LED Headlight

[yiucycle]

I was looking at amazon for some 7" round headlight for the front and saw this:
[url]http://www.amazon.com/Truck-Lite-27270C-Round-Headlamp-price/dp/B007K8AA7I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1357929185&sr=8-2&keywords=7%22+round+led+headlamp
[/url]
A bit pricey for the headlamp unit but seem like a better option that doesnt blind other drivers like the HID kit and have way less amp draw on the whole system and have super long bulb life. I guess it is mostly use by Jeep owners. there is another one make by JW Speaker, here is a good comparsion between the two:
[youtube][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ1ivy90gZU[/youtube]
Have anyone install it yet on their vanagon??
Seem like depend if you have a SA grill, it can cost up $1000 for those light setup. Im hope in a year a two with more companies getting into the LED lighting, will make those a bit cheaper.

dunno why, maybe im using work comp. but if the BBCode is enable, i dont see my post. If i disable the BBCode, i see the post but the link is not hyperlink.
_________________
1980 2.8LV6 Fiero ASI/Riviera Vanagon
"there is no point in being embarrassed of all the stupid shit i done and will continue to do"

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Corwyn]

I think VC still has 7" E-code rounds; I have them on my van.

Those LEDs are ridiculously priced and for the $$ I think you can do better with some aftermarket driving lights.
_________________
'90 White Westy ("White Lightning")
FAS Gen V 2.0
The Annual Baja Rally
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604813&highlight=baja

"If anything's" gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there"
~ Captain Ron ~

[syncrodoka]

Those led headlights have gone through many revisions in a short time. There have been issues with dark spots and uneven lighting. This may be a better version but for the price it should be better than perfect.
You can find many posts through google from the jeep dudes about them.

E-code headlights are the standard improved lighting system technology right now.

[kennyw]

I don't know if car LEDs are a different animal or not, but I commute by bike with an LED lighting system. They do have dark spots and the beam pattern is a bit tight. Not a problem on a bike but really would be annoying in car. Now my system is a few years old and I haven't demoed the newer versions, but in my opinion I would want to see a demo before buying.
_________________
'15 Tiguan - Victor
'88 Westy - Maggy

[dhaavers]

Fixed it for ya:

[yiucycle]

Thanks for fixing the post.
well same here, just seeing if you guys have better option than dropping $500. I really want to lower my ampage. I was looking at LED replacement H4 bulb but they are not powerful enough to use as headlight. From what I saw on youtube, they are more like DLR light. I guess E-code headlight is my best option for now.
_________________
1980 2.8LV6 Fiero ASI/Riviera Vanagon
"there is no point in being embarrassed of all the stupid shit i done and will continue to do"

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[IdahoDoug]

The review highlights why you don't go to a speaker company to buy lights. At 5:00 or so he shows the "high beam" on those lights and you can barely perceive a difference. A tiny section of the light changes but the sharp cutoff from the low beam remains. Totally improper for a high beam pattern. There are DOT standards for the change from low to high including the entire light pattern moving up and to the left, and no cutoff at all. A high beam pattern on a wall should be roughly circular so that on the road the upper half of the circle is what lands waaaaaay down the road to help you out. This light would not do that.

I watched the high beam part a few times in disbelief, waiting for the guy to go, "Oh shoot, Whups - that was wrong, HERE's the high beam." But no. That is a seriously lame light design.

DougM
_________________
1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[IdahoDoug]

Yes, your best option for 1Q2013 is still incandescent bulbs, and the E code reflector and lense. Or auxiliary lamps on the bumper. The LEDs suffer some serious shortcomings for automotive beams still. Wait a while. The LED makers are making some massive profits selling these substandard ones to people and the good companies will plow this into designing good ones, while the others will do something else. Like go back to making speakers when the high profit period of these sparkly new lights fades as consumers wise up.

DougM
_________________
1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[syncroluvr]

How about something in this flavor? When ever I put in a SA grill

http://www.expeditionportal.com/resources/equipmen...ights.html
_________________
1990 Syncro Westy with stump pulling 2576cc Subaru

Y2K V6 Passat

Calcandi Leviter

[thatvwbusguy]

JW Speaker is the name of a lighting company, not a speaker company. They make some really nice stuff, but it is all pricey.

I have seen the current version of the TruckLite and JW Speaker 7" LED lights in person. The JW Speaker is much better than the TruckLite, but the cost is still prohibitive at this point.

The difference between high and low beam on the road is quite noticeable for the amount of distance lighting it provides. When shinning on a wall, you shouldn't expect a massive jump in the height of a beam with a properly designed projector. It would be a much better review if the lights were shown in a fixed housing in an outdoor setting where you could actually see how the light works in the real world.

I definitely agree that a set of e-Code lenses with high quality H4 bulbs and headlight relays is the way to go for now. If you have plenty of cash to spend on your lights and want the highest quality available, go for the Cibie 7" e-Code and install a set of Osram 80/85W H4's ($225.00 total parts). If you are looking for the best bang for the buck, the Bosch 7" e-Code from Bus Depot with a set of Hella 80/100W H4's is pretty hard to beat ($87.00 total parts).
_________________
Jay Brown
'85 Zetec Westfalia
Newmarket, NH


If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

[r39o]

What is old is new again....

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=363662
_________________
"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....

Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently)

[Sir Sam]

For the money these are probably better:(and are a proper projector beam headlight HID, not a parabolic retrofit)

http://www.dapperlighting.com/collections/projector-headlights/products/7-classic-projector
_________________
'91 Carat Westy

87' Syncro + '87 Westy conversion coming soon

[thatvwbusguy]

The Dapper Lighting kit is listed as "Off Road Use Only".

