Best Headlight Upgrade?

[Cableman]

Im really considering these after my lumibright 9005 bulbs lost a chip already.

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / RAM 2500/3500 10-18 DUAL LED PROJECTOR SWITCHBACK HEADLIGHTS BLACK (FOR ALL MODELS)

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / RAM 2500/3500 10-18 DUAL LED PROJECTOR SWITCHBACK HEADLIGHTS BLACK (FOR ALL MODELS)

www.anzousa.com

Cheechdogon37s was testing them and seems to love them, he is banned from here now though, not sure what happend...

 

[brianw0048]

What I noticed is the beam pattern leans to the left and right into the eyes of an oncoming driver.

Someone had the wrong headlights then. Headlights (projector) in North America lean to the right side to avoid blinding drivers.

 

[Chestertucky]

I have a 2015 with projectors and went down the same road as you. I landed on this kit https://hidkitpros.com/shop/2010-2018-ram-1500-25003500-projector-hylux-low-beam-hid-system/ and waiting to receive it.

I contacted Headlight Revolution originally because that is who everyone talks about. After being on hold for over 20 minutes, the rep I received was not helpful or very knowledgeable at all. I then contacted a shop called Dynamic Appearance and they were adamant not to use HID. He recommended one type of LED or just upgrade the entire assembly.

I decided to call HID Kit and spoke with an installer for a little while. He gave me the ins and outs between the morimoto system vs the system I posted here. In his opinion and based on their installs, this was the more superior choice as Hylux manufacturers the Morimoto ballast. They also use Diode Dynamics anti-flicker modules in this system and its less "pieces" than the Morimoto system with the 2015+ mopar harness. In his opinion, LED bulbs do not work as well with the factory projectors because of the setup and high propensity for dead spots.

I'll report back once I have it installed

 

[Rickhead]

My favorite is the option from Vland. Sequential turn signals led running lights, and they have a cool blue pattern that goes around the headlights on startup. They look really cool and are very very bright

 

[blackbetty14]

Best or easiest? Easiest would be Morimoto XB LED projector headlights, great warranty, high performance and plug and play. Best (performance) I still feel is stock projector housing retrotfitted with FXR 3.0 or DS5 projectors with D2S 50w morimoto elite HID system. I did this 8 years ago (before LED assembly options even existed) and you still can't really touch them. THe morimoto XBs are getting there though. What I don't like about all these LED housings is that they are a NON SERVICEABLE headlight... so if an LED low beam goes out or High beam your SOL. Then have to go through a warranty process if still available. Then you have a higher replacement cost as well. You can swap the projectors in your stock headlights for less than $400 and thats including the HID kit (you will need a RAM specific harness or ALFAOBD to reprogram). At least with the stock housing and projector swap your getting best projector quality and output in a OEM housing and you can still replace the bulbs for HID low beam and high beam. All the headlights that you see that are less than $1k won't last long and usually its DRL/turn signal issues first but your also stuck using the cheap chinese generic projectors in a H11 or H7 style bulb format.

FWIW i have my factory 2014 blacked out stock retrofitted projector headlights on my 2018 laramie using the same bulbs and 50w morimoto elite ballasts and the only issue I've had is the Ram specific Harnesses with either relays failing (you can swap them out with higher quality easily) or the resistors randomly failing. But they are all plug and play fixes.

 

[blackbetty14]

For Fogs, I recently ordered and tested the new Morimoto HXB 4 banger pods and housings for the 4th gens. It was between them and the diode dynamics but the numbers (specs) were more favorable to the morimotos. The Morimotos did blow the stock housings with halogen and Morimoto XB 3.0 LED bulbs in stock housing as well as Alfarex LED housings out of the water just about everywhere.

Diodes MAX Fogs pull a max of 38.5w at 3amps with 4 Osram Boost HX chips for $620
Morimoto HXB (max) pull 42w and 3.2amps (actually tested and pulled 47.8w and 3.65amps) with only 3 Osram Boost HX chips for $580 and I picked them up for $493 on sale for BF (Diode had a similar $100 off sale at the same time).

