HID/XENON Upgrade on Halogens (NOT LED) - anyone?

[wakeboarder]

huh - odd, my cpo ‘19 doesn’t have DRL at all - i just assumed the halogen rigs did not have, and i don’t seem to find any menus settings anywhere. does that mean it was turned off on forscan by previous owner? either way - i guess i won’t have to worry about that -

as far as the inrush voltage - you mean the traditional HID power draw “spike” at lighting startup? i wondered the same thing also - whether the ballasts smooth that out in terms of actual startup power draw -

DRL’s are hard to check for since you have to be in drive. The USA versions have an option to enable or disable DRL under advanced options>lighting on the instrument cluster.

Yes, the inrush I described is what you are referring to as a spike.

 

[Anthony DeVor]

Anthony, I purchased a 2014 Expy with LED lights and they flood the road but not much difference between low beam and high beam for down road. What LED brand do you recommend?

Do you have the single beam h13 or split beam? I have several different brnads and one set you can buy from me for h13 which have a perfect cut off point in the housing because it is only a 2 sided led. I use auxito mostly or JKCOVER (best i have ever used but sadly went out of business) zdatt is great because of the built in decoder and optional color filters


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1111ExpyEL1111]

Do you have the single beam h13 or split beam? I have several different brnads and one set you can buy from me for h13 which have a perfect cut off point in the housing because it is only a 2 sided led. I use auxito mostly or JKCOVER (best i have ever used but sadly went out of business) zdatt is great because of the built in decoder and optional color filters


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How can you tell if it's a single or split beam?

 

[Anthony DeVor]

Single will be one bulb and no divider looking thing in the housing and a split beam will look like me - see the attached pic. The blank spot is my high beam that wasnt turned on in this picture. If you have a single beam the headlight will fill the entire housing with the low beam and be brighter with the high beam.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1111ExpyEL1111]

Single will be one bulb and no divider looking thing in the housing and a split beam will look like me - see the attached pic. The blank spot is my high beam that wasnt turned on in this picture. If you have a single beam the headlight will fill the entire housing with the low beam and be brighter with the high beam.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have a projector low beam and a regular high beam.

 

[Anthony DeVor]

It should still be an h11 low beam & 9095 high beam this is the kit i bought

AUXITO 9005 H11 LED Headlight... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088ZT28XY?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Or you can buy zdatt’s but idk if they will fit in the housing though. Leds will work phenomenally with the projector housing. I want to but the projector housings for mine but they are $500 per housing new


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1111ExpyEL1111]

It should still be an h11 low beam & 9095 high beam this is the kit i bought

AUXITO 9005 H11 LED Headlight... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088ZT28XY?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Or you can buy zdatt’s but idk if they will fit in the housing though. Leds will work phenomenally with the projector housing. I want to but the projector housings for mine but they are $500 per housing new


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just ordered a set. They better work as good as you say! LOL!

 

[sjwhiteley]

The housing will tell you what size of bulb to use: look on the front of your lights. As others in different threads have noted, the manual is inaccurate.

My projectors are HB3 and the high beams H9 (on the front of the light). Couldn't see what they were on the turn and fog housings, but take the bulbs out and look and see what they are. YMMV.

I believe 9005 is equivalent to HB3 and H11 equivalent to H9 (have not researched precisely what the numbers mean, doesn't really matter).

 

[1111ExpyEL1111]

The housing will tell you what size of bulb to use: look on the front of your lights. As others in different threads have noted, the manual is inaccurate.

My projectors are HB3 and the high beams H9 (on the front of the light). Couldn't see what they were on the turn and fog housings, but take the bulbs out and look and see what they are. YMMV.

I believe 9005 is equivalent to HB3 and H11 equivalent to H9 (have not researched precisely what the numbers mean, doesn't really matter).

Yea I know I should have looked first but if they're not right I can just return them.

 

[Anthony DeVor]

I just ordered a set. They better work as good as you say! LOL!

For me they work fantastic. Especially being split beam and having Bambi mode on. I haven’t gotten my light bar in behind my grille yet but idk if i will with how far down road my lights reach


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Anthony DeVor]

The housing will tell you what size of bulb to use: look on the front of your lights. As others in different threads have noted, the manual is inaccurate.

My projectors are HB3 and the high beams H9 (on the front of the light). Couldn't see what they were on the turn and fog housings, but take the bulbs out and look and see what they are. YMMV.

I believe 9005 is equivalent to HB3 and H11 equivalent to H9 (have not researched precisely what the numbers mean, doesn't really matter).

Yes you are correct in the cross referencing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1111ExpyEL1111]

For me they work fantastic. Especially being split beam and having Bambi mode on. I haven’t gotten my light bar in behind my grille yet but idk if i will with how far down road my lights reach


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I honestly think this truck does not have drls. I do want to add light bars to both are 2012 and 2016 expeditions.