I can't imagine spending almost $400.00 for a set of lights when the manufacturer is telling you that they are not street legal.
_________________
Jay Brown
'85 Zetec Westfalia
Newmarket, NH


If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

[K58]

[IdahoDoug]

Busguy sed: "When shinning on a wall, you shouldn't expect a massive jump in the height of a beam with a properly designed projector."

I respectfully disagree with that. You absolutely should see a significant jump in the beam pattern upwards and to the left on a wall when you switch from low beams to high beams. And you absolutely should see that horizontal cutoff line be obliterated by the light of the high beams.

LEDs are in their infancy for forward automotive lighting. Far better choices available.

Thanks for correcting me on the company btw - had no idea they were a lighting company.

DougM
_________________
1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[bens1088]

[r39o]

[K58]

Hella E-codes or any E-code aren't legal but that doesn't stop people from using them.
I'll risk a fix it ticket for better performance and safety.
_________________
Westy HID Projector Retrofit

[thatvwbusguy]

Agreed, e-Code lenses are not legal in the US. This is based solely on their headlight markings, not on the quality or quantity of light they emit. There is pending legislation to allow the use of European marked headlights or other UN marked headlights on US roadways, but I am pretty sure that this is not exactly topping the list for immediate approval by the legislators in DC.

The original link for the Dapper HID retrofit lights showed a price of $369.00. I didn't dig any deeper once I saw what they were and that they were listed as "offroad only".

Many people believe that H4 bulbs are still illegal in the US, but they are currently 100% legal when installed in a DOT lens like the Hella Vision Plus. Unfortunately the actual light output of DOT lenses is pretty awful when compared to the same exact bulb in an e-Code lens.

To add to the madness of what makes a headlight legal vs. illegal, there are also maximum lumen output ratings for automotive bulbs of all types. The Osram 65/70W should fall within this spec, but the Hella 80/100W is probably slightly outside of the defined limits. I am not sure how or if this maximum lumenosity translates to HID capsules.

All e-Code lenses have a more sharply defined cutoff than the US DOT pattern. This means that they put more light on the road in front of the vehicle instead of up in the trees or in the eyes of oncoming traffic like the standard DOT lens tends to do.

The most common reasons people get ticketed for out of spec headlights is because the bulbs are too bright, too blue, are very badly aimed, or cause excessive glare (dazzling) for oncoming traffic. If your lights don't fall into any of these categories, you are very unlikely to get ticketed. You may still fail annual safety inspection (where applicable) if you have a very well trained and vigilant inspector however.

As to the amount of beam rise between low beam and high beam, I agree that there should be a fairly distinct difference when using a standard single reflector lens with a filament bulb. However the JW Speaker LED offerings use independently shaped reflectors to define the beams, which functions quite differently than the single parabola design that we have grown accustomed to. As I said before, I have seen the JW Spreaker LED's in real world use and can confirm that the outcome is very different than the handheld beam display shown on the garage door in the video. If I had more money than common sense, I would probably already have a set in my van.
_________________
Jay Brown
'85 Zetec Westfalia
Newmarket, NH


If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

[IdahoDoug]

Jay,

First off, I should say I'm loving the lighting discussion - great stuff. I agree there are some ridicule-worthy aspects to our DOT standards that have led to the US having lower quality lights on our vehicles by force. In fact, for decades we in North America have been forced to sell consumers lights that are inferior to those available in third world countries. It was a misguided attempt to protect US lamp makers from competitors in other countries by making our lamps a design no sane automaker would build.

For instance. A reflector's optimal point for the bulb filament is a spot in space called the focal point. Maximum light output, beam pattern perfect as the reflector was designed to create it. The US gummint required the bulb to be moved slightly - I think upwards and to one side. Actually OUT of the focal point!!! Just to keep German light makers out of the market. It was not worth their while to change the molds for their lights to chase a small volume of sales, though in some cases they did when the model warranted.

I used to be a product planner in the industry and lighting was one of my interests. As for these LEDs having separate reflectors. Actually, they use a design where there are essentially no reflectors. The design is called the PES system, originally developed in Germany. It uses a thick glass lense to shape the beam rather like a classroom projector. This is done because the shortcoming of the LED bulb is that it puts out light in only one direction rather than omnidirectionally like a filament in a glass bulb - the traditional incandescent bulb.

I am surprised if indeed the two PES lenses in that LED light assembly the guy tests are a high beam and a low beam. Surprised, because they had the opportunity to create a high beam lense with a completely different pattern, which SHOULD have allowed them to fill in the upper half of that wall pattern any way they wanted. I never saw a view of the lamp showing the other lense light up as a high beam, so I am not sure why the high beam is such a feeble effort.

So the LED light source has a serious challenge to overcome. So far only a few makers have certified LED headlamps. Last night I saw an Audi A8 with a line of LEDs for headlights, and I think Infiniti has also done it. They look cool, and I kinda swiveled my head as he went past to see what the beam pattern looked like and it seemed full and bright. That's the future - a line of LEDs each slightly aimed apart from the others to fill out the pattern like a bunch of flashlights held in different directions to fill out the pattern. Single LED light sources like the one reviewed in the YouTube just are not going to be the future. Not enough light, and the beam pattern presents difficulties due to the directional single point light of a light emitter vs a glowing wire (incandescent).

Great stuff.

DougM
_________________
1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader