You know, if police departments and school systems are opting for these bulbs, then I'd say they aren't going to be obnoxious even if they don't have raised lettering on the lenses.

 

No, I don't hate LEDs!

My house is filled with them in every fixture/appliance save the crystal chandelier, sconces and ovens. I changed all of the scoring/indicator lights in my pinball machines to LEDs but did not change the general illumination because any LEDs I tried were far too bright. The general illumination circuit in pinball machines is intentionally a bit below 12V to both extend the life of the lamps and keep the lighting from being too bright and glaring. I added LED daytime running lights to my Corvette making custom lenses to fit inside the channel just below the front park turn lamps. I've put LEDs in the underhood, glovebox and select courtesy lamps in my cars. I put HIDs in the original fixtures in my 1999 Cadillac STS as the fixtures themselves were designed and rated for HIDs but there were no DOT approved lamps when it was built.




What I do greatly dislike are exterior LED and HID lamps either installed in fixtures not designed for them or, like those highly deceptively marketed headlamp "assembles", that I instantly notice and find obnoxious when driving at night. This includes installing higher output or inappropriately colored replacement LED/HID lamps in fixtures that were designed for them. The original equipment LED and all but the earliest HIDs that were never DOT approved are no problem to my eyes.

Back to the OPs problem. I still suggest cleaning the chassis grounds (as reasonably well detailed in my first reply) before doing anything else. I too thought the headlamps in my '79 (the high beams even seem to be the original halogens) were inadequate until I cleaned the ground and connections. I too was prepared to do the relay thing. Guess what? After cleaning I was very pleased with the headlamps and find them nicely comparable to incandescents that come in brand new cars.

 

I have H-4 Hella lights in my...BOTH H-4's which for the un-intiated are HIGH BEAMS. Appx 400% more light than the Halogens that came on the car.

The problem is the headlight bucket only accept the short hi beam 'capsules' so you cannot use an H-1 + H4 system.

The low beams are direct bolt in.. plug in.

The high beams require a relay run off of the plug for switching. The circuit breaker will make them blink if you don't do this.

I have enjoyed the past 5 years MELTING various BMW's and such who seem to drive with their Euro Beams on high always!

Amazon has the lights and bulbs.

Unkahal

 

Sorry if I'm pushing peoples' buttons but I'd really like to see a H4 replacement for our cars that are DOT certified for on-road use. Again engravings in the lens that include "DOT" are meaningless to the assembly because the DOT approval on ALL exterior light housings/assemblies is RAISED for this very reason. I've looked at sources like Hella and theirs are NOT certified for on-road use. Doesn't "four times the light output of their sealed beam equivalent" for LOW beams make you suspect there might be a--very rightful--approval problem. A statement like "melting" the HIDs on beamers should be another warning sign that some? all? are not and almost certainly will never be approved for on-road use in the USA.

Just because there is now a bewildering array of "alternative" headlamps for our cars most of which require extensive modifications to the headlamp buckets and/or wiring to handle wattages FAR higher than anything used in a brand new car does not mean that they are either legal or safe to other drivers! The very fact that extensive modifications are required despite the availability of original replacements and slightly updated (say basic halogen) completely legal substitutes should be a perfect clue that they are NOT approved and you're being an inconsiderate ******* who cares only about your own view or a pissing match idiot who wants to say, "my headlights are brighter than yours" both of whom have zero regard for the other people on the road.

I love our free country where we can legally make or purchase things that are potentially hazardous, damaging or harmful to others. Frankly I wish I could buy dynamite in a hardware store like my great- and "normal" grandfathers on both sides did to blast out tap rooted tree stumps in field the and break up porous underground limestone to excavate a cellar/basement. I won't say they were experts but the number one consideration was, "If something goes bad I'M the one who will suffer--not another." I learned that from my "slow" father and know it was his best lesson to me.

 

You have a point... up to a point. When LED replacement bulbs came out for 9005/9006 halogens for the C5, at first they were terrible - spraying light everywhere. But they eventually fixed the problem, and now the LED's put out double and even triple the lumens of halogens all the while keeping the light where it needs to go and out of the eyes of oncoming traffic. All the while with a more even pattern than any halogen. I've had them in two of my cars for years, and have never once been brightlighted by oncoming traffic.

There comes a point where your argument becomes nitpicking with no real world advantage. And considering that government institutions like police departments are using these lights, it's apparent that whether they are actually certified by the government or just meet government specifications, doesn't matter. If the cops don't care, why should anyone else?

 

HAHA- This was my BMW back in the day-

Only tickets I ever got were for speeding!!!

