ArrestMeRed

Anyone have any experience with these kits or recommendations for other LED Bulb Conversion Kits? The good, the bad, the ugly..... Thank you - Mike

Studying4boards

Interesting.

nuts105

I just installed 9006 LED headlights from ebay for less than $40. Best move I ever made, as I can finally drive relaxed at night because I can actually see things. No problem installing them, same deal when putting in HIDs. They just work so much better.
And I'm calling bullshit on the whole projector lights industry around the c5. Not one person has flashed me yet. It makes no sense to me that the original housing somehow would not try to project light properly in the direction needed. Especially when the original bulbs are so weak, you can't really afford to waste lumens. The only time you get blinded by someone is if they have raised their beams main directional axis above where it should be, or its a freaking SUV towering right in front, or someone is using high beams, or oncoming traffic driving over a hill or bridge.
To top it off the hid projector housing supposedly will misdirect the high beams, so now I have to buy the proper $600 radio flier version? Um, no.
So there is no bad. I'm embarrassed to say it took me about an hour to screw in the led bulbs because I got the direction and tab alignment wrong.

StayinStock

As someone who use to make a living doing retrofits I can assure you no one to this date has come out with a good plug and play led bulb. They are all garbage at this point. They scatter light in the housings which arent designed to project those kind of lumens, they blind oncoming drivers, and ive rarely seen one last more than a month or two because of the inherent cooling issues. We tested quite a few for quite awhile before we decided not to sell them. Even in a projector they perform horribly. At the end of the day you can logic it however you want but there is no replacement for a proper retrofit on the market yet. That being said the technology is there and the O.E.s have it... but just like a good retrofit you will pay to play.

ArrestMeRed

What brand did you end up going with? Thanks

nuts105

Random ebay chinese brand. More importantly it appears the previous poster is somewhat right. The lights aren't as bright anymore. Still better than before but not as fun. I saw Philips sells some expensive LEDs, maybe that's the ticket?

Jeff T.

Nuts & Arrestme...

Do a search, there are some threads on modifying a hi beam bulb to fit in a low beam socket. This will give you more light and have the correct dispersion for the factory housings.

Someone also sells an adapter that will leave the low beams on when you hit the hi beams for even more light.

Good Luck.

chasboy

It's called a Hi-4 harness. Both of mine were from Radioflyer.
Nuts, did those eBay Led bulbs require ballasts? Most of the "higher quality " led headlight bulbs I've seen have large heat sinks and built in fans.
I tried a set of HID's from eBay on my Z, and tho' I never got flashed by oncoming, they lasted no more than 6 months. First a ballast blew, and then they screwed up the pop ups. I ripped them all out, found out about the Toshiba HDR bulbs for the highs, and got a set of "special"PIAA's for the lows. Not like light cannons, but much better than stock.

This c5 has 9011/9012 converted to the stock housings. Light is brighter, but they need to be properly aimed, which I've been avoiding.

sirdano

I used HIRs way better than stock

tdogg21

Can someone explain to me why LED bulbs have heat issues? I thought one of the points of LED lights was less heat? At least that's the case with house LED bulbs.

M_T_0

LED lamps run cooler than incandescent but an incandescent lamp will live at 1000 deg. LEDs are semiconductors and at 200 deg semiconductors let the magic smoke out and they no longer work.

I have to agree with the above posts LEDs have a lot of potential but right now only the OEMs have reliable cooling solutions along with the light control issues.

tdogg21

Ok....So are you saying it's not the heat of the bulb, it's the heat of the enclosure killing the bulb? Basically the complete opposite of what I thought people were talking about?

Tsumi

It does create less heat, but the problem is two fold. The first is, as said, they have a limited temperature range in which they work. The second is the manner in which they emit heat.

Halogens and HIDs emit most heat in the form of infrared radiation. That means that the heat leaves the bulb immediately, which leads to heating of the housing and the lens. HIR bulbs (like 9011 and 9012 bulbs) take advantage of the infrared radiation by having a coating that reflects infrared back to the filament, superheating it and making it emit more visible light for the same wattage. HIR is a technology that should be applied to all halogen headlight bulbs, but unfortunately is found only in 9011 and 9012 bulbs, which can be retrofitted into 9005 and 9006 housings respectively.

LEDs create heat at the base of the chip. That means unless there is some sort of heatsink, the heat just stays there and builds up. Even if there is a heatsink, if the heatsink isn't exposed to moving air, eventually the heat will saturate it and it wouldn't be able to cool the LEDs. That's why many have fans to create air circulation, but fans are just a part that will eventually fail in the harsh environment that is a car. Additionally, LED light output degrades as temperature increases. The engineering required for LED headlights is the biggest reason why true LED housings are more expensive than HID or halogen housings.

nuts105

Yes they have ballasts. No fan but heat sink

striper

Chas, I have in my possession a set of ACA type headlights. With the assistance of a place in Oakland, I am hoping to convert these to bi-xenon projectors. Possibly by the next C&C I might have something to show you. I am proceeding slowly and cautiously with this project. The place in Oakland specializes in lighting conversions and sells all components needed at reasonable prices.

chasboy

There's one one the web I found a few years ago that sells all kinds of parts, Miromoto in particular

Tsumi

Lightwerkz and TheRetrofitSource are where I get my lighting parts.

chasboy

That's the one! Retrofit!

runner140*

I agree with most everything said above.....ebay $34.95 Best money spent on headlights yet. Took me about 5 minutes a side for bulb install. Its soft white light with great coverage and no blinding of oncoming traffic. We have 66 spotlights in our home and have changed all to LED's. What an upgrade. Each room is cooler by about 1 1/2 degrees...which is a big deal in South Florida.

Have not installed the "hyper flash harness" b/c all lights and turn signals work normally.

doublenut9

By not installing the hyper flash harness are you in anyway going to damage the electrical system in your car?