MilSpec... like $500 hammers? Sorry. You kids get off my lawn!

 

I don't hunt deer but I do shoot at people with those blinding headlights

 

I was mistaken no reference to MilSpec, just military grade on the specifications:
"When properly mounted, the lamp is designed to conform to the requirements listed in the Department of Transportation (DOT), FMVSS-108 and Transport Canada (TC), CMVSS-108. Headlamps marked with the DOT symbol signifies the lamps are street legal.
Excellent option for light, medium and heavy-duty trucks, off-road vehicles, classic cars, motorcycles and more.
Metalized reflector optics provide a lighting experience that smooth and clean across the driving surface
Provides a brighter, crisper and whiter light output, closer to the color temperature of daylight, dramatically improving light projection distance and overall visibility
Durability and dependability of LED lighting provides a solid-state, bulb-free headlamp design that impervious to damage from shock and vibration
Military grade, die-cast aluminum housing and non-yellowing, polycarbonate lens offer optimum protection against damage from impact, roadside debris and other hazards
Electronics are sealed in epoxy to resist from damage caused by corrosion or moisture
Advanced circuitry protects against voltage spikes up to 600v
Drop-in replacement for #6014, 6015, 6016, H6024 and Par 56 headlamp designs
Uses standard, H4, 3-blade wiring connector
Equipped with Truck-Lite 3-Year Limited Warranty."

 

The main problem with Bumpside headlights is the stock wiring. My '68 for example, will suddenly turn off the headlights without warning when I've been driving with the high beams on for a while. It seems the relay, or thermal breaker, in the system gets hot and shuts off, then cools enough to switch them back on after a few seconds. The first time it happened I sort of freaked out a bit, suddenly having my headlights go off completely when driving on a dark, twisty mountain road at night while towing a trailer is not a fun experience! But I quickly figured out that it was just the high beams and if I switched to low beams they would come back on and stay on.

And the headlights don't get full current which makes them a bit dimmer than they could (or should) be, so there are a couple of ways you can upgrade the wiring, which you should certainly do if you're going to change to aftermarket headlights. I only have halogen stock replacements in my '68 and it seems they tap out the stock wiring as it is.

ARB, which is an Australian company specializing in off-road accessories, makes a plug 'n play harness for about $125 that installs easily and gets full power to the headlights, minimizing the draw on the stock wiring harness:



For less than half the cost but a bit more work you can build your own. Here's an article about it:

Whiter Whites, Brighter Brights - Ford-Trucks.com

 

Relays are outstanding but when lightswitch thermal breaker cycles it's actually because of corroded connections and poor grounding and this resistance will soon smoke the switch. Don't misunderstand, wiring a relay will "fix" the problem, but only part of it.

Check for actual voltage drop, the cumulative figure for the negative and positve legs should be no more than about 0.4 (tenths) of a volt. If the headlights are dim, then everything else electrical is also marginal, no way around it. Relays are not available for the ignition or alternator. The starter solenoid is a heavy duty relay, but it's not uncommon at all for the corrosion and resistance in the cables and connections and grounds to render the starter completely inop. See where I'm goin' with that?

Halogens do draw more amperage than an OEM tungsten bulb, but not enough to matter if you do the math. Fix the underlying issue first - bad grounds and corroded connections. The alternator, starter, solenoid, battery, as well as lightswitch itself will last considerably longer and ignition will be much improved. THEN add relays for the headlights if required.

 

One of the cheaper, already assembled relay options I have come across found here: Headlight Relay Harness Kit
Looks simple enough even I might be able to do it.

 

We can do retros for any ford truck year

 

I ran a set of H4 Cibies for years on my '66 with no relays. I did replace the headlight switch at the very beginning. Doing the same on my '67.

 

(Custom car buffs need not read this...)

Caution: Tirade
This really pulls my chain... We are talking about safety issues here.
Not to pick on anyone in particular, or give a show-car modification a bad name, but this LED headlight thing is ridiculous for the road-going vehicle.
Beginners beware.

If you have good grounds, a normal alternator putting out 14.4 volts, and reasonable wiring, your headlights will be nice, bright, and white. a filament will last a very long time if driven at normal design voltage.
LEDs are just an expensive fix for a shadetree-level set of problems.

If you upgrade the wiring, modernize with a 3G alternator, do the relay modification, and otherwise bring things up to snuff, the LED headlights have almost no advantage. It's a gimmick. Waste of money.

Why you would need the severe vibration resistance, low-amp, and different color characteristics is beyond me. Trucks are not aircraft. But then again, I only have a Master's in light behavior and properties. Maybe there is something past the accepted science. Please explain your view, and present with documentation, and peer-reviewed white papers to support your assertions. Just don't pass around a bunch of bad info about automotive lighting. The LED headlights are not better.

