Hella housings with Led lights. 
CK5
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Sealed beam to ?? conversion
- Thread starter dyeager535
- Start date
Definite fail with snow. Pics are hard to get with the lights on, but I think it's clear enough.
Temps were in the 30's, not a blizzard, so definitely IMO mild winter weather conditions. I thought maybe with the lights being as recessed as they are, slower off-highway speeds wouldn't allow so much snow to build up, but I was wrong.
Going to have to set the lower halogens up as high/low so if there is highway snow, I can run the lights without using high beams.
I don't see any of the PAM/Cooking sprays fixing it. Guess it's worth a try, but this is a once a year deal, going to have to wait awhile to try.
Temps were in the 30's, not a blizzard, so definitely IMO mild winter weather conditions. I thought maybe with the lights being as recessed as they are, slower off-highway speeds wouldn't allow so much snow to build up, but I was wrong.
Going to have to set the lower halogens up as high/low so if there is highway snow, I can run the lights without using high beams.
I don't see any of the PAM/Cooking sprays fixing it. Guess it's worth a try, but this is a once a year deal, going to have to wait awhile to try.
Kain
3/4 ton status
This is one of the reasons i pulled the plastic housing led's off my rig
swapped to glass and halogen bulb that is plenty brite and puts out enough heat that this is not an issue
got stopped and had to clear the snow off on my way home in a snow storm,cop was a major ass
swapped to glass and halogen bulb that is plenty brite and puts out enough heat that this is not an issue
got stopped and had to clear the snow off on my way home in a snow storm,cop was a major ass
Those low beam
I tried to only show the last image from the previous post.
This picture of low beams illustrates a problem one can have with the newer headlights.
Light output is awesome, but:
-Too many times with these upgrades , people are not conscientious enough to re-aim their lights.
-The lights themselves have more of an undefined pattern and may lack defined cut-offs.
- The cooler light temps are more into the blue spectrum. While they appear brighter, this spectrum creates far more glare and scatter than warmer lights.
- Not to mention lifted trucks that change lighting angles. ( At least no one here has a "squatted" truck, right?)
Try an interstate construction zone at night with no median, shifting lanes, oncoming leds ( or other performance lighting), very reflective barrels, poor or non-existent line markings. God help you if there is a law enforcement vehicle with blues running also. The braille bumps aren't even in the right places to be helpful. ( This scenario happened several times on my last trip to Colorado and back)
I enjoy good lighting and plan to upgrade my trucks, that's why I'm reading this. We just need to be sure to do our duty and due diligence in terms of ensuring the safety of other drivers. They may run into you and your loved ones when they are blinded.
Low LEDs:
High LED/Halogen:
Lows at 3-500ft?
I tried to only show the last image from the previous post.
This picture of low beams illustrates a problem one can have with the newer headlights.
Light output is awesome, but:
-Too many times with these upgrades , people are not conscientious enough to re-aim their lights.
-The lights themselves have more of an undefined pattern and may lack defined cut-offs.
- The cooler light temps are more into the blue spectrum. While they appear brighter, this spectrum creates far more glare and scatter than warmer lights.
- Not to mention lifted trucks that change lighting angles. ( At least no one here has a "squatted" truck, right?)
Try an interstate construction zone at night with no median, shifting lanes, oncoming leds ( or other performance lighting), very reflective barrels, poor or non-existent line markings. God help you if there is a law enforcement vehicle with blues running also. The braille bumps aren't even in the right places to be helpful. ( This scenario happened several times on my last trip to Colorado and back)
I enjoy good lighting and plan to upgrade my trucks, that's why I'm reading this. We just need to be sure to do our duty and due diligence in terms of ensuring the safety of other drivers. They may run into you and your loved ones when they are blinded.
i will say i have the BUDGET BEATER plow truck with J.W. speaker and there nice / white / defined cut off line / optioned for heater grid .
other truck the 3500-hd i did cheepy copy of J.W. speaker early units and there nice but all cheeper and no heater option / decent defined cutoff line / more in the blue spectrum for color .
other truck the 3500-hd i did cheepy copy of J.W. speaker early units and there nice but all cheeper and no heater option / decent defined cutoff line / more in the blue spectrum for color .
