Masejoer

Since this forum, like much of the internet, is full of bad, anecdotal, unproven opinions, rather than facts, I figured I'd do some beam comparisons for everyone.

I hope to help save people money, since most products we are buying sight-unseen, with return-shipping and restocking fees sometimes exceeding the cost of the product. There are also safety issues for other drivers on the road, or products that are almost guaranteed to get owners traffic tickets.

I haven't had a F150 for long, but soon after purchase, like all my other vehicles I've had, I purchased spare sets of lighting fixtures (headlight, tail, cargo housings, in some cases interior bulb housings) to hack up and add my own touch of real LED upgrades. Right now I have some spare housings that are not yet cut, and they can be used for testing.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are the latest craze, and rightfully so. LEDs have become the most energy-efficient light source we have available today, and come in a wide range of color. Whites can look more white and reds can look more red.

One common problem with LEDs if that they degrade in performance as they heat up, and they emit most of their light in a tight beam out the front. Halogen bulb housings are designed to capture 360 degrees of even illumination, and reflect it out to the world. LEDs are flat light sources that usually have their own domes or other optics to help direct the light, but never as perfect as a glowing filament.

As started in the LED headlight thread at https://www.f150forum.com/f83/led-he...-bulbs-310392/ , instead of derailing f1kbramig's thread, I have created a new thread here to post findings I get for the 2009-2014 F150 lighting assemblies I have in my possession.

I will be taking temperature, Wattage, and light-bounce measurements of products, and using a predefined set of camera exposure settings to capture images for comparison. This testing will NOT be in a 100% controlled environment, so scientific results are limited. Since my detached shop won't be built for a few more months and garage is full of boxes after a recent move, my testing will be indoors at this time. Once I find a good set of exposure settings on the camera, I encourage others to contribute if you have a camera with full manual-exposure control, and a tripod.

Basically, I'm fed up with throwing money away aftermarket products, only to find that stock still performed the best. I have cases full of old parts from the last 15 years of products from places like vleds, superbrightleds and ebay/amazon the most lately. Since then I've found that I am only happy with DIY approaches, but that shouldn't stop me from reporting on the products I've tried, or can test and return through satisfaction-guarantees.

I'm not sure how long this thread will stay alive, but I have ordered what some claim is the best LED drop-in headlight replacement for stock halogen housings. I will be comparing them in a few days to stock halogen bulbs, and OEM 2013-2014 HID headlights. Headlights, the most beneficial, but also potentially dangerous, lamps are a good starting point.

I will also add that I have nothing against installing aftermarket (illegal in most places) parts in vehicles, including drop-in bulbs, unless they negatively affect others on the road, or are an otherwise big safety hazard. The law does have an issue with modifications, and both police officers and vehicle-registration check personnel should fine whenever possible. The worst are headlight mods that should be immediately fined, and in my opinion increasing amounts for each future infraction for the same issue, since they cause glare, especially when foggy, raining, or otherwise wet. Retrofit or not, all mods and non-oem-spec'd bulbs are illegal where I am located. Also a big issue I see often enough are people running light bars on public roads, in traffic. I try to make my modifications an improvement, but not surpass the legal limit specified in my registered vehicles' jurisdiction (should pass DOT requirements, but will never be tested). If I found a drop-in hid or LED bulb that actually worked well in a halogen housing, on a specific vehicle, I would have no problem running it. Aiming headlights downward is not a solution.

Does anyone have any ideas for setting up a consistent testing zone? I'm all for community input.

Masejoer

Placeholder for product testing details (not results)

Masejoer

Placeholder for list of products tested in this thread:

Masejoer

To start, I see a lot of people going after the cool-white, or bluish tint LEDs or HID bulbs. Color temperature of white light is most often sold and rated in Kelvin. In general, a person wants a light that has no coatings - blue coating on a bulb will attempt to filter out everything except the blu-ish hues of the color spectrum, blocking some light from reaching the outside world. Blue coated bulbs = bad.

Kelvin is a rating of only color temperature, not brightness. Higher Kelvin means bluer/purpler output, nothing more. Since it is illegal in most areas to use blue lighting on an automobile used on public roads, it's best to stay away from them. Blue light also scatters much more with moisture, and it harsh on human eyes.

With LEDs, a lot of people go for cool-white shade, normally up around 6000 Kelvin in color temperature. These have a blue hue and a light yellowing coating (phosphor) on the LED. White LEDs are actually blue LEDs with a coating over the top of them - there is no natively-white single LED (A mixture of Red-Green-Blue LEDs can also appear white). The heavier the coating over the blue LED, the more yellow the LED becomes, and the more of the blue color is reduced. The better the coating is at converting the color from blue, the better the red and green colors typically become, bringing the color spectrum of the LED closer to that of sunlight - the light source our eyes are designed to consume.

