Hikari Ultra LED low beam projector review.. With Firewire Highs & Fogs (fail)

[Dantra]

Save some reading.. Hikari Lows and Fogs pictured on page 4

Figured I'd give some LEDs a shot in my projectors and ended up deciding on Hikari Ultra LEDs after reading an impressive review on bulbfacts.com. I also wanted to support a local shop and try their Firewire LEDs. When comparing the 2 mfrs side by side there's no comparison..

Hikari Is impressive. Better fan and cooling design, lower profile and came with drivers. They seated nicely into the housing and are completely clockable.. The base ring can be turned and and if it won't turn enough just twist off and put back on in a new position I clocked one side at 9/3 and the other at 3/9 . Power cord is 6 o'clock. Seemed to make no difference.

The Firewire LEDs came off as flimsy, poor cooling design, crazy size and did not seat well into the housing.. Felt loose. The fire wires were so big that I couldn't even get them into the high beam socket. Tried them. In the low and they wouldn't even power on. Wouldn't power on in the fogs either. On top of that.. They cost more! I really wanted to support locally but considering these factors, they'll be going back and I'll order a set set of of another brand off Amazon. Gotta read up first on reflector style reviews.

Below are some pics.. You'll figure them out. A before shot, Some are comparison shots, one of side by side of halogen VS led and then some road shots. A few with or without halogen fogs on.. You'll be able to tell. You'll notice that when the led lights are shined onto drywall that there is a dark void on the bottom side but the upper cut off is crisp. The void isn't super noticeable on the road and it I'll improve with proper fogs I didn't have to adjust anything. The best test will be driving to work in the morning.. Dark highway cruise. I'll be back with some shots tomorrow and in another few days with additional led highs and fogs.

 

[Dantra]

More Pics

 

[Dantra]

Few more

 

[JoeCo]

Thanks for the update, and for tomorrow's as well after your real world test drive. I'm tempted to go with the Hikari's for the lows and highs in my projectors. Cant remember if you've ever had hid's before in the projector, but if so, how do these compare? They certainly look bright enough.

I'm also looking into options for lows and highs for my girlfriend's 18 Jetta, which has reflective housing headlights. I want to go led's for the same reasons in her car (long term reliability), wondering if you have any thoughts on these Hikari leds in that type of headlight?

 

[Dantra]

Thanks for the update, and for tomorrow's as well after your real world test drive. I'm tempted to go with the Hikari's for the lows and highs in my projectors. Cant remember if you've ever had hid's before in the projector, but if so, how do these compare? They certainly look bright enough.

I'm also looking into options for lows and highs for my girlfriend's 18 Jetta, which has reflective housing headlights. I want to go led's for the same reasons in her car (long term reliability), wondering if you have any thoughts on these Hikari leds in that type of headlight?

I sir, am no expert on auto lighting haha. I've never had HIDs before and just like alot of guys, I'm trying to find simple solution. Would HIDs be brighter? I'm gonna say yes but I don't need all the headaches. I didn't get high beamed once on the way to work this morning but I don't have LED fogs yet.

As for you gf car.. Look at bulbfacts.com and find what's best in the type of headlight she has (reflector or projector) , high, low and fogs are rated for each bulb as well. And then there are 6 tiers of price range.. If you don't mind spending a hundy on the gf car, ddm and Hikari are impressive reviews for reflector headlights. Take note that the ddms are not clock able tho. They make it pretty simple to decide and they have no loyalties towards any one brand. And neither do I so I'll probably just grab a set Nineo Gen II 9005 for my highs and Save a few bucks but stick with Hikari 9006 for fogs. I may slip one of the Nineo bulbs in the low beam side and see how it compares to the Hikari...

If you do go with Hikari, remember to enter the code to save 10% . It's BULBFACT

 

[Dantra]

Yesterday VS Today

 

[Dantra]

Yesterday VS Today on highway. Had a little fog yesterday. One thing I'm noticing in the before pics is just how much work the fogs are doing. Can't wait to get some good bulbs in there!

 

[JoeCo]

I sir, am no expert on auto lighting haha. I've never had HIDs before and just like alot of guys, I'm trying to find simple solution. Would HIDs be brighter? I'm gonna say yes but I don't need all the headaches. I didn't get high beamed once on the way to work this morning but I don't have LED fogs yet.

