NorthCounty
Member
Anyone done a LED headlight swap on a Gen 1? If so, any recommendations? Hundreds of options and suspect quality is all over the map. Any help, experience or direction would be helpful.
7" Round LEDs?
- Thread starter NorthCounty
- Start date
The_Jayhawker
Observer
Mine came with it when I bought it. It's still under construction so I can't report if they're worth a darn or not. If not, I'll replace them with glass H4s pretty quickly.
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Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk
pugslyyy
Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
I like the Truck-Lites. I have the 27275C on my Samurai - I like it because it is a less 'modern' appearance than a lot of LED headlights so blends in better on my 1987 Suzuki.
www.truck-lite.com
7" Round LED, 2 Diode Headlight, Polycarbonate Lens, Aluminum, Heated Lens, 12-24V
World first heated lens LED headlight heats constantly under 10/50|When properly mounted, is designed to conform to the requirements listed in the DOT FMVSS-108 and the TC CMVSS-108 The DOT symbol on the headlight signifies that it is street legal|Unique heat pattern is designed to prevent ice...
www.truck-lite.com
NorthCounty
Member
Thanks all. It's rolling dice. Went ahead and ordered these from the Amazon. We will see.
Amazon.com: 7 inch LED Headlight Round 6024 led headlight with Amber White DRL DOT E-MARK Approved Hi/lo Beam and 6000K/3500K DRL lamp, UNI-SHINE J004A-pair: Automotive
Buy 7 inch LED Headlight Round 6024 led headlight with Amber White DRL DOT E-MARK Approved Hi/lo Beam and 6000K/3500K DRL lamp, UNI-SHINE J004A-pair: Headlight Assemblies - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
NorthCounty
Member
Great review. Truly way too many options and clearly lots of junk.
plh
Explorer
Please report back after you receive and install. That price is comparable to Hella E-codes and a set of good bulbs - maybe less!
B-Line Performance
Member
Great thread.
NorthCounty
Member
Wanted to follow up. Just actually got around to putting the LEDs on the '91. When attempting to use the OEM harness and 3 prong on back of aftermarket LED housing, we ran into a negative polarity issue with the OEM harness. Volt meter would read 12V then when on low beam and high beam would read -12V. Guess this is a common issue yet one that I had not encountered. Did a little research on the WWW and found a simple and clean solution - polarity converter. Super happy with install, looks and light output. We will see about longevity 
/ durability.
/ durability.I’m always hesitant to mess with installing new electronics on my headlights…..I’m worried that things like the polarity converter you installed would crap out on me at the worst possible time. Maybe I’m old school but I don’t trust this stuff yet on the aftermarket. No problem for secondary lighting, but not for my primary driving lights no matter how much better they perform. Do one thing though…..when you are testing your install, have a friend drive your vehicle and you drive theirs, and do a road test where you drive past each other so you can see what your headlights look like to someone else head on, because they might look great to you but be blinding other drivers. I feel like I see this more and more lately. Factory lighting should not blind oncoming drivers.
CharlieNorth
Well-known member
I would love to learn from people with experience in really good old school high end lighting, just how far down the road these actually illuminate. Yes the nice white color is good, but I do not find the retrofit bulbs to focus properly and the pre assembled lamps to have quality beam pattern and illuminate more than a few hundred feet. I have driving lights that illuminate a half mile and spot beams that reach further than that.
Seems these new lights are designed to look cool, not to allow you to see far-far away.
Seems these new lights are designed to look cool, not to allow you to see far-far away.
NorthCounty
Member
We live in rural area so the proper headlight adjustment is important. We tested / adjusted beam so it is illuminating and the correct angle, not shining in folks eyes. Super frustrating and dangerous for other when folks add aftermarket lighting and fail to check beam angle.
As far as light output, the low beam setting has considerably cleaner light output than a standard halogen H4 bulb. I would estimate 3-4 times the visibility in depth on roadway (again with the beam projected down toward the roadway-properly adjusted) and adds width with some slight illumination of the shoulder / side. This was nonexistent with a standard halogen H4. High beams are ridiculously bright and throw the same clean light way way down the road. Really nice.
My son has been driving the Montero with the new 7" LEDs both morning (dark) and night and I asked him yesterday if any passing cars have flashed him. He reported that no one has flashed him since having these lights installed. Like I mentioned before, properly adjusted.
Durability I agree. A convertor that appears to be decent quality but only time wilk tell. I suspect if one or both fail, ot would only fail to convert the negative polarity to positive. Therefore only the high beams would fail. Should for some reason the convertor fail or the 7" LED light in whole, cube lights would be used. I went through all of this with my son - if for some reason you have total headlight failure, move your cube lights beam down toward the road (properly adjust beam) and we will fix at home. Honestly the quality of the 7" LEDs seems top notch and polarity convertor seems decent quality as well. Factory harness to convertor to LEDs.
As far as light output, the low beam setting has considerably cleaner light output than a standard halogen H4 bulb. I would estimate 3-4 times the visibility in depth on roadway (again with the beam projected down toward the roadway-properly adjusted) and adds width with some slight illumination of the shoulder / side. This was nonexistent with a standard halogen H4. High beams are ridiculously bright and throw the same clean light way way down the road. Really nice.
My son has been driving the Montero with the new 7" LEDs both morning (dark) and night and I asked him yesterday if any passing cars have flashed him. He reported that no one has flashed him since having these lights installed. Like I mentioned before, properly adjusted.
Durability I agree. A convertor that appears to be decent quality but only time wilk tell. I suspect if one or both fail, ot would only fail to convert the negative polarity to positive. Therefore only the high beams would fail. Should for some reason the convertor fail or the 7" LED light in whole, cube lights would be used. I went through all of this with my son - if for some reason you have total headlight failure, move your cube lights beam down toward the road (properly adjust beam) and we will fix at home. Honestly the quality of the 7" LEDs seems top notch and polarity convertor seems decent quality as well. Factory harness to convertor to LEDs.