LED headlight bulbs dip / main

[Cruella]

just fitted LED headlight bulbs to the car as the halogen bulbs are chronic, so after fitting the bulbs waited for night time to try them out i was horrified to find that they are dangerously dim, nice bright blueish white light but no light beam had to drive back home on my fog lights, any ideas the bulbs are supposed to be 5000k lumens cost me nearly £70 any ideas, they are fitted correctly with ballast resistors they look like they need turning up as though they are turned down like your dimmer control on the dash panel lights..........any ideas guys, if not i will remove them and fit something else.........seems like a proper waste of money

[madasahatter]

1 hour ago, Cruella said:

just fitted LED headlight bulbs to the car as the halogen bulbs are chronic, so after fitting the bulbs waited for night time to try them out i was horrified to find that they are dangerously dim, nice bright blueish white light but no light beam had to drive back home on my fog lights, any ideas the bulbs are supposed to be 5000k lumens cost me nearly £70 any ideas, they are fitted correctly with ballast resistors they look like they need turning up as though they are turned down like your dimmer control on the dash panel lights..........any ideas guys, if not i will remove them and fit something else.........seems like a proper waste of money

These have a good review. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KFBPAJO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=kleantrix-20&linkId=d041ab0a259eba3be720fa7683f1159b

Personally i would just fit hids. 5000k

[Linas.P]

5000k (kelvins) is not brightness, but colour - otherwise known as colour temperature, you have mistaken it with 5000lm (lumens). 5000-6000k is white colour, while anything below 4500k is yellowish and anything over 6500k is blueish.

Fitting aftermarket HIDs is illegal - whilst many have done it I just though it is good to know you can have your insurance and MOT invalidated because of that. Fully retrofitting is possible, but would be very costly.

As Keith linked - the LED with 8000lm (or 4000x2) are actually quite a lot if you belive the listing - standard halogens on Lexus are probably ~1600-2000lm, but they are 6500k (which I personally dislike due to the bluish colour). The problems with LED listings are generally how the lumens are measured... I am certain those bulbs does 4000lm each at point blank distance, but it is possible that 10m away they do 300lm and your standard halogens do 400lm. Hence where at the source you have more lumens from LED, you might have less at the target (that is obviously not the rule, just possibility).

[madasahatter]

8 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

5000k (kelvins) is not brightness, but colour - otherwise known as colour temperature, you have mistaken it with 5000lm (lumens). 5000-6000k is white colour, while anything below 4500k is yellowish and anything over 6500k is blueish.

Fitting aftermarket HIDs is illegal - whilst many have done it I just though it is good to know you can have your insurance and MOT invalidated because of that. Fully retrofitting is possible, but would be very costly.

As Keith linked - the LED with 8000lm (or 4000x2) are actually quite a lot if you belive the listing - standard halogens on Lexus are probably ~1600-2000lm, but they are 6500k (which I personally dislike due to the bluish colour). The problems with LED listings are generally how the lumens are measured... I am certain those bulbs does 4000lm each at point blank distance, but it is possible that 10m away they do 300lm and your standard halogens do 400lm. Hence where at the source you have more lumens from LED, you might have less at the target (that is obviously not the rule, just possibility).

 

[Linas.P]

sorry I might sound overly pessimistic, but the video above is not very scientific i.e. the guy didn't even show before and after, I am not even talking about measuring brightness with a photometer or something, on the set distance like 5m etc.

And I am generally sceptical of headlights upgrades - yes you can make them brighter, but brighter doesn't mean they going to illuminate the road better, equally they can dazzle other drivers... I am not saying it cannot be done right, but one would need all lab equipment to do it consistently "right", otherwise it is pretty much guesswork, trial and error - and I don't think trial and error is good method when road safety is concerned.

[madasahatter]

19 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

sorry I might sound overly pessimistic, but the video above is not very scientific i.e. the guy didn't even show before and after, I am not even talking about measuring brightness with a photometer or something, on the set distance like 5m etc.