As for you gf car.. Look at bulbfacts.com and find what's best in the type of headlight she has (reflector or projector) , high, low and fogs are rated for each bulb as well. And then there are 6 tiers of price range.. If you don't mind spending a hundy on the gf car, ddm and Hikari are impressive reviews for reflector headlights. Take note that the ddms are not clock able tho. They make it pretty simple to decide and they have no loyalties towards any one brand. And neither do I so I'll probably just grab a set Nineo Gen II 9005 for my highs and Save a few bucks but stick with Hikari 9006 for fogs. I may slip one of the Nineo bulbs in the low beam side and see how it compares to the Hikari...

If you do go with Hikari, remember to enter the code to save 10% . It's BULBFACT

Thanks again for the good information, I'll have to check out their website in regards to the gf's car. In terms of the blackout area for the hikari's in the projectors, do you think the fog lights make up for most of that blackout area? I didn't notice it too much in the pictures of it on the road but it was pretty clear against the drywall, I'm wondering what the drywall would look like with the hikari's in the projectors and with the fog lights on? It's definitely tempting, I've never had Hid's hold up too long whether it was a cheap kit or more expensive, and I hate having reliability issues with headlights. So I would sacrifice a little in performance to hopefully gain long term reliability.

I would love to find one brand LED to use to switch both of our lows/highs out with, don't mind spending a little more to do that with higher quality product at all so I may just go this route. And thanks for that discount code as well!

 

[Dantra]

In terms of the blackout area for the hikari's in the projectors, do you think the fog lights make up for most of that blackout area? I didn't notice it too much in the pictures of it on the road but it was pretty clear against the drywall, I'm wondering what the drywall would look like with the hikari's in the projectors and with the fog lights on? It's definitely tempting, I've never had Hid's hold up too long whether it was a cheap kit or more expensive, and I hate having reliability issues with headlights. So I would sacrifice a little in performance to hopefully gain long term reliability.

I would love to find one brand LED to use to switch both of our lows/highs out with, don't mind spending a little more to do that with higher quality product at all so I may just go this route. And thanks for that discount code as well!

Thanks again for the good information, I'll have to check out their website in regards to the gf's car. In terms of the blackout area for the hikari's in the projectors, do you think the fog lights make up for most of that blackout area? I didn't notice it too much in the pictures of it on the road but it was pretty clear against the drywall, I'm wondering what the drywall would look like with the hikari's in the projectors and with the fog lights on? It's definitely temptingQUOTE]

Thanks again for the good information, I'll have to check out their website in regards to the gf's car. In terms of the blackout area for the hikari's in the projectors, do you think the fog lights make up for most of that blackout area? I didn't notice it too much in the pictures of it on the road but it was pretty clear against the drywall, I'm wondering what the drywall would look like with the hikari's in the projectors and with the fog lights on?!

Thanks again for the good information, I'll have to check out their website in regards to the gf's car. In terms of the blackout area for the hikari's in the projectors, do you think the fog lights make up for most of that blackout area? I didn't notice it too much in the pictures of it on the road but it was pretty clear against the drywall, I'm wondering what the drywall would look like with the hikari's in the projectors and with the fog lights on? It's definitely tempting, I've never had Hid's hold up too long whether it was a cheap kit or more expensive, and I hate having reliability issues with headlights. So I would sacrifice a little in performance to hopefully gain long term reliability.

I would love to find one brand LED to use to switch both of our lows/highs out with, don't mind spending a little more to do that with higher quality product at all so I may just go this route. And thanks for that discount code as well!

The dark spots are probably more pronounced on the drywall because I was only maybe 8' away. I don't really notice while driving but adding Leds to the fogs is really going to light it up good in front of the bumper. My fogs will be here tomorrow and my highs on Friday.

 

[JoeCo]

The dark spots are probably more pronounced on the drywall because I was only maybe 8' away. I don't really notice while driving but adding Leds to the fogs is really going to light it up good in front of the bumper. My fogs will be here tomorrow and my highs on Friday.

