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Well, I realized recently that it has been almost a year since I asked Daniel Stern, of Daniel Stern Lighting, to tell me about the latest in retrofit automotive lighting. His response is below, and is both very informative as well as lengthy. And much of it is the same or similar to previous responses, but there is enough new info to make it a good read.
And I can see that I'm going to be spending $179 + 43.18 = $222.18 or more with Daniel in the near future.  Hiya, Gary. Good to see from you. Some of this info you already know,
but I'm sending it all in one go so you have it all in one place:
The very best replaceable-bulb (H4) headlamps in the 200mm × 142mm
(large rectangular) size you need are made in Japan by Koito, one of the
top three makers of lighting equipment for the world's automakers. These
are the most efficient (greatest amount of light on the road), best
focused (most useful distribution of light), best-built (sturdiest glass
and metal materials, most careful build quality) lamps of their type in
this size. They are in stock, and cost $179/pair; pic is attached.
There's a great deal of junk on the market, too. Delta, Roundeyes,
Adjure, Eagle Eye, Rampage, Eaglite, Maxtel, Eurolite, Pilot, Neolite,
Autopal, and dozens of other off-brand, poorly-made headlite-shaped
trinkets. You're wise to steer clear of it all.
The Hella lamp in this size is quite inefficient on low beam, which
means inadequate, short seeing distance, and it has an obnoxious focus
issue of excessive vertical distance between the low and high beam: if
the lows are aimed where they should be, the highs are up in the trees,
but if you put the highs dead-ahead as they ought to be, the lows are
shortly in front of your front bumper. The Koito lamps do not have this
irritating issue.
*Wiring*
You will definitely want to put in headlamp relays to take the workload
off the switches and bring full power to the lamps. The concept is
explained at http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html
; in a nutshell it's because the car's existing wiring was designed to
be adequate for the original low-power lamps when everything was new,
and it doesn't improve with age. This can be achieved in a couple of
different ways of varying cost and difficulty. One way is with a relay
install kit RIK-2, $69.
The RIK includes all the needed relays, brackets, terminal blocks,
terminals, plugs, sockets, fuses and fuseholders, all in very fine
quality (not the "consumer grade" junk you can find at the parts store).
You supply your own wire (or your mechanic does) and use the parts from
the kit to build up your own wiring harness.
Or, I can have my harness builder custom build you a ready-to-install
harness assembly using the same high-grade components that go in my
build-it-yourself parts kits. Cost for this option is $199 (including
parts and build). It costs more than the cheap, failure-prone prefab
harnesses because it is not a cheap, failure-prone prefab harness.
Or, the sweet spot: I've got built-up, install-ready harnesses for
2-lamp vehicles like yours for just $99 (that's $100 less than
custom-built). These are quite nice (they easily pass the "would I use
it on my own car at night in the mountains" test), and they're a whole
lot better and more dependable than the poor-quality junk that's all
over the internet for about the same price. These are very nicely made
with name-brand high-current relays, splashproof fuseholders, quality
terminals and sockets and plugs, 14-gauge wire, etc. The only thing you
don't get is custom-tailored wire lengths. You won't have a "tuff luck,
won't reach" situation, but you might wind up tucking some extra cable
length neatly out of the way, or routing the cable under rather than
over the radiator (for example) to take up some extra length.
With either of the harnesses, installation is simple: you run the marked
wires to battery positive and to battery negative, snap the harness plug
onto one of the vehicle's original headlamp sockets, snap the harness
sockets onto the headlamps, mount the relays (they have an easy mounting
tab for a bolt or screw) and secure the cable runs and relays neatly out
of harm's way.
Either way, parts kit or built-up harness, the in-car switches continue
working normally, and you will not need to cut or otherwise disturb any
of the vehicle's original wires.
*Bulbs*
Bulb selection matters a _lot_ to how well you can (or can't) see at
night. Please see bulb test results posted by my colleague Virgil at
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?392498-Interesting-headlight-bulb-test-results
. Note the performance difference, especially on low beam, between the
standard bulb (bulb "A") and the high-efficacy bulb (bulb "C"). The
current best pick in 60/55w bulbs is made by Tungsram (GE of Europe);
it is a +120 item that is a few developmental iterations improved over
the +80/+90 bulb "C" in the linked comparison. I keep them in stock for
$43.18/pair. With relays in the system it's tempting to grab for big
wattage numbers (100/90, etc), but for a good collection of sturdy
reasons it's usually counterproductive at best; more info on request.
