[Don 79 TA]

not for the cheapies, but Vision X headlights and wiring kits are primo quality and just AWESOME. you CERTAINLY get what you paid for....
Excellent side to side coverage, and VERY good in the middle coverage. i left a review on YB under the electrical section last weekend.... truly amazing
I just put these in and highly recommend them, night and day difference compared to the Hella H4's i was using
less power draw too, and CRYSTAL clear lights, and with the wiring adaptors on... OMFG when you hit the high beams, lights up the dessert highway
many big rigs use them and i can see why
search youtube for them and the GRT LED bulbs.... pretty much no comparison, but to each his own....

GRT LED bulbs are supposed to the cream of the crop as far as LEDs go, especially the built in resistor ones, however as with quality it comes with a primo price tag, especially when you need X amount of them
saw them on HR's website and GTR lightings website

LED bulbs in reflector housings are hit/miss. probably best bulbs to use with its adjustability is the GTR bulbs, but when you factor the cost of them, the hassle of tunning them, you're not far off on the Vision X lights
saw some people posting photos/videos of LEDs in ref. housings, most had what i call VERY obnoxious blind spots, referring to dark areas as ref. buckets are made for true round bulbs, not flat LED styles or bumpy led styles
but again.... its personal preference as with many things

[HWYSTR455]

Yeah, the thing is, most don't want the look of a projection headlight on classic/musclecars.

LED bulbs in reflector headlight enclosures require a specific bulb, a 'conversion' bulb, due to the way the bulb emits light. If you slap a 'standard' LED bulb in a reflector enclosure, light goes in all the wrong directions, so you need to know that.

For a long time, there were no good 'conversion' LED bulbs, but they are getting 'better'. Still not perfect, but acceptable. The general conversion from sealed beams to LEDs (or removable bulbs) is the H4/HB2/9003 type, and just over the last couple years has it been getting better (for LEDs).

The best for an H4 'conversion' LED bulb? Can be argued, but the ones I hear come up a lot are GTR Lighting Ultra series, SuperNova V3/V4, Murimoto 2 Stroke, and the Putco SilverLux.

I'm interested in the Lightening Dark ones, they are affordable, and may try some, but my concern is the light pattern. That's why I was asking about the pattern.


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[flat-bill]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

I've switched a few cars over to led tail and turn signals. As well as some of the interior lights. Just required an electronic flasher. One thing I noticed on the chevelle with a sniper on it, while monitoring voltage driving at night, the led change improved the voltage by .3-.4 when the led bulbs were put in. Voltage at night idling went from 12.7 to 13.0-13.1

Best thing I did for lighting on the cars we daily drive, especially for my wife's car as she drives in the dark frequently, was installing led headlights. The way I see it is every new car on the road today, which is about everyone, is running with led's so about every car out there is blinding. May as well join the club. One thing they can't say anymore is they didn't see me coming

You may have an alternator problem or are you trying to run a one wire alternator. A better system is the real 3 wire alternator setup with the sense wire tied in somewhere on the fuse panel. Then the alternator will sense the drop in voltage when the load is applied and adjust the charging voltage up.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

FormulaJones - Would you happen to have a pic of the beam pattern of those bulbs in those reflective housings?


.

No but I can try to take one if you like. Any particular method?? I've never tried to take a picture of headlights at night. Maybe a video driving at night??

I could probably do something like that this weekend.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Yeah, the thing is, most don't want the look of a projection headlight on classic/musclecars.

LED bulbs in reflector headlight enclosures require a specific bulb, a 'conversion' bulb, due to the way the bulb emits light. If you slap a 'standard' LED bulb in a reflector enclosure, light goes in all the wrong directions, so you need to know that.

For a long time, there were no good 'conversion' LED bulbs, but they are getting 'better'. Still not perfect, but acceptable. The general conversion from sealed beams to LEDs (or removable bulbs) is the H4/HB2/9003 type, and just over the last couple years has it been getting better (for LEDs).

The best for an H4 'conversion' LED bulb? Can be argued, but the ones I hear come up a lot are GTR Lighting Ultra series, SuperNova V3/V4, Murimoto 2 Stroke, and the Putco SilverLux.

I'm interested in the Lightening Dark ones, they are affordable, and may try some, but my concern is the light pattern. That's why I was asking about the pattern.


.

And that's exactly it. I wanted improved lighting without the funky look of those projection LED's in my classic cars. It had to appear stock. Which is why I bought the conversion bulbs that accept the LED inserts.

However it did take a lot of experimentation to find LED's that worked good. A lot of brands out there and way too many choices. I went through maybe 4 or 5 sets and spent a chunk of money before I finally found those White Lightenings I linked to.

