BlackBoost

UPDATE!! I've switched from the bulbs below to a different set (also LED's from BPS Lighting)
The info below is still good and so are the bulbs, but for info on why and what set I'm running now, go here : https://www.f150forum.com/f118/led-h...6/#post6352832



ORIGINAL POST:
So some know that I posted a thread a while back regarding disappointment with LED bulbs to replace the halogens after trying about 6 sets, from cheap $30 sets, to $300 Putco Silverlux bulbs.. I'm hopeful for this BPS set ($100) for several reasons. Mainly because they use the new Philips Lumileds Z-ES LED chips. These are the same chips that Diode Dynamics will be using in the SL1 bulbs when they come out.

Link :

EDIT: Updated list of available bulbs as of 09 FEBRUARY 2018

I don't think I'll be swapping bulbs again until spring because it's just below freezing, and I ended up breaking a few tabs and plastic things, but nothing major. Also, I think I've done this a dozen times now and I don't want to see this again:



NOTE: Vendors need not comment or compare the set I'm trying to their products, or any other. This thread is about the BPS Lighting S5 bulbs, and nothing else. I don't want this turning into another polluted thread.

After doing a lot of reading on everything from reflector and halogen bulb design, to the human eye's perception of the color spectrum, I realized that the main problem with most LED bulb designs is the LED chips themselves.

Halogen bulbs have very specific designs in both placement and size. Headlamp reflectors are also very specifically designed to focus the exact placement of the filament (the bulb's light source). Reflectors used to be a simple parabolic design, but are now computer designed with multiple surfaces, and is called free form design. This allows the modern reflectors to focus light where it needs to be, as well as where it shouldn't be, giving you a nice cutoff line which was only available with projectors in the past.



In the picture above, you can see a typical halogen bulb. The filament on an H11 bulbs is approximately 4-5mm long, and 2mm wide.

Have a look at some available LED bulbs:



The one on the right has a huge LED chip. The one in the middle has several smaller ones which measure about 5mm tall and 3mm across. The one on the left is an H13 bulb (was sent the wrong ones) which mimics 2 halogen filaments properly. The problem with having larger chips like the middle and right one, is that the light source is too large, so the reflector will no longer focus the light properly and cause scatter. This is basic geometry, and it's absolutely impossible for a large chip to focus the light properly, math doesn't lie. Anyone who says a bulb with a larger chip doesn't scatter should get their eyes checked because it's impossible, and I can't express that enough.

Now on to the design of the BPS bulbs; They are fanless, so they use copper cooling strips instead of a fan.

One thing about the cooling strips stood out compared to others I've tried (Like the red Car Rover R7 set I have) is that the strips are much wider and not as long.




As you can see above, the BPS is on the top/left, R7's in the middle. Usually these strips are like the R7 ones, but the BPS set is almost twice as wide, which will allow a larger path for more heat to escape, and prevent heat soak.

I also like how solid they feel, and they're quite heavy compared to others. Even compared to a bulb with a fan, they're heavy. The entire body is made of aluminum, and has a plastic locking collar. This collar can be loosened and adjusted to rotate the bulbs. Out of the box, the LED's shine sideways in the F-150 reflector, so there's no need to do anything.

The LED chips:





As you can see, the LED chips are in fact 2mm wide, and 4mm long, which will properly mimic a halogen filament. I also measured the approximate width from face to face on each side and it's about 3mm. Because I was holding the contraption I made while measuring, I wasn't able to also take a pic.

Here's what comes in the box (x2):



You also get 2 zip ties and 2 double-sided sticky pads.

It wasn't mentioned anywhere about needing a canbus adapter, and I was told it shouldn't need one, but since I had some canbus modules kicking around, I decided that it can't hurt to use them anyways and prevent having to remove headlights again.

Link to the canbusmodules :

Amazon

Amazon

Updated link to canbus modules sold by BPS (March 2018) : Note that the new link above by BPS is not the modules I used, but will still work.



The connector from bulb to the LED driver is nice, has a seal, and screws on for security:






(continued...)

BlackBoost

EDIT 2 : BE AWARE OF FAKE CHIPS! (Adding this to the 2nd post because the first one already has a max of 10 images...)