Review: In driving situations, yellow to red frequencies (colors) are useful. That is why tail-lights are Red, and the others are Yellow-amber. (Green is questionable for many, but usually OK.) Blue-er colors are interpreted by the brain as 'brighter', and the mistake is well documented.

However, you can't actually SEE better with the blueish light. It is a mental trick. The brain thinks it is brighter, when it is not. Actually, ...and provably..., you see better with something like amber. This is especially true when there is dust, moisture, snow crystals, smoke in the air, or just pitting and junk on the windshield.

The problem is that blue frequencies bounce off of almost everything, and create haze. In this case, you are broadcasting haze to all the other drivers. (Very poor score on the neighborly-dude scale.)
The messy image that is returned to you has a blurry effect that messes up your edge discrimination. Read up on rayleigh scattering, haze , "blue-blocker" and "pilot's glasses" for some background. If that doesn't bust the myth, try reading up on photographic filters for outdoor use.

To summarize, Yellow and Red penetrate the junk, and upon reflection back to the eye, scatter much less, and give a sharp image. Most of us can tell warning signs, stop signs, and traffic lights apart in most headlight flavors. Only in the case of color discrimination is "white" better.
Blue... never.

Seldom are LED headlights made to produce the desired 2700 Kelvin radiation that works well. (It would be a very bright yellowish-amber color temperature, like normal light-bulbs, optimized for visibility.)
So, ...some buy expensive junk. Don't push it on our newbies!

I'm not sure where the cool factor is in this mod. Black headlights? Less light, and reflectivity. Sophmoric. Save money. Buy a book on ignition systems or something instead, and spend your time wrenching on a real project.
Opinions are like belly-buttons, everybody has one...

 

whew...a thread from the dead, revived by someone trying to sell us something.

i'm all for relays and H4 conversions to modernize things. the HID retrofits are illegal in my state, and i can certainly see why (pun intended).

 

I've been running halogens for the past 30 years or so and they're much better than incandescent. I've been wanting to install a relay but haven't gotten around to it. I rarely drive at night anyway.

 

I'd possibly be interested in a good quality LED in the optimum color range.

H4 lamps, relays, and a G3 alternator were no-brainers. Easy and not expensive. The only brand-new parts needed were the headlight housings, the lamps, and the wires. The rest can be salvaged at the junkyard. I think they should be recommended to every 'noob' like me, along with Tedster's advice:
"Halogens do draw more amperage than an OEM tungsten bulb, but not enough to matter if you do the math. Fix the underlying issue first - bad grounds and corroded connections."

 

^^Here's a guy that gets it!!!!

Man, the crap that the OEM shoves down our throats as "BETTER" and "SAFER" is just ludicrous. I think most of the engineers must live in their parents basement and ride the bus to work. None of them could even come close to actually driving at night because if they did then they would realize what a Forkd up situation it is these days.

Now that they have these ridiculously bright headlights that don't actually shine on the road, they OEM put two more "driving" lights that are just as bright to help light up the road in front of the vehicle. All doing nothing but blinding the heck out of oncoming traffic. Jeezus, try driving at night in the rain on a curvy road. You can't see anything due to the headlights coming at you.


I can see just fine with my 40 yr old sealed beam halogens, aimed at the ground and NOT glaring so brightly that oncoming traffic can't see the road. It's all come down to "more is better" and everybody wants "More". No matter how worthless it is. To top it off these clueless idiots then drive with their brights on? Why? I haven't been able to figure it out.

Ugh.......sorry, rant over.

 

In a lot of ways I like the good "old fashioned" bulbs, especially in cold weather. They draw more juice, but then, so what? They also put out just enough heat to keep snow and ice from accumulating. Even stoplights have this problem at intersections. Cities like LED stoplights because they just sip the juice and don't, I guess, need replacing as often. But in a storm they collect snow, there isn't enough radiant heat to melt snow and ice. I like some of the LED flashlights and headlamps though, batteries last pretty good in those.

 

Well. if you've ever driven a Jeep JK at night, you will have experienced some of the worst headlights ever made. LED conversions were developed in part just for this vehicle. I've driven 6V VW bugs with better headlights. We were in Wyoming on the highway and couldn't see more than 100' in front of the Jeep. We knew there were antelope everywhere because we saw them as the sun set. Worst night driving in my life. We put in LED's right after that trip along with auxiliary spots. The point of this is that there are reason's for LED's HID's etc. I've had halogens on every car I've owned up until my wife's Jeep. My 67 F600 already is converted to H4's.