- First Name
- Jebadiah
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2018
- Threads
- 23
- Messages
- 255
- Reaction score
- 167
- Location
- Mohegan Lake, NY
- Vehicle(s)
- 2018 JL Unlimited
- Thread starter
- Banned
- #1
I am pleased with my Hikari H13 leds. 90 bucks from amazon. I bought a set from Summit Racing...their own brand which I've had good luck with on parts in general for years....and they worked fine but there was very little difference in light output compared to the abysmal factory halogens. The Hikaris are also plug and play and are waaaay brighter than stock. Thank G, I do not feel comfortable driving at night in general, and the factory lights could be downright scary.
My question is, what should my pattern look like? I understand how to adjust the height. It seems that all of the advertised pics of led bulbs show a light pattern that is flat and low in the middle and then rises and expands to illuminate the outer edges of the road etc, presumably to provide lots of light while not blinding oncoming drivers. Like the middle image below if I was able to get it to show up using my phone.
Well mine looks nothing like this and is a collection of centric locates blobs. A bunch of em. All pretty much in the middle. Though the passenger seems to bring the light focus farther to the right with the same pattern. This probably makes sense given the orientation if the bulb in the housing. The directions that were provided state that the orientation of the light need's to be "xxxxxxx" I couldn't figure out what they wanted as they wanted different orientation for different factory bulb style.
Anyhoo, the actual lights are flat and two sided, with a small array of led chips on each side, each siDE representing a high and a low beam respectively . So they need to be installed in one of 2 ways.....with the chips facing up and down OR one of two ways with the chips facing the sides of the vehicle, for a total of four possible orientations. Chips facing sideways, that is how they are installed on mine. Despite being told that the bulbs can be cocked to achieve desired rotation / position I could not see how this could be done. So I installed them as they came and how they wanted to fit into my housings, one side facing in and one out, with the passenger bulb being exactly 180 degrees opposite the driver side. So out of the four possible positions they can be installed....again...not clear... I MAY have gotten one right. And then the other exactly opposite and wrong. And I may not have either of them correct. Head ready to explode from phone typing this and thinking about it.
I've only been flashed by other drivers twice in two weeks so the height must be good or close. I will double check this regardless. And the illumination improvement is great but I know I don't have things proper and I don't know what to realistically expect as far as a pattern goes. I understand that I'm not likely to achieve the perfect illustrated pattern using any bulb in the factory housings. But what SHOULD I be looking for and achieving?
Pics are helpful and mucho welcome. As is anybodys help who has done either a led swap and adjustment and/or used these same bulbs specifically.
Ooooh, should I be researching how to remove the little jeep grill reflectors in the housing? Replacing the housing in general? What I'd like to do is get these things orientated correctly and then adjust the housing as needed. It seems like too much light being centered focused. I will say this, if this is as good as I can get them and I am not bothering other drivers I will stick with what I have. I was hoping for a revelation with a set of 40 dollar bulbs. Didn't happen. But for 90 these current bulbs are a big improvement. I'm not interested in spending more money on new high tech lights and I see one can certainly spend a decent chunk on other retrofit options. If other drivers are cool with it....and they seem to be.....so am I.
But what SHOULD MY PATTERN LOOK LIKE?
Thank yee all.
My question is, what should my pattern look like? I understand how to adjust the height. It seems that all of the advertised pics of led bulbs show a light pattern that is flat and low in the middle and then rises and expands to illuminate the outer edges of the road etc, presumably to provide lots of light while not blinding oncoming drivers. Like the middle image below if I was able to get it to show up using my phone.
Well mine looks nothing like this and is a collection of centric locates blobs. A bunch of em. All pretty much in the middle. Though the passenger seems to bring the light focus farther to the right with the same pattern. This probably makes sense given the orientation if the bulb in the housing. The directions that were provided state that the orientation of the light need's to be "xxxxxxx" I couldn't figure out what they wanted as they wanted different orientation for different factory bulb style.
Anyhoo, the actual lights are flat and two sided, with a small array of led chips on each side, each siDE representing a high and a low beam respectively . So they need to be installed in one of 2 ways.....with the chips facing up and down OR one of two ways with the chips facing the sides of the vehicle, for a total of four possible orientations. Chips facing sideways, that is how they are installed on mine. Despite being told that the bulbs can be cocked to achieve desired rotation / position I could not see how this could be done. So I installed them as they came and how they wanted to fit into my housings, one side facing in and one out, with the passenger bulb being exactly 180 degrees opposite the driver side. So out of the four possible positions they can be installed....again...not clear... I MAY have gotten one right. And then the other exactly opposite and wrong. And I may not have either of them correct. Head ready to explode from phone typing this and thinking about it.
I've only been flashed by other drivers twice in two weeks so the height must be good or close. I will double check this regardless. And the illumination improvement is great but I know I don't have things proper and I don't know what to realistically expect as far as a pattern goes. I understand that I'm not likely to achieve the perfect illustrated pattern using any bulb in the factory housings. But what SHOULD I be looking for and achieving?
Pics are helpful and mucho welcome. As is anybodys help who has done either a led swap and adjustment and/or used these same bulbs specifically.
Ooooh, should I be researching how to remove the little jeep grill reflectors in the housing? Replacing the housing in general? What I'd like to do is get these things orientated correctly and then adjust the housing as needed. It seems like too much light being centered focused. I will say this, if this is as good as I can get them and I am not bothering other drivers I will stick with what I have. I was hoping for a revelation with a set of 40 dollar bulbs. Didn't happen. But for 90 these current bulbs are a big improvement. I'm not interested in spending more money on new high tech lights and I see one can certainly spend a decent chunk on other retrofit options. If other drivers are cool with it....and they seem to be.....so am I.
But what SHOULD MY PATTERN LOOK LIKE?
Thank yee all.
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