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Thread: Head Light pattern

  1. #1
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    Head Light pattern

    I've been commenting on another thread about LED headlights. I've decided to start a new thread which will be more critical of headlight patterns and aiming. I attached four photos (hope you can see the photo names).

    For reference I parked my 2018 Camry which has stock LED headlights at 22 feet from the headlight lens to the garage door. Note the high beam has 4 points of light so it must use two LEDs in each light and the beams are aimed higher.

    The DeLorean has a Silverstar in the drivers side outer bulb and my LED in a stock looking H4 4x6 housing. The center bulbs have been taped over so I could judge the high beam results of only the outer high/low lights.

    I like the beam pattern of the LED high light. What I'm thinking may be a way to use these is to aim the outer lights lower and use only the high beam (that would require wiring the low power wire to the high LED connection and use a diode driven from the high power wire to that same connection. Then the center bulbs could be aimed higher and would only come on with high beams.

    It turns out all the LEDs that have high and low beams the low beam is the diodes at the top of the assembly and most have metal light covers I guess to aim the light better. But I find with my LED the pattern is pretty bad on low beam.
    Attached Images
    Last edited by Bitsyncmaster; 05-25-2019 at 07:50 AM.
    Dave M vin 03572
    http://dm-eng.weebly.com/

  2. #2
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    After looking more closely at the LED assembly, I see the lower LEDs and the upper LEDs are offset from center. So that is what moves the aiming higher or lower. So I flipped the LED 180 degrees and tested and it does make the low beam aim higher than the high beam. I wish I could find and LES where to LEDs are the same distance and just offset and that would work just like the sealed bulbs.
    Dave M vin 03572
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  3. #3
    Senior Member DMC-81's Avatar
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    Great work here Dave! The LEDs by comparison make the SilverStars look yellow and dim.

    It's good to find a proper combination/orientation to make the LEDs aim right.
    Dana

    1981 DeLorean DMC-12 (5 Speed, Gas Flap, Black Interior, Windshield Antenna, Dark Gray)
    Restored as "mostly correct, but with flaws corrected". Pictures and comments of my restoration are in the albums section on my profile.
    1985 Chevrolet Corvette, Z51, 4+3 manual
    2006 Dodge Magnum R/T (D/D)
    2010 Camaro SS (Transformers Edition)

  4. #4
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    I ordered another pair of LEDs. These are MATRIX-LED-H4-4S which are four sided so the pattern should be hopefully better. These are not cheap at $74 a pair. I like the idea of the regulator separated from the LED assembly so the fan is just keeping the LED chips cool.
    Dave M vin 03572
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  5. #5
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    These are the housings I bought:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    These are the first LEDs I bought:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I think those first LEDs will work for my inner high beams but they don't work for the outer low beams.
    Dave M vin 03572
    http://dm-eng.weebly.com/

  6. #6
    DMC Timeless's Avatar
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    Dave, good work as always. Did you see my post in the LED headlight thread about the United Pacific LED units? These have good reviews and seem to offer the closest OEM look that I've found. Also, more cost effective vs. JW and some other products.

    https://upcarparts.com/lighting-head...-x-6-headlight
    ~LXA~
    Dunmurry | Stuttgart | Leipzig | Munich | Tochigi | Fremont | Bratislava | Sindelfingen | Kansas City | Oakville | Coventry

  7. #7
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Timeless View Post
    Dave, good work as always. Did you see my post in the LED headlight thread about the United Pacific LED units? These have good reviews and seem to offer the closest OEM look that I've found. Also, more cost effective vs. JW and some other products.

    https://upcarparts.com/lighting-head...-x-6-headlight
    Those look pretty good but the price is quite high. And it only offers high and low beam where as our cars use a dual high low beam on the outer bulbs.

    My wire should show up today but not sure when I will get time to finish my front harness. I'm dying to compare those new LEDs I got.

    These are the new ones I got. I see others also offer 4 sided (4 LEDs) LEDs.

    https://www.summitracing.com/parts/grm-led-h4-4s
    Last edited by Bitsyncmaster; 06-03-2019 at 03:44 PM.
    Dave M vin 03572
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  8. #8
    DMC Timeless's Avatar
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    They do offer 4-light system: low and high separate, just grabbed the link quickly. Looking forward to your results.
    ~LXA~
    Dunmurry | Stuttgart | Leipzig | Munich | Tochigi | Fremont | Bratislava | Sindelfingen | Kansas City | Oakville | Coventry

  9. #9
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    Wish I never started the wire replacement. Way to much work for what it improves. With LED headlights there is less voltage drop over the wiring anyway because there is less current draw. But the less drop reduces the current even more because of the switching regulators. I may improve about 0.1 volts drop but that is not worth the effort.
    Dave M vin 03572
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  10. #10
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    Got the harness wrapped and installed. Can't get the grommet where the harness passes through the washer bottle installed. Also left the washer bottle out and will put that and the grommet in when I remove the front fascia to fix the eyebrows. I noted also the washer hose was crushed by the washer bottle and cover on the last install. So if your washer is not working that may be your problem also.

    Noted my front springs really need replacement because they are almost fully compressed just with the car sitting on front ramps. These are Grady's older front springs which I think he has changed now with fewer coils.

    Hope to get the new LEDs installed and tested soon. I want to compare the new LEDs with the old ones on high beam to decide if I will need to buy another set of new ones or just use the old ones on the inner high beam lights.
    Dave M vin 03572
    http://dm-eng.weebly.com/

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