And I am generally sceptical of headlights upgrades - yes you can make them brighter, but brighter doesn't mean they going to illuminate the road better, equally they can dazzle other drivers... I am not saying it cannot be done right, but one would need all lab equipment to do it consistently "right", otherwise it is pretty much guesswork, trial and error - and I don't think trial and error is good method when road safety is concerned.

I notice you have xenons fitted to your car . Can i ask why you went for a model fitted with them. Was it for the look? No because when its an expensive

option which brightens the way ahead. Also most upmarket cars are going the LED way now, is that coincidence. You will not dazzle any body with the

lights fitted to cars like ours utter rubbish. Only halogens fitted with hids and the like as the pattern is spread every where.

[Linas.P]

They are not fitted, they are standard. I went with the model, because I knew what I am buying and that I can get SE-L for the same price as SE, as many people even in the trade don't know the difference. As it happened HIDs were standard equipment with SE-L and so I have them, but it doesn't mean I bought the car for that reason. In fact if I would need to pay even one extra penny - I would say "keep it", but they came at no extra cost so I have them.

Any modification to headlights might dazzle as there is some science involved to meet the specific requirements. Yes after market HIDs might dazzle, equally aftermarket LEDs might dazzle - it is guesswork and my only point is - guesswork is not good enough when road safe is concerned. 

I am not going to stop people from modifying their cars, but equally I will never support that.

Finally, we need to understand the goal of any such upgrades.... Is that just to push as much as possible lumens out of headlights? No, I don't think so.. Is it to illuminate the road better - yes indeed! The problem is that more lumens ≠ better illumination.

[madasahatter]

8 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

They are not fitted, they are standard. I went with the model, because I knew what I am buying and that I can get SE-L for the same price as SE, as many people even in the trade don't know the difference. As it happened HIDs were standard equipment with SE-L and so I have them, but it doesn't mean I bought the car for that reason. In fact if I would need to pay even one extra penny - I would say "keep it", but they came at no extra cost so I have them.

Any modification to headlights might dazzle as there is some science involved to meet the specific requirements. Yes after market HIDs might dazzle, equally aftermarket LEDs might dazzle - it is guesswork and my only point is - guesswork is not good enough when road safe is concerned. 

I am not going to stop people from modifying their cars, but equally I will never support that.

Finally, we need to understand the goal of any such upgrades.... Is that just to push as much as possible lumens out of headlights? No, I don't think so.. Is it to illuminate the road better - yes indeed! The problem is that more lumens ≠ better illumination.

Am i right in saying Sel  have a manual headlight wash? Seems strange all vehicles i have owned with them wash every 5th cycle when lights are on.

Reason been headlight pattern is affected by dirt on the lights. And that is the only reason headlight washers are fitted to Xenons.

Also if headlight washers are not fitted, cars with hid headlight bulbs will not fail an Mot. Mine has just had Mot passed no advisories. And i am sure

headlights were properly adjusted. If not some body has not done there job right.

[Linas.P]

SEL has manual and automatic wash... I would prefer if automatic would stop working because it is waste of washing fluid nothing more (it works every time you click windows washers and headlights are on). The headlight washer only makes sense in 2 conditions - offroading when headlights are covered in mud and heavy snow - neither of wich are the case in UK or applicable to IS250. The dust from the road affects beam patterns less than the drops of washer fluid itself.

[Cruella]

well guys after ripping off (not litteraly) the engine covers the airbox and the washer neck I took the crappy LED's out riffited the yellow looking halogens ripped two nails off scratched me hands and now i need a pedicure again,why are these lights so rubbish? 

Our lads 1996 XJ40's twin halogen H4 55w lights are really intense compared to mine and the bulbs are just £2.49 bulbs from a motor factor .......why ...?

i just want some better headlights both dip and full beam ............just broke another nail !

thanks guys for the replies

[Glover]

In terms of why are the halogens better in the XJ40 than in your IS250 a lot of it is down to the design of the reflector and lens.  I had a 2002 Audi A4, which was lethal in the dark on dip whereas my 2001 Yaris gives great coverage with the same spec bulbs.