LED Headlight options.

[rosscob]

I'm looking to upgrade my stock sealed beam headlight in my '88 XLT and go with LED's. I hate the looks of the ones with about 20 LED bulbs so I'm thinking of going with the glass housing that looks closer to factory and installing LED bulbs in them. My question is: How bright can I go and what's the highest wattage I can use without having to upgrade the wiring or install a relay?

 

[Terrys87]

I personally don't like the brightness of LED head lights. They are bright but just don't seem to show far enough down the road. On my bike and wife's car the new lights just don't work for me. A problem I had in the past with the Halogen head lights is they seemed to melt the connector on the steering column. I plan on staying with the old style sealed beam. I would be curious to see if there is something better out there and am interested what you find out on this thread.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I personally don't like the brightness of LED head lights. They are bright but just don't seem to show far enough down the road. On my bike and wife's car the new lights just don't work for me. A problem I had in the past with the Halogen head lights is they seemed to melt the connector on the steering column. I plan on staying with the old style sealed beam. I would be curious to see if there is something better out there and am interested what you find out on this thread.

I have LED's in cheap amazon H4 adaptor housings. Lots of light but like you said not a ton of distance. On blacktop they seem to go forever, on limestone gravel or cement they do not carry very far at all.

I am probably going to go to brighter than usual H4 bulbs with relays to take the strain off the stuff inside the cab.

GS H4 Lenses and Beamtech LED bulbs

I never really been that impressed by my sealed beams, I even bought a pair of "better" ones like 15 years ago and have tolerated them. I came across these conversion lenses on Amazon awhile back and finally got around to ordering them...

www.therangerstation.com

 

[gaz]

@rosscob , @Terrys87
There are better options that are legal, cheaper and offer greater light with a better light beam.

There is information in the tech pages but I will offer a brief summary, if there questions I am glad to provide more information.

I bought replacement light housing for my stock, sealed beam headlights. I am using the most powerful legal bulbs in the new housings but that isn't truly why they are brighter. The key is building a stand alone power circuit, directly from the battery using 10g-14g wire, dedicated relays and the original light switch to control the new power circuit.

The end result, I have a choice in the color and power of the halogen bulbs that I buy and the new stand alone lighting power circuit reduces the work of the light switch, while increasing the load dropped on the light bulbs.

SEE THREAD by gäz titled:

"seein bein"

 

[Terrys87]

Thanks I will look into it.

 

[rosscob]

Gaz, I understand what you're saying but doesn't the LED's provide more light with much less wattage and current draw, eliminating the need for a "dedicated power circuit"?

 

[txsleds]

I'm looking to upgrade my stock sealed beam headlight in my '88 XLT and go with LED's. I hate the looks of the ones with about 20 LED bulbs so I'm thinking of going with the glass housing that looks closer to factory and installing LED bulbs in them. My question is: How bright can I go and what's the highest wattage I can use without having to upgrade the wiring or install a relay?

BOSLLA LED HEAD LIGHT BULBS - I ordered new stock headlights from Ford.com and the BOSLLA LED HEADLIGHT BULBS are simple PLUG & PLAY. Ford Ranger LED Headlight Bulbs - Boslla

 

[franklin2]

Gaz, I understand what you're saying but doesn't the LED's provide more light with much less wattage and current draw, eliminating the need for a "dedicated power circuit"?

There is more to proper lighting than just being brighter. You can have very bright light right in front of the vehicle, and not see anything a far distance in front of you.

The chevy guys fall into this trap. The big modification on the chevy trucks used to be a kit to run the lowbeams and the highbeams together at the same time. Same problem. Lots of light in front of the vehicle, covering up your long distance view.

Another example of this; Why not run your interior lights while you have your headlights on? I think everyone can understand that the ambient light in the cab will interfere with your outside night vision. While this is a extreme example, the principle is the same. You need far reaching light, not up close diffused light right in front of the vehicle. This is what most LED "conversion kits" give you.