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I've been wanting better headlights for a while and I've found that my "new" 2013 Honda Civic Touring lights are absolutely incredible compared to the old van so I am going to do something about it.
The good news is that getting better headlights is not futile as I have sealed beams and there are lots of options.
Here are a few videos I found from one outfit that does a good job of comparing a number of options from new housings, to LED, to HID.
Just an update,
I went with the Vision X VX-57 housings as they have glass lenses and I can put various light bulbs in them until I get what I'm looking for. I was even able to find a pair of these housings on Amazon.ca for $45 delivered which is amazing.
The JW Speaker lights would have been nice but their cost combined with the current exchange rate turned me off. The fact that they have a lifetime warranty is great because of their cost but it wasn't enough to get me on board. The Truck-Lite have some crazy patterns that come off of them so I would not consider them. The United Pacific lights seem nice but aren't serviceable (this problem goes with all of the sealed beam LED units) so I passed on them too.
Now I need to do some research on bulbs. More to follow.
Cheers, Steve
Last edited by SteveR; 10-24-2015 at 12:04 PM.
Reason: grammar
The JW speaker and the Trucklite LEDs are actually tested to a standard to NOT produce too much glare to other drivers, as well as putting the light where it does the most good to help Human vision.
The Hella 6054 h4 upgrades have an OK light pattern on low beam, but when low beam is adjusted correctly, the high beam is too high.
Any LED bulbs or HID bulbs installed into a halogen housing as a recipe for glaring out other drivers. Illegal and unsafe. There is no way for these light sources to properly focus the beam. LEDS and HIDs need reflector housings designed around them.
At this point in time there is no SAfe effective or legal drop in replacement LED or HID kit which fits into a halogen reflector. Do not kid yourself that there is. Do not believe those selling products which claim DOT or SAE approval/certification, there is no such thing regarding automotive lighting
The Cibie 200MM with some Osram 70/65 bulbs or Phillips extreme Bulbs getting 14+ volts Will by far give the best light pattern, and not just blast the whole foreground with 'feel good' lighting which actually constricts the driver's pupils more and compromises distance vision.
Headlights are not just bright floodlights, but are carefully designed to give as much vision to the driver and NOT blind oncoming traffic. These two factors are at Odds, and the legitimate manufacturers spend lots of time and research finding the happy medium.
Due to the proliferation of selfie taking Nitwits who put LED bulbs or HID bulbs into halogen housings in my location, I have an obnoxiously disgustingly bright pair of LEDS that come on with my High beams, aimed at the oncoming lane, just so I can return the blinding glare of the self important dimwits who think they are free to blind oncoming traffic with whatever product they can get their hands on and actually think blue headlights are cool.
My current sealed beam GE nighthawk 6054s getting 14.4v, will outperfrom 80% of newer cars headlights. A pair of Cibie 200 MM and some Phillips extreme bulbs getting 14.4v will vastly outperform my GE nighthawks. And will have a compliant beam pattern which will minimally effect oncoming traffic.
There are lots of headlamp shaped toys out there, and i get enraged whenever I am blinded by them.
Also, those who drive around with their fog lights on at speeds over 25mph, are compromising their ability to see the road where they need to see the road.
People who drive around with their fog lights on in all but a few scenarios, are merely advertising they are ignorant.
I know most of this info will not be met with receptive ears, and earn me some indignation by those who have drinken the Kool-aid.
Everybody wants to believe their money was well spent and their upgrades are indeed that, but with headlights, 'upgrades' are in fact usually serious downgrades which not only compromise the drivers ability to see properly, but also cause too much glare to oncoming drivers, making the roads more unsafe for us all.
Cibiw 200MM with Phillips extreme h4 bulbs getting 14.4v over a new relayed wiring harness is going to blow away anything but JWspeaker.
Money spent in any direction beside this is money poorly spent,
At this point in time.
