LED Headlight Bulbs Upgrade

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I have a 2018 Ram (Classic). I want to change out my halogen lights for LEDs. I've looked and some bulbs mention that you need to have a canbus installed along with the LED in order to keep flickering and errors from happening. Other LED bulbs say 99% error free and don't mention needing the canbus system installed. Anyone have any recommendations? One of the brands I'm looking at is the Fahren brand.


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Mb7640

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I use auxbeam in my 2021 classic. Installed them in jan no issues.
 

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1SloRam

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From experience usually changing headlight bulbs doesn’t cause any issues. It’s when you start changing turn signal bulbs that messes with the voltage causing hyper flash. If the bulb you’re replacing doesn’t blink, there should not be an issue.
Also Sealight is a great brand I can recommend.
 
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frankcastle865
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From experience usually changing headlight bulbs doesn’t cause any issues. It’s when you start changing turn signal bulbs that messes with the voltage causing hyper flash. If the bulb you’re replacing doesn’t blink, there should not be an issue.
Also Sealight is a great brand I can recommend.
Didn't know because I've looked a some of the LEDs and they come with the canbus or they are an optional purchase. Just didn't know. Didn't want to get everything installed and then the headlights go out going to work one morning, lol
 

LoneStarSilver

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For the last 6 years I have used the SV.4 LED's from Headlight Revolution for all three (High, Low and Fogs) in my 2018 Lone Star Silver Edition Ram. They have been very dependable and put out a massive amount of light. They are easy to install and fit perfectly.
 

1SloRam

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Didn't know because I've looked a some of the LEDs and they come with the canbus or they are an optional purchase. Just didn't know. Didn't want to get everything installed and then the headlights go out going to work one morning, lol
I’ve ran that brand in all of my trucks for the last 5 years or more. Never a single issue. Clock them right and enjoy. No need in overpriced lights, just stay away from $20 eBay LED’s . I say that because I have trucks and cars with $2k in lights and I have trucks and cars with $200 in lights. Only thing I can say that makes a difference is the projector lights I have run HID’s, but lows and fogs are LED’s.
 

Atcer2018

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From experience usually changing headlight bulbs doesn’t cause any issues. It’s when you start changing turn signal bulbs that messes with the voltage causing hyper flash. If the bulb you’re replacing doesn’t blink, there should not be an issue.
Also Sealight is a great brand I can recommend.
My experience is different. Without AlfaOBD changes or CANBUS ready bulbs I get headlamp out errors on the EVIC display using LED headlight bulbs. The LED bulbs are lower voltage than halogen bulbs and the truck thinks the bulb is burned out.
 

Highway

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Anyone know what the issue is when i used alfaobd and read codes and have these 2 codes …..B16C3 and B16BF which is codes for both right and left side marker lamp control,

short circuit to + battery/open circuit,
last test failed,
error present,
failure warning lamp ‘ON’: not requested
 

1SloRam

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My experience is different. Without AlfaOBD changes or CANBUS ready bulbs I get headlamp out errors on the EVIC display using LED headlight bulbs. The LED bulbs are lower voltage than halogen bulbs and the truck thinks the bulb is burned out.
I have not heard or had this issue with only swapping halogen headlight bulbs to LED bulbs.
What brand did you use? What headlights do you have?
 

Atcer2018

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I have not heard or had this issue with only swapping halogen headlight bulbs to LED bulbs.
What brand did you use? What headlights do you have?
I have a 2018 BigHorn with the Quad reflector lenses. I initially ran Cougar Motor bulbs but one recently went out and I purchased a set of the Fahren bulbs. Back when I initially went with LEDs in 2019 there was a much smaller selection and very few high beam bulbs fit behind the OEM dust cover. I tried Auxbeam and Alla Lighting 9005’s because they fit behind the dust cover but they were not CANBUS ready and gave headlamp out errors. I eventually bought AlfaOBD and used the Auxbeam bulbs without decoders. Now in 2023 there are many 9005 bulbs that fit and most are CANBUS ready for those without Alfa. I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment that owners don’t need to spend a ton of money on big name bulbs. The LED offerings on Amazon these days will make your head spin at a fraction of the big name prices.
 

Atcer2018

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Anyone know what the issue is when i used alfaobd and read codes and have these 2 codes …..B16C3 and B16BF which is codes for both right and left side marker lamp control,

short circuit to + battery/open circuit,
last test failed,
error present,
failure warning lamp ‘ON’: not requested
Oh boy, it’s complicated LOL.
Are you using LED bulbs in stock housings or are you using aftermarket taillights? I eventually settled on using just bulbs in my 2018 because even with AlfaOBD I’d get those same codes. From the information I could gather our trucks absolutely hate aftermarket sockets in the taillights. Bulbs worked for me because using OEM housings kept the factory sockets but aftermarket tail
lights gave me codes. Several folks on this forum advised it was the sockets. As evidence go on Amazon and look at the reviews for aftermarket sockets including the Doorman brand. Many complaints about error codes. Good luck but I gave up and went with bulbs only.
 

