Headlight bulb ugrades?

[scotts90ranger]

I'm tired of not being able to see great, extremely annoyed by many other drivers that have stupid blinding headlights coming at me, I'll flash them and then they turn their brights on and dang... Conveniently I'm not night blind in the slightest but still...

Tempted by the Lasfit retrofit bulbs but don't want to be that guy... my F350 had some aftermarket HID bulbs in it when I got it which were bright as heck within like 100', everyone near me hated me, oncoming retroflective signs were blinding but the light didn't carry so when they died I put standard bulbs back in...

I don't want to be the jerk that blinds everyone, are the LED conversions better than the HID conversions in aiming in the stock housings or should I get some aftermarket housings? Haven't decided what I want to upgrade but the daily driver '97 Ranger would probably be one and the '00 Explorer would be the other, if the Lasfit 9007 replacement kit is decent in the stock housings it doesn't seem like a bad deal really with the price of bulbs anymore... $50 isn't a huge gamble in todays economy but hey $50 is $50

Ok, enough of my jibber jabber, thoughts?

 

[Brain75]

are we talking on your 1990 (light bulb 9004) or on any of the others (all 9007?) ?

 

[Brain75]

I ask because there was a thread here might even have been in the tech section on replacing the dismal 9004 with 9007 and getting a 30% increase in brightness for basically nothing - not even buying expensive LED, just switching from 9004 to 9007... I grabbed a pair of 9007 from the 'yard (I carried a 12v agm battery to test em at least before buying), and am going to do it myself.

I can't find it right this second.... dang search function.
but if we aren't talking about your oldest then no need to search.

 

[Brain75]

For those of you with Second gen Ranger and BII, and 1st gen Explorer Headlights!

I've not posted on here in quite a long time, but tonight I both received and installed new headlights for my 1990 Bronco II, and I wanted to share my experience. This is relevant if you have an 89-92 Ranger, 89-90 Bronco II, or a 90-94 Explorer. All three vehicles share the same headlights...

www.therangerstation.com

 

[scotts90ranger]

I thought the 9004 to 9007 was just a rewire of the bulb for a reason I hadn't figured out yet, didn't realize they somehow changed the brightness... I know it's just switching two wires as I've put a 9004 in place of a 9007 before and it didn't work right...

More of a general question, the '90 is the only thing that uses the 9004's the rest are 9007 (assuming you only count my street legal vehicles, I might have a problem lol). although the daily driver has 9007's so want an upgrade from that, not against upgrading housings as they're junkyard foggy whatever I found after I wrecked 2 years ago...

 

[Brain75]

the article I linked referenced one from explorer forum, and he went into details geek there... 45watt versus 55watt is the biggie thing
copy-ing his quote, I think these are theoretical numbers from the math, not measured numbers.:
"
V @ Batt w/ engine running = 14.4 V
Original 9004, voltage at bulb:
Left = 13.0 V Right = 12.7 V
Estimated light output = 709 Lumens

New 9007 with factory wiring:
Left = 12.7 V Right = 12.4 V
Estimated light output = 935 Lumens

A 30% improvement in light output for less than $50.
"

 

[2011Supercab]

There is also the high wattage 9004, technically not street legal, but neither is half the lights people use now.

Amazon.com

Ther is also a 9007 version

Amazon.com

 

[Blmpkn]

3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

3rd Gen Tacoma HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights This thread covers upgrading the 3rd gen Tacoma H11 headlights and looking at the...

www.tacomaworld.com

This thread is worth a read. Halogen reflector housings are more or less engineered to be able to focus the amount of light that the bulb it's designed for puts out.. and no more.

Increasing lumens is a decrease in overall performance.

Buying some projector housings (if available) or retrofitting your current lights with projectors would be the way to go if you want more light. Projector retrofits aren't all that difficult either.. they've been somewhat popular since projectors became more common.

 

[MT_PLS]

There is also the high wattage 9004, technically not street legal, but neither is half the lights people use now.
https://www.amazon.com/HELLA-100-80WTB-Wattage-100-9004/dp/B078SJ19DK/ref=asc_df_B078SJ19DK/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=692875362841&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3848197924101681332&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9193254&hvtargid=pla-2281435180538&mcid=997166c20f6434c78830c4b63cfec5a4&hvocijid=3848197924101681332-B078SJ19DK-&hvexpln=73&th=1

I can give some real world experience with this setup.
A month ago, I decided that the stock headlamp light output just plain sucked. So I did two things; I ordered an upgraded headlight wiring harness, and I ordered a set of Lasfit 9004 LED bulbs.
The upgraded harness (from LMC) came the day before the bulbs did. I spent a Saturday installing the harness and then plugged in the new bulbs. To my surprise, the driver side bulb would not work. I spent half an hour triple checking all of my connections, to no avail. I plugged the stock 9004 in just on a whim, and it worked just fine. So I contacted Lasfit and they promptly sent out a second pair of 9004 LED bulbs.
While I was waiting for the new pair of bulbs to come in, I drove several days with a standard halogen on the drive side and an LED on the passenger side. I immediately noticed two things; first, the amount of light ahead of the truck while driving was amazing. I could see! But unfortunately, there was also a great amount of scattered light to the passenger side. Enough that it was downright distracting.
A few days later, the second set of LED lights showed up. I eagerly plugged a new lamp into the driver side harness, only to get NOTHING! I then cycle through all 4 LED lights on the driver side, not a single one worked. At this point, I contacted Lasfit to see if they had any idea why the LED bulbs would not work on the driver side, while OEM bulbs would. They were as stumped as I was. They refunded my money after a few back and forth emails, even though I had not asked them to. Good customer service - YAY, unknown driver side issue - WEIRD.
So then I decided to order a set of the HELLA 9004 100-80 watt non LED bulbs. The day they came, I immediately installed both bulbs. Both lit up just fine. I waited until dark, drove to the back of a local unlit grocery store, tweaked the aim on both sides, and drove home. I could see just as well with the Hella bulbs as I could with the LED, with one noticeable difference, no side scatter of light! I have been rocking the Hella lights for a couple of weeks now, and could not be happier!

