Regretting not getting LED's

[bem1]

I'm very happy with the LED lights on my wrangler. They are so bright at night. The only negative is the white reverse lights.....those are terrible. I see more RED than white when in reverse...

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[Zazoh]

Frankly Halogen is one of the most reliable long life lighting technologies still available today (I cannot even remember the last time I had to replace a headlight) unfortunately it lacks optical control, efficiency, poor lumen maintenance, and performance, I am still OK with it for a while.

Agree. I remember when Halogen was the upgrade.

Keep those headlights clean folks. If you live in an area prone to bugs, and do a fair amount of night driving, then you may need to wipe them off daily.

I prefer a hand held spot for off road, gives the passenger something to do.

 

[OldGuyNewJeep]

i ordered mine with LED. my only problem is i get everyone, and i mean everyone flashing me. even others that have LED lights on their cars...

but with that said, i love my LED lights. much needed up here where there are lots of moose and deer, as well as elk, bear and wolf that frequent crossing the highway.

Me, too. I lowered my aim by 1.5 turns (there’s another thread on aiming and someone else figured out that 1.5 turns was helpful for a stock Rubi) and now I’m rarely flashed.

Love my LEDs.

 

[InvertedLogic]

I did not get LED on my Sahara, 1st off it is over priced, secondly since is is all made in Asia long term quality control is questionable.

Almost all electronics are made in Asia. There are bottom of the barrel lowest cost with passable type manufacturers, and there are extremely high quality six-sigma type manufacturers. It's pretty ignorant to write off an entire region's manufacturing capability when they make something like 90% of the world's electronics.

Also, car manufacturers have extremely strict manufacturing requirements. The manufacturer has to prove that they can capably make the part, and that their defect rate is below some prescribed %. This is why the OEM parts are expensive. It's because they are high quality and will likely last the first "lifetime" of the car.

I have never seen an aftermarket LED that I have been particularly impressed with compared to the factory LEDs in my 16 STi. Most of the ones I see people run in Jeeps (the ones with 3 rows of leds per light) have an awful output and pattern. Something like a JW Speaker is passable, and nearly as expensive as OEM (imagine that). I've seen Morimoto LED projector retrofits, and while the pattern was good, the spread was not nearly as wide as my OEM Subaru projectors and they were probably 75% as bright.

 

[OldBird]

Me, too. I lowered my aim by 1.5 turns (there’s another thread on aiming and someone else figured out that 1.5 turns was helpful for a stock Rubi) and now I’m rarely flashed.

Love my LEDs.

Good to hear that is an option. I test drove a Rubi last night and even got a bit blinded as the salesman drove it up to the showroom while I was standing there.

Ordered it last night and the salesman showed me the LEDs were grayed out, but the sales manager was able to put them in when he actually put in the order. Now it's just a waiting game . . .

 

[Matthew/E36]

OK Let me interject, I own a LED lighting company that specializes in high impact sports and harsh environment lighting. I did not get LED on my Sahara, 1st off it is over priced, secondly since is is all made in Asia long term quality control is questionable. I am also not a big fan of 6000 kelvin it is just way too BLUE for me, I prefer to hold out for 5000K which is true white (4,000 Kelvin is also fine).

While there is a option with after market like Quest they also have the same issues, they claim 50K hours life (there is NO real life basis for that claim as there are many viable to that) however they only have a 1 year warranty, clearly they have little confidence in their LED products. In the commercial LED industry 5 year warranty's is minimum for 50K hour rated product. The replacement headlights and fog and tail lights understand they are throw away when they do fail plan to likely throwing away the entire unit and buying new. So $600 for 60-75 watt headlights is crazy expensive. To add some perspective a commercial grade Chinese LED fixture (that is also about the size of a headlight and also IP67 sells for about $1.00-$1.50 per watt (Wholesale even less), again those will have 5 year warranty...

Myself I will just wait for the aftermarket LED automotive industry to mature then I will jump in as I have little long term confidence in these current high profit commodity LED's.

Frankly Halogen is one of the most reliable long life lighting technologies still available today (I cannot even remember the last time I had to replace a headlight) unfortunately it lacks optical control, efficiency, poor lumen maintenance, and performance, I am still OK with it for a while. If I am going to purchase throw away technology I am going to make sure it is priced accordingly.

For now if you want more light add more affordably priced light-bar or post lights.

Then I guess you know almost all diodes are manufactured in Asia...including the highest quality ones used for electronics?

Price...well those that ordered have them now and used them for a while before complete aftermarket, let alone factory replacement solutions.

The sun at average daytime is around 5600K.