1SloRam

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I have a 2018 BigHorn with the Quad reflector lenses. I initially ran Cougar Motor bulbs but one recently went out and I purchased a set of the Fahren bulbs. Back when I initially went with LEDs in 2019 there was a much smaller selection and very few high beam bulbs fit behind the OEM dust cover. I tried Auxbeam and Alla Lighting 9005’s because they fit behind the dust cover but they were not CANBUS ready and gave headlamp out errors. I eventually bought AlfaOBD and used the Auxbeam bulbs without decoders. Now in 2023 there are many 9005 bulbs that fit and most are CANBUS ready for those without Alfa. I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment that owners don’t need to spend a ton of money on big name bulbs. The LED offerings on Amazon these days will make your head spin at a fraction of the big name prices.
That is interesting. I replaced my quads with halogens for projectors with HID’s and LED’s. I never got the bulb out message with the LED lows or the factory fogs. I have a 13 Express RCSB that is basically a Sport now. I did change all my settings with Alfa, but that was after the swap. Those dust covers are a PITA, I agree.
 

Highway

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Oh boy, it’s complicated LOL.
Are you using LED bulbs in stock housings or are you using aftermarket taillights? I eventually settled on using just bulbs in my 2018 because even with AlfaOBD I’d get those same codes. From the information I could gather our trucks absolutely hate aftermarket sockets in the taillights. Bulbs worked for me because using OEM housings kept the factory sockets but aftermarket tail
lights gave me codes. Several folks on this forum advised it was the sockets. As evidence go on Amazon and look at the reviews for aftermarket sockets including the Doorman brand. Many complaints about error codes. Good luck but I gave up and went with bulbs only.
I am using alpharex pro G2 with canbus ready LED bulbs. Only other led bulbs is the reverse lights. The taillights are factory housings.
 

A_mod_too_far

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I use auxbeam in my 2021 classic. Installed them in jan no issues.

I just bought a set of these when I saw the price. The quality appears to be good. install was super quick, no issues. Liking the white color over the yellowish halogens. Brightness seems decent, not much brighter than the stock halogens, but for the price I cant complain.

The one issue I need to fix is the clocking on the driver side. It is not giving me a hot spot like it should and it does on the passenger side, but that should be easy enough to resolve.

I'll probably get a set of their 9005s for my high beams eventually. Dont use them every often so I'm not worried but its be nice if they matched.
 

Mb7640

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I just bought a set of these when I saw the price. The quality appears to be good. install was super quick, no issues. Liking the white color over the yellowish halogens. Brightness seems decent, not much brighter than the stock halogens, but for the price I cant complain.

The one issue I need to fix is the clocking on the driver side. It is not giving me a hot spot like it should and it does on the passenger side, but that should be easy enough to resolve.

I'll probably get a set of their 9005s for my high beams eventually. Dont use them every often so I'm not worried but its be nice if they matched.
Im surprised you say they are not brighter than your stock halogens. They are way brighter than mine. Glad it has worked out for you. I made sure a few times mine was clocked correctly so I did not have to remove the light assembly a bunch of times. I know its not difficult. I have had my grill off a few times already to remove the bumper to install fog lights and to install my light bar.
 

A_mod_too_far

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Im surprised you say they are not brighter than your stock halogens. They are way brighter than mine. Glad it has worked out for you. I made sure a few times mine was clocked correctly so I did not have to remove the light assembly a bunch of times. I know its not difficult. I have had my grill off a few times already to remove the bumper to install fog lights and to install my light bar.

Haha ya I've gotten insanely fast at removing the headlight assemblies now. I had the extra bright halogens that Phillip's makes and they truely did project hot spots down the highway, just not as bright as good leds or hids. and also the fact that 1 light isnt clocked correctly I think are the factors on why they are currently not as bright as I had expected
 

Mb7640

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Haha ya I've gotten insanely fast at removing the headlight assemblies now. I had the extra bright halogens that Phillip's makes and they truely did project hot spots down the highway, just not as bright as good leds or hids. and also the fact that 1 light isnt clocked correctly I think are the factors on why they are currently not as bright as I had expected
Yeah that makes sense. I have only had my truck since july of 2021. Hopefully these will last a very long time
 

Atcer2018

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I am using alpharex pro G2 with canbus ready LED bulbs. Only other led bulbs is the reverse lights. The taillights are factory housings.
On the bright side you don’t have many possibilities to cause the codes with only a few bulbs to troubleshoot.
I am using alpharex pro G2 with canbus ready LED bulbs. Only other led bulbs is the reverse lights. The taillights are factory housings.
There is only a few things it could be. Did you change everything at one time or at various times. If you changed everything at various times at what point did the codes pop up? I’m guessing the backup LED aren’t throwing the codes as they would more likely show a bulb out alert if it was them. If your LED bulbs are CANBUS ready that leaves the Alpharex units. You could pull the LED bulbs and replace them with the halogens to see if the codes pop. I don’t know anything about Alpharex lights except they should work flawlessly for the price. Do they have harness adapters and do the DRLs need to be spliced into the factory harness?
 
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