Are you replacing the low beam or high beam bulb?
LED headlight bulbs, especially in reflectors, are not upgrades. They are downgrades in every way. The only problem they solve is making whoever sold it to you less poor.
It was found that these 9 LED bulbs, tested in 3 different headlamps, failed the most basic photometric testing. Usually, photometric testing consists of measuring light output at a few dozen test points in the beam pattern. These scientists only tested 5 points, and all 27 combinations of LED bulb+halogen headlamp failed. Most produced excessive glare, and even those that did not produce excessive glare actually produced less distance vision light. In other words, chances are LED bulbs both create glare for others and don't light up the road as well as halogen bulbs.
https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-0850/
Several different LED replacement bulb kits, each designed to replace a conventional 55-W H11 halogen bulb, were purchased and tested in three different low-beam headlight units. [...]These findings suggest that using after-market LEDs to replace halogen bulbs can compromise headlighting performance.
You might think LED bulbs light up the road just fine and dandy after a test drive, but that's because of the excessive foreground light produced by unfocused LED chips. Excessive foreground light--defined in the literature as 10 to 26 feet in front of the vehicle--is highly correlated with positive headlamp impressions. However, when travelling 40 MPH (60 feet/second), is seeing what's 25 feet ahead of you relevant, or is seeing what's 150 feet ahead more relevant?
Another downside of these LED bulbs is that non or them are DOT or ECE certified, meaning you are getting a mixed bag on quality. They are not regulated and therefore the light output, power, lumens, etc. can vary greatly from brand to brand.
But let's not go around pretending that we've "upgraded" our lamps; let's not encourage such behavior. LED bulbs+ halogen headlamp = dangerous.
I recommend installing high quality halogen bulbs.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
LED bulbs are very much different than halogen bulbs.
Why Focus Matters for LED Headlight Bulbs
I do not endorse their product but they explain why LED bulbs would never match the performance of a halogen bulb inside a housing made for halogen bulbs. People are also getting a mixed bag on quality as shown in the video. Each bulb has a different measurement and design with no set standard, unlike the halogen.
LED bulbs are a completely different technology when compared to halogen bulbs. They do both emit light, but the way that they do it are different.
An LED bulb produces light by passing the electric current through a semiconducting material—the diode—which then emits photons (light) through the principle of electroluminescence.
Halogen bulbs work just like with incandescent light bulbs, the electrical current enters the socket and travels up to the tungsten filament, heating up the filament to incandescence. The enhancement with halogen lamps is that the filament is enclosed in a quartz capsule filled with halogen gas.
If we compare the two bulbs above, we can notice how the LED tries to mimic the halogen as best as it can. However, there is one big flaw, the LEDs can only emit light in one direction, that is perpendicular to the surface that it is mounted on. There is also a large heatsink to draw away the heat that the LEDs emit. On the other hand, the halogen can emit light from all direction (omnidirectional) and does not require a heatsink.
How does this affect light output? Here is an LED bulb when it is turned on. The large heatsink and the way the LEDs work, create a massive dark area that light would never reach. This is critical in a headlight as they are designed to focus light in certain areas and at certain intensity. Just slightly altering the angle at which light comes out of the headlight can translate to a few feet of light being casted somewhere where it is useless to a driver. The same thing happens in a projector housings as well. The focal point at where the light is focused inside a projector is moved. Very similar to how our eyeballs work and how people can have nearsightedness or farsightedness.
Here is how an LED looks like in a reflector headlight.
In the end, there's nothing that you can do to try and fix the light output of the LED bulb, because physically, they are completely different. The diodes of the LED will always be out of focus when installed into a halogen housing.
Reference:
Evaluation of After-Market Light Emitting Diode Headlight Bulbs
Thinking of converting your halogen headlamps to HID or LED?
I recommend installing high quality halogen bulbs.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
Install some high quality performance halogen bulbs as the ones installed from the factory are designed for longevity.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
I would also check to make sure that your headlights are properly aimed. Over time the adjustment screws can vibrate loose. Whatever you do, do not install LED or HID bulbs into your headlight housing as they are not designed to have them in there.
I recommend installing high quality halogen bulbs.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
LED bulbs are very much different than halogen bulbs.
