Halogen & LED Headlight Bulb Upgrades

[theatasigma]

OK so I got them going. I am still impressed with BPS customer service. I tried a few more combinations and apparently I never tried the bulbs with the CANBUS and the polarity reversed on the bulb side of the CANBUS. I must have only tried the other end.

 

The color is spot on with my LED fogs which claim to be 5500k.

 

I don't have any comment on performance yet. Hopefully tonight I get to try them out.

 

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Glad you got it working, tight fit, but I do like the setup a lot more over the cooling ribbons. I wonder if there is enough room behind the heatsink/fan for good airflow, I know the lights are pretty empty inside for the most part but I hope that doesn't cause them to overheat. Glad though you got your lights fixed. Can't wait to see how they are after a few months.

[Jordan18]

Glad you got it working, tight fit, but I do like the setup a lot more over the cooling ribbons. I wonder if there is enough room behind the heatsink/fan for good airflow, I know the lights are pretty empty inside for the most part but I hope that doesn't cause them to overheat. Glad though you got your lights fixed. Can't wait to see how they are after a few months.

I have a set of LEDs with decent sized fans on them, so far no issues. It gets warm in there but the fan and aluminium disperse the heat well. A true test would be to take them out in the summer during 95+F/35+C day and flip them on (SLTs have the led DRL strips so they wouldn't normally be on) and put around town so you don't have a lot of airflow...

[mrpa]

I got around to installing the BPS LED kit last night, and they are bright! I too was able to get the canbus module stuffed into the headlight with some time wiggling everything around in there. I have to reverse the polarity before the canbus module for the lights to work properly. Overall, I'm happy with the light output. Now I just need to find time to install the XB LED fog lights I ordered.

[Sierra Jon]

 

So the color on these lights is good. There was concern of the 6500k color but it matches my 5500k fogs very well. The truck looks a lot better with all the colors matching up front. I'm very pleased from this aspect.

 

 

The performance is good but not excellent. My biggest complaint is the uneven lighting (dark spots). It's exaggerated a little because of my cell phone camera but you can see in the photo what I'm talking about. Also the output is not nearly as blue as the camera makes it look. I still think unfortunately the only way to get the performance that I'm looking for (sharp cut off, and excellent lighting projected down road and to the sides) is to go HID. I may still do this down the road but BPS LEDs are definitely an improvement.

 

Update: in my earlier post you see I had trouble with the adjustment collar. I may reach out to BPS again regarding this because I really think rotating the bulb may fix the dark spots.

 

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Edited April 12, 2016 by Sierra Jon

[Jordan18]

 

So the color on these lights is good. There was concern of the 6500k color but it matches my 5500k fogs very well. The truck looks a lot better with all the colors matching up front. I'm very pleased from this aspect.

 

 

 

The performance is good but not excellent. My biggest complaint is the uneven lighting (dark spots). It's exaggerated a little because of my cell phone camera but you can see in the photo what I'm talking about. Also the output is not nearly as blue as the camera makes it look. I still think unfortunately the only way to get the performance that I'm looking for (sharp cut off, and excellent lighting projected down road and to the sides) is to go HID. I may still do this down the road but BPS LEDs are definitely an improvement.

 

Update: in my earlier post you see I had trouble with the adjustment collar. I may reach out to BPS again regarding this because I really think rotating the bulb may fix the dark spots.

 

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Are the LED diodes facing a 9/3 o' clock position sitting in the projector?

[Sierra Jon]

 

Are the LED diodes facing a 9/3 o' clock position sitting in the projector?

Not entirely since the adjustment collar is stripped. That's exactly my thought too...

 

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[Jordan18]

Not entirely since the adjustment collar is stripped. That's exactly my thought too...

 

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I have had the Xenon depot lights sit slightly cockeyed and it seemed enough to cause a near non-existent high beam, once corrected they were better. The 9000 lumen kit I have is even better than the xenon depot kits.

[Sierra Jon]

I have had the Xenon depot lights sit slightly cockeyed and it seemed enough to cause a near non-existent high beam, once corrected they were better. The 9000 lumen kit I have is even better than the xenon depot kits.

Does your light pattern look like what I posted? Minus the V shape caused by not having then at 3 and 9? What kit do you have?

 

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[Jordan18]

Does your light pattern look like what I posted? Minus the V shape caused by not having then at 3 and 9? What kit do you have?

 

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I haven't really measured it against a wall, but if I had to guess, similar to morrislee's in the topic below, post #61. Mine kit is the same as his.

 

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/184327-2016-hd-headlamp-install-on-a-2015-1500-slt/page-5

 

This is my kit or very similar to it, bulb looks identical:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-bright-9006-led-headlight-HB4-auto-lamp-for-Xenon-halogen-or-Hid-headlight-/281952766833?hash=item41a5b1cb71:g:8t4AAOSwUuFW1~JY&vxp=mtr

 

 

To me, the BPS lights look better in quality and similar in how the diodes are setup. I like the way the BPS 8000 lumen kit appears to have 3 smaller diodes stacked in a longer string, could be superior beam pattern once your bulbs are collared better.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Jordan18

[theatasigma]

I have had the Xenon depot lights sit slightly cockeyed and it seemed enough to cause a near non-existent high beam, once corrected they were better. The 9000 lumen kit I have is even better than the xenon depot kits.

That is the problem with LED kits these days, they usually only have diodes on 2, maybe 3 sides. So they don't make full use of the reflectors and you get dark spots and weird reflections with high beams on. Until they start giving us more sides like say 5 or 6, where you have a lot of diodes to make use of the reflector properly you are not going to get a clean pattern. It is the reason I went with HID over LED, I did like my LED's but they still suffered in bad weather and didn't throw light out to the sides very far. With HID you have a 360 degree light pattern that uses the reflector properly (well as good as it can) so you get the same light pattern as with the halogen bulbs you replaced. However now that automakers are starting to use LED in headlights we may see some advancement on the aftermarket market and maybe get better replacements.

