Replacment Headlights.

[Black Cat]

Has any one here ever looked at using these truck-lite headlights as a replacement for our stock lights?
They should be a direct drop in replacement.

This site has a decent review of the 5x7s.
Here

And here is the manufactures website.
http://www.truck-lite.com

 

[Poodles]

They're expensive as hell though...and don't look better than HID projectors for the same price (or cheaper if you do the work yourself).

 

[Black Cat]

Do you have a link to these HID projectors and are they a direct drop in replacement?

 

[Poodles]

Yeah, I make them on occasion :rofl:

It's a lot more work though as you have to install a wiring harness, etc. The LED's look pretty decent, though I'd have to compare them myself (HID's, hella E-codes, etc)

 

[Supracentral]

The guy "Stump" that posted that review is a friend of a friend. Serious off-road people. (These guys do that nutty rock crawling stuff) I've seen some of the stuff that Stump has built, if he says it's good, I suspect it probably is.

 

[fixitman04]

Seen these first hand in the round version... Nice lights... But the $$$$ is nuts

 

[mkiiichip]

How much are we talking about? Anyone have a link to a retailer?

 

[Black Cat]

These are the cheapest I have found so far. Here
209.99 each, keep in mind these should be life time lights being LED they should just about last forever.

 

[mattsplat72]

It there is sufficient quality I would pay the price.

 

[fixitman04]

209 is dooable, not the 700 i was finding each. thanks for the link il be looking into these when i get the car driveable again

 

[MadRPM]

Seems like they would be a direct replacement. I'll give them a call after the holidays as those would be very nice.

Also, I'm pretty sure retroffiting would be at least as expensive since you have to get a quality kit for at least 300 + quality clear headlights, unless you get lucky at the yard. So 420 + shipping for, hopefully, a plug-n-play upgrade is not too bad

 

[Poodles]

HID's are still more powerful than LED currently, but they are catching up.

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

Well, LED is easily past the 50W range, and really, that's more light than headlights need, considering that halogen high beams are 65W, given the low lumens/watt range of halogen vs LED, there should be no need for more than 40W of power dissipation. Yes, HID is still more efficient, but those are typically 35W power dissipation. As such, LED is capable of creating as much light as is legal for use on public roads.

I just want to be sure that they use approriate power limiting, as an overcurrent fault on an LED means instant failure. Many LED automotive lamps will fail after one bad load dump from shutting off the heater fan while the engine is developing power for this reason.

(I've done a lot of stuff with DIY video projectors, and high power LEDs are a popular idea, but they still aren't up to matching a 400-1000W metal halide HID lamp. It's also amazing how many people think that LEDs don't create any heat.)

 

[Black Cat]

They say that these lights can handle a spike of 600v so I would think that shutting off a heater fan wouldn't be an issue.

 

[Mr Bojangles]

I like those, the price isn't bad either for a light you never have to replace

 

[Poodles]

Well, LED is easily past the 50W range, and really, that's more light than headlights need, considering that halogen high beams are 65W, given the low lumens/watt range of halogen vs LED, there should be no need for more than 40W of power dissipation. Yes, HID is still more efficient, but those are typically 35W power dissipation. As such, LED is capable of creating as much light as is legal for use on public roads.

I just want to be sure that they use approriate power limiting, as an overcurrent fault on an LED means instant failure. Many LED automotive lamps will fail after one bad load dump from shutting off the heater fan while the engine is developing power for this reason.

(I've done a lot of stuff with DIY video projectors, and high power LEDs are a popular idea, but they still aren't up to matching a 400-1000W metal halide HID lamp. It's also amazing how many people think that LEDs don't create any heat.)

Well, LED's make less heat, but they're also not able to withstand high temps (most of them).

Regarding legal road use, I prefure to be at the upper end of the limit instead of the lower (halogens are still powerful if they get the power they need). LED's take some interesting engineering to get all the light out of them because of the narrow degree of the light emitted.

I like those, the price isn't bad either for a light you never have to replace

LED's do age and die, they just have a much higher MTBF as a general rule. These lights don't appear to have nearly the cooling on them that the OEMs are using on their LED assemblies, so I can't be as sure of their longevity.

Still, I kinda like them and hope they come down in price.