The problem with high color temperature LEDs is that they typically do a poor job of rendering green and red hues. In the below pictures, you can see the difference of a cool-white LED and a neutral-white LED against red carpet:



Cool white LED




Neutral white LED (80+ CRI)



The photo with more red in the picture uses a neutral-white LED that is a lower color temperature (4000K) and does a better job of reproducing the red part of the color spectrum. In the end, this neutral white LED looks better, and effectively has a higher CRI value. CRI is short for color-rendering index - it is the amount of the visible color spectrum that the light reproduces, in comparison to the Sun whose CRI value is 100 (100%). CRI is generally used against the Sun as its comparison source, so they are a percentage of the

Halogen has an effective CRI of 99-100, as it is a filament glowing light source (blackbody radiator) similar to the burning Sun. HID bulbs hover around a CRI value of 70. Cheap cool-white LEDs are in the 60-70 CRI range, and some of the newest LEDs are over 95.

Color temperature has no effect on CRI, so lighting quality and color should take both of these into consideration. In the end, you want CRI as close to 100% as possible, in the color temperature of your liking. This will allow the light to properly differentiate between different colors, improving contrast of subjects being illuminating, making everything far easier to see on the road.

A lot of people think HID lights are blue, but in fact they are a neutral white. Different wave lengths of color move in unique ways, and a thin metal shield in a projector headlamp can allow the blue light to bend around it, while blocking the other colors - this creates a thin blue line at the top of a projector's beam cutoff, generating that blue flicker. The light source itself is a clear glass bulb of just over 4000 Kelvin.

Color temperature and CRI are the biggest misunderstood specifications made by end-users.

naplesbill

Thanks for doing this. I seriously doubt it will result in me switching back to the OEM halogens though. If nothing else the results will prove to be very interesting reading.

Mr Hahn

iTrader: (1)

For the sake of comparison, I recommend trying the H9 bulb mod in the H11 low beams.

I'm using these in my low beams right now:

I also put my last pair of real Toshiba HIR (9011) bulbs in the high beams, it's a shame you can't get those anymore to test them too.

Masejoer

I have a 2011 F150 so I am unable to test 2015+ at this time. Since the 2015 is a newer model year, the headlights aren't cheap - they are about $100 each. The pre-2015 lights can be had in mint condition for as low as $25 each, so I have some spares. If I find at least one side for a reasonable price, I will try to pick one up.

Masejoer

OPT7 headlights due to delivery tomorrow.

I purchased a couple of inexpensive flood lights from Amazon and received them today - Auxbeam 18W . I am very surprised on their build quality and output. I had planned on using the housings with one high-CRI 30W 5000K LED per housing, and they are more perfect than I had originally thought for that project. There is plenty of room inside for additional circuitry.

I have disassembled one and taken pictures - I will get some output comparisons of these lights soon. The Auxbeam lights do continue to get brighter with more Volage and appear unregulated - 14.4V pushes 34Watts into the circuit board while 12V only pushes 17W. I briefly took the light up to about 25V before the LEDs began to stop increasing in output.

They are heatsinked well, and sealed well. Wire gauge is around 16awg and made from 100% copper, not copper clad aluminum. LED and driver circuit board has two rows of thermal paste applied to help aid in heat dissipation.

Color temperature is a typical 6000K cool-white, with nice smooth beam. After 30 minutes without airflow, the outside of the housing is too hot to touch (new thermistors arriving tomorrow), but it takes awhile to get there. Thermal transfer should be effective, but the PCB that the LEDs are mounted on may be limiting cooling capability.

After 30 minutes, Wattage did not drop. I will get some lux readings when I get beam shots. I expect 34W output to be around 2500 lumens per side - about 270 lumens per dollar.

I may be buying more of these light assembles simply to use the high-value housings. The high power draw at 14.4V makes these Auxbeam "18W" lights appear to a good value for vehicles that use some type of Voltage-booster circuit up near the engine bay (relays, MOSFETs). They continue to get brighter with more Voltage, unlike larger cheap light bars that top out around 12V.

Masejoer

I setup a testing zone over the weekend, and started comparisons, but awaiting some final items from Amazon before starting product specific posts.

An interesting item I had found was that the most expensive drop-in amber and red LED bulbs from a specific supplier on Amazon doesn't perform as well as their runner-up product, at 33% cheaper. Some interesting details to come for sure, especially with beam shots that tell far more than the eye would make us believe.

Masejoer

Just noticed that I am unable to edit earlier posts. Not sure why the restriction on this message board. I may have to post testing details in a separate, new post, and simply not include a list of products tested...