Important note: any of the bulbs claiming to produce "extra white" light
(or super white, hyper white, platinum white, metal white, xenon white,
etc) as its main promotional "benefit" is best avoided. It doesn't
matter whose name is on the bulb -- Sylvania SilverStar/Ultra or ZxE,
Philips BlueVision or CrystalVision, Wagner TruView, anything from PIAA
or Hoen,, Nokya, Polarg, etc. -- all the same scam. They have a
blue-tinted glass, which changes the light color a little, but blocks
light that would reach the road if the glass weren't tinted, so they
give you _less_ light than ordinary bulbs (not more). To get
legal-minimum levels of light through the blue glass, the filament has
to be driven very hard so these bulbs have a very short lifespan, and
there's nothing about the tinted light that improves your ability to see
-- the opposite is true (less light = less seeing, no matter about the
tint). Sylvania got spanked (see
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?388252-Sylvania-taken-to-task-for-their-false-claims-of-headlamp-superiority
) to the tune of thirty million dollars(!) for false "upgrade" claims
on their Silver Star bulbs -- and theirs are among the least-bad of an
overall bad product category, so the math kind of does itself.
*LED headlamps:*
The "LED bulbs" now flooding the market, claiming to convert halogen
headlamps to LED, are not a legitimate, safe, effective, or legal
product. No matter whose name is on them or what the vendor claims,
these are a fraudulent scam. They are not capable of producing the right
amounts of light, nor producing it in the right pattern for the lamp's
optics to work. Same goes for "HID kits" in halogen-bulb headlamps or
fog/auxiliary lamps (any kit, any lamp, any vehicle no matter whether
it's a car, truck, motorcycle, etc.). They do not work safely or
effectively, which is why they are illegal. Legitimate LED headlamps do
not use a replaceable light source ("LED bulb").
If you wish more detailed info on these so-called "conversions", please
see
https://jalopnik.com/why-most-led-headlight-upgrades-dont-really-work-an-ex-1843070472
and
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html
. Nutshell version: this is not like trying out different bulbs in the
kitchen or living room or garage, where all it has to do is light up in
a way you find adequate and pleasing. Headlamps aren't just flood or
spot lights; they are precision optical instruments (yes, even a cheap
and minimal headlamp counts as a precision optical instrument) that have
a complex, difficult job to do in terms of simultaneously putting light
where it's needed, keeping it away from where it's harmful, and
controlling the amounts of light at numerous locations within the beam
to appropriate levels (too much light in certain areas is just as
dangerous as not enough). Headlamps cannot just spray out a random blob
of light, and that's what they do with anything other than the intended
correct kind of light source.
And there's also a mountain of unsafe junk in the form of trinkets
claiming to be complete "LED headlamps", as well. But there's a number
of engineered LED headlamps on the market -- they range in quality and
performance from pathetic to excellent. The best of them all is the JW
Speaker item in chrome
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077S6TZSG/?tag=2402507-20 or in black
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0784NV3FK/?tag=2402507-20 . These are *not*
advisable if you do a lot of wintertime driving with heavy snow and
slush; the LED headlamp lenses run cold so snow and ice build up on them
instead of melting off like they do from a warm halogen lamp lens. There
is now a heated-lens version of the JW Speaker lamp to address this
issue; they, too, come in chrome:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0784PRXJM/?tag=2402507-20
or in black:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078C4WXTV/?tag=2402507-20
About the only other LED headlamps I'd point you at would be these
(specific) Truck-Lites:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081S922ZC/?tag=2402507-20 (heated lens).
You'll be shown a whackload of "Products like this" or "I bought these
for way cheaper"—all complete junk, do not buy.
Assuming your truck's wiring is in good shape, a relay harness isn't
needed or beneficial with LED headlamps.
*Lamp aim:*
Lamp aim is by far the main thing that determines how well you can (or
can't) see at night with any given set of lamps, so this is crucial: you
will need to see to it that the lamps are aimed carefully and correctly;
Koito halogen lamps per the "VOL" instructions; or JW Speaker LED lamps
per "VOR", or heated Truck-Lite LEDs per "older US lamps" as described
at http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html .
Whichever headlamp option you choose, result of this upgrade will be
modern-car levels of headlamp performance: broad, even, bright white—not
brownish or bluish—well-focused low and high beams instead of the dim,
narrow tunnel of brownish light from the original sealed beams. Also
total elimination of backscatter in rain/fog/snow. Modern cars have a
range of headlamp performance; your headlamp selection determines how
high in that range your upgrade will get you.