Phillips has come out with a h4 LED replacement, but it is not legal in the North American market. However it is much better than any of the LED H4 drop ins currently available. It is also not cheap, and the JWspeakers would not cost much more and they would at least have a compliant beam pattern.
But since most of this accurate info will be ceremoniously disregarded, here is a place to get the illegal Phillips H4 LEDs, as at least these 'might' have a chance of producing a proper beam pattern in some halogen reflectors. None of the others do.:
Phillips is working hard at making something which can legally by a drop in replacement in the North American Market. I'm waiting until then, and My GE nighthawks 6054's getting 14.4v and properly adjusted are more than adequate and better than most vehicles headlamps.
Agreed, I decided to jump on the housings which are DOT and knew I would have to research proper bulbs. I went down to the local car parts place today to begin my investigations and found out that they didn't have any 6054s. Cars do not last long in Canada so if you want parts for something more than 10 years old you are going to be out of commission until they get brought into town.
There was a good selection of H4 bulbs of various brands. The Osram Sylvannia were a bit of a laugh but they are common around here. Their bulbs only last 140 hours but note that we have our headlights on 100% of the time. Given a camper that runs at 60 MPH @ 140 hours you get 8400 miles of bulb life. That is only 1 and a 1/2 vacations. I guess that Class Action lawsuit did not make their bulbs last longer, it just got the product labelled better.
Anyway, back on topic. High power non-DOT Halogen H4s aren't any good. I had tried them with a motorcycle and people would lock onto me with target fixation. It was too bright, even during the day.
The first video I posted does a great job of showing a sealed beam at 7:40 with poor optics, a regular halogen installed in the Vision X at 8:40 and then an HID in the Vision X at 9:40. The HID does not have a low beam cutoff at all, it is definitely messy as you describe.
Getting full voltage to the headlights is a good idea. I have a relay (relays?) installed in the headlight harness of my current bike to aid the small wiring from factory. I wired that in a while ago and don't recall how I did it.
I appreciate the endorsement for the Phillips Extreme bulbs. Were you are talking about the Halogens or the LEDs you have linked to? They all seem to have Extreme in their name.
The van is going to be dormant until the spring so I have lots of time to decide on what bulbs to get for it. The plan is to get a good set and the timeline allows me to wait for prices to come down if I go for something exotic.
The Vision X housings I got are not 100% perfect but OK for the price. The visors that go over the tips of the bulbs are not in "exactly" the same spot and there is an orange hair in one of them. :P The chrome reflectors also has some protrusions in them so I would say the factory has some cleanliness issues.
"Nice" Chinese Headlight Relay Harness: http://www.ebay.com/itm/380848412947
I chose this over some of the cheaper ones because I did not like the shrink wrap they used and got the feeling that it was probably a bit longer. The harness won't be here for a long time so I'll go without it at first. NOTE: I did not do a voltage check on the existing bulbs to see if this was necessary, I also do not know the wattage of the LED bulb power supplies but I expect I am reducing the overall current use.
The total damage was $267 USD before tax. Going with JW Speakers and harness would have cost $683 USD before tax. That's 40% of the cost but I'm hoping to get 99% of the satisfaction.
The new LED bulbs should be here next week. I'll do a couple comparison shots but I have non-matching sealed beams, one low beam is burned out, and they have a lot of hours on them so it is not a fair comparison to new bulbs.
So far, so good. The LED units fit into the housings and the seals fit well. Hopefully the heat sinks do not interfere with my plywood battery support. Light units are supposed to be 25 watts and the power supplies are marked as 27 watts.
The headlight aiming assemblies that float on springs needed some modification. I had to cut the rear openings out with some tin snips to get the backs of the lights and the bulbs to pass through. I found that the backs of the overall assemblies were safe and protected spots for the power supplies so I screwed the power supplies on the backs while I had things apart.
Tools and supplies include:
8 x headlight ring screws (old ones will be rusty)
10-20-2015, 11:40 PM
Sealed Beam Headlight Options