Fantastic lighting. Even on low beam and projected straight out front many think you have your high beams on. Hit the high beams however and it lights up everything. They have nice side projection too which is important for us out here in the desert. Lots of things come running from the side of the road right in front of you so it's nice to have some light in the ditches. Especially on the mountain roads and switch backs at night.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by flat-bill

You may have an alternator problem or are you trying to run a one wire alternator. A better system is the real 3 wire alternator setup with the sense wire tied in somewhere on the fuse panel. Then the alternator will sense the drop in voltage when the load is applied and adjust the charging voltage up.

I should have been more clear. It's only when idling at night with everything on and in gear stopped at a red light. Basically because I have a deep groove underdrive pulley on that particular car, with a 55amp 3 wire stock type alternator, and it's also running and in tank fuel pump. It's been that way for 35 years.

I figure if a few little interior and parking light bulbs can make that kind of improvement in voltage draw, I'm guessing I'll see even more change when the LED headlights go in. I just found it interesting. I would have never noticed it on the stock analog gauge, it was only detectable because the Holley Sniper monitors voltage digitally down to the tenth.

[grivera]

FJ - I installed the headlights and Lightening Dark last night but have yet to adjust. They difference between them and halogens is insane (pic attached). The instructions are lacking guidance in this regard- any pointers on rotation of the bulb? Should the thin part of tip/chip be vertical or horizontal?

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by grivera

FJ - I installed the headlights and Lightening Dark last night but have yet to adjust. They difference between them and halogens is insane (pic attached). The instructions are lacking guidance in this regard- any pointers on rotation of the bulb? Should the thin part of tip/chip be vertical or horizontal?

What a difference huh? Makes those halogens look dirty. The 4 headlight systems are killer too. Wait till you hit the brights at night, it's hillarious. So nice to be able to drive at night and just light everything up when you need it.

On mine the thin part of the chip I have vertical. They are adjustable that way, and depending on how you turn them it changes the beam. Not exactly sure how or why that works, but it's a nice feature to have in case you want to tweak them to suit what you're looking for.
It's a big reason why I ended up using these, because most of the LED's are not adjustable and I wasn't happy with the beam projection with any others I tried. Not only are these brighter than others I tried, they have a much better beam pattern.

[grivera]

Thanks- does the adjustment of the bulb replace the adjustment of the headlight housing?

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by grivera

Thanks- does the adjustment of the bulb replace the adjustment of the headlight housing?

They kind of work together. Once you get the beam projected the way you want you'll probably find that you'll want to adjust the headlight housing a bit.

[HWYSTR455]

Headlight Revolution has a quick vid explaining an H4/9003 LED bulb install:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSAoUrecAVI

To recap, yes, the flat part needs to be verticle, and the bulb reflector needs to be on the bottom facing up.

You still use the original OE adjusters to adjust the beam. If they are older, I suggest having a few replacement adjusters on hand, they break kind of easy if you 'over' adjust.

Don't try to adjust the beam until you are sure the bulb is positioned correctly in the enclosure, and make sure the enclosure is properly positioned in the bucket.

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[vertigto]

Hmmm...might do have to do this on my 70 GTO. With it all apart, now would be the time. I assume the same setup as grivera's 69 bird would work?

So, 4 of these?? ---> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NZUQ56...BWXDKSD3HMYSP6

Any issue with the trim ring being loose, since thet are not quite as round as OEM? Saw a video of a 1970 GTO headlight conversion where he said the brand he used required a rubber O-ring to stop rattling.

...and 4 of these?? ---> https://www.amazon.com/LIGHTENING-DA.../dp/B07ZF9LW2W

So, no separate high beam bulbs vs. low beam bulbs...just remove the 3rd prong? Comes with connecting harness (nothing else needed) and plug -n-play with OEM harness?

[Formulajones]

Yep yep and yep. It's pretty easy.

As far as the loose retaining ring, I've never experienced that myself. Everything went together just fine.

[Dick Boneske]

Originally Posted by flat-bill

You may have an alternator problem or are you trying to run a one wire alternator. A better system is the real 3 wire alternator setup with the sense wire tied in somewhere on the fuse panel. Then the alternator will sense the drop in voltage when the load is applied and adjust the charging voltage up.

The amperage draw of LED vs. any other bulb is tiny. Why would the alternator type be an issue. Either type of alternator adjusts output to match the load. The one-wire probably does a better job of that than the separate regulator type.