No halogen is not more reliable OR longer lasting.


I totaly get people not wanting to pay for them, but those statements are innacurate.

 

[RussJeep1]

Don't get me wrong, I totally get why some of you got LED, further, might subscribe to the idea of "give me LED or give me death!" (well almost.)

I feared people would be flashing me left and right that I had my brights on, even though I didn't and it was just the LEDs, given how we all realize that the Wrangler lights are higher than sedans--even if it's about their aim, not their height.

Then again, with complete respect to those who are, I'm not an off roader, and if I were, I'd consider LEDs necessary.

 

[bumpit]

The only thing bright ass lights off road do is piss off the people in front of you. If your the lead thats one thing but if you've ever night wheeled with a lightbar behind you its annoying.

I got led for on road driving. For the longest time the 2 things jeep always sucked at was audio and headlights. They finally got better audio with the alpine system that started in 2015. I never owned a jk with leds but from what i hear I won't be disappointed with the JL led lights. Cant wait!

 

[ormandj]

Everyone getting flashed - have the lights adjusted under whatever load you drive with. It sounds like they are misaligned and aimed way too high.

 

[CypressWrangler]

I just changed out to LED bulbs and they are pretty bright. I was getting flashed non stopped on 2 lane roads with my halogens so I adjusted them down a bit when I put these in. After 2 weeks I have not had any flashed.

 

[Paluss]

I just changed out to LED bulbs and they are pretty bright. I was getting flashed non stopped on 2 lane roads with my halogens so I adjusted them down a bit when I put these in. After 2 weeks I have not had any flashed.

being bright and being focused are 2 different things, you can have really bright lights that don't travel far down the rode or to the sides of the road, the reflector in the light housing needs to be designed for the bulb too. My experience with Halogens was replacing bulbs almost once a year when using them as DRLs using high-end Bosch bulbs, no comparison to HID OR LED.

 

[LouNYC]

After reading countless threads about aftermarket LED not being available and expensive, why would someone not get the LED package. It’s hand down the best option.

Who ever doesn’t get them, it’s becaue they don’t want to spend the money.

 

[RussJeep1]

I wonder how much people get flashed simple because their LEDs are bright, not because they're anything but properly aimed and not blinding an opposing driver's view.

 

[Mississippi JLU]

being bright and being focused are 2 different things, you can have really bright lights that don't travel far down the rode or to the sides of the road, the reflector in the light housing needs to be designed for the bulb too. My experience with Halogens was replacing bulbs almost once a year when using them as DRLs using high-end Bosch bulbs, no comparison to HID OR LED.

Which led did you go with?

 

[lightsout]

Then I guess you know almost all diodes are manufactured in Asia...including the highest quality ones used for electronics?

Price...well those that ordered have them now and used them for a while before complete aftermarket, let alone factory replacement solutions.

The sun at average daytime is around 5600K.

No halogen is not more reliable OR longer lasting.


I totaly get people not wanting to pay for them, but those statements are innacurate.

Sun at its peak (Mid Day) is 5000K, you will NEVER see 5600K or higher ever used in commercial, retail or industrial environments all due to the Blue hue of the higher kelvin. 5000K is the standard Sports lighting, Warehouse lighting and production lighting, 4000K is commercial and retail.

With 5600K color rendering is sacraficed, it just happens that higher kelvin LED has by default a better lumen to watt ratio and is cheaper to produce.

We have seen halogen lamps in industrial environments that are 20-30 years old in single and double shift facilities, Halogen is one of the oldest lighting technologies and considered the most reliable, however its down fall is lumen depreciation as they rarely burn out they just dim till a low glow is left.

Now LED has significant limitations in its own right, being electronic it is subject to thermal conditions which is the #1 killer of all electronics. Putting LED in a sealed plastic fixture(headlamp) with marginal heat sinks they have a relative short life even compared to other older technologies. Fortunately LED in cars the lights are actually used very little as a whole. Both technologies are reliable options for cars however LED is simply a more powerful and efficient solution.

Heat and cold does not impact Halogen lamps, however LED is problematic. A car in Arizona that runs with the headlights on all day those LED lamps will have 30-50% of the life of the same LED in a norther climate. Those cars with LED in southern climates will be changing headlights is a few year especially if they spend a lot of time on the road in hot climates. With that said proprietary LED headlights may be an expensive high maintenance item.

At least with e stock Halogen you can replace both Halogen lamps with LED lamps for about $40, while they face the same heat issues it is a lot cheaper to replace those at $40 instead of $500.

While LED is a great buzz word it is not eh holy grail of lighting with the exception of performance and efficiency

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