Yeah I'm sure adding the fogs will make a big difference as well. I'm currently running the stock halogens in the projectors with led in the fogs (from my last truck, had hids in those projectors but they were starting to have issues so I traded those with the truck) and the led fogs are far more effective than my headlights. Seems like they do most of the lighting themselves.

 

[Cableman]

JoeCo, what hids did you have in last truck?

 

[OnSale]

Yeah I'm sure adding the fogs will make a big difference as well. I'm currently running the stock halogens in the projectors with led in the fogs (from my last truck, had hids in those projectors but they were starting to have issues so I traded those with the truck) and the led fogs are far more effective than my headlights. Seems like they do most of the lighting themselves.

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve had a pair of $40 Amazon led bulbs in my fog lights for 3 years now and I swear, I could drive without my lows or highs and just my dogs, they are so bright and they have such a long distance down the road.

Ram sure did a sh*tty job with the oem headlights in these trucks, they are horrible from the factory. But, they did get the fog lights right as they are super powerful once you put a pair of led bulbs into them.


BTW I am running a pair of CougarMotor Bulbs in my fogs, but they are now discontinued as I bought them years ago. They cost me $40 and they are the same identical bulbs that xenondepot sold for $140 lmao. Identical. Anyways I modified them as they are 9005’s, I trimmed the tabs to fit them into the 9145 bulb socket, because 9145 is a lower lumen bulb due to it being a fog light whereas the 9005 is a more powerful bulb meant for low and high beams, so it’s super bright in my fogs. I’ve never once been flashed with any of my lighting setups, and that includes Morimoto MLED projectors and high quality Morimoto projector/HID combos.


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[JoeCo]

JoeCo, what hids did you have in last truck?

In my last truck (13 ram, projectors) I had a set from retro shop, and that lasted trouble free for a few years. The one issue I started having after those few years was, occasionally if I hit a bump really hard, the left hid would go out. I could pull over, shut the truck off, let it cycle fully off, then restart and the light would be back on. Not the biggest deal but still can be a pain in the northeast, with roads riddled with potholes. I'm sure you're familiar with the constant bobbing and weaving required in this part of the country while driving, but every once in a while ya still end up nailing one.

On my truck before that (11 ram, quad, reflective) I had a cheap set from amazon. Those lasted maybe a year before having issues, and the issues were more frequent and problematic. Also the left hid in this case, would randomly go out and be out until it wanted to turn back on randomly at a later time. Obviously that was a much bigger deal.

That being said the performance of them are great, and definitely better out of the projectors for other drivers sake(glare). I also think the ballasts just don't hold up well in this part of the country, like a lot of other things. I've seen factory hid's hold up for a lot longer, but I'm assuming those have the ballast contained (and better protected) within the headlight housing.

I've never touched the high beams on my prior trucks as I used my light bar as high beams when needed. Having an issue as my 17 longhorn doesn't have the same bumper to mount the light bar in, so thinking I might as well upgrade the high beams to leds while I'm doing the low beams. And maybe I can figure the light bar situation out some day.

Edit: Also just wanted to say I dealt with Jeremy at retro shop, and anytime I did have an issue that I brought to him, he was extremely helpful and went more than the extra mile for me. So I would definitely recommend him to people still, I'm just looking to take it a little different route this time due to how many I'll be buying between 2 cars.

 

[JoeCo]

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve had a pair of $40 Amazon led bulbs in my fog lights for 3 years now and I swear, I could drive without my lows or highs and just my dogs, they are so bright and they have such a long distance down the road.

Ram sure did a sh*tty job with the oem headlights in these trucks, they are horrible from the factory. But, they did get the fog lights right as they are super powerful once you put a pair of led bulbs into them.


BTW I am running a pair of CougarMotor Bulbs in my fogs, but they are now discontinued as I bought them years ago. They cost me $40 and they are the same identical bulbs that xenondepot sold for $140 lmao. Identical. Anyways I modified them as they are 9005’s, I trimmed the tabs to fit them into the 9145 bulb socket, because 9145 is a lower lumen bulb due to it being a fog light whereas the 9005 is a more powerful bulb meant for low and high beams, so it’s super bright in my fogs. I’ve never once been flashed with any of my lighting setups, and that includes Morimoto MLED projectors and high quality Morimoto projector/HID combos.