*Fog lamps:*
Even very good fog lamps (which do exist, but aren't very common) are of
almost no use to most drivers in most conditions, but "most" doesn't
mean "all"; there are certainly plenty of places where _legitimate_ fog
lamps, installed and used thoughtfully, can be a big help. Please see
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/lights/fog_lamps/fog_lamps.html
for thorough information about what fog lamps will/won't and can/can't do.
_Daytime running lights:_
Daytime running lights—legitimate ones, configured appropriately for
automatic operation—are good to have. They significantly reduce your
risk of being in a crash during the daytime, and are required equipment
in Canada, throughout Europe, and in a large and growing number of other
countries throughout the world because they are a very cost-effective
safety device (i.e., they work). You can easily enable them in your
vehicle using a DRL-1 module ($59); see
http://dastern.torque.net/Mods/DRL/DRL1.html for instructions and
demonstration videos. This is the best way to put a daytime running
light function on a vehicle not originally equipped (or which has had
its headlamp-based DRLs disabled for installation of headlight relays).
The module enables the steady-burning operation of both front
directional signals as daytime running lights (except, of course, when
you're signalling for a turn). They produce a light distribution with a
wide view angle, are generally well located for DRL service at the
outboard edges of the front of the vehicle, consume considerably less
power than any headlamp-based DRL implementation, use light sources of
generally much longer life than a headlight bulb, do not encourage
improper nighttime use of lights, and do not require additional lighting
devices to be added. A large variety of vehicles from a wide array of
makers use this kind of DRL as original equipment. It is steady-lit
operation of the bright amber turn signals (except when they are
flashing to signal a turn) -- it is not steady operation of the dim
parking lamps; parking lights are not bright enough and don't have the
right view angles to serve the daytime running light function. Turn
signal DRLs comply with US and Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
#108 and are approved in all states, provinces, and territories.
_Other upgrades:_
Can safely make your front sidemarker lights 3× brighter for safer
all-around visibility of the vehicle with direct-swap bulbs, $9.18/pair.
Your turn signals are presently invisible from the side, but there is an
easy modification you can make to the front side marker lights' hookup
so that they do double-duty as side markers _and_ side turn signal
flashers, see
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/markerflash/markerflash.html .
This is a very good safety improvement, as your turn signals become
visible to the side (cars in the next lane, bicyclists, pedestrians)
instead of just front- or rear-on. It is also fully road-legal, and the
brighter bulbs will mean your newly-activated side turn signal repeaters
are clearly visible in bright daylight, too, not just after dark.
With your two-wire side marker lights you have two options for how to do this,
both described at the link. Use the logic module method (module kit $59)
if you want the side markers always to flash in phase with the front and
rear indicators, or use the cross-feed method (no module required, just
a couple of wire connectors) if you don't mind opposite-phase flashing
of the front side marker light when the parking lamps or headlamps are
lit. Either way is legal throughout North America; elsewhere in the
world, international rules do not permit opposite-phase flashing.
When installing things like daytime running lights and sidemarker
flashing, It's best not to use the fold-over-and-crunch "Scotchlok" type
taps. Much better, more durably trouble-free result if you use
Posi-Taps, http://www.allpar.com/reviews/other/posi-tap.html . I don't
carry them, but if you'll get this assortment, you'll surely find uses
for them (they're one of those products that you buy for a particular
project, but then other uses for them keep popping up in front of you
once you have them): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009RPDOAM/?tag=2402507-20
The main exterior signal lamps can safely be made 45% brighter with
special high-efficiency bulbs available (only) through the Honda parts
system.
The single-filament variety with a single contact in the centre of the
bottom of the bulb's base (replacing 1076, 1141, 1156, P21W, P25-1, and
a few others—these go in your reversing lamps) is
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IFP9P4O/?tag=2402507-20 .
The dual-filament variety with two contacts side-by-side on the bottom
of the bulb's base (replacing 1034, 1157, 2057, P21/5W, P25-2, and a few
others—these go in the brake lights and front turn signals) is
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFDIN0K/?tag=2402507-20 . These only come in
clear; if you need an amber bulb because your front turn signal lenses
are also clear/colourless, use
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IY7TGQ/?tag=2402507-20 .
Another easy safety pickup: put in a new-type turn signal flasher
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P4QLLL9/?tag=2402507-20 (2-prong like
original; connect its ground wire conveniently). These have much lower
internal resistance than the original type, for brighter turn signals.
"Ew, no, I want to put LEDs in my brake lights and turn signals!"
Welll…maybe and maybe not. Here's what to know about LED retrofit bulbs
in vehicle signal lamps (brake lights, tail lights, parking lights, turn
signals, etc).
First, the quick nutshell version:
-Answer to "Will it work?" is a whole lot more complicated than is
commonly understood.