I can say that in driving about 700 miles on interstate at night, no one flashed me for blinding them. I'm very conscientious of the blinding aspect, as it is really hard on my eyes when it happens to me.
As I think is shown in the photos, they have a very definite cutoff, and as a driver there is no question the lighting is efficient. It's not just a bunch of light being scattered around like many of the cheaper LED's we see out and about. These are definitely not blue appearing at all IMO. Definitely on the edge of being blue-ish, but it's just white.
So far I think inadequate lane markings are something I'm just going to have to live with. I ran into that a bit (while the ground was wet and thus fairly reflective) and the LED's made me a bit more confident that I coild drive safely at those speeds, but it still wasn't as if it was daylight. Under the right conditions, I'm not sure any sort of lighting would solve those problems.
I would certainly put the JW units at the top of the pile. The lack of heating element alone is enough for me to rule the Phillips out for any rig that is likely to be exposed to snow.
It's nice to have firsthand feedback from someone who has used these in the real world.
These were the Phillips, correct?
My issues with the interstate was not in seeing lane markings in my lights, but more in meeting vehicles with overly bright lighting, possibly poorly aimed as well.This made it very difficult. Tractor trailers especially since the lights are much higher than passenger vehicles.
Snow should not be a problem here in Georgia on my trucks, only on the one I leave at the cabin in Colorado. I may give the Phillips a try as you seem to like them other than the snow.
Thanks for the response!
These were the Phillips, correct?
My issues with the interstate was not in seeing lane markings in my lights, but more in meeting vehicles with overly bright lighting, possibly poorly aimed as well.This made it very difficult. Tractor trailers especially since the lights are much higher than passenger vehicles.
Snow should not be a problem here in Georgia on my trucks, only on the one I leave at the cabin in Colorado. I may give the Phillips a try as you seem to like them other than the snow.
Thanks for the response!
We’ve never had any issues with them and we have driven in all types of weather. I made sure to aim ours correctly. They put out great light coupled with not having to mess with the headlight wiring.
Yes, these are the Phillips. I can say from all the night driving done lately, I wouldn't be surprised if many of the semi's are running the cheap LED's that aren't focused at all. Our trucks have the lights up quite high too, as do newer pickups, so I think we are pretty similar on height. There are definitely a ton of mal-adjusted private vehicle headlights however.
I just tested my truck, at about 15ft the beam cutoff is 33". The further out I go obviously the lower it gets. 33" is quite short, that doesn't even reach door window level on my cars.
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For information purposes, Holley has apparently changed something with their retrobrights, the part numbers now end in -1.
Started seeing much cheaper retrobrights on eBay, these were the previous models. Not sure what else changed, but the price has come down to about $160/per for the new part number.
Started seeing much cheaper retrobrights on eBay, these were the previous models. Not sure what else changed, but the price has come down to about $160/per for the new part number.
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Did the quad headlight conversion, I finally got the right terminals for the headlight connectors.
It's obvious there is yellow mixed in with the LED light, but the halogens seem to add little. Not my intent to get more lighting, but I figured it would be interesting to test out. I just clicked between low/high. The one where the yellow beams are pretty clear and straight ahead are the low setting.
I used a carbide burr to grind the factory terminals until I could free the wires. Fun fact, GM tinned the wire before they crimped them. This is what the terminal looked like after I got the wires free:
These are the right terminal family, but these are made for larger diameter jackets. I don't have the right stuff to crimp them. Did what I could. I had some of the tan wire from another wiring harness so I used it. I didn't use relays as GM used the same wiring gauge for all of headlight wiring apparently, so with the lower draw of the LED uppers, I just decided to run with it. Jumper from the upper connectors to the lower headlights, and replaced the lower two prong connectors with upper three terminal connectors.
Definitely a different spectrum of light output, but I don't care, I just need light.
I do have a few of the terminals left. I can't guarantee I will have the time soon, but if people here need some terminals I would be willing to try and send them out for shipping.
It's obvious there is yellow mixed in with the LED light, but the halogens seem to add little. Not my intent to get more lighting, but I figured it would be interesting to test out. I just clicked between low/high. The one where the yellow beams are pretty clear and straight ahead are the low setting.