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Yeah it's an interesting and disappointing corner to cut, glad to see they've stopped doing that with the 5th gens at least. To put a decent projector in the truck and then pop halogens in it, very disappointing to say the least. Definitely is nice to at a minimum have the fogs for now, it's laughable when I turn them off to check out what it's like with just the headlights, the fogs really are doing all the heavy lifting.

I will have to keep that in mind regarding the fogs, hard to know whats legit or what isn't out there at these price points. I'm happy with my current ones, but I'm actually real tempted to switch those out with the ones that you can switch from yellow for fog back to the 6000k. Love having the matching look, but also be able to switch to yellow for snow or fog.

 

[OnSale]

Yeah it's an interesting and disappointing corner to cut, glad to see they've stopped doing that with the 5th gens at least. To put a decent projector in the truck and then pop halogens in it, very disappointing to say the least. Definitely is nice to at a minimum have the fogs for now, it's laughable when I turn them off to check out what it's like with just the headlights, the fogs really are doing all the heavy lifting.

I will have to keep that in mind regarding the fogs, hard to know whats legit or what isn't out there at these price points. I'm happy with my current ones, but I'm actually real tempted to switch those out with the ones that you can switch from yellow for fog back to the 6000k. Love having the matching look, but also be able to switch to yellow for snow or fog.

Those are a cheap gimmick and break after a few uses. I’ve read nothing but poor reviews.

As for inadequate headlights, if you ever want a proper retrofit, hit me up. I build tons of lights including retrofitting the AlphaRex lights, or any other aftermarket light.


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[JoeCo]

Those are a cheap gimmick and break after a few uses. I’ve read nothing but poor reviews.

As for inadequate headlights, if you ever want a proper retrofit, hit me up. I build tons of lights including retrofitting the AlphaRex lights, or any other aftermarket light.


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Lol well that's a little disappointing to hear. Maybe I'll wait to see if they improve since I already have good fogs in there. And thanks I will keep that in mind, currently I'm still recovering from a recent two week vacation we had in California, not much is cheap there. Kind of another reason I was thinking of just swapping everything with leds this time, aside from hopefully better long term reliability, maybe a little cheaper too. I really do like some of the headlights I've seen you post though, if I wanted to drop the money I definitely know which style I would go with.

I really like this style housing shown on the passenger side, think I saw you post some like this earlier:

 

[OnSale]

Lol well that's a little disappointing to hear. Maybe I'll wait to see if they improve since I already have good fogs in there. And thanks I will keep that in mind, currently I'm still recovering from a recent two week vacation we had in California, not much is cheap there. Kind of another reason I was thinking of just swapping everything with leds this time, aside from hopefully better long term reliability, maybe a little cheaper too. I really do like some of the headlights I've seen you post though, if I wanted to drop the money I definitely know which style I would go with.

I really like this style housing shown on the passenger side, think I saw you post some like this earlier:
View attachment 182907

Those are the Morimoto XB LED Projector Headlights and they cost $1350 brand new.

The ones I posted are a “replica” made by a company called AlphaRex, and they are also sold under another name ( ModifyStreet ) but AlphaRex is the actual Manufacturer of them. These start at around $280 for the flat black and chrome ones and go all the way upto $480 for the gloss black model with sequential turn signals.

Here are pictures to highlight the differences.

Morimoto XB: $1350-$1400


AlphaRex ModifyStreet: $280-$480 (price Varys with different finishes and features)


I have had a lot of people who want to buy the AlphaRex lights and then retrofit them with real Morimoto projectors, and swap out some of the led boards for better ones because the AlphaRex are cheaper to buy, and the Morimoto XB headlights are expensive and many, many... MANY forum members on here have had continuous issues with these lights for the last 6+ months, they have been a disaster.


So in short, your best bet is to either buy the AlphaRex ones and throw in a decent HID kit, like the Morimoto HID Kit. Or you can buy the AlphaRex lights and open them up and swap the projectors for better ones. All of those options would still cost less then buying the Morimoto XB Lights.


