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Has anyone here put led bulbs in the stock housing? I'm thinking about swapping in some LEDs so I can see more clearly while night driving. I want to look stock but be brighter... not sure if using the OEM housings will throw light differently, causing me to seem like "that guy" with the low beams in everyone's eyes..
The geometry of the stock housings is not bad for incandescent- 9004- if you put the light somewhere else, and point it into some direction ... you will be the (insert expletive of choice) that will get the feedback from the oncoming traffic.
On the dodge the problem is not the bulbs- its the abysmal voltage reaching them through the stock wiring.
A simple set of relays and some wire (all for less than 20 $) can make a world of difference in light output and save your light switch and the wiring.
If you want to invest in still better lighting get a pair or two of additional lights with a decent pattern and give them a decent power supply. Aim them correctly and you will see without blinding the others.
It does not matter whether you collided with the semi because you did not see it or because you blinded the driver of the semi...
A HID will not work with the geometry of the lights installed. A LED will not work with the geometry of the lights installed.
Get proper voltage to a stock bulb and you will have about 50-100% more light on the road and about 10% more in the eyes of the oncoming traffic.
Choose the wrong geometry and increase light on the road by 30-50% and get 200% more light in the eyes of the fuel truck coming towards you...
From the details on your profile, it appears you have a '94. I would consider doing the sport-headlight mod - this uses the 2-bulb headlight assemblies from the '99-'02 Sport option. You can search the forum for threads on it. I did that on my '96, and it made a great improvement - one of the benefits is that you will have to go to a relay system like AlpineRam mentioned, which supplies near-battery voltage to the bulbs. If you go this route, look for housing manufacturers that support and participate in CAPA (capacertified.org) - I don't think anyone makes certified parts for our trucks due to age/demand, but I look at manufacturer participation as a good thing. Geno's has a harness that will run the Sport lights mod, and I believe LMC Truck does as well (and probably others).
On the dodge the problem is not the bulbs- its the abysmal voltage reaching them through the stock wiring.
A simple set of relays and some wire (all for less than 20 $) can make a world of difference in light output and save your light switch and the wiring.
Get proper voltage to a stock bulb and you will have about 50-100% more light on the road and about 10% more in the eyes of the oncoming traffic.
This is on my to do list... But because of limited time, I may just order the harness from Daniel Stern.
Well, I did the sports headlight conversion on some trucks, it's easy if you already changed the front fenders, else you need to enlarge the hole where the cable passes through to be able to install the sports headlights.
If you either stay stock or already have the sport headlights, the relay stuff can be done in under one hour.
For a single bulb (non-sport) headlight you need 2 relays, one fuse and about 10-15ft of cable, some shoes.
For the low beam relay you put the coil of the relay between ground and the low beam wire.
For high beam you use ground and high.
You supply the 2 relays contact side from the battery through a fuse- and connect the switched pole of each relay to the appropriate wire to the bulb.
I prefer to get new headlight connectors with heavier wiring already installed, like these
(So if you have no time you will get up to 30 US$ to get this done)
With those I just cut off the wires, pre-wire the relays in there as described and mount the relays to the battery holder on each side. ( OK, this adds one fuse and fuse holder to the shopping list.)
If you don't like it you can unplug it and put the stock plug back onto the bulb in seconds.
For the relay- holder I use relays with a screw tab and a stripe of sheetmetal about 2-3" long and 2" wide, mount the relays with self tapping screws to the sheetmetal and clip the contraption to the front of the battery holder.
I really like to give those lights good grounds too, with the connectors mentioned I just make a longer wire to ground the bulb to battery negative on each side.
More light and less load on the light switch and multifunction switch on the steering column, easily reversible if you see a need to do so.
My quickest time from hood up to good light was less than 10 minutes.
But, with a little bit of creativity you can make a harness for the sports headlights that gives you the following options:
A: low beam (standard)
B: high beam only outer bulb on high
C: High beam inner and outer on high (stock sport headlight mode)
D: Outer low and inner high - excellent for night driving since you see from close by into the distance.
Last edited by AlpineRAM; 10-03-2018 at 01:39 PM.