I used a carbide burr to grind the factory terminals until I could free the wires. Fun fact, GM tinned the wire before they crimped them. This is what the terminal looked like after I got the wires free:
These are the right terminal family, but these are made for larger diameter jackets. I don't have the right stuff to crimp them. Did what I could. I had some of the tan wire from another wiring harness so I used it. I didn't use relays as GM used the same wiring gauge for all of headlight wiring apparently, so with the lower draw of the LED uppers, I just decided to run with it. Jumper from the upper connectors to the lower headlights, and replaced the lower two prong connectors with upper three terminal connectors.
Definitely a different spectrum of light output, but I don't care, I just need light.
I do have a few of the terminals left. I can't guarantee I will have the time soon, but if people here need some terminals I would be willing to try and send them out for shipping.
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I am considering these for 77 7" round https://rmslighting.net/collections...ight-conversion-kit-with-10000lm-h4-led-bulbs
i believe the terminals you want that fit the head lamp plastic socket are Packard type 56 female, the come 3 wire sizes 20-18, 16-14, and 12. Same goes for the type 56 male, only there are 2 spade sizes 1/4" and 5/16".
looks good. A lot of leds are in the 6000k to 6500k range giving that white blueish light. If you want more yellow try 3000k to 4000k
i believe the terminals you want that fit the head lamp plastic socket are Packard type 56 female, the come 3 wire sizes 20-18, 16-14, and 12. Same goes for the type 56 male, only there are 2 spade sizes 1/4" and 5/16".
looks good. A lot of leds are in the 6000k to 6500k range giving that white blueish light. If you want more yellow try 3000k to 4000k
Yes, from what I could find, on top of the multiple wire size offerings, there are Packard terminals specifically made for multiple wires to the same terminal. These came off eBay so the seller didn't know what the part number was, but given the diameter these will accommodate, I assume that's what these are for. Pretty sure one could do two larger (12AWG+) wires on these terminals, or three plus of smaller wire.
Hopefully you can find some reviews of the ones you are considering. My main concern was for the lighting to be effective. There are a lot of garbage LED headlights out there. How are the holley retrobrights for price now? I liked that they had a more yellow option, and that they look like regular halogens externally, but I found people felt the Philips were more effective, and cheaper. But if I was really trying to keep the truck looking original, the retrobrights sure seemed like the way to go.
Hopefully you can find some reviews of the ones you are considering. My main concern was for the lighting to be effective. There are a lot of garbage LED headlights out there. How are the holley retrobrights for price now? I liked that they had a more yellow option, and that they look like regular halogens externally, but I found people felt the Philips were more effective, and cheaper. But if I was really trying to keep the truck looking original, the retrobrights sure seemed like the way to go.
I forgot to post here when I found another option from the Holley led conversion bulbs.
We had Quake LED at our car show a couple of weeks back. Quake has a new line of sealed beam replacement bulbs for the 7” and smaller round bulbs as well as both rectangular sizes. They have glass fluted lenses, dot legal and do have a separate led halo that you can control the color and dash pattern via a remote. In the pics it is the 7” round version. The rectangular one is a different style in the pic.
High beam
Low beam
Halo set to red, but hard to catch on the pic.
With the lights off they resemble stock sealed beams. Though when you get closer you can kinda see the dividing bar in the center. They do have a very sharp upper cutoff on the low beam too.
They list for $350 a set and include the remote for the led halo control. Uses a standard h4 connector.
I’m probably going to get a set for mine. I like the stockish look and the fact the beam cutoff is crisp. I know my Amazon specials work good but lack the cutoff.
We had Quake LED at our car show a couple of weeks back. Quake has a new line of sealed beam replacement bulbs for the 7” and smaller round bulbs as well as both rectangular sizes. They have glass fluted lenses, dot legal and do have a separate led halo that you can control the color and dash pattern via a remote. In the pics it is the 7” round version. The rectangular one is a different style in the pic.
High beam
Low beam
Halo set to red, but hard to catch on the pic.
With the lights off they resemble stock sealed beams. Though when you get closer you can kinda see the dividing bar in the center. They do have a very sharp upper cutoff on the low beam too.
They list for $350 a set and include the remote for the led halo control. Uses a standard h4 connector.
I’m probably going to get a set for mine. I like the stockish look and the fact the beam cutoff is crisp. I know my Amazon specials work good but lack the cutoff.
Option to just have the halo off?
Yep you can shut it off.