I too am running illegal off-road Hella H4 (100w) and H1 (80/100W)
AND was able to incorporate the fiberoptics in them as well.


I'm running relays on all of them-





Relay banks on both sides-

 

The DOT doesn't actually approve or certify headlamps (or other parts for that matter). They develop the specifications and it is up to the manufacturers to "self-certify" that their products are DOT compliant. Saying something is DOT Approved or DOT Certified is not accurate. The correct terminology for manufacturers to use is DOT Compliant. DOT compliant means that the lighting meets section 108 requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

The only thing a DOT mark on a product tells you is that the manufacturer is saying it is DOT compliant. As consumers we basically have two choices - believe the manufacturer is telling the truth and install the product, or believe the manufacturer is lying and report them to the DOT.

DC

 

I also appreciate, understand and agree with your point. The problem comes with the proliferation of "substitutes" none of which are legally approved for on-road use many of which pretend to be legal via deceptive claims. How is one to know what will be reasonable to other drivers without spending a decent amount of money not only for the headlamp "assemblies" but for potentially the truly worst sort of "Bubba" modifications in order to use them only to find that you're being bright lighted or discover that the replacements don't live up to their marketing hype--perhaps because you haven't ensured that your ground connections are clean and secure?

I still submit that to my nearly social security-aged eyes that the headlamps in my '79 when new to me 8 years ago are sucked until I cleaned the grounds and connectors using all original wiring harnesses that I removed, refreshed and reinstalled in a safety/convenience/gadget update that you can find nicely reported in my history here. No joke--I replaced EVERY lamp in the car except the headlamps because I found no need to replace during occasional night driving in my huge but sparsely populated town with wildly differing and suddenly changing street lighting as well as test (for the headlamp) driving on rural, curvy, hilly roads FAR from road lighting.

 

To Richard 454:

And you're proud of this why?

 

Good maintenance is a separate issue. If the halogens work for you, fine and good. Even 100/80 watt halogens don't cut it for me. I finally installed HID projectors in my 2nd C5 and they were AWESOME. Wasn't too crazy about the aesthetics, but functionally they were head and shoulders above even the LED bulbs in my truck and little toyota wagon. They saved my bacon twice, both times avoiding feral pigs in the road. Feral pigs are hard as hell to see at night because they're either black or dark, rusty red. I would have hit them both times if I still had the stock halogens in the car.

The JW Speaker lights aren't LED bulbs installed in halogen housings. They're LED projectors that are designed to fit in PLACE OF the halogen lamps. They listed a police department and a school system that use them; If you're THAT concerned about not wasting your money, you could always call either of those departments and speak to the maintenance crews to see what they thought. Personally, they look well made and well engineered. I'd take a chance on them.

 

I'm able to make sure the fiberoptics verify my headlights are working

 

Check my history and you'll know I've pondered about adding fiber optic lamp monitoring to my '79. This has nothing to do with the discussion at hand except perhaps that your factory lamp monitoring system is far brighter than ever intended due to lamps far more powerful than ever intended for the fixtures and assemblies.

 

I lifted this from Softlights.org which is a group that purports that the blue light wave emitted from LED lighting is making us sick. Perhaps, but of importance to this conversation the NHTSA has this to say.
Headlight Regulations: The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulation FMVSS-108 is applicable to point sources only, not surface sources. Since LED headlights are surface sources, LED headlights are not compliant with FMVSS-108 and are not legal. Soft Lights Foundation goes on to say they’ve pressed the NHTSA to enforce the regulation but they’ve gotten no where. It appears there’s too much money to be made with LED lighting especially as a green alternative to incandescent lighting.

For much more interesting information go to the URL mentioned above.

 

please let old dead threads stay dead. there was no reason to revive it to tell people they were wrong 2 years ago.

 

it really is some interesting information-

"LEDs are different from a candle or an incandescent light bulb because an LED is mostly blue wavelength light, which just so happens to be the same wavelength that controls circadian rhythms, causes glare, and damages the eye....
Blue wavelength light also suppresses the hormone melatonin, reducing the ability of cells to repair themselves at night."

Unfortunately just about all LEDc come from the same place that makes fentanyl- which is approved by our government.
So pick your poison - as always follow the money- and letting the government save you from yourself is not the best solution....

Richard

 

I too am from Missouri and adhere to the premise of "Show Me", but even the most casual of observer can clearly see that you have taken "Show Me" to another level.

 

SwampeastMikedisappeared from the forum a year ago, no need to bring up old arguments. Agree with DerekDerek, let this one die!

 

Nope, this thread is toast....