Diode Max Wide Candela = 18,000 cd
Morimoto HXB Wide Candela = 22,400 cd (+4,400 over Diode)

Diode Warranty = 8 years
Morimoto Warranty = Limited Lifetime

 

[Cableman]

Best or easiest? Easiest would be Morimoto XB LED projector headlights, great warranty, high performance and plug and play. Best (performance) I still feel is stock projector housing retrotfitted with FXR 3.0 or DS5 projectors with D2S 50w morimoto elite HID system. I did this 8 years ago (before LED assembly options even existed) and you still can't really touch them. THe morimoto XBs are getting there though. What I don't like about all these LED housings is that they are a NON SERVICEABLE headlight... so if an LED low beam goes out or High beam your SOL. Then have to go through a warranty process if still available. Then you have a higher replacement cost as well. You can swap the projectors in your stock headlights for less than $400 and thats including the HID kit (you will need a RAM specific harness or ALFAOBD to reprogram). At least with the stock housing and projector swap your getting best projector quality and output in a OEM housing and you can still replace the bulbs for HID low beam and high beam. All the headlights that you see that are less than $1k won't last long and usually its DRL/turn signal issues first but your also stuck using the cheap chinese generic projectors in a H11 or H7 style bulb format.

FWIW i have my factory 2014 blacked out stock retrofitted projector headlights on my 2018 laramie using the same bulbs and 50w morimoto elite ballasts and the only issue I've had is the Ram specific Harnesses with either relays failing (you can swap them out with higher quality easily) or the resistors randomly failing. But they are all plug and play fixes.

So if I just wanna swap the projector housing for my stock projectors, these things fit in relatively easy? Does alfaobd eliminate the relays and what not? Who makes fxr 3.0?

 

[blackbetty14]

So if I just wanna swap the projector housing for my stock projectors, these things fit in relatively easy? Does alfaobd eliminate the relays and what not? Who makes fxr 3.0?

You get the bolt in kit which provides the projector, brackets and hardware at minimum. Additional things you should purchase would be the butyl sealing rope (sold at the same place as the kit) and to make your life easier get the permaseal remover stuff that eats it. You bake the headlight at like 270*F for 10 min or so and pry off the lense of headlight... might and will take a few reheats (less time as its up to temp) untill you get it off. Then unbolt the stock projector and bolt in the new projector with bracket. Clean up the channel around the headlight and apply the butyl rope sealant in the channel. Heat it up in the oven and press the lense back on. Thats basically it and this is the downplaying how much work it is description. Took me about 4 hrs I think to do it fully start to finish but this was before they had the permaseal eating stuff they sell in a can. Permaseal is permanent sealant and its a HUGE PITA to get undone once its cured. The good news is the butyl will be easier to heat and remove the lense if you need to down the road for repairs or to swap out the turn signal board. If your planning to do switch backs or something in the OE turnsignals now is the time when you got it apart the 1st time lol. Hardest part is getting the lense off without breaking it and getting the old sealant out.

ALFOOBD has settings for HID and LED for the headlights/fogs/highs so you can change it and probably you wont need a relay harnesses, decoders, resistors and all that jazz. Would make a huge difference in work and some cost if it worked. I've heard it does and sometimes doesn't always work... depends on the vehicle and the system/brand gear your running. I would say a 35w HID kit would work fine with the factory wiring as the amp pull is lower or about as much as stock. But a 50w+ HID would require upgraded wiring and thats why I like the HID harness. You could still run the harness and program for HID/LED and just let the relay harness carry the load perhaps. A good 50w HID will pull 5+ amps on startup but mellow out to around 4 amps running.

FXR 3.0 is just the type of projector... its a FXR, 3.0 is the lense size they also have a 2.5" lense size. Looks like kit costs have gone up lol but $600 gets you everything you need these days, D2S 5.0 projectors, brackets, HID harness, sealant... all you need is the permaseal remover. If anything the D2S 5.0 projector is on part with the FXR 3.0 and probably has a better hot spot. https://www.theretrofitsource.com/2013-2018-ram-projector-upgrade-headlight-package?quantity=1

Permaseal eater: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/morimoto-permatrator-solution-for-permaseal-B-PERMA?quantity=1

FYI I see they have an option for there Bixenon LED projector retrofit... that would be pretty good too but your SOL if the LED's take a dump.

