Robb235

I bought a set of these LED headlights. Now I'm waiting for them to show up in the mail. If for whatever reason these don't work, or they look like crap in the reflector housing, I'll try 'em out on my motorcycle and see how they do with projectors.

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Robb235

Damnit, I got my LED headlights, only to find my driver side headlight bulb retaining clip is missing. Apparently the old bulb was hold in place by the rubber boot.

Where do I get this clip? It looks like a paper clip, and none of the autoparts stores have it.

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Robb235

Well, I'm going to eat my words...

After making my own retaining clip out of a paper clip, I installed the LED headlights from Southeast Overland. I was impressed by the low beams. They seem comparable to HIDs. The high beams, on the other hand, are complete weak sauce. They seem so dim. Maybe it's because I was driving around with street lights overhead, but I was not at all impressed.

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Robb235

Well, these things appear to be all the rage over on the FJ forum:

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forum...ow-wow-10.html

A few people mentioned not being impressed with the high beams. I guess I was so impressed with the low beams that I just expected so much more from the high beams. I'll have to take a ride out to the country, away from the city lights and street lights to see how they do.

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SHAWNB

To answer a question: I have only replaced my headlight assembly with the same stock assembly piece for my 2000 year, i also have a 98 4runner that had the older style assembly where the glass focused the light, i did replace those assembly with the 2000 model with clear lens which uses a reflector. Now both of my 4runners have the newer assembly and led headlights, had my fiance who drives my 98 follow me and the glare is not as bad as it is with HID, maybe because the output even though they state 1850lm it states that low beam is 1650lm. Either way i like them. I dont run high beam much.

Robb235

I'm curious to know how well your high beams work. My lowbeams are bright and look awesome, but my highbeams are pretty lackluster...

SHAWNB

yeah my high beams dont seem to be as distinct as normal headlights but like you said the low beams are so good i hardly ever use high beams.

Robb235

I noticed today that my LED headlights are causing interference in my radio. I couldn't figure it out at first. I was driving home today and the radio was full of static, which was odd, because normally this station is clear. I parked, turned off my lights, and immediately the radio came through clear. Turned the lights back on and the static returned.

Weird.

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DailyDrive

How is it weird? There is a high frequency buck converter and current limiting circuitry inside each LED module. It will most certainly leak back into the voltage source.

Robb235

Weird, because I'm not an electronics guru, and I didn't expect my headlights to cause static in my radio.

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janagyjr

Aside from the current limiting circuitry, I am surprised at the high frequency buck converter. Why not just draw directly off the battery (via current limiting resistors) given that LEDs are by definition DC electronics?

DailyDrive

Current limiting resistors? They have enough problems with heat dissapation from the LED itself. Voltage in a vehicle varies from 11v with low battery to 15v with a fast running alternator. That's a very wide range. I'm almost certain there is a constant-voltage constant-current high effeciency switching circuitry in the LED modules. Noise is almost guaranteed.

janagyjr

I'm still surprised given that the 1W LED's I've had experience with only require 5 volts. Depending on how the LEDs in the array are wired, they shouldn't require too much (though I say that after having designed my own LED turn signal with a 9V power requirement and it's only a 12 LED array).

Also, those resistors don't have to be in the lighting module itself but part of the wiring harness so it can be tucked away where the heat won't damage anything.

DailyDrive

If the low beam output is 1800lm, then they consume at least 18w each (1800 divided by 100lm/w effeciency). Nobody will use a resistor with that kind of power. A switching power supply will be cheaper. Not to mention more effecient and safer.

janagyjr

Good point.

Bawlzdeep

Subscribed! I'm considering this. My HIDs are only 35w with the ˟˟˟˟˟ty halogen for brights. LED bar is my bright! Be nice to get away from that.

Robb235

For some reason my high beams turn on when I turn on my factory fog lights???

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janagyjr

Maybe the fog-lights are tied into the high-beam circuitry? Do you have a wiring diagram?

I'm considering some aftermarket fog lights, it can get pretty bad around here.

Robb235

My fog lights didn't do this (that I'm aware of) when I had halogen lights. I'm not sure why these LED headlights cause the brights to pop on when I activate the fog lights.

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janagyjr

The only other thing I can think of is the LED circuitry picks up the higher current draw and assumes you wanted high-beams?