Why Focus Matters for LED Headlight Bulbs
I do not endorse their product but they explain why LED bulbs would never match the performance of a halogen bulb inside a housing made for halogen bulbs. People are also getting a mixed bag on quality as shown in the video. Each bulb has a different measurement and design with no set standard, unlike the halogen.
LED bulbs are a completely different technology when compared to halogen bulbs. They do both emit light, but the way that they do it are different.
An LED bulb produces light by passing the electric current through a semiconducting material—the diode—which then emits photons (light) through the principle of electroluminescence.
Halogen bulbs work just like with incandescent light bulbs, the electrical current enters the socket and travels up to the tungsten filament, heating up the filament to incandescence. The enhancement with halogen lamps is that the filament is enclosed in a quartz capsule filled with halogen gas.
If we compare the two bulbs above, we can notice how the LED tries to mimic the halogen as best as it can. However, there is one big flaw, the LEDs can only emit light in one direction, that is perpendicular to the surface that it is mounted on. There is also a large heatsink to draw away the heat that the LEDs emit. On the other hand, the halogen can emit light from all direction (omnidirectional) and does not require a heatsink.
How does this affect light output? Here is an LED bulb when it is turned on. The large heatsink and the way the LEDs work, create a massive dark area that light would never reach. This is critical in a headlight as they are designed to focus light in certain areas and at certain intensity. Just slightly altering the angle at which light comes out of the headlight can translate to a few feet of light being casted somewhere where it is useless to a driver. The same thing happens in a projector housings as well. The focal point at where the light is focused inside a projector is moved. Very similar to how our eyeballs work and how people can have nearsightedness or farsightedness.
Here is how an LED looks like in a reflector headlight.
In the end, there's nothing that you can do to try and fix the light output of the LED bulb, because physically, they are completely different. The diodes of the LED will always be out of focus when installed into a halogen housing.
Reference:
Evaluation of After-Market Light Emitting Diode Headlight Bulbs
Thinking of converting your halogen headlamps to HID or LED?
I recommend installing high quality halogen bulbs.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
You need high quality halogen bulbs, not HID which your car's headlights are not designed to have.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar
Tungsram H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Platinum
Also, the proper time to use fog lights is when someone is driving 15 mph or slower and during inclement weather. The reason being, fog lights only cast light in the foreground, 30-50 ft in front of the car. This is the help aid the driver in seeing the curb, outline of the road, and road signage. Going this slow allows the driver to react in time if they see an obstacle in the road.
All other times and the fog lights work against the driver as more light is reflected back into the eyes and causes them to contract. Making it harder to see at night. A driver does not need to see what is 50 ft or less in front of them as they are looking hundreds of feet down the road, especially on the highway. If a driver did notice an obstacle that was 50 ft or less in front of their car, going at high speeds, they would not be able to react in time to avoid it.
LED headlight bulbs, especially in reflectors, are not upgrades. They are downgrades in every way. The only problem they solve is making whoever sold it to you less poor.
It was found that these 9 LED bulbs, tested in 3 different headlamps, failed the most basic photometric testing. Usually, photometric testing consists of measuring light output at a few dozen test points in the beam pattern. These scientists only tested 5 points, and all 27 combinations of LED bulb+halogen headlamp failed. Most produced excessive glare, and even those that did not produce excessive glare actually produced less distance vision light. In other words, chances are LED bulbs both create glare for others and don't light up the road as well as halogen bulbs.
https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-0850/
Several different LED replacement bulb kits, each designed to replace a conventional 55-W H11 halogen bulb, were purchased and tested in three different low-beam headlight units. [...]These findings suggest that using after-market LEDs to replace halogen bulbs can compromise headlighting performance.
You might think LED bulbs light up the road just fine and dandy after a test drive, but that's because of the excessive foreground light produced by unfocused LED chips. Excessive foreground light--defined in the literature as 10 to 26 feet in front of the vehicle--is highly correlated with positive headlamp impressions. However, when travelling 40 MPH (60 feet/second), is seeing what's 25 feet ahead of you relevant, or is seeing what's 150 feet ahead more relevant?