 

[Cableman]

You get the bolt in kit which provides the projector, brackets and hardware at minimum. Additional things you should purchase would be the butyl sealing rope (sold at the same place as the kit) and to make your life easier get the permaseal remover stuff that eats it. You bake the headlight at like 270*F for 10 min or so and pry off the lense of headlight... might and will take a few reheats (less time as its up to temp) untill you get it off. Then unbolt the stock projector and bolt in the new projector with bracket. Clean up the channel around the headlight and apply the butyl rope sealant in the channel. Heat it up in the oven and press the lense back on. Thats basically it and this is the downplaying how much work it is description. Took me about 4 hrs I think to do it fully start to finish but this was before they had the permaseal eating stuff they sell in a can. Permaseal is permanent sealant and its a HUGE PITA to get undone once its cured. The good news is the butyl will be easier to heat and remove the lense if you need to down the road for repairs or to swap out the turn signal board. If your planning to do switch backs or something in the OE turnsignals now is the time when you got it apart the 1st time lol. Hardest part is getting the lense off without breaking it and getting the old sealant out.

ALFOOBD has settings for HID and LED for the headlights/fogs/highs so you can change it and probably you wont need a relay harnesses, decoders, resistors and all that jazz. Would make a huge difference in work and some cost if it worked. I've heard it does and sometimes doesn't always work... depends on the vehicle and the system/brand gear your running. I would say a 35w HID kit would work fine with the factory wiring as the amp pull is lower or about as much as stock. But a 50w+ HID would require upgraded wiring and thats why I like the HID harness. You could still run the harness and program for HID/LED and just let the relay harness carry the load perhaps. A good 50w HID will pull 5+ amps on startup but mellow out to around 4 amps running.

FXR 3.0 is just the type of projector... its a FXR, 3.0 is the lense size they also have a 2.5" lense size. Looks like kit costs have gone up lol but $600 gets you everything you need these days, D2S 5.0 projectors, brackets, HID harness, sealant... all you need is the permaseal remover. If anything the D2S 5.0 projector is on part with the FXR 3.0 and probably has a better hot spot. https://www.theretrofitsource.com/2013-2018-ram-projector-upgrade-headlight-package?quantity=1

Permaseal eater: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/morimoto-permatrator-solution-for-permaseal-B-PERMA?quantity=1

FYI I see they have an option for there Bixenon LED projector retrofit... that would be pretty good too but your SOL if the LED's take a dump.

Would be nice not having to separate the lens and just pulling stock projector out!

I do have my settings on hid now from the last time i had hid bulbs in stockers. Are these housing and bulbs just that much better then just sticking an hid setup in stock housing? Do they last longer?

Kit comes with all relays? If not used what wires need upgrading, main input plug wires?

Got 2 years + out of my lumibright led 9005s, not sure which direction i wanna go this time, would be nice to find a pair of stocks to open up and not rush to finish

 

[blackbetty14]

Would be nice not having to separate the lens and just pulling stock projector out!

I do have my settings on hid now from the last time i had hid bulbs in stockers. Are these housing and bulbs just that much better the just sticking an hid setup in stock housing? Do they last longer?

Kit comes with all relays? If not used what wires need upgrading, main input plug wires?

Got 2 years + out of my lumibright led 9005s, not sure which direction i wanna go this time, would be nice to find a pair of stocks to open up and not rush to finish

The projector upgrades are a hug difference, you tell me what you think from the below shots. Its hard to say how much as I've had these for 8 years but my wife just got a new Jeep Wagoneer with the LED headlights and Mine are still steps above those. Cutoff is clean crisp, wide and uniform light output and the D2S bulb/housings are SAFE to run 50w HIDs. You can and will eventually get chrome Bowl burn with projectors that are not rated for 50w HID. A 35w HID is safe in most if not all projectors but a 50w is a big bump in output and heat.

