LED headlights

[trust]

Some time ago I swapped in some headlights that use a replacable halogen bulb, they helped but are still suboptimal at times. I saw a YJ with a similar set up but the halogen bulbs were swapped for LEDs. The owner raved about them but then dont we all rave about our upgrades? My question is do any of yall have and experience with this swap? Impressions? worth the time and money?

thanks

 

[Spieg]

Not sure what specifically you're asking about, but in general terms - simply swapping in an LED bulb to an existing halogen fixture is not the way to go IMHO. The reflector is not designed for LED and will not show much improvement over Halogen (can actually be worse in certain areas of the field of light).

If you really want to go LED, I'd suggest an entire LED light like the Truck Light or KC LED headlight replacement. As LED lights are still pretty expensive, I believe the best bang for the buck would still be an HID light system (uses more electricity and produces more heat than LED but also a bit more lumen for about half the cost).

 

[Shark Bait]

I use Truk-Lite LED's on my military vehicles and I am very pleased with them.

 

[trust]

Im just trying to improve my ability to see and dodge stuff in the road. I do a fair amount of late night driving in the empty spaces in Utah, WWyoming, Colorado etc and while converting the stock sealed beams to halogens helped some they arent fully up to the task. I was hoping that swapping in LED 'bulbs' would bump my usable light output without needing to hang a bunch or accessory lights on the jeep or spend the ridiculous prices the aftermarket LED headlamps cost.

Thanks Shark bait, I'll look into that option as well if Im stuck with add on lights

thanks gents

 

[Kane]

Your headlight issue is due to the subpar wiring from AMC. Even with the new bulbs you still have wiring that is too small to deliver the amperage that the light require to perform properly. You need to upgrade the wiring to a larger size or to a relay system with direct battery power to the lights to get the proper output especially since you installed higher performing bulbs.

 

[AK-RWC]

As noted, reflector housings aren't designed for LEDs (or HIDs). To get optimum light output, Kane is 100% correct that you need to upgrade your existing wiring with a direct battery connection and a relay. Upgrading from their will require either a retrofit with a projector lens engineered for an HID bulb (be sure to get one with the solenoid and cut-off shield to allow for "dimming" the lights), or going to a quality LED like Truck-Lite. There are some made-in-China Truck-Like copies floating around, but those don't have the engineering behind them and still don't focus the light as efficiently, allowing for scatter (and light into the eyes of oncoming drivers).

 

[tower210]

I haven't seen any in the last 30 days.....but the the Truck-Lite's have been out long enough I've begun to see them pop up used from time to time. You might setup a search for craigslist every day.

 

[bigwalton]

I put a set of Illuminated Engineering LED headlights in the LJ and they're nice. Very different from stock and took some work to aim but the best lighting add I did on that Jeep was the PIAA 3" cube driving lights on the bumper. I actually use them rather than switching on hi-beams. Once aimed, they're just incredible.

On the Postal, I did the wiring/relay upgrade and noticed a big difference and then went to the halogen unit on top of that. It does pretty well but still well below the LEDs in the LJ.

If I were doing something to a stock CJ now, I'd just do the wiring/relay upgrade with stock bulbs and then add something like the PIAA 3" cubes and call it done. My