What has been the Hive's experience with replacement LED Headlight bulbs? My 06 Accord takes the 9006 bulb and I'm just wondering if these are an upgrade or not. Honda headlights are always pretty crummy, and any upgrade would be nice, but I worry about beam patterns on the LEDs.
The passenger headlight on the WRX started acting weird on the way home last week, I decided to give LED bulbs a shot after looking at Amazon and seeing choices for $40 or so with good reviews.
9007 bulb, think I paid $38 with free Prime shipping. Simple plug in like a regular bulb, the fitment in the socket was a bit wonky, and the high beam indicator is dimly on, but I like them so far.
LEDs need proper LED projector housings or you will be “that guy” who blinds oncoming traffic. Do a proper projector retrofit or stick with halogen.
pointofdeparture said:LEDs need proper LED projector housings or you will be “that guy” who blinds oncoming traffic. Do a proper projector retrofit or stick with halogen.
This. Or jump straight to a sealed-beam LED housing, they can be had fairly cheap these days. I have a set on my Samurai that cost $150, they're DOT-legal and everything.
Edit: Check these out:
No, get 9012 bulbs. Almost 80% more light, same shape.
If your high beam takes 9005, get 9011s for those. Don't mess with LED.
My buddy sells replacement led bulbs, and they are bright as hell but atleast in his stock housings they blind the E36 M3 out of everone.
He tells me there is a large difference in quality between the cheapies and the good ones, that may just be because he sells the "good" ones.
I double youll be able to find replacement led housings for an accord, when i was looking for the miata the good stuff was only available for replacement common sealed beam housing or crazy expensive. I think he just ordered a set of replacement housing for a new ram and they were over a 1000 dollars
The ones I linked to above are projector housings with LED indicators and parking lights but it looks like they still have a halogen bulb for at least one of the main beams. Those could be swapped for LED "bulbs."
I tried the cheapest set i could find on ebay in my 89 bmw 5 series housings. The high beams kick ass.
Low beams, with the hella projectors, are absolutely horrible. My zippo puts out the same amount of light.
pointofdeparture said:LEDs need proper LED projector housings or you will be “that guy” who blinds oncoming traffic. Do a proper projector retrofit or stick with halogen.
Some LED conversions really are direct replacements. The manufacturers did a good job of placing the filaments and reflectors in the same location. I was impressed with my install.
Blaise said:No, get 9012 bulbs. Almost 80% more light, same shape.
If your high beam takes 9005, get 9011s for those. Don't mess with LED.
is the wattage higher? if it is you have to worry about melted harnesses. seen it happen many a time because people wanted more light but were to cheap to do it properly. though an underhood fire should put off some pretty good light.
Same wattage. Well, 55/65... negligible wattage difference. Very well documented upgrade.
I run em in my Silverado (9005/9011+9006/9012) and girlfriends Subaru (h9/h11 and 9011/9005 swap).
I have a set in my 1999 Miata. They're not very good, but they are brighter than stock, they won't blind people if you get a decent set, and more importantly for me, they are more vibration-resistant than my halogen bulbs, which kept dying in my RallyCross beater.
If you can run HIR bulbs, go that route instead. If you want to try out LEDs, make sure you get some with a good return policy.
Again, the 9012/9011 bulbs are not HIR. They used to be a long time ago, now they're just a standard halogen that burns brighter. That's why they're so inexpensive.
Blaise said:Again, the 9012/9011 bulbs are not HIR. They used to be a long time ago, now they're just a standard halogen that burns brighter. That's why they're so inexpensive.
You can still get HIR bulbs.
http://www.rallylights.com/vosla-9011-hir1-9005-65w-halogen-infrared-bulb.html
I ran the 9012 and 9011s in the c5, it made a big difference.
In my researching the h1r was a top of the line bulb when it came out and was supposedly discontinued (thats what i read, i see you found a source) so people where getting them out of junkyards on their oem fitments. Then the 9011 and 9012 came out and they were able to achieve the same light output much cheaper with a conventional bulb.
Im not a lighting enthusiast, so this could all be wrong, its just second hand info im passing along.
Tl;dr. 9011 and 9012s are cheap upgrades, sometimes you have to cut a very small plastic piece of the tabs, takes like 5 seconds, and its a conventional halogen bulv
I'll try the 9011 and 9012s. Thanks as usual!
I found this during my searches yesterday:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/hir1-high-beam-bulbs-which-are-the-brightest.701565/#post8328212
long and short is the HIR1 and 9011 bulbs are significantly brighter than 9005’s, and the 9011 was the brightest of the two tested.
I put some 9006 in my Triumph and am pretty happy with them. They are much brighter than the halogen bulbs and have a good cutoff.