Correct the 2015+ Mopar Ram Specific harness is plug and play... all you need to go is hook up battery power, ground is done at the driver fender at the stock ground point. I used a fuse panel tapped off the main fuse/relay block under the hood. Then its just making the connections, routing the pre terminated wire and mounting the relays/resistors. Honestly the only part that has failed on my harness as the relays which I swap out with higher end 40ampers from fastronix.

You could probably find used stock projector lights from people who have upgraded to LED drop in housings.

FXR 3.0


D2S 5.0


Stock Projector 55w HID

 

[1 MEAN66]

I think the first thing you should do is Research!!! All of us here know what we wanted, and chose a light to try and get that accomplished. By research I mean the purpose of each bulb style, the lens that the bulb sits behind and the housing that houses it all. Everything will make a difference. "fog" lights have bee around since the 30's as options and aftermarket. Cars had only been around a bit. Originally you had to get out and use a match to light them! By the 30's not many if any were even "sealed" beams. Look at any pictures and they were all mounted very high on the vehicles. This was FABULOUS for the day. A 'fog" light was added - back then all were amber and mounted much lower usually at bumper level. They were, again, a big improvement! That term has stuck around a long time!!! In todays lighting 'Fog" lights are not that great. The beam of light leaving the assembly is, of course, modern bulbs. The beam however can almost blind the operator in actual fog. Most are a 30-35 degree beam. That means the light leaves the housing and goes - right, left, up, and down that many degrees. AND THAT is up into the fog, snow, sleet, or rain. Go out on a real foggy day and hit your high beams you will see less than with your lows. I called, talked to, and looked up lots of "stuff" about vehicle lighting. As a result have change almost all the lighting on our vehicles (cars, trucks, & motorcycles).I chose to get "driving" lights and mount them as low as possible. Also got a set that I could adjust the beam up, down, right, or left. Most driving lights only have a 6-8 degree beam. My lights lenses are just 17.5 inches off the road. Sometimes company's use the term wide for a "fog" type beam & narrow for a "driving light beam. I went to "Diode Dynamics" Got a set of there 6inch light bar aux. light kits item/part no. R110925 ( they also make same light in a wide/fog beam). Measured output 1400 lumens & 6000K color for either one. BUT!!!! the difference in what they light is amazing. Wide/fog 230 meters - Narrow/Driving 470 meters. Same bulb just different lens & housing internals. On my 16 Tradesman they mount in the open part of the bumper near the plate. Lots of info on line about them. They come with lamp assemblies, wiring harness, mounting bracket, and a package of "stuff" to universally mount where you want. Worth a look see, if nothing else how easy they are to mount. Lots of videos. They did what I wanted and since mounting have only gotten two vehicles to flash at me.
PS; I have never done anything with my vehicle standard lighting, Personally I believe they are to high off the ground to get the results I am after. I want to light the road/path I am taking, not the sky around me.

 

[danielmid]

You get the bolt in kit which provides the projector, brackets and hardware at minimum. Additional things you should purchase would be the butyl sealing rope (sold at the same place as the kit) and to make your life easier get the permaseal remover stuff that eats it. You bake the headlight at like 270*F for 10 min or so and pry off the lense of headlight... might and will take a few reheats (less time as its up to temp) untill you get it off. Then unbolt the stock projector and bolt in the new projector with bracket. Clean up the channel around the headlight and apply the butyl rope sealant in the channel. Heat it up in the oven and press the lense back on. Thats basically it and this is the downplaying how much work it is description. Took me about 4 hrs I think to do it fully start to finish but this was before they had the permaseal eating stuff they sell in a can. Permaseal is permanent sealant and its a HUGE PITA to get undone once its cured. The good news is the butyl will be easier to heat and remove the lense if you need to down the road for repairs or to swap out the turn signal board. If your planning to do switch backs or something in the OE turnsignals now is the time when you got it apart the 1st time lol. Hardest part is getting the lense off without breaking it and getting the old sealant out.

