LED's in OE Premium Projectors- what works?

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haleme

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I've been looking at moving to LEDs for my low beam projectors, but after reading through this thread, may go with a set of HIDs.

Cableman, are you looking at these?
Innovited 9005 5000K 35W AC Xenon HID Bundle with Slim AC Ballast (1 Pair) and (1 Pair) Xenon Bulbs (Prue White) https://a.co/d/64U1LbM
 
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corneileous

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I've been looking at moving to LEDs for my low beam projectors, but after reading through this thread, may go with a set of HIDs.

Cableman, are you looking at these?
Innovited 9005 5000K 35W AC Xenon HID Bundle with Slim AC Ballast (1 Pair) and (1 Pair) Xenon Bulbs (Prue White) https://a.co/d/64U1LbM
I’ve heard a lot of people say HID’s are better for these low beam projectors but then again I’ve also heard that a lot of people use LEDs that they say work pretty good as well so I guess it’s just really up to you. It might include some trial and error.

I had a set of HID’s at one time in my low beam projectors that seemed to work pretty good but they were a PITA to hook up because of the ballasts and whatever the other electronic box was had to be mounted outside the headlight which required drilling a large hole in the access panels on the back of the headlights. Not only that, I didn’t get much use out of them and on cold days, they actually took a second or two to reach full brightness as the ballasts have to charge up similar to the capacitor that runs the flash on an old school film camera so that was pretty much it for me why I haven’t wanted to try another set of HID’s. Seems like you’d have to pay even more than I did to get a quality set and the ones I had from Vanquish Auto- who’s no longer around, which was close to $180 for the pair.

Unless there’s a much better HID system out there that works better than those, I wouldn’t even really recommend HID’s. As a matter of fact, being that you really don’t want your low beams to be that super bright anyway and that you really should rely more on your highbeams, I would highly recommend going to www.danielsternlighting.com and getting a pair of his custom-made HR1-9011 halogen bulbs that are even brighter lumen-wise as any other halogen from any auto parts store or from Walmart. He makes these custom to fit a 9005 socket but those that he makes far exceeds those Sylvania Silverstars, the Sylvania, Silverstar ultra’s and even the Sylvania Silverstar ZxE’s. The Silverstar ultra’s being the brightest of those three only put out about 1750 lumens and the bulbs he sells put out 2350 lumen. They are pretty amazing for halogen bulbs and so far I’m on my second year of using them. They work well with my lowbeam projectors.
 

haleme

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I had a set of HID’s at one time in my low beam projectors that seemed to work pretty good but they were a PITA to hook up because of the ballasts and whatever the other electronic box was had to be mounted outside the headlight which required drilling a large hole in the access panels on the back of the headlights.
Oh, that is not happening. I'll keep looking for a better headlight and check out Daniel Stern.
 

danielmid

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Oh, that is not happening. I'll keep looking for a better headlight and check out Daniel Stern.
Or you pick up an aftermarket rear light cover that already has gaskets, the hole is not the end of the world.

HIDs in projectors are leaps and bounds better light output than leds, even led companies say this. Check out Headlight Revolution's YouTube channel, they have some sweet comparison videos and even have a Ram projector specific video with leds and hids.
 

hunterdan

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Oh, that is not happening. I'll keep looking for a better headlight and check out Daniel Stern.
You can buy replacement covers from retrofit source and other places that have the holes drilled and grommets installed. This kit from hylux is one of the better kits that will work for RAM trucks.
As for the warm up time, yes they'll take 5-10 seconds to warm up to full brightness, but it's something that will likely never affect you unless you start up your truck and immediately start driving at night. Even when you hit your high beams, the lows stay on so there's no issue there. Don't be afraid of hids. If you don't want to cut, buy the extended housings.
 

haleme

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Thank you, thank you for that information. I'm not incapable of drilling a hole and fitting a grommet, just don't want to. But if there is a kit, I'll support someone else R&D efforts.
 

Cableman

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The slim ballasts and crap all fit in the headlights on a few versions so no need to mount them outside.
 
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corneileous

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Or you pick up an aftermarket rear light cover that already has gaskets, the hole is not the end of the world.

HIDs in projectors are leaps and bounds better light output than leds, even led companies say this. Check out Headlight Revolution's YouTube channel, they have some sweet comparison videos and even have a Ram projector specific video with leds and hids.
Not all of them do. I’ve seen all sorts of LED manufacturers that “claim” their bulbs work wonders in projector housings.
 
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corneileous

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You can buy replacement covers from retrofit source and other places that have the holes drilled and grommets installed. This kit from hylux is one of the better kits that will work for RAM trucks.
As for the warm up time, yes they'll take 5-10 seconds to warm up to full brightness, but it's something that will likely never affect you unless you start up your truck and immediately start driving at night. Even when you hit your high beams, the lows stay on so there's no issue there. Don't be afraid of hids. If you don't want to cut, buy the extended housings.
I would hope those are better. Maybe I just paid quality-price for cheap bulbs, I don’t know. I just know I wasn’t impressed. They were bright as hell once they warmed up but it just seemed like as they got older, the warm-up time got longer. When they were brand new, it was hardly noticed but on the third year, they were pretty dim on first start up.