The bulbs fit in the housing just fine, and there's room to put the rubber cover back on, but the strips stick out:





For previous sets with strips, I had a special grommet that allowed the strips to poke out through some slits. With these, I decided to just pull the grommets and gorilla tape off and leave the strips sticking out. I used gorilla tape around them. It's not 100% sealed, but my headlights haven't been 100% sealed for a while now and I've had no problems. If I end up having issues, I'll buy the larger cap from amazon to seal it properly, but I'm not too worried.








But won't the tape melt??? I plugged the assembly back in with LED bulbs, turned them on, and left them on for 20 minutes. The cooling strip was warm, but by no means hot, and I was able to hold it fine, so I'm not worried.

TIP! If you're going to do this when it's cold out, do it outside! I made the mistake of bringing them inside where it was warm, with the caps off, and then bringing them back outside after. I ended up with some condensation on the inside of the lenses. To fix this (with headlights mounted again) I twisted and removed the little orange marker lights which you can access with the hood open, and I left my lights on, with highbeams, for about 15-20 minutes. The LED's don't make enough heat, so the highbeams were enough to warm up the housing and let the moisture out through the marker light hole. For good measure, I blasted a bit of air in the hole. Condensation is gone.

Here's some pics of how nice they match with the Morimoto fog lights:





I just did this today, so no night shots yet (they're coming) and I'm confident that the light scattering will be minimal or absent, fingers crossed! My only concern is that the housing is a lighter silver color and might reflect light. I wish it were a matte black, but, we'll see.

Bulbs stayed on, no flashing, no turning off, but like I said, I used the canbus adapter so it's no surprise there. They also work fine with DRL's, and there's no noticeable difference between the dimmer DRL setting or full on.

Hope to get night shots up tonight.

Cheers!

BlackBoost

Attempted night shots.

I drove out but the fog started rolling in so I didn't get many good pictures. I'll get more tomorrow morning or tomorrow night as long as it's clear.

Here's the original halogens:



Here's the LED's:



Both pictures are lowbeams only, no fog lights. The halogen pic was before it got super cold, the LED pic is with some frost on my driveway and headlights. The cutoff doesn't seem as nice in the pic, but I messed with my camera settings trying to get shots on the road and I was trying to get it back to normal as much as possible, and the really bright hotspot seems to be washing it out. I'll find a better actual wall from behind a costco or something. My alley is also all ice so it's reflecting the light everywhere.

Here's my icy alley:



And another dark alley I found:




Here's a shot from when I was adjusting my camera settings before looking for a darker road:



And here's when I found a darker road, but the fog was rolling in...





Like I said, I'll have to get better pics another night when it's not foggy so sorry about that. But overall I'm very impressed with them so far. Although I do have to adjust the beams a bit, I think they should be a tad lower.

Indy2015

I'm going to keep my eye on this thread. My halogens are pretty bad, especially at night in the rain.

BlackBoost

Ya that's almost all bulbs. Dark wet roads don't reflect light back at you very well. Bluer lights make this even worse because blue light is the least perceivable to the human eye. We have warmer weather coming up later this week and snow should melt, so I'll see how they work out on wet roads.

white_dc

iTrader: (12)

Thanks for your review. I'll check back for the night shots.

Summers22

iTrader: (2)

Nice detailed review of a new product! It is pretty sad we have to ask vendors (vendor) to stay out of threads. I get tired of the same rhetoric as well.

jwmustang

Thanks for the info!
Can the lights be changed easier through the wheel well?
I hope it works out. Ill be watching.

BlackBoost

Thanks guys! I went out to take some dark road pics but the fog started rolling in so it didn't work out very well. I'll still post what I can in post #3. I'll have to wait for a clear night, hopefully tomorrow. I will say though that they're really bright, and the cutoff line is still good! When I put my highbeams on, it lit up much higher on trees and further down the road above the lowbeam cutoff line, but the LED's definitely overpower the highbeams.

I tried that at first, but unfortunately it wasn't that easy for me. My wheel well liners are super stiff and I wasn't able to pull them out of the way. It would also be really hard to work it that way. It's a pain to take the lights out, but in my experience it's easier. It's also nice to have the assemblies out to work on them.

Tteel

Nice! Can't wait to see the night shot. I tried contacting BPS multiple times without any result back or I probably would've bought there product since they are Canadian dealer. I'll be interested to see i case a bulb goes or for future vehicles.