ALFOOBD has settings for HID and LED for the headlights/fogs/highs so you can change it and probably you wont need a relay harnesses, decoders, resistors and all that jazz. Would make a huge difference in work and some cost if it worked. I've heard it does and sometimes doesn't always work... depends on the vehicle and the system/brand gear your running. I would say a 35w HID kit would work fine with the factory wiring as the amp pull is lower or about as much as stock. But a 50w+ HID would require upgraded wiring and thats why I like the HID harness. You could still run the harness and program for HID/LED and just let the relay harness carry the load perhaps. A good 50w HID will pull 5+ amps on startup but mellow out to around 4 amps running.

FXR 3.0 is just the type of projector... its a FXR, 3.0 is the lense size they also have a 2.5" lense size. Looks like kit costs have gone up lol but $600 gets you everything you need these days, D2S 5.0 projectors, brackets, HID harness, sealant... all you need is the permaseal remover. If anything the D2S 5.0 projector is on part with the FXR 3.0 and probably has a better hot spot. https://www.theretrofitsource.com/2013-2018-ram-projector-upgrade-headlight-package?quantity=1

Permaseal eater: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/morimoto-permatrator-solution-for-permaseal-B-PERMA?quantity=1

FYI I see they have an option for there Bixenon LED projector retrofit... that would be pretty good too but your SOL if the LED's take a dump.

Well I was pretty set on the XBs for my next lighting upgrade but now I'm thinking about baking some headlights instead for the MLED conversion. Thanks for the options here.

 

[Cableman]

Best or easiest? Easiest would be Morimoto XB LED projector headlights, great warranty, high performance and plug and play. Best (performance) I still feel is stock projector housing retrotfitted with FXR 3.0 or DS5 projectors with D2S 50w morimoto elite HID system. I did this 8 years ago (before LED assembly options even existed) and you still can't really touch them. THe morimoto XBs are getting there though. What I don't like about all these LED housings is that they are a NON SERVICEABLE headlight... so if an LED low beam goes out or High beam your SOL. Then have to go through a warranty process if still available. Then you have a higher replacement cost as well. You can swap the projectors in your stock headlights for less than $400 and thats including the HID kit (you will need a RAM specific harness or ALFAOBD to reprogram). At least with the stock housing and projector swap your getting best projector quality and output in a OEM housing and you can still replace the bulbs for HID low beam and high beam. All the headlights that you see that are less than $1k won't last long and usually its DRL/turn signal issues first but your also stuck using the cheap chinese generic projectors in a H11 or H7 style bulb format.

FWIW i have my factory 2014 blacked out stock retrofitted projector headlights on my 2018 laramie using the same bulbs and 50w morimoto elite ballasts and the only issue I've had is the Ram specific Harnesses with either relays failing (you can swap them out with higher quality easily) or the resistors randomly failing. But they are all plug and play fixes.

How do these look spec wise? Wonder how long the leds would last.

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / RAM 2500/3500 10-18 FULL LED PROJECTOR PLANK STYLE BLACK HEADLIGHTS W/ INITIATION & SEQUENTIAL SIGNAL (FOR ALL MODELS)

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / RAM 2500/3500 10-18 FULL LED PROJECTOR PLANK STYLE BLACK HEADLIGHTS W/ INITIATION & SEQUENTIAL SIGNAL (FOR ALL MODELS)

www.anzousa.com

Could these be retrofitted like yours?

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / 2500/3500 10-18 PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS GLOSS BLACK CLEAR LENS W/ SEQUENTIAL SIGNAL (FOR ALL MODELS)

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / 2500/3500 10-18 PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS GLOSS BLACK CLEAR LENS W/ SEQUENTIAL SIGNAL (FOR ALL MODELS)

www.anzousa.com

 

[blackbetty14]

How do these look spec wise? Wonder how long the leds would last.

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / RAM 2500/3500 10-18 FULL LED PROJECTOR PLANK STYLE BLACK HEADLIGHTS W/ INITIATION & SEQUENTIAL SIGNAL (FOR ALL MODELS)

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / RAM 2500/3500 10-18 FULL LED PROJECTOR PLANK STYLE BLACK HEADLIGHTS W/ INITIATION & SEQUENTIAL SIGNAL (FOR ALL MODELS)

www.anzousa.com

Could these be retrofitted like yours?