-Fundamentally different kind of light source, so unlike with filament
bulbs, physical fit doesn't guarantee optical compatibility/acceptable
performance.
-Giant mountain of unsafe junk on the market, all fraudulently hyped as
an upgrade.
-A few legitimate products that work OK in _some_ of the lamps they fit
in; important to check the actual function carefully.
-Optical compatibility isn't the only issue; there's also electrical
compatibility and thermal concerns.
Now here's the long, detailed version:
Let's start with how signal lamps (parking lamps, turn signals, side
marker lights, brake lights, tail lights, reversing lamps) have to work.
It's a lot more complicated than just "Yep, that lights up and looks
good to me". Please take a look at this post, which I wrote years ago,
in re someone who was very ambitiously making his own LED taillights for
an old Dodge Dart:
https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/66-dart-led-prototype-working-for-now.169147/#post-1635365
This info applies no matter what kind of light source we're working
with; I point you at it _not_ because I think you should go to the
use (or doesn't only use) a reflector bowl. Instead, these lamps have
Fresnel-type optics, the kind where the lens has a central magnifying
area directly in line with the filament of the installed bulb, and
spreader optics surrounding that magnifier. Often the magnifier is a
round bullseye and the spreaders are a series of round prismatic rings
surrounding the bullseye, but sometimes the magnifier is square or
rectangular and the surrounding prisms are rectilinear. The Bullnose
trucks use this kind of lamp for the front turn signals. If there's no
light directly out the front of the LED bulb, there will be minimal to
zero useful output from the lamp.
Philips used to make some LED bulbs that did have significant frontward
light, but they discontinued them and now they market two different
product families, both of which are inferior to that first family. Which
is unfortunate, but that's the world we live in.
There are the thermal issues with LED bulbs. Unlike with previous light
sources (light and heat coincident out the front of the lamp), an LED
puts out light from its front side and heat from its back side. The
light goes forward, the heat goes back. As the LED heats up, its light
output drops (it's called "droop"), so each LED must have an adequate
heat sink to carry the heat away from the emitter and prevent it heating
up high enough to drop the output low enough to put the lamp's output
below the minimum requirement. LED vehicle lamps (designed and
engineered as such) have to pass tests for output maintenance with
prolonged operation, because that's a real-world situation (stuck in
traffic with foot on the brake, tail/parking lights operating for hours
on end, etc). This is a challenging requirement for even legitimate LED
lamps, and it's a really difficult challenge for such a thing as an LED
bulb, because there's a very limited amount of space for any heat
sinking, and all of it's going to be inside the lamp there with the
heat-emitting LEDs—there's no way to use outside air to cool the LEDs
unless you have a big honkin' rear housing on the LED bulb. There are
some out there like this, and they create physical-fit problems (not
enough room behind the lamp for the big honkin' housing) and other
issues related to improper fit in the bulb hole.
Finally, there's another matter that affects the compatibility of LED
bulbs with lamps designed to use filament bulbs: most white LED bulbs
are high-CCT ("cold white"), like 5000K, 6000K, or higher. That's
cold/blue-white light. These white LEDs produce very little red light.
Put such an LED behind a red lens, and you get a dim, muddy,
pinkish-brown light that's way outside the boundaries of what's
allowable as red. This is a bad idea, as we're talking about lights that
are supposed to immediately convey the vehicle's position/direction of
travel and that it's decelerating. Messing with their colour, intensity,
and light distribution makes them unable to do their job keeping you
from getting hit.
If you want to try LED bulbs in the brake lights, you can try
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A77TV4Q/?tag=2402507-20 — these are the only
ones worth trying. That "try" language is deliberate; I repeat myself:
you'll need to carefully assess the performance of these bulbs in your
particular lamps by comparing them side-by-side with the original
incandescents as reasonably well described at
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?452592-How-to-Evaluate-Safety-of-LED-Bulb-Retrofits-in-Brake-Signal-Marker-Lights
(and that new-type turn signal flasher linked above is _mandatory_
with LED bulbs).
*For items with a price quote in this email:*
If an item in this email has a price quoted, that's an item I sell
myself. To buy any of these, please use the instructions at the end of
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Any item with a link instead of a price quote, I don't sell myself
(usually because no cost-effective pipeline); kindly please order those
items via the links I provide.
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Orders may be sent via e-mail. You may also voicemail or fax your order
to my secure toll-free recorded order line on 1-866-861-8668.
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_Credit Card:_
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I look forward to receiving and filling your order.
Cheers and drive safely,
Daniel Stern (he - him - his)
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile
Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI
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