Reason: Additional info
I did the sport light with relays a long time ago. Wired with both low beams or both high beams on. Didn't see much of an improvement at first. Tried high wattage bulbs, still not much. That's why I tried the LED's. That was far worse so I went back to regular bulbs. I was in a hurry so I grabbed what Napa had on the rack and wound up with a mismatched set. The 9004's were one type and the 9007's were a different type. Actually worked amazingly well. I guess the different spectrum augmented each other. After that I added factory fog lights and the factory switch. Those I put LED's in and they worked great. Odd thing was it changed how my lights worked. If I have the fog light on, I can't turn the bright lights off without having to turning the fog lights off. So, with the fog lights on I go from low + fog to high - fog to low + high + fog. Real bright!
I did the sport light with relays a long time ago. Wired with both low beams or both high beams on. Didn't see much of an improvement at first. Tried high wattage bulbs, still not much. That's why I tried the LED's. That was far worse so I went back to regular bulbs. I was in a hurry so I grabbed what Napa had on the rack and wound up with a mismatched set. The 9004's were one type and the 9007's were a different type. Actually worked amazingly well. I guess the different spectrum augmented each other. After that I added factory fog lights and the factory switch. Those I put LED's in and they worked great. Odd thing was it changed how my lights worked. If I have the fog light on, I can't turn the bright lights off without having to turning the fog lights off. So, with the fog lights on I go from low + fog to high - fog to low + high + fog. Real bright!
So you werent impressed with the relay? I've heard people say its night and day (no pun) difference...
Also, I want to know what LED bulbs you put in your fogs. And...I'm completely confused by what you said about fog lights on with the headlights. You said no fogs with the high beams but then said you can have all three on???
I also installed Sport lamps and built a relay harness on my 96. I found it to be a decent improvement, and was happy with it. Just for fun, however, I decided to get some LEDs and replace the high beams only with them. Not real impressive. They do generate a great deal of light, unfortunately there's no focused beam at all. I shone them at my garage door in an attempt to aim them, and they just indiscriminately lit up the whole door. So, I haven't removed them yet, but as soon as I find a decent 9004, I will be scrapping the LEDs.
So you werent impressed with the relay? I've heard people say its night and day (no pun) difference...
Also, I want to know what LED bulbs you put in your fogs. And...I'm completely confused by what you said about fog lights on with the headlights. You said no fogs with the high beams but then said you can have all three on???
Your so easily confused. If I keep the fog lights turned off, then the sequence is normal. Low beam, click, high beam, click, back to low beam. With the fog lights on its low beams + fogs, click, high beams - fogs, click, low beam + high beams + fogs. I have to turn off the fog lights in order to get back to low beams. Otherwise its back and forth between high beams - fog or everything on. Correct, the relays made no visible difference I could see. The LED's I used in the fog lights are
I guess I'm dense because I'm still not following your explanation.
But thats OK... I appreciate the effort and the link to the LED bulbs.
We can blame it on California. It was a couple decades of therapy after leaving that I learned I can think.
You know what a "brite box" is? Kinda like that except I can have ALL my lights on at the same time.
I also installed Sport lamps and built a relay harness on my 96. I found it to be a decent improvement, and was happy with it. Just for fun, however, I decided to get some LEDs and replace the high beams only with them. Not real impressive. They do generate a great deal of light, unfortunately there's no focused beam at all. I shone them at my garage door in an attempt to aim them, and they just indiscriminately lit up the whole door. So, I haven't removed them yet, but as soon as I find a decent 9004, I will be scrapping the LEDs.
I bought a set of 80/100 W 9004 and another 80/100W 9007 (Flosser calls them 9104 and 9107) for about 15 US$ for a 10 pack each from China- works great with relays, burns stock systems light switches without relays to the ground without throwing light on the road..
The LED has a completely different characteristic than an incandescent filament- so either you design a new reflector or you try to mimic said characteristic with a plethora of LEDs ( about 50 seems to work for a decent cutoff in 9004 reflectors) -
cougar seems to have installed a "self holding" circuit for his relays.. not what you would really want..
They look interesting. It still bothers me that they call it a perfect substitute for each halogen bulb, but they still require that you adjust the clocking of it until you get a reasonable beam.
10-01-2018, 03:44 PM