Kylini said:Blaise said:Again, the 9012/9011 bulbs are not HIR. They used to be a long time ago, now they're just a standard halogen that burns brighter. That's why they're so inexpensive.
You can still get HIR bulbs.
http://www.rallylights.com/vosla-9011-hir1-9005-65w-halogen-infrared-bulb.html
Wow, this is a surprise. I have talked to the owner of that site and I could have sworn he said that HIRs weren't being made anymore. Wonder if there's a performance difference, 3000lm is def more than the 9011 does (2200?). Hmm.
The wife's 09 WRX has the weakest headlights from the factory, you need the high beams all the time there so bad. I recently ordered two sets of low beam bulbs. I install one (Yita motor) checked the output is was not much better then stock removed it and installed the nicer bulb with a large heat sink on the back side and wow we can see at night and there not blinding to on coming nor traffic ahead as she followed me earlier this week i was not bothered by them. (they look like BeamTech brand but name was Night ? something) I got them off Amazon last fall and just got around to putting them in...
My 2012 Mazda 3 takes a H11 bulb stock, and the stock halogen projector lights were not great from day one. The upgrade H11's aren't much better.
I ran H9's for a while. They are higher wattage and worked ok, but one of my harnesses got a little melty and they would burn out all the time.
Right now, I have a set of HID's in there, mainly because they were dirt cheap on Amazon. They suck. If you are looking right at them, they are super bright, but not enough to blind you coming from the other direction. That said, when you are behind the wheel, the light pattern blows, and in the rain/snow, you really can't see anything. They light up the sides of the road more than anything else Also, one of the ballasts is lazy and you have to turn the lights on and off a few times to get it to wake up.
Now, I'm eyeing these LED conversions. A year ago, they were just LED chips that you slapped in the housings that vomited light everywhere, sorta like the HID's I have. You would rely on the projector to get the light down the road. Now, I'm seeing lights with the chips on one side, like these:
Should I bother giving these a try, or go back to the H9's at this point?
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Those look similar to the "OSLAMP" H4s I put in my bike. Light output is VERY impressive and had stock looking pattern. I went for a semi-long ride over the weekend and noticed the the heatsinks were pretty hot. I'm concerned with how long they'll hold up without proper ventilation. It was on fire roads in 1st and 2nd gear, so they weren't getting much airflow around them But at $30 for the set it's not a big gamble.
Tony Sestito said:My 2012 Mazda 3 takes a H11 bulb stock, and the stock halogen projector lights were not great from day one. The upgrade H11's aren't much better.
I ran H9's for a while. They are higher wattage and worked ok, but one of my harnesses got a little melty and they would burn out all the time.
Right now, I have a set of HID's in there, mainly because they were dirt cheap on Amazon. They suck. If you are looking right at them, they are super bright, but not enough to blind you coming from the other direction. That said, when you are behind the wheel, the light pattern blows, and in the rain/snow, you really can't see anything. They light up the sides of the road more than anything else Also, one of the ballasts is lazy and you have to turn the lights on and off a few times to get it to wake up.
Now, I'm eyeing these LED conversions. A year ago, they were just LED chips that you slapped in the housings that vomited light everywhere, sorta like the HID's I have. You would rely on the projector to get the light down the road. Now, I'm seeing lights with the chips on one side, like these:
Mazda used the thinnest wiring they could in these cars. I put amazon HIDs in my 2008 and had issues right away. A relay harness fixed most of them. Highly recommended if you don't have one.
Im planning on installing these style LEDs in my bike in the next week or two. If they're good enough they might make into my cars too. The tech sure has come a long way
I used the night eye by Novasight they look the same and work great in the wrx
44Dwarf said:The wife's 09 WRX has the weakest headlights from the factory, you need the high beams all the time there so bad. I recently ordered two sets of low beam bulbs. I install one (Yita motor) checked the output is was not much better then stock removed it and installed the nicer bulb with a large heat sink on the back side and wow we can see at night and there not blinding to on coming nor traffic ahead as she followed me earlier this week i was not bothered by them. (they look like BeamTech brand but name was Night ? something) I got them off Amazon last fall and just got around to putting them in...
I have an 09 WRX. The stock halogens SUCK so badely. I then upgraded to a Morimoto HID setup (HID bixenon projectors, bultbs, and stock STi ballast). I'll be honest. it is only marginally better than stock. I think the small projectors in this car and the shape of the housing just diffuses the light and it sucks no matter what. The ebay halogen projectors on my old e30 are twice as good at night!
I may have to try what you did at some point, because I honestly hate driving this car at night, and headlights are somethng that may prevent me from buying another Subaru!
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