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[OnSale]

Lol well that's a little disappointing to hear. Maybe I'll wait to see if they improve since I already have good fogs in there. And thanks I will keep that in mind, currently I'm still recovering from a recent two week vacation we had in California, not much is cheap there. Kind of another reason I was thinking of just swapping everything with leds this time, aside from hopefully better long term reliability, maybe a little cheaper too. I really do like some of the headlights I've seen you post though, if I wanted to drop the money I definitely know which style I would go with.

I really like this style housing shown on the passenger side, think I saw you post some like this earlier:
View attachment 182907

If you ever have lighting questions or need help with wiring or ideas or anything, feel free to PM me on here. I don’t mind helping fellow members out, I’ve helped tons of people over the last few months with all sorts of lighting issues and questions or just my opinion on products, as I’ve personally tested almost all of the lighting products available for our trucks.


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[JoeCo]

Those are the Morimoto XB LED Projector Headlights and they cost $1350 brand new.

The ones I posted are a “replica” made by a company called AlphaRex, and they are also sold under another name ( ModifyStreet ) but AlphaRex is the actual Manufacturer of them. These start at around $280 for the flat black and chrome ones and go all the way upto $480 for the gloss black model with sequential turn signals.

Here are pictures to highlight the differences.

Morimoto XB: $1350-$1400


AlphaRex ModifyStreet: $280-$480 (price Varys with different finishes and features)


I have had a lot of people who want to buy the AlphaRex lights and then retrofit them with real Morimoto projectors, and swap out some of the led boards for better ones because the AlphaRex are cheaper to buy, and the Morimoto XB headlights are expensive and many, many... MANY forum members on here have had continuous issues with these lights for the last 6+ months, they have been a disaster.


So in short, your best bet is to either buy the AlphaRex ones and throw in a decent HID kit, like the Morimoto HID Kit. Or you can buy the AlphaRex lights and open them up and swap the projectors for better ones. All of those options would still cost less then buying the Morimoto XB Lights.


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If you ever have lighting questions or need help with wiring or ideas or anything, feel free to PM me on here. I don’t mind helping fellow members out, I’ve helped tons of people over the last few months with all sorts of lighting issues and questions or just my opinion on products, as I’ve personally tested almost all of the lighting products available for our trucks.


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I was wondering about the cheaper ones, had seen some on ebay but wasn't sure about the details. Thanks for all the info on them, I would love to do them someday, but also have a habit of not keeping trucks for very long. And thanks for offering your help in the future as well, I will certainly keep that in mind if we run into any issues with whatever I end up going with, and greatly appreciate the offer.

What's your opinion on going with an LED in the stock projector vs going with the hid? I've mostly heard that hid's are better for that specific application, but for this time around I really want to give them a shot and am ok with them being a little less in performance, but don't want them to be that much different from the hid's performance.

 

[OnSale]

I was wondering about the cheaper ones, had seen some on ebay but wasn't sure about the details. Thanks for all the info on them, I would love to do them someday, but also have a habit of not keeping trucks for very long. And thanks for offering your help in the future as well, I will certainly keep that in mind if we run into any issues with whatever I end up going with, and greatly appreciate the offer.

What's your opinion on going with an LED in the stock projector vs going with the hid? I've mostly heard that hid's are better for that specific application, but for this time around I really want to give them a shot and am ok with them being a little less in performance, but don't want them to be that much different from the hid's performance.

There are quite a few LED’s that current forum members are running in the stock oem Ram projectors. I’m not too sure which brands as usually if I’m building lights for someone it’s either to swap out the oem projector for a better projector which would use hid bulbs or replacing the projector with an led projector that has the led diodes built into the projector unit.

So I’m not too familiar with what exact brand led kits fit into the oem projector headlights that still allow the dust so to be put back on. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure the Hikari Ultra’s fit underneath the dust cap, and as for that led kit, it’s pretty decent for the price.

I would search the forums for “oem projector led bulbs” or “projector led bulb” and so on, and see what others have tested out. Because a lot of the bulbs sold on eBay and Amazon won’t allow you to screw the dust cap back on because the heat sink fans are too big and hit the dust cap.

Like I said, it’s best to find some members currently running led kits in the oem projectors and find out which ones they have so you know they will fit.


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