Edited April 12, 2016 by theatasigma

[Jordan18]

That is the problem with LED kits these days, they usually only have diodes on 2, maybe 3 sides. So they don't make full use of the reflectors and you get dark spots and weird reflections with high beams on. Until they start giving us more sides like say 5 or 6, where you have a lot of diodes to make use of the reflector properly you are not going to get a clean pattern. It is the reason I went with HID over LED, I did like my LED's but they still suffered in bad weather and didn't throw light out to the sides very far. With HID you have a 360 degree light pattern that uses the reflector properly (well as good as it can) so you get the same light pattern as with the halogen bulbs you replaced. However now that automakers are starting to use LED in headlights we may see some advancement on the aftermarket market and maybe get better replacements.

 

That's precisely it, once there is a led bulb that fills the entire projector, I think that would be a definite tipping point where LEDs become better than HIDs. But I simply do not want to have to add additional wiring is the main reason for me not going HID, and the scary reliability of some. I know TRS/Morimoto is the go to brand, but with the exchange rate I would be forking out near $300 with shipping to have them sent here.

 

I have noticed a few different styles of LED bulbs as well. These "COB" LEDs with 4 directional diodes would be an option to try, but they seem oddly cheap and potentially could be a snakey brand.

 

http://www.amazon.com/2016-12000LM-headlight-6000K-Bulbs/dp/B01D2X62U8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1460501390&sr=8-4&keywords=12000+lumen+LED+headlight

[Aaron1085]

So, if I purchase the BPS bulbs (which in now leaning towards), what's the deal with the CANBUS; is this another item I have to buy?

 

 

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[Jordan18]

So, if I purchase the BPS bulbs (which in now leaning towards), what's the deal with the CANBUS; is this another item I have to buy?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

 

That's what BPS told me when I mentioned I had a Sierra, same with XenonDepot. However I did not need the canbus on the Xenondepot lights and currently do not with my Ebay special 4500 lumen kit.

 

I would say it would be safe to get them "just in case" you get error codes (some LED bulbs fool the BCM and it then thinks that it has a light burnt out). It plugs into your OEM socket plugs which you then would plug into your LED bulbs. CANBUS "canceller" is really what it is, they look like mini ballasts/drivers. According to BPS, should all still fit under the dust caps of the Sierras.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Jordan18

[electroflier]

 

That's precisely it, once there is a led bulb that fills the entire projector, I think that would be a definite tipping point where LEDs become better than HIDs. But I simply do not want to have to add additional wiring is the main reason for me not going HID, and the scary reliability of some. I know TRS/Morimoto is the go to brand, but with the exchange rate I would be forking out near $300 with shipping to have them sent here.

 

I have noticed a few different styles of LED bulbs as well. These "COB" LEDs with 4 directional diodes would be an option to try, but they seem oddly cheap and potentially could be a snakey brand.

 

http://www.amazon.com/2016-12000LM-headlight-6000K-Bulbs/dp/B01D2X62U8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1460501390&sr=8-4&keywords=12000+lumen+LED+headlight

No, no, NO!. COB-style bulbs are NOT the answer. I know from experience. It was this style of bulb that got sent to me from ledheadlightspro and they were terrible! Had I thought about it a bit, I would have sent them back immediately without even trying them.

 

Projector-style headlights (and reflector style as well, for that matter) are designed to focus light originating from a fixed point or area: the hot filament of the standard halogen bulb, for example. Any replacement bulb should have the light source more-or-less at the same physical point relative to the projector. If the replacement bulb has its light at a different point, the projector is effectively out of focus. A simple example of this can be seen in a flashlight with an adjustable beam. The"pencil" beam has the light at the focus of a parabolic reflector, resulting in a bright, focused beam with little scatter. As you adjust the flashlight onto more of a "flood" pattern, you're moving the flashlight bulb away from the focal point. This gives you a "dimmer" spread out pattern.

 

In my mind, the best LED replacement bulb has its light source as close as possible to that of the original halogen bulb. When I installed the COB-style bulb, I got an arguably brighter light than stock, but the leds were so far away from the stock focus point that I dramatically lost all distance. The cutoff line was very fuzzy and I'd be over-driving my lights at anything over about 40. They were only illuminating out to about 80m (260 ft). Total crap unless you're driving under street lights.

 

Given my experience with the COB-style bulb, the xenondepot bulbs, and the BPS 4000 lumen bulbs, I'm thinking that the bright and dark spots might have something to do with the presence of the aluminum "flare" at the end of the bulb, This masks the led's from directly forward (like the darkened end on some halogen bulbs) and I think this may be needed for reflector-style headlights to reduce unwanted glare. But in a projector-style headlight, it's unneeded. The xenondepot bulbs, for example, doesn't have the "flare" and didn't suffer from the light and dark spots. The stock 9012 halogen bulb also doesn't have a darkened tip.

 

I think I might take one of my BPS bulbs out and carefully remove some or all of the "flare" on a grinder, being careful not to get any metal dust on anything. I just need to convince myself that there isn't any hidden electronics in this section. There shouldn't be, since its forward of the led's.

Edited April 13, 2016 by electroflier

[Shredzy]

I think I might take one of my BPS bulbs out and carefully remove some or all of the "flare" on a grinder, being careful not to get any metal dust on anything. I just need to convince myself that there isn't any hidden electronics in this section. There shouldn't be, since its forward of the led's.

Curious to hear if this would help reduce the "light & dark spots".