Oh and before you get excited about how many years I used them, lol, I may have had these bulbs for just short of three years but compared to the amount of night-driving I did in that time period, I barely would’ve gotten a year out of them at best if I drove more at night like most people because if memory serves me correctly, I only put like 15, 16,000 miles on my truck in that time frame when most people put that down in a year.
 
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corneileous

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The slim ballasts and crap all fit in the headlights on a few versions so no need to mount them outside.
I really don’t see how any baggage from a HID bulb would fit in these OE premium headlights. Maybe I’m wrong. The ones I used had two black boxes that one of them was about half the thickness of a pack of cigarettes.
 

Cableman

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I really don’t see how any baggage from a HID bulb would fit in these OE premium headlights. Maybe I’m wrong. The ones I used had two black boxes that one of them was about half the thickness of a pack of cigarettes.
Pic @Jrod posted some years ago in a thread, ddm tunning ballast.
 

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hunterdan

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I would hope those are better. Maybe I just paid quality-price for cheap bulbs, I don’t know. I just know I wasn’t impressed. They were bright as hell once they warmed up but it just seemed like as they got older, the warm-up time got longer. When they were brand new, it was hardly noticed but on the third year, they were pretty dim on first start up.

Oh and before you get excited about how many years I used them, lol, I may have had these bulbs for just short of three years but compared to the amount of night-driving I did in that time period, I barely would’ve gotten a year out of them at best if I drove more at night like most people because if memory serves me correctly, I only put like 15, 16,000 miles on my truck in that time frame when most people put that down in a year.
The bulbs do dim over time. Unfortunately, that's the downfall to rebased hid bulbs, they don't seem to last as long as saya true d2s bulb. Higher quality bulbs do last longer, as they use a more premium capsule, and output is far more consistent to a halogen bulbs as the alignment is better.
 

Cableman

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I've been looking at moving to LEDs for my low beam projectors, but after reading through this thread, may go with a set of HIDs.

Cableman, are you looking at these?
Innovited 9005 5000K 35W AC Xenon HID Bundle with Slim AC Ballast (1 Pair) and (1 Pair) Xenon Bulbs (Prue White) https://a.co/d/64U1LbM
I was looking at their 55w version, i wonder how accurate their output ratings are.
Innovited 55W AC HID bundle with (1 Pair) Slim Ballast and (1 Pair) Xenon bulb 9005 5000K (Pure White) https://a.co/d/dT8p5kY
 

Cableman

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I have been doing some more research on HIDs and this appears to be the kit to get. 55w is too much for our trucks and this has the Canbus error eliminator built in.
Innovited Premium AC Canbus Error Free HID Bundle - No Flicker with (1 Pair) Ballast and (1 Pair) Xenon Bulb - 9005-5000K - Prue White
I don't need the canbus stuff as i have alfa, makes for more crap to try and fit in housing. There are a few in here running the 55w for some time now, i bet it more in line with 45-50w
 

Jrod

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Pic @Jrod posted some years ago in a thread, ddm tunning ballast.
Wow that was ages ago. Those HID’s didn’t last long at all.. I scrapped HID and LED till a few weeks ago. I went with Underground Lighting 35w 6000k and they’ve been working flawlessly. I did have to reverse polarity to them ignited. And I had to add the rubber grommet from my halogens to make them snug. I also purchased this dust cover to clean things up after drilling my old ones years ago.
 

Cableman

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Wow that was ages ago. Those HID’s didn’t last long at all.. I scrapped HID and LED till a few weeks ago. I went with Underground Lighting 35w 6000k and they’ve been working flawlessly. I did have to reverse polarity to them ignited. And I had to add the rubber grommet from my halogens to make them snug. I also purchased this dust cover to clean things up after drilling my old ones years ago.
Yeah them ddm's use to be good but not so much anymore, i didnt like mine.
You posted something recently about the underground hids? Im thinking about them too but only 1 year warranty and well over 100 bucks
 

Jrod

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Yeah them ddm's use to be good but not so much anymore, i didnt like mine.
You posted something recently about the underground hids? Im thinking about them too but only 1 year warranty and well over 100 bucks
I honestly don’t trust any brand. I just have my fingers crossed.. lol

Hopefully these will last 2-3 years before replacing.
 

Cableman

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I have been doing some more research on HIDs and this appears to be the kit to get. 55w is too much for our trucks and this has the Canbus error eliminator built in.
Innovited Premium AC Canbus Error Free HID Bundle - No Flicker with (1 Pair) Ballast and (1 Pair) Xenon Bulb - 9005-5000K - Prue White
These do look good and for some reason they output 500 more lumens then the other 35w model.
Ive also been looking at the canbus hylux 35w with gtr 5k bulbs, $162 bucks but a 3 year warranty!


 

haleme

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These do look good and for some reason they output 500 more lumens then the other 35w model.
Ive also been looking at the canbus hylux 35w with gtr 5k bulbs, $162 bucks but a 3 year warranty!


Retro Source was recommended earlier, but I didn't come across this combination. Good find.

And you can get the bulbs in 4000k, which looks closer to OEM to me.
 

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