Long story short, LED bulbs are not always the answer! Short story, I have two pairs of Lasfit 9004 bulbs if someone wants them.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Housings definitely can make a difference. My F-150 I put SilverStars in back when. They worked great until the lenses faded. Now they are adequate. My green Ranger I had some tinted headlights when I got it (previous owner) and neither regular bulbs or LEDs worked well. They looked crazy bright when you stood in front of the truck, but you couldn’t see crap from the drivers seat to the point where I ran the fog lights all the time. When I did my rebuild I did the 01 front end and got some aftermarket lights that I liked and thought would work well. Threw in some LEDs that a friend got me and they work pretty decent. I actually think I like these better than stock 2000 Ranger lights. Still the 9007 style bulbs.

I’m actually starting to think about trying to find some better aftermarket housings for my 2nd Gen trucks. I have a heavy duty harness for the Choptop. And that thing is terrible at night no matter what the bulb. Someone long ago on here (might have been @Will ) once said that the second gen lights were terrible and liked to collect water because they saw goldfish swimming in the housings.

My 88 I have a heavy duty harness for when that truck gets put back together. I also bought a set of aftermarket housings with glass lenses that take IIRC a H11 bulb. I’m betting they will put out some light.

 

[Brain75]

My 90 has had dog lighting for the last 25+ years... (Only been mine for the last 2 months, but in the family since '96). I've drained and re-sealed (silicone caulk) the passenger front headlight twice. I don't know if it takes on water now, but the truck got a new one after someone in the family wrecked it (right front corner). So I was pretty keen on figuring out how to make it better.
I read all 3 explorer forum threads linked by the post I linked to in #4. Several people corroborate your comment that LED's scatter much worse - they aren't made the same length so the reflector doesn't aim/collect/focus them the same.

One other thing I did was read the tech articles on cleaning/de-fog/de-haze your plastic headlights here and the threads I found here on clear coat painting your lenses to stop it from happening again.

If I can throw this out, the clean/de-fog/de-haze pics here on TRS looked very promising.
edit, add link:

Dull Headlight Lens Fix - The Ranger Station

By Eric Tired of your dull headlights? Eric was looking for a fix for his dulling headlights and found that by using some Mothers Chrome Polish and and a terry-cloth towel, he was able to polish the lenses to … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

Yellow Headlight Fix - The Ranger Station

By: Drew Coffey The older Rangers had a real problem with moisture entering the headlight and causing this ugly yellow headlight syndrome as I like to call it. See the headlight below? Notice the ugly yellow tint and moisture … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

I am/was very skeptical on the clear coating, until I read the back of the clear coat I got for the body - it says UV resistant, can be applied over non-UV resistant paint to add UV resistance.
sooo.. I am thinking I am going to meguire's headlight cleaner (it's pricey), then shoot some clear coat on em.

There is no such thing as a UV resistant plastic, the sun rots all of it. It's why your dash cracks, your headlights get foggy, etc - plastic just sucks at tolerating sunlight.

I'm trying to clean the shop and get the truck reassembled before it gets too cold to stand being out there, so don't have a ton of spare time. Has anyone here measured the actual voltage drop at the headlight? The harness doesn't look/feel like it is a nice beefy 12 ga, it feels more like a 14 or 16 to me. (what's funny, at the headlight switch in the cab it is definitely a nice fat 10ga coming from fuses and 12ga heading to the steering column multifunction switch).

 

[Brain75]

... I ordered an upgraded headlight wiring harness, and I ordered a set of Lasfit 9004 LED bulbs.
The upgraded harness (from LMC) came the day before the bulbs did. I spent a Saturday installing the harness and then plugged in the new bulbs. To my surprise, the driver side bulb would not work. I spent half an hour triple checking all of my connections, to no avail. I plugged the stock 9004 in just on a whim, and it worked just fine. So I contacted Lasfit and they promptly sent out a second pair of 9004 LED bulbs....

I got a question on the harness from LMC...
Is it at all possible (don't know how) they reversed polarity... through anything but an LED it wouldn't matter, with an LED... well the D stands for Diode - one way polarity, not reversible.
Take a multimeter and check out the polarity of the pins (but again with 3 pins, how they would get the low to work and not goofing high up all the time means the polarirty is idgit proof).

 

[2011Supercab]

(what's funny, at the headlight switch in the cab it is definitely a nice fat 10ga coming from fuses

Because that wire has to run all the lights, taillights, dash lights, front marker lights and headlights.

 

[MT_PLS]

I got a question on the harness from LMC...
Is it at all possible (don't know how) they reversed polarity... through anything but an LED it wouldn't matter, with an LED... well the D stands for Diode - one way polarity, not reversible.
Take a multimeter and check out the polarity of the pins (but again with 3 pins, how they would get the low to work and not goofing high up all the time means the polarirty is idgit proof).

I will do that this Saturday, even though it doesn't really matter because I am very happy with the Hella bulbs.

 

[scotts90ranger]

No wonder I've been running the janked out stock stuff on all my junk... I figured it was complicated , was hoping there was an easy button but hey...

I'll not lose sleep on an upgrade then but keep my eyes open...