When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
About a month or so ago I brought home a 2001 v10 to tow with and have been slowly making some improvement. The old headlights were completely clouded over, so I installed new housings. This helped a lot, but the light output still wasn't as good as I liked so I swapped in some LED bulbs. This made a huge difference. Still not as good as my 2019 Mustang, but for a total investment of $90 it is great.
Old Lenses
New Lenses
I went with these bulbs. From my research they were ranked very highly and were specifically designed to have a narrow beam pattern so you don't blind oncoming drivers. They also allow for the bulbs to be rotated once they are installed to create the best beam pattern you can. After adjusting them the light spread follows the same pattern, just much brighter with the LEDs. I also did a test driving past the Excursion at night in my Mustang to makes sure oncoming drivers wouldn't be blinded. The lights didnt blind me at all. They were better than a lot of the newer cars lights in that regard. Glad to see they have made a good amount of improvement in that regard compared to older LED headlight bulbs.
Here is a comparison. The drivers side is the LED bulb. The passenger side it the incandescent that came with the lenses.
This is a comparison of the incandescent bulbs and the LED bulbs on the garage.
So you adjust them to get the correct pattern? Spin them in the housing? Do you know where they ended up? 12 and 6 or 9 and 3?
Im asking because I had 3 different sets and they were all horrible patterns no matter where they were clocked. I got rid of them all, went back to stock type.
So you adjust them to get the correct pattern? Spin them in the housing? Do you know where they ended up? 12 and 6 or 9 and 3?
Im asking because I had 3 different sets and they were all horrible patterns no matter where they were clocked. I got rid of them all, went back to stock type.
that’s because LED don’t work in halogen housings. Better off using halogen and powering them off relays to give them full power instead of the severely limited voltage due to poor factory wiring design......
that’s because LED don’t work in halogen housings. Better off using halogen and powering them off relays to give them full power instead of the severely limited voltage due to poor factory wiring design......
Thats a great idea! Do you have a schematic? I can handle the wiring work.
So you adjust them to get the correct pattern? Spin them in the housing? Do you know where they ended up? 12 and 6 or 9 and 3?
Im asking because I had 3 different sets and they were all horrible patterns no matter where they were clocked. I got rid of them all, went back to stock type.
I am not sure where they ended up. I can try and look tonight. Once they are installed they can be rotated a total of what felt like about 60% if small teeth in the housing along the way so it keeps them where you leave it.
I could watch the beam on the garage door as I turned each bulb and made them as tight as I could.
Don't bet me wrong, when driving down the road I would say that the light spread isn't quite as consistent as my Mustangs but nether was the spread with the incandescent bulbs. There are some spots that the light doesn't hit quite as bright as others. Even with that the visibility is tons better. There are better lights out there, but they are also more expensive. The bulbs ran me $40 for the set. They did require me to trim the back of the locking collar down some. If not I couldn't reach the bulb to adjust it and the power cord caused it to be a very tight fit.
that’s because LED don’t work in halogen housings. Better off using halogen and powering them off relays to give them full power instead of the severely limited voltage due to poor factory wiring design......
The relay thing is always an option. It is a popular lighting mod that can work well too.
Overall for the time and $$ I am happy with the improved visibility I got.
In the past I tried some LED bulbs in other vehicles and ran into the light scattering issue. They seem to be making some design improvements as time goes on.
funny calling that an "upgrade". I call it dog sh#&
sure they scatter a bunch of bright white light around but that's about the best you can say about any LED conversion in the Chicom headlamp assembly that has a reflector designed for a halogen bulb.
at least you went cheap and didn't get suckered by the $300 ones thinking they are the magic you seek.
funny calling that an "upgrade". I call it dog sh#&
sure they scatter a bunch of bright white light around but that's about the best you can say about any LED conversion in the Chicom headlamp assembly that has a reflector designed for a halogen bulb.
at least you went cheap and didn't get suckered by the $300 ones thinking they are the magic you seek.
Thats a great idea! Do you have a schematic? I can handle the wiring work.
I don’t and i guess i never did a writeup or took many pics.
You just need wire, 1 male headlight socket (or cut your old one off and do direct wire to wire) 2 fuse holders and 2 relays
i really like honda rc-2201 relays, they are cheap and last forever and you can usually get them with the pigtails on them.
pretty much it goes like this:
1. Ground the relay and ground the headlight (pin 86)
2. Power from battery through fuse to relay (pin 30)
3. headlight low or high to trigger relay (pin 85)
4. power to new new headlight socket or old socket to headlight, (pin 87)
I find if you put the LED's headlamps in the fog lights you'll be very pleased when in use. I drive many-many narrow winding back country roads and they work perfectly for me.
I don’t and i guess i never did a writeup or took many pics.
You just need wire, 1 male headlight socket (or cut your old one off and do direct wire to wire) 2 fuse holders and 2 relays
i really like honda rc-2201 relays, they are cheap and last forever and you can usually get them with the pigtails on them.
pretty much it goes like this:
1. Ground the relay and ground the headlight (pin 86)
2. Power from battery through fuse to relay (pin 30)
3. headlight low or high to trigger relay (pin 85)
4. power to new new headlight socket or old socket to headlight, (pin 87)
If I am understanding this right basically this methods bypasses the stock wiring and gives full battery voltage to the stock headlight bulbs?
Yes. The original power wires for the head light low and high beams are used to activate the relays. The voltage for the headlights runs on a fused link form the battery to the relay and then from the relay to the headlight bulb. That way you have minimal voltage drop.
Yes. The original power wires for the head light low and high beams are used to activate the relays. The voltage for the headlights runs on a fused link form the battery to the relay and then from the relay to the headlight bulb. That way you have minimal voltage drop.
Going to have to look into that farther. I already have the light housings from an 07 with the different bulbs which was a huge improvement over stock but since I put a lift in I've struggled getting things aligned right.
Going to have to look into that farther. I already have the light housings from an 07 with the different bulbs which was a huge improvement over stock but since I put a lift in I've struggled getting things aligned right.
my pic is with regular h13 (i think???) whatever the 05-07 housings use, no fancy bulbs, just regular halogen bulbs in brand new 05 OEM housings. Power at the headlights is 14.5v instead of the 12v it was before rewiring. Way too much drop in voltage makes the bulbs really inefficient and drastically reduces the output. Halogens are rated at 12.8v so if you aren’t feeding them at least that you aren’t even getting full output.
“When operating voltage drops to 95 percent (12.54v), headlamp bulbs produce only 83 percent of their rated light output. When voltage drops to 90 percent (11.88v), bulb output is only 67 percent of what it should be. And when voltage drops to 85 percent (11.22v), bulb output is a paltry 53 percent of normal!”
Check the Daniel stern link, lots of good info. Just by feeding them more power i have increased the output significantly and i Didn’t sacrifice any longevity, it’s a win win. I have done this mod to every vehicle i have ever owned if the headlights were wired through the switch and not factory relays, it makes a huge difference at a very minor cost
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalyptic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
Slideshow: Called the Fortress, the 850-horsepower pickup combines Raptor underpinnings with military-inspired features, survival equipment, and a starting price of $285,000.
