulb in there , and spend a few bux for the '01 style housing. I think you can figure out how much better the one works over the other when it comes to seeing what's around you in the dark.

[benji]

I'm sure the 01 headlight housing has better light ouput, but my hid that doesn't have a very focused beam is still more light than my scooter needs, and I can always switch to a mini h3 bulb if I need better output, but de-soldering the bulb and replacing it w a new bulb works fine and cheap/free. I have an '80s vintage big-square fog light I was gonna add to mine for mor light, but I don't need it I got plenty of vision. And I do night runs all the time check the vid section. I agree w 5000k is alot more usable than the extreme blue of 6000 or 6500. I run a 3000k yellow for the look, and I've found a few 4300k that look just like factory hids on a luxury car.

[johnny248]

I installed HID projectors into my factory headlamps on my Ram and am using 4300k bulbs it. The light is very good. As I'm sure you know, they don't all look the same , but if you can find a good 4300k then you are good to go. Ballasts also have an effect on the light quality. Big difference between cheap DC ballasts and good AC ballasts.

[benji]

Btw, the factory switch can be rewired to be used like the switch your using. It has 1 wire input and 2 wires out, just gotta rewire if you don't want to use a relay, which is what I use. Takes the load off the switch and gives me the option of how I want it wired. I didn't see a reason for a high beam option so it's nice having a factory looking on/off. Your mod looks clean tho. To be honest, the newer ballasts are nice (and small) but I've never had a problem w the older, analog, or dc ballasts. I'm a car audio & electronics installer, and I constantly have people wanting new hids or leds because the set they bought "sucks","doesn't work","flickers", etc. I use the old stuff they throw away cuz it usually still works n it's free. I try to tell people all they need is proper wiring and installation, but people love new stuff haha. I like ugly stuff and making things work.

[johnny248]

I know what you mean about the older stuff. My Eclipse has older,larger ballasts that I installed in '06 and haven't had a problem with them to this day. The problem is the $20-30 kits everywhere that are junk. I put Morimoto projectors in my Ram and uses Hilux ballasts which cost a little more but again, I haven't had any problems with then either.

That's cool about the 12v install. I installed for a long time also. Ive always loved the 12v scene. Wish I had more money and time for my own personal projects these days. I Used to actually gave a store with a partner of mine, but ended up closing it around '09 while they economy was in the crapper here. Wasn't as much demand for all the toys when people were struggling to pay their bills.

Do you think you can throw a pic of your HID on your sfoot here? I'd kinda like to see how your light worked compared to the one I put together.

[benji]

I don't have a pic of the beam pattern, but it's very localized. Gives a lot of light around me which is nice at night. Mine isn't quite fast enough to worry about distance really haha.

[benji]

I can still blind oncoming cars tho haha

[johnny248]

That actually looks really cool. That's 4300k? It looks like a 3000k color, but I know how the cameras take pictures of lights. I've tried about 20 times to get a picture of what the headlight looks like and I can just never get it to look how it looks in person.

Btw, I dig the Aero. Always like the look of it.

Also, about that factory switch. How can you use it off/lo/Hi ? Isn't it just an on/off switch? I haven't looked at it in awhile. The switch I used just looks OK enough for me. All I did was cut the old switch a little bit and use JB weld to set that other switch in it. I didn't really spend much time to make it super pretty. I really just wanted it to fit and work.

[benji]

Thanks. My headlight is a 3oook right now, but I have a couple of 4300k I wanna put in but I like the yellow better so I'm waiting for it to burn out haha.
Here's one I took tonight, it's raning and it's w my cell phone, but you get the idea. Much brighter in real life.

[benji]

No street lights on, pitch black and about 200 ft from the fence