 

[Anthony DeVor]

Use forscan it should have drl options - i changed my drl’s to anytime in gear my foglights and running lights are on


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1111ExpyEL1111]

Use forscan it should have drl options - i changed my drl’s to anytime in gear my foglights and running lights are on


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We are the second owner of this 2016 and it's possible that the original owner had the drls turned off.

 

[Anthony DeVor]

Use forscan and turn it back on


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1111ExpyEL1111]

Use forscan and turn it back on


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nope, dont want to.

 

[lv2drive]

updating this original inquiry of non-led upgrades to the g4 halogen lenses.

after careful consideration, and numerous discussions with people far more educated than i am, i’ve decided NOT to mess with any warranty-voiding (and not road legal) HID / xenon kits, and the required wiring holes drilled in the weather cap...

i have discovered that there are identical wattage, denser coil 9011 HIR bulbs on the market that could possibly be the best choice for non-led halogen solution, at least for the combination of output & quality of light. evidently super simple trimming of a plastic tab allows them to replace the 9005 as a direct fit - and evidently the manufacturers make it easy to trim for this purpose.

the best quality HIR bulbs i can find today are the newer generation Sylvania basic 9011 (made in Korea , not the old german ones....) they have evidently resumed using the patented HIR technology (a clear IR coating on them that reflects back to
the coil & magnifies the bulb output to produce additional light.)

will take pics to share for comparisons etc.

interested to do a side by side. might even throw in an LED on one side to compare for those LED folks -

 

[lv2drive]

So i finally got a chance to eyeball test some halogen low beam non-LED upgrades.

the two bulbs i tested were:

Tungsram Nighthawk Platinum 9005/hb3 (direct fit. Tungsram made the GE megalight series.)

Sylvania 9011 HR1 (new gen / korean made, slight bulb tab trim required - precise mm’s but otherwise easy)

i think the 9011s a winner - not as tall a hotspot, but seemed more intense down center when on the road. both are obvious improvements - so i’m running the 9011 hr1’s for now to see how long they last.

real world night driving so far has been a dramatic improvement in overall road illumination, distance & peripheral coverage & clarity as well. - everything really. found myself not reaching for the driving lights to supplement. it’s really amazing to see how much a difference it makes to feed these projectors decent light source. beam purity approaches the xenon realm of coverage, but is still warm. the plastic tab trim on bulb base was easy. i would so far recommend both bulbs.

pics below.
(1) stock / stock reference
(2) nighthawk / stock
(3) stock / 9011 hr1

 

[John I]

So i finally got a chance to eyeball test some halogen low beam non-LED upgrades.

the two bulbs i tested were:

Tungsram Nighthawk 9005/hb3 (direct fit. Tungsram made the GE megalight series.)

Sylvania 9011 HR1 (new gen / korean made, slight bulb tab trim required - precise mm’s but otherwise easy)

i think the 9011s a winner - not as tall a hotspot, but seemed more intense down center when on the road. both are obvious improvements - so i’m running the 9011 hr1’s for now to see how long they last.

real world night driving so far has been a dramatic improvement in overall road illumination, distance & peripheral coverage & clarity as well. - everything really. found myself not reaching for the driving lights to supplement. it’s really amazing to see how much a difference it makes to feed these projectors decent light source. beam purity approaches the xenon realm of coverage, but is still warm. the plastic tab trim on bulb base was easy. i would so far recommend both bulbs.

pics below.
(1) stock / stock reference
(2) nighthawk / stock
(3) stock / 9011 hr1

Thanks for posting this. Which Tungsram Nighthawk bulbs did you use? Looks like there's a Nighthawk, Nighthawk Platinum, and Nighthawk Xenon.

Just yesterday I replaced the OEM standard Sylvania HB3/9005 bulbs in my '19 XLT with a set of Osram Night Breaker Unlimited bulbs (direct replacement). My initial impression is that the lights are a little whiter/brighter.

 

[lv2drive]

Thanks for posting this. Which Tungsram Nighthawk bulbs did you use? Looks like there's a Nighthawk, Nighthawk Platinum, and Nighthawk Xenon.

Just yesterday I replaced the OEM standard Sylvania HB3/9005 bulbs in my '19 XLT with a set of Osram Night Breaker Unlimited bulbs (direct replacement). My initial impression is that the lights are a little whiter/brighter.

this was nighthawk PLATINUM. in projectors it showed optimal lux improvement for low beam use, so i tried & was pretty impressed with output when stacked against the much higher lumen 9011 - both were comparable to me in terms of light quality and real world road illumination from these projector lenses.