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Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
https://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=64840		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Walter Lee Jackson [ Sat May 02, 2020 4:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
It's a 2 headlight system.
TIA
--Walt Jackson
Author:  Dart270 [ Sun May 03, 2020 10:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Hopefully SSDan will chime in. I bought the round JW Speaker LEDs (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/jws-0554941) and I believe Dan says they are the best out there. They should make rectangular ones. Truck Lite LED headlights are also supposed to be pretty good. They are not cheap. Anything cheap is junk, so better to stick with a GE Nighthawk if you don't want to spend $300-600.

Lou
Author:  Dart270 [ Sun May 03, 2020 10:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Probably these are the right JW ones:

https://www.jwspeaker.com/products/led- ... olution-2/

Looks like $470 a pair, so cheaper than the 2 X 7" round lamps.

Lou
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Sun May 03, 2020 11:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
It cannot be stated loudly or clearly enough: shop carefully; most of what's on the car lighting market is fraudulently-promoted junk.

The best LED headlamp in this size is the JW Speaker item in chrome or in black. Another solid pick is this particular Truck-Lite unit (they make several different onces; these are the ones to get).

What used to be GE automotive lighting is now Tungsram automotive lighting. Tungsram is a very reputable old Hungarian name in light bulbs, and they've been making most of GE's car bulbs for years, but the most recent corporate shift-'n'-drift means the remains of GE's vehicle lighting line got rescued before GE could run it into the ground. GE used to sell rebranded Truck-Lite LED headlamps, but those have been dropped; the Tungsram-branded LED sealed beam replacements are now Maxxima items from Taiwan. Not the world's worst, not the world's best.

These LED headlamps linked so far aren't advisable if you do a lot of wintertime driving with heavy snow and slush; the LED headlamp lenses run cold so snow and ice build up on them instead of melting off like they do from a warm halogen lamp lens. There is now a heated-lens version of the JW Speaker lamp, definitely the king-of-the-hill headlamp in this size. These also come in chrome or in black.

There are tons of knockoffs and lookalikes and counterfeits, and as soon as you start shopping for any of the linked lamps the fakes will be put in front of your face ("Other shoppers also viewed", "Also consider", "Products like this", etc). Ignore/reject; they are not worth even their tempting low price.

The best replaceable-bulb halogen headlamp in the large rectangular size is this specific Hella unit. They come with weak standard bulbs, but bulbs are easily changed. Bulb selection matters a _lot_ to how well you can (or can't) see at night; see bulb test results posted by my colleague Virgil here. Speaking of Tungsram, they make the best spec-wattage H4 bulb right now. I keep 'em in stock, and there are options above that, too (more light but shorter lifespan).

If you run LEDs, especially unheated ones, your existing wiring should be adequate if it's in OK shape. Otherwise you will definitely want to put in headlamp relays to take the workload off the switches and bring full power to the lamps. The concept is explained here; in a nutshell it's because the car's existing wiring was designed to be adequate for the original low-power lamps when everything was new, and it doesn't improve with age. This can be achieved in a couple of different ways of varying cost and difficulty. I have build-it-yourself parts kits and two kinds of ready-to-install harnesses; send me a PM or an email. Don't get the temptingly cheap headlight harnesses all over the net; they have a nasty habit of failing without warning while you're in the middle of trying to see at night.

Lamp aim is by far the main thing that determines how well you can (or can't) see at night, so this is crucial: you will need to see to it that the lamps are aimed carefully and correctly per these instructions.
Author:  Dart270 [ Mon May 04, 2020 6:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Thanks for the rundown, Dan. Also, I vigorously second the idea that AIMING the lights is extremely important. Nice directions there.