[nytrainer]

Not meaning to throw a wet towel on the idea of LED headlights but for the cost (roughly $200 for quad LED lamps) one might consider two relays, some wire and a couple of Dorman headlamp sockets (I wanted mod totally reversible and I didn’t want to cut into original headlamp harness). My sealed beams are now arguably as bright as the H4 halogens on my daily drivers for just $20 or so.
The original headlight circuit has a long route to the headlight switch, floor hi/low beam switch and back out to front of car. A relay mod uses original harness (with no mods) to only energize the relays (minimal current) and a larger gauge wire feeds the headlamps from the relays (hidden near battery) directly. No voltage drop and no weak “yellow” appearing headlights.

[mchell]

Originally Posted by nytrainer

Not meaning to throw a wet towel on the idea of LED headlights but for the cost (roughly $200 for quad LED lamps) one might consider two relays, some wire and a couple of Dorman headlamp sockets (I wanted mod totally reversible and I didn’t want to cut into original headlamp harness). My sealed beams are now arguably as bright as the H4 halogens on my daily drivers for just $20 or so.
The original headlight circuit has a long route to the headlight switch, floor hi/low beam switch and back out to front of car. A relay mod uses original harness (with no mods) to only energize the relays (minimal current) and a larger gauge wire feeds the headlamps from the relays (hidden near battery) directly. No voltage drop and no weak “yellow” appearing headlights.

^^^Yep....tried some led jobbers. Never liked the way the car looked at night,....

Put a relay kit in and run halogens.....plenty bright and the car looks “right” at night.....

[grivera]

Originally Posted by vertigto

Hmmm...might do have to do this on my 70 GTO. With it all apart, now would be the time. I assume the same setup as grivera's 69 bird would work?

So, 4 of these?? ---> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NZUQ56...BWXDKSD3HMYSP6

Any issue with the trim ring being loose, since thet are not quite as round as OEM? Saw a video of a 1970 GTO headlight conversion where he said the brand he used required a rubber O-ring to stop rattling.

...and 4 of these?? ---> https://www.amazon.com/LIGHTENING-DA.../dp/B07ZF9LW2W

So, no separate high beam bulbs vs. low beam bulbs...just remove the 3rd prong? Comes with connecting harness (nothing else needed) and plug -n-play with OEM harness?

Three of the trim rings are tight and one is slightly loose so I have to dig into that - the o-ring idea is interesting. That being said, the edge of the lens where trim ring rests appears to be same height as halogen bulbs.

Originally Posted by nytrainer

Not meaning to throw a wet towel on the idea of LED headlights but for the cost (roughly $200 for quad LED lamps) one might consider two relays, some wire and a couple of Dorman headlamp sockets (I wanted mod totally reversible and I didn’t want to cut into original headlamp harness). My sealed beams are now arguably as bright as the H4 halogens on my daily drivers for just $20 or so.
The original headlight circuit has a long route to the headlight switch, floor hi/low beam switch and back out to front of car. A relay mod uses original harness (with no mods) to only energize the relays (minimal current) and a larger gauge wire feeds the headlamps from the relays (hidden near battery) directly. No voltage drop and no weak “yellow” appearing headlights.

In my case there was no altering of the factory harness - all is reversible

[flat-bill]

Originally Posted by Dick Boneske

The amperage draw of LED vs. any other bulb is tiny. Why would the alternator type be an issue. Either type of alternator adjusts output to match the load. The one-wire probably does a better job of that than the separate regulator type.

The alternator senses the voltage being used to supply the system. On a one wire alternator the voltage is sensed right at the alternator. On a 3 wire the sense connection can be placed at or near the location of the load. The load, say at the fuse box will pull the voltage down and the alternator will "see" this. On a one wire the sense is right at the alternator. It doesn't see the voltage drop between the alternator and the load. The alternator should be charging at around 14 volts or a little more.

This 3 page article is a much better explanation than I can provide. Its worth the read.

http://www.madelectrical.com/electri...hreewire.shtml

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by grivera

In my case there was no altering of the factory harness - all is reversible

Yep and that's another reason I did it. I wasn't interested in wiring up relays, just me I guess but didn't want more wiring and relays in the car. I also wasn't keen on modifying the headlight sockets, even if that meant buying more sockets to move some wires around. I liked the simple plug and play idea of the LED in a simple housing that looks stock. It requires no modifying of anything at all. The time it takes you to change a headlight is the time it takes to swap in the LED's.

The problem though became finding a suitable LED that worked well and projected a nice beam rather than looking like a flood light. There are a lot of them out there that simply perform poorly.
Once I found a good LED, I've been extremely happy with the swap. Besides, how can I complain when my wife is the one I have to please, she drives one of the cars in the dark every morning, and she's very happy with it now. If she's happy, I'm happy