I had purchased some HellaLenses from a forum member a while back and had been trying to decide how to use them. Either set it up with halogen bulbs and a relay so the I didn't burn out my headlight switch, or to try some LED bulbs in the lenses. I had heard mixed reviews about LED bulbs for headlights, but I found these that got good reviews and were inexpensive enough to experiment (35.99).


The bulbs were were plug'n play and come equipped with a heatsink/fan combo to keep them in the right operation temperature.

I got them installed in the housing and installed one in the drivers side for comparison.

There seems to be quite a difference in light out put. It wasn't quite dark yet, but you can still tell.
Low beams

High Beams

Low Beam light spread

High beam light spread

Low Beams

High Beams

Back of bulbs installed


I'm gonna go for a drive after dark to see how they do. Also gonna have a buddy drive by me on a back road to make sure I have them adjusted so I am not blinding anyone coming the opposite direction.

 

Here is a shot of the lenses. I am assuming the lens pattern on the front is to direct the light down and away from oncoming traffic.

 

Hella is a decent reflector, much better than any sealed beam for sure, but you'll never get it aimed right. With low beams aimed properly the high beams will send a lot of light high up in the trees and not where you need it. Cibie and Bosch have a better pattern, and Cibie is generally regarded as the best.

It's hard to tell from a camera but it looks like there is a lot of glare on low beams with those bulbs. This is dangerous as you're sending a lot of light at opposing traffic, into the eyes of the driver, blinding them. Adjust your headlights for a 4" drop at the cutoff from 25' away. Walk from at least 50' toward your van with low beams on after aiming and evaluate glare. If there is any glare, get some quality bulbs in there and it'll be eliminated. As far as I know no LED H4 bulb produces a well defined and acceptable beam pattern in a standard H4 reflector. Result is blinding other drivers and most likely less light on the road than a proper H4 bulb. The best performing H4 bulbs from my research are Philips Xtreme Vision and Osram Nightbreaker. I use the Philips Xtreme Vision in my truck and two bikes and am very pleased with the performance.

Have a look at my H4 conversion and relay install thread. You'll need to download a photobucket fix plugin/addin for your browser to see the pictures.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ht-relays.html

 

Cool upgrade. I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while.

 

I was working on other things around the house this weekend and didn't get a chance to go out on the dark county roads around my house. I should be able to get some pics tonight.

This morning was raining/overcast and I left right at sunrise (7:30). I noticed that the road signed were noticeably brighter/more reflective at a further distance than before. My biggest concern is blinding oncoming traffic, but I didn't have anyone flashing their brights at me and when I pulled up behind cars at stoplights I noticed my lights were hitting their trunk and not shining into their rear window. When I got to work a guy who arrived coming the opposite way at the same time said "Man, you got some really bright headlights on that van!". I told him that I just upgraded and was concerned about adjusting them so I didn't blind incoming traffic. He said that they weren't shining in his eyes and didn't bother him when he was coming the opposite way, they just caught his eye because they stood out as being brighter than the norm. Hopefully this means they are adjusted correctly. I am still planning on going through this process to make sure.

How to Adjust Car Headlights: 9 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow

 

Good signs, all. And they're not too "ricer" blue? 6500 Kelvins is on the blue side. Could be they're really closer to 5000-5500, which is actually a good thing (closer to daylight).

 

Went for a drive on some dark country roads last night. The new headlights are a huge improvement over the stock sealed beams. It looks like they are pretty close to being adjusted right. They are angled down, but I am going to shift them slightly to the right. With the added distance on them the edge of the drivers side beam is on the center-line.....but not by much. I had a couple of cars pass me and no one flashed their brights at me or gave me the finger that I could tell.

Here is a pic that I took out my windshield of my low beams. There isn't a lot of difference with the high beams on except that it lights up the trees that are on the side and overhang the road more. Site distance seems to remain the same.

 

I have adjusted these a few times to drop the beam down some and make sure the intense beam part of it is in the center of my lane. I will attempt to get some more pics this evening. Judging by the reflections off the signs around dawn when I leave for work there is now a difference between hi and low beams.

I also had a chat with an officer last night (56 in a 45). It was dark and he was in the on coming lane on a country 2 lane road. He didn't say anything about my headlight, so I am guessing they weren't blinding him. He even let me off with no paperwork so it was good all around.

 

Looks like a decent upgrade, but how would the LED's work with snow? Not enough heat to keep them melted off?...

 

Good question. Not sure yet. I should know in a couple months. I do know that they produce enough heat to require a heat sink on the back to help dissipate it.....although it is probably less than a regular bulb.

 

I did some more adjustment on the headlights. You can now tell the difference between the high and low beams. Here are some pics. If you look at the fence on the right you can see that the high beams illuminate the area more.
Low Beams

High Beams

 

Hard to tell from the pics - do the high beams illuminate _further_? (Hint - what does "high" in "high beam" really refer to?...)

 

What they do......
Illuminate further as well as wider and higher up. Signs become reflective sooner with the high beams vs the low beams. 3 more LEDs are turned on and due to their position in the housing they project differently.

What they don't do.....
They do not make the area that is hit by the low beams visibly brighter. This could simply be to the fact that the low beam area is already very bright, so I dont notice the incremental change.

 

High beam in an H4 bulb illuminates the lower half of the reflector as well as the top half. Low beam only illuminated the upper half.

 

Cops really don't do anything about headlights. I sure wish they did because I'm sick and tired of being blinded by these aftermarket lights.