Lou
Author:  Charrlie_S [ Mon May 04, 2020 9:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Several years ago, I called just about every repair shop, and dealer in my county, trying to get my headlights aimed properly. Not a single place had a aiming "machine". Everyone used the "wall" method. I wound up buying a "Hoppy" headlight aiming system at a swap meet.
Author:  Reed [ Mon May 04, 2020 10:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Quote:
Several years ago, I called just about every repair shop, and dealer in my county, trying to get my headlights aimed properly. Not a single place had a aiming "machine". Everyone used the "wall" method. I wound up buying a "Hoppy" headlight aiming system at a swap meet.
A few years back I got lucky and bought an old aiming machine from a school district bus barn. $60 out the door. I just don't trust any shop to do a decent job any more.
Author:  Reed [ Mon May 04, 2020 11:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Quote:
It cannot be stated loudly or clearly enough: shop carefully; most of what's on the car lighting market is fraudulently-promoted junk.
***
The best replaceable-bulb halogen headlamp in the large rectangular size is this specific Hella unit. They come with weak standard bulbs, but bulbs are easily changed. Bulb selection matters a _lot_ to how well you can (or can't) see at night; see bulb test results posted by my colleague Virgil here. Speaking of Tungsram, they make the best spec-wattage H4 bulb right now. I keep 'em in stock, and there are options above that, too (more light but shorter lifespan).
Dan- are you saying that when replacing or upgrading 6054 headlamps the current Hella retrofit lamps are a "better" choice than Cibies?
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Mon May 04, 2020 11:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Quote:
Dan- are you saying that when replacing or upgrading 6054 headlamps the current Hella retrofit lamps are a "better" choice than Cibies?
The Cibies are no longer manufactured in that size. There's a Koito unit that's quite excellent, but the pipeline for it was slow (5-month lag) even before the pandemic, so there's no telling when they'll be available. The specific, particular Hella unit linked above is the best H4 lamp available in that size right now. Don't substitute a different Hella in the same size; the linked one is the only worthy one they make in this size.
Author:  Reed [ Mon May 04, 2020 11:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Quote:
Quote:
Dan- are you saying that when replacing or upgrading 6054 headlamps the current Hella retrofit lamps are a "better" choice than Cibies?
The Cibies are no longer manufactured in that size. There's a Koito unit that's quite excellent, but the pipeline for it was slow (5-month lag) even before the pandemic, so there's no telling when they'll be available. The specific, particular Hella unit linked above is the best H4 lamp available in that size right now. Don't substitute a different Hella in the same size; the linked one is the only worthy one they make in this size.
Dang. I was planning on ordering a set of Cibies and a relay kit. I guess I will settle for the Hellas and a relay kit.

Thanks again, Dan.
Author:  Dan-o [ Mon May 04, 2020 12:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
So are the JW units a direct replacement in the stock buckets for our cars? I like the idea of LED headlights (fair weather car) but my car(s) are 5.75 4 bulb'ers, so 1600.00 in headlights is a bit much.
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Mon May 04, 2020 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Quote:
So are the JW units a direct replacement in the stock buckets for our cars? I like the idea of LED headlights (fair weather car) but my car(s) are 5.75 4 bulb'ers, so 1600.00 in headlights is a bit much.
This thread has (so far) been about large rectangular headlamps. The situation's different for small round ones. The only legitimate LED 5-3/4" round headlamps are made by JW Speaker—they are expensive and bucket modifications are required. Probably doesn't make sense to spend the money and effort unless you are logging a whole lot of nighttime driving. There are some good replaceable-bulb halogen lamps in the 5-3/4" size; the Koitos are the best ones by a very big margin (and, here again, there's a mountain of junk on the market, all hyped as an "upgrade"). Send me a PM or an email if you'd like to talk over the options.
Author:  Dart270 [ Mon May 04, 2020 6:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
My impression is that the 5.75" round 4-light system is replaced by just one pair of JW 5.75" units, right? Requires some rewiring.

Note that the 7" 2X round headlights require bucket mods too.

Lou
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Mon May 04, 2020 8:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Quote:
My impression is that the 5.75" round 4-light system is replaced by just one pair of JW 5.75" units, right?
Up to the buyer/installer. You can put in four of the LED high/low beam lamps, then wire them up as original (outer high/low + inner high-only), which is plug/play. Or you can wire them so all four lamps provide both a low and a high beam (some wiring mods needed). 4-low/4-high in some states and provinces isn't squeaky-legal, but very unlikely to be enforced as long as the lamps are aimed correctly, because many of today's vehicles—BMWs, for example—have what looks like four low beams, but it's technically just one lamp per side with multiple compartments.

Or you can put in two of the LED high/low beam lamps and two carefully-picked halogen high beam lamps.
Quote:
Note that the 7" 2X round headlights require bucket mods too.
That depends which 7" LED lamps we're talking about, and which buckets. JW Speaker makes multiple different 7" round units. Their top-of-the-line item is fun: almost Star Trek-level lighting technology in the world's oldest headlamp format (standardised in 1939). DrivingVisionNews writeup of that lamp is attached to this post. Thousand bucks a pair. Down from there is a variety of versions of their Evolution-2 headlamp (heated or non, black or chrome, with or without built-in daytime running light). Every time they revise that lamp, it gets more compact at the rear. And they've got an extra-shallow 7" round lamp (this one) for difficult-to-fit buckets.

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Author:  Dart270 [ Tue May 05, 2020 3:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Best LED or Halogen Rectangular Headlamp?
Great to know about the shallower lamps. I do not see prices online for those yet, but will look into them when I get to reassembling the 64 Dart.

I bought the 8700 J2 and had to cut quite a bit of the bucket out. I just finished installing one this morning on Project V (66 Valiant with 63-65 Dart nose) with new adjuster hardware from Vans Auto and that works fine.

Why do you need 4 headlamps for the 5.75"X4 system if the JWs will do high/low beam in one lamp? I was just going to run a pair in the outer position and omit the inner pair. I assume that provides sufficient light, and then I can just put aluminum plates or something over the inner buckets. I see in the JW spec sheet for the 8631's that the lumen output is about 15-20% lower than the 8700 J2 7" lamps, but I would guess that is still enough??

Thanks again,

Lou
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