Huckm80

After reading about upgrading the sealed beam type lights to a replaceable bulb type I bought a set a Hella e-code H4 headlamps with standard 60/55 W bulbs from http://www.rallylights.com/ They are good quality, German made headlights with glass (not plastic) lenses.

Wow! I mean wow I can actually see the road. It took me less than an hour to swap them in and about $115 for the lights (including shipping) and I am very pleased. I would say I have three times as much light on the road on low beam. Low beam with the H4 is better than high beam with the seal beam lights!

The light with the e-codes seems to be more concentrated on the road vs all over the place and there is a sharp horizontal beam cutoff. I haven't driven on the highway yet so I can't comment on whether there is enough light for overhead signs.

Overall, I am very pleased with the headlight upgrade. I will test my wiring harness when I get a chance and maybe upgrade that if there is significant voltage drops.

Highly recommended upgrade!

thebeeler

I put them on my truck specifically for highway traveling, the light on the right side cuts upward and lights signs up way better than the factory sealed halogens could ever dream off. Definitely worth the money.

Hilux4Life

I have the Hella E-codes as well but I am rocking 135/120 H bulbs. I ran into a guy last week that was running these Black LED H4's that were crazy bright and when they are off the lights are 100% black. I think I will order a pair of these lights during the Christmas break and will report back.

donomite49

i'm interested,
more info on the led's.

Huckm80

"I put them on my truck specifically for highway traveling, the light on the right side cuts upward and lights signs up way better than the factory sealed halogens could ever dream off. Definitely worth the money."


I did notice that they shine to the right much better. I'm not sure about lighting overhead signs though. At least I can see the friggin road though...

thebeeler

http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs...2027&langId=-1

They have made a 7" round headlight for Jeeps for a while, they have great reviews. They have just recently come out a 5x7 rectangle headlight, I might have to pick a pair up. They are quite pricey tho.

Huckm80

"I have the Hella E-codes as well but I am rocking 135/120 H bulbs. I ran into a guy last week that was running these Black LED H4's that were crazy bright and when they are off the lights are 100% black. I think I will order a pair of these lights during the Christmas break and will report back."


So, did you upgrade your wiring harness to run those wattage bulbs I assume?

Also, do you know if h4 LED lights will plug right our stock harness? All black headlights huh, what about the reflector? My truck is too black already...

fillsrunner4

Now just get some HID's and youll really be able to see. Hit me up I can get you a deal on dual beam HIDs for your rig

junkyardog05

I seen this thread and i'm VERY interested in finding a set of these Black LED H4's. Anyone know were I can find a set of these?

Huckm80

"fillsrunner4 Now just get some HID's and youll really be able to see. Hit me up I can get you a deal on dual beam HIDs for your rig"

HIDs? You mean the really annoyingly glarey "newer" lights that are so blinding bright? No thanks, those lights should be banned. No offense, it just seems like the new HID lights scatter way too much light, especially at oncoming traffic.

Anyway, I'm perfectly happy with these Hella halogen H4 lights that I just put in. If I want brighter lights I'll upgrade my wiring and just put higher wattage bulbs in.

thebeeler

It's not the "newer" HID's that our the problem, it's the Plug and Play HID's that are the problem. They are not designed properly and they are not DOT approved, neither are your E-codes by the way. And yes PnP HID's may put out a decent amount of light but much of that light bleeds in all directions and blinds oncoming traffic very much.

thebeeler

Apparently they are pretty hard to find, so here's a link to help ya out...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Truck+Lite+LED+5x7+amazon

Richard

I went with DDM , very nice improvement over the old sealed beams they replaced , good price too

fillsrunner4

Hey man dont be mad about it get back at us and really be able to see I will never run Halogens again.

z31freakify

just go into ebay and you can get the pair as low as $24.00 with free shipping, that how much I got mine for and they have clear glass not plastic, I just replaced the H4 bulbs thay came with cause they were cheap and replaced them with Sylvanias ultra white and they are great recommend buying them as you can't go wrong with the price and overal lookthey have also have them in smoked

niall

yea, after having projector HID's, you'd think you were driving in the dark with H4's. There's nothing wrong with HID headlights, but thebeeler had it right, they are not meant to be put in reflector housings, that's when you get the annoying "scatter" and blinding oncoming drivers, thus not being DOT approved conversions. You Need an actual HID housing to pull them off.

vital22re

iTrader: (2)

autopal e codes, even with the bulb that comes with them is night and day difference. I have yet to be flashed by anyone and I don't have to worry about ballasts going bad or any extra wiring.