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / 2500/3500 10-18 PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS GLOSS BLACK CLEAR LENS W/ SEQUENTIAL SIGNAL (FOR ALL MODELS)

DODGE RAM 1500 09-18 / 2500/3500 10-18 PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS GLOSS BLACK CLEAR LENS W/ SEQUENTIAL SIGNAL (FOR ALL MODELS)

www.anzousa.com

You pay for what you get. I’ve seen alot of threads of LEDs out after a month or so. They are also H9 low beam bulbs so they are halogen projectors and likely less performance than a stock sport projector.

For retrofitting I doubt it, the morimoto kits are based around the stock projector which is pretty large and a specific design. These probably have generic H9 halogen projectors and low quality at that. So you might be able to do a MH1 8.0 projector swap due to the bulbs size but to fit a larger D2S projector would likely require a lot of mods due to the size of the back projector. However without seeing the inside of these lights I can’t say for sure. For me the turnoff would always be LED quality bc once they go out the headlight is useless and you can’t get replacement quality boards for these. You can projector swap anything with enough time, money or mechanical ability.

 

[Jwithing]

Best or easiest? Easiest would be Morimoto XB LED projector headlights, great warranty, high performance and plug and play. Best (performance) I still feel is stock projector housing retrotfitted with FXR 3.0 or DS5 projectors with D2S 50w morimoto elite HID system. I did this 8 years ago (before LED assembly options even existed) and you still can't really touch them. THe morimoto XBs are getting there though. What I don't like about all these LED housings is that they are a NON SERVICEABLE headlight... so if an LED low beam goes out or High beam your SOL. Then have to go through a warranty process if still available. Then you have a higher replacement cost as well. You can swap the projectors in your stock headlights for less than $400 and thats including the HID kit (you will need a RAM specific harness or ALFAOBD to reprogram). At least with the stock housing and projector swap your getting best projector quality and output in a OEM housing and you can still replace the bulbs for HID low beam and high beam. All the headlights that you see that are less than $1k won't last long and usually its DRL/turn signal issues first but your also stuck using the cheap chinese generic projectors in a H11 or H7 style bulb format.

FWIW i have my factory 2014 blacked out stock retrofitted projector headlights on my 2018 laramie using the same bulbs and 50w morimoto elite ballasts and the only issue I've had is the Ram specific Harnesses with either relays failing (you can swap them out with higher quality easily) or the resistors randomly failing. But they are all plug and play fixes.

This. Best advice here.

I also have the FXR projectors retrofitted on my blacked out 2015 ram 1500 headlights from Jeremy @retroshop. Jeremy recommended the FXR over other projectors. Hard to beat. Super bright and perfect cutoff to not blind other vehicles. One of my favorite mods, now 6+ years old. New vehicles are starting to get nearly as bright but years ago, no headlights touched mine and would light up 5 lanes of highway at night.

 

[16WhiteQC]

Stock projectors with morimoto 55w hid kit (55K) was amazing output.

Retrofit (by Jeremy) with DS2 5.0 projectors and 55w hid's (6K) absolutely amazing output.

Honestly I did the retrofit for clear corners and Amber demon eyes, if I was strapped for cash I would have kept the 55W HID's in the stock projectors and been happy.

 

[bretthays]

I have owned a number of retrofit HID headlights over the years but my Alpharex Luxx series are by far my favorite I’ve ever had.

 

[Ramv]

Good thread. I'm comparing the Novas, XBs and GTR's but the Anzo look interesting too. Good news on the 4banger fog lights, they look really amazing and $200 cheaper than the Baja Designs kit.

 

[16WhiteQC]

Back to black projectors with upgrades from RetroShop

Ended up with chrome projectors a few years back after hitting a deer @ 2,000 miles with my new truck due to the black ones being back ordered at the time. I liked the change at first but the storm trooper look kept calling me. After wanting to upgraded my headlights for the past (2) years I...

www.ramforum.com

I added some pics to my thread

 

[DesertRoads]

Looks like a lot of really great options out there for headlights. My reflector housing is the first thing to go on my 2015 Big Horn. The light output is dismal, and the options for projectors with HID or LED seem like a good bet.