I wanted to share with everyone my first experience with a set of KC LED Offroad/Driving lights...

As many of you know, I've been fighting with my headlights since I bought my 2006 3500. I have found it very hard to see important features on the road at night, even with high output halogens (PIAA) installed. I have had LightForce offroad/driving lights on the truck since I bought it as well, but still, have found it very dificult to operate at night. When you live this far north, come winter, you drive to/come home from work in the dark 1/3 of the year...

So... I ran across OhSixDakota's add attempting to sell some LED offroad/driving lights. Given the opportunity, I jumped on it. OhSixDakota was great to deal with btw! It took me a little while to get them installed, but had a local shop wire them in properly, piggy backing off the switch for my current offroad light system. It's wired into my highbeams, and requires those, and the switch to be on before feeding power to the lights.

Well, time for some pics..
1) Low beams on a dark side road...

As you can see, this is better than my original lighting but still not even close to usable ..

2) High beams (same road)

Can you see the difference? I can't see the difference.. the difference is a snazzy blue light on my dash..

3) Full light compliment (same road

High Beams
Light Force 140's
KC LEDs

I don't have the ability to separate the driving lights, but if I get the chance to isolate them for a picture show, I will!

Thoughts?

 

My headlights suck on my 08 too, I will have to think about this. Looks good!

 

Wow, look's awesome.

Glade they are an improvement. I think i'll end up picking some more of these up for myself when $$$ allows.

 

Ya, a definite improvement!

I'm likely throwing out the idea of going HID due to all the issues I keep reading about, and I am still concerned about EMI from them. On the highway my low beams are only on of course when oncoming traffic is around.. otherwise its all candles lit.

I'm going to adjust them a bit to get a little more distance but I want to drive with them first to get a feel for them

 

WOW, My 08 looks like your last picture with just Silverstars in the head lights and Silverstar ultras in the fogs, just not as far up the trees. I drive very dark interstate every morning around 5am and can see plenty of road as well as, more importantly, deer on the side of the road.

I think the chrome bars across your head lights may be deflecting light elsewhere.

 

I had a '07 1500 and the light output was way better than the 06. I cannot see the chrome bars causing an issue honestly. Not that bad anyhow.

Regardless... These LED lights rock! Apparently LEDs are getting close to being able to outperform HIDs which will be real nice!

 

I'm not sure where you keep getting the EMI issue from? That's for the cheap, "HID Conversion kits" that are run of the mill which most guys have so ofcourse there will be many complaints. All Quality ballasts are electronic and EMI suppressed for radio frequencies. My buddy had the motorized HID hi-beam(conversion kit in halogen housing) and he had lots of interference with his radio, although it was about 5years ago he had that problem and his ballasts were ancient..haha I did a conversion kit and used OEM parts and he hasn't had a problem since. I've never noticed anything with my truck with my OEM components. I'm not trying to sell you either, just trying to enlighten you on the situation. I would def suggest staying away from the bi-xenon motorized bulbs. Not sure if the ballast does anything different(should still be electronic) but I have heard of complaints in those styles. One of the biggest reasons is that there are NO oem parts that do conversions so your getting cheap stuff when going that route. No surprise with interference in that regards. You get what you pay for kinda deal...

My stock 2008 lights were actually really good I thought which is why I can't believe the guys saying on how they suck??
Now, your lights look like they do really well!!!
As far as LED light ouput...LED's have yet to even surpass Halogen bulbs in light ouput, so they are faaaaar from HID ouput. The reason guys think they appear brighter than Halogens(when there are like 68led's per bulb as compared to 1 halgoen bulb), is because LED's are uni-directional and have a span of only 30degrees. This makes the light from each LED concentrated to only one small specific area which makes them appear brighter. This is also why you see multiple LEDs per bulb because you would have many shadows if not. If you place a single LED on a table and move your head side-side across the light path you will notice how there is zero light in your eyes when you are around 30degress off center(axis).
LED's can't really be measured as Lumen output like Halogen or HID so it's a difficult comparitive, but not even the best s.m.t LED puts out halogen brightness. They do come close when multple stacked as you have. Sure, it's a pure white light, but it's not actually brighter. Much better at energy than hoggy-halogens though!

 

Ref the EMI, I had a cardio defibrulator implanted last year due to a near fatal incident. They can be sensitive to EM noise, and magnetic fields. I'm a geek, so I guess I'm just aware of it.

 

Those KC LED lights look good. I almost made an offer on them when he kept dropping his price, but I didn't see the thread until after you were making a deal for them. All the better, I got laid off the day after Thanksgiving...

 

That sux hammer!

I keep watching the news and glad I moved up here before the recession. I cannot imagine looking for a job elseware, much less in the US. Best of luck to ya! If you are an equipment operator by chance, pm me.