Hilux4Life

Nope I am running stock wiring and have had no issues in the six years I have been running them.

I am not sure about the LED's being a direct plug in or not sorry cant help you there.

shaeff

Please don't.
Educated. A few things to add though:

The E-codes generally put out a better, sharper beam than DOT legal lights. I just removed Hella E-codes in favor of a proper HID projector retrofit (FXr). The Hellas have a very narrow high beam, it's almost shaped like a "T" coming off the front of the truck. Did not like them. I've never tried the Autopal lights so I cannot comment on them, but they seem to get decent reviews. I would not run the bulbs they supply, I've read lots of issues with them.

Seriously. I get very annoyed when people use PnP kits. I've been there, I've done that. I learned from my mistake and went back to halogens, properly rewired. Honestly, my halogens with Osram Nightbreakers rewired with either 10 or 12awg wire (can't remember what I used, gave that harness away) were brighter and had better focus than the PnP HID kit I had ignorantly installed into the same housings years ago.

Now that I'm running FXr bixenons, the output is incredible and I'm glad I finally had the time to finish the retrofit. I did the same retrofit into my M3 3 years ago and have been waiting to finish the same deal for the Pickup. My cutoff is sharp, my low beams do not blind anyone, never been flashed, they're properly aimed. They light up from in the woods on one side of the truck, to in the woods on the other side of the truck. Plus, when I hit my high beams, the shield clicks down opening up a plethora of perfectly focused light way down the road.

I use factory Nissan/Infiniti Matsu˟˟˟˟˟a (haha, sensor!) ballasts. They're OEM, and thus, OEM quality. I've not had one fail on me.

Once these guys finally experience a proper HID retrofit with proper HID projectors, they'll wonder what the crap they were doing messing with junk PnP setups.

/rant

PS: I applaud those of you who take the time to do HIDs properly.

Edit:

Seriously!? 135/120 on stock wiring? Dude, do a rewire and you'll be blown away by the amount of light you produce with those bulbs. You're honestly lucky you haven't fried the headlight switch and crisped all of your headlight wiring yet pulling that kind of power.

You're pulling around 22.5A through wiring that was meant for something like 10A. You should be running 14awg minimum, or 12awg depending on wire lengths.

jbtvt

Good thread, HuckM80!

Schaeff, did you do a process similar to the one at https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/a...l-pics-151917/ for your conversion? I'm especially curious about mounting the projectors. Did you need to bake off the glass to use the stock housing? Are those modified "Malibu" light covers a necessity? Projector lens worth swapping out? It seems like the thread everyone is referencing back to offsite is now dead, or at least not loading for me unfortunately. Lot of work and $$, but looks pretty sweet, another springtime possibility...

Also curious where you get 22.5 amps for the 135/120 lights? I get 135w/12v=11.25a on high. Pushing the limits of an old circuit with a 10a fuse in it either way, unless it's one of the bulbs claiming 135w light out of 60w consumption (hmmm...) http://www.amazon.com/15962-Style-Su.../dp/B00067BVN2

Tivoli NY, you and the OP are practically neighbors a few days a week.

EDIT - Of course, multiplying by two for both lights. I was looking at a diagram and thinking linearly, and the celebratory Xmas drinking didn't help I'm sure... Anyway, the diagram shows 2 parallel 10a fuses, one for each light, so technically the circuit in question is only overloaded by 11%. Not a good idea for the long term though, and surprised the fuses haven't been popping.