hey I'm trying to figure out what is the brightest headlight bulb replacement. I'm not opposed to hid or led I just want something that is really bright. What do you run and how bright is it compared to stock? Part numbers, brand names and places to buy are great too! I'm currently running h3s? I think here's a pic of what I have and what I'd like to keep

 

trucklite LED is what I want to use but first I'm doing the harness upgrade

 

Used these from rallylights.com (Susquehanna Motorsports):

"Item Sku Qty Subtotal
Hella 7" Round E-code Hi-Lo Conversion Headlamp Kit., H6024
Choose H4 Bulbs
H6024J - 85/80W Osram Hyper - $29.76
H6024-H6024J 1 $123.86
Subtotal $123.86
Shipping & Handling $16.55
Grand Total $140.41"

Ended up switching to an Osram 85/100 bulb after those original 85/80's burned out on me.



Used a harness from Michael Cline:

Headlight Services - Home

Description Unit price Qty Amount
Premium-Plus Headlamp Wiring Harness for conventionally SWITCHED POWER vehicles with two H4 lamps
$84.50 USD 1 $84.50 USD
Subtotal $84.50 USD
Shipping and handling $10.00 USD
Total $94.50 USD
Payment $94.50 USD
Charge will appear on your credit card statement as "PAYPAL *HEADLIGHT S"

Both of these outfits were great to deal with, and the quality of the harness I bought from Michael was and still is better than anything else I've seen at the shows and cruises.

 

Keep in mind that it won't matter what you use if there isn't full voltage and current at the bulb terminals. Corroded cables, grounds, and connections in the harness, floorswitch will drop voltage quite a lot. Light output drops off a cliff with just a slight drop in voltage.

 

Be aware of the original weak alternator, an 3g substitute or something over 100A makes sense.

 

https://www.4wd.com/p/jw-speaker-870...adlights/23688

I read an unofficial LED comparison on pirate. They claimed that the JWspeaker was by far the best LEd on the market. Its price has also dropped by about half in the last year. Still quite expensive.

 

Thanks for the input!

 

I also used rallylights.com and bought the Hella E codes and upgraded bulbs to replace the headlights in our '16 JKU. They are way better than the factory lights. On my 75 I upgraded my alternator and cleaned up my connectors. They're way brighter already, and I plan to install a direct wired fed from a relay. Then buy another set of the e code Hellas.

 

Out of curiosity, how long ago did you purchase yours Hogdriver?

I've now seen two sets of "bad" Hella E-codes recently. Never thought I'd say that, but it was quite a surprise to me after having used Hella round lights for about 25 years now and love the sharp cutoff and high right-side flare up. Really lights up the street signs but doesn't blind.

But the new ones are putting out just kind of a "blob" of light like you'd expect from the cheapies over the years. Came as a real rude awakening I must say.
On their side of the argument possibly, it can come down to poorly manufactured bulbs as well. But in my case I've so far tried three different brands of bulbs, none of which were Hella.
Tried Osram, PIAA, and GE/Sylvania. All big names in the industry making industry-standard bulbs for many decades.

So I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm going to try to give someone at Hella a call and see if I can find out. Maybe get them warrantied too, because they're useless to me now after having driven with so many exceptional headlights for so many years now.

Hope all of yours work better than my more recent ones!

Paul

 

Maybe aircraft landing lights? I think anything much over 50 watts (halogen) and/or poor aim is likely to be an issue on the street.

 

Those deer spotter hand helds are pretty bright. About thirty years ago I was driving in the desert at night in a car with a misaimed headlight, one of those sections of road you can see 50 miles in one direction and 25 in the other. Well this big rig kept flashing his brights at me from about two counties over, trying to get me to turn off the brights. Except they weren't on. Oh well.

WELL, once we got about even up after a while, maybe a few hundred yards and we're ready to pass, the whole frickin' car interior EXPLODED IN LIGHT, I could almost see the bones in my hand covering my eyes, he had one of those spotter lamps, musta been the de luxe model or a landing type light, let me tell ya. Decided maybe I oughtta get that headlight adjusted a little better...

 

My last set was purchased around Christmas this past year. I agree, the cutoff isn't as defined as they used to be, but the light pattern is still very good and a huge improvement over the stock abortion. I'm not sure what bulbs I used, but they are brighter than stock. I've heard some discussion that when the really high(whatever that means) output bulbs are in there's actually more refraction. Have not tried many different bulbs.

 

I have the Trucklite LEDs.

They are unbelievable; the low beam cutoff as well as angle (ditch illumination) is fantastic. This is actually my second set of these lights as I bought the rectangle ones originally for my 2000 F250 and fell in love with them so I had to have them in this pickup.

 

do us all a favor and don't go for the brightest light, unless you want to **** off every car you pull behind and you will. don't be that guy!

 

Agree! But that's where buying the best beam pattern light you can find really pays off.
Not only do you benefit from the new-found visibility all around, but you're less likely to blind oncoming traffic.

I use the 55/100 H4 bulbs usually. Legal and not so bright they cause trouble, but not crappy enough to overcome the well designed beam pattern.
And on high-beam (which I never use with traffic anyway unless to signal someone) it's like having old-school driving lights installed!
In fact, after i started using the 100watt highs, I stopped using auxiliary lights because they were no longer needed.

A well designed headlight is like having fog lights on low and driving lights on high. It's a pretty cool feeling.
But get a bum lamp just to save money turns out to be bad for everybody. And if you're in a populated area, you've likely seen an increase lately in crappy lights.
Even some of the modern LED headlights coming from the factory are poorly aimed. We complained about the higher legal wattage from 45w to 55w way back when. Complained about the new-fangled halogen lamps starting in the late sixties. Then complained about the "idiot kids" (or whoever was doing it) that just put the cheapest lights they could afford and/or brightest bulbs they could find blinding us just for bragging rights.
Now that we've finally got the OE's putting in really bright white lights, we've got the same crappy beam patterns to complain about.
And don't get me started on Toyotas and Hondas that have tail lights so bright they're practically blinding in the daytime!
A new requirement for those should be that a light sensor dims the tail lights by 20% after dark.

Consider yourself lucky if you live in a more rural area where you're not constantly sitting in front of, or behind poorly thought out lights.
Well, consider yourself lucky for all the other reasons too!

Paul