But let's not go around pretending that we've "upgraded" our lamps; let's not encourage such behavior. LED bulbs+ halogen headlamp = dangerous.
I recommend installing high quality halogen bulbs.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
This is mostly likely an optical illusion. The daytime running lights cast more light in the foreground (area directly in front of the vehicle) than the low beams. This gives a perception that they illuminate better, but they do not as when you are driving, you are not looking at what is 50 ft or less in front of you car, instead you are looking hundreds or thousands of feet in front.
Install some high quality performance halogen bulbs as the ones installed from the factory are designed for longevity.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
Whatever you do, do not install LED or HID bulbs into your headlight housing as they are not designed to have them in there. LEDs and HID will cause more glare and foreground light in a halogen headlight housing, making your night vision worse.
LED bulbs are very much different than halogen bulbs.
Why Focus Matters for LED Headlight Bulbs
I do not endorse their product but they explain why LED bulbs would never match the performance of a halogen bulb inside a housing made for halogen bulbs. People are also getting a mixed bag on quality as shown in the video. Each bulb has a different measurement and design with no set standard, unlike the halogen.
LED bulbs are a completely different technology when compared to halogen bulbs. They do both emit light, but the way that they do it are different.
An LED bulb produces light by passing the electric current through a semiconducting material—the diode—which then emits photons (light) through the principle of electroluminescence.
Halogen bulbs work just like with incandescent light bulbs, the electrical current enters the socket and travels up to the tungsten filament, heating up the filament to incandescence. The enhancement with halogen lamps is that the filament is enclosed in a quartz capsule filled with halogen gas.
If we compare the two bulbs above, we can notice how the LED tries to mimic the halogen as best as it can. However, there is one big flaw, the LEDs can only emit light in one direction, that is perpendicular to the surface that it is mounted on. There is also a large heatsink to draw away the heat that the LEDs emit. On the other hand, the halogen can emit light from all direction (omnidirectional) and does not require a heatsink.
How does this affect light output? Here is an LED bulb when it is turned on. The large heatsink and the way the LEDs work, create a massive dark area that light would never reach. This is critical in a headlight as they are designed to focus light in certain areas and at certain intensity. Just slightly altering the angle at which light comes out of the headlight can translate to a few feet of light being casted somewhere where it is useless to a driver. The same thing happens in a projector housings as well. The focal point at where the light is focused inside a projector is moved. Very similar to how our eyeballs work and how people can have nearsightedness or farsightedness.
Here is how an LED looks like in a reflector headlight.
In the end, there's nothing that you can do to try and fix the light output of the LED bulb, because physically, they are completely different. The diodes of the LED will always be out of focus when installed into a halogen housing. The same logic applies to HID as they use high pressurized gas and high voltage it ignite the gasses in a chamber.
Reference:
Evaluation of After-Market Light Emitting Diode Headlight Bulbs
Thinking of converting your halogen headlamps to HID or LED?
I recommend installing high quality halogen bulbs.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
LED bulbs are very much different than halogen bulbs.
Why Focus Matters for LED Headlight Bulbs
I do not endorse their product but they explain why LED bulbs would never match the performance of a halogen bulb inside a housing made for halogen bulbs. People are also getting a mixed bag on quality as shown in the video. Each bulb has a different measurement and design with no set standard, unlike the halogen.
LED bulbs are a completely different technology when compared to halogen bulbs. They do both emit light, but the way that they do it are different.
An LED bulb produces light by passing the electric current through a semiconducting material—the diode—which then emits photons (light) through the principle of electroluminescence.
Halogen bulbs work just like with incandescent light bulbs, the electrical current enters the socket and travels up to the tungsten filament, heating up the filament to incandescence. The enhancement with halogen lamps is that the filament is enclosed in a quartz capsule filled with halogen gas.
If we compare the two bulbs above, we can notice how the LED tries to mimic the halogen as best as it can. However, there is one big flaw, the LEDs can only emit light in one direction, that is perpendicular to the surface that it is mounted on. There is also a large heatsink to draw away the heat that the LEDs emit. On the other hand, the halogen can emit light from all direction (omnidirectional) and does not require a heatsink.
How does this affect light output? Here is an LED bulb when it is turned on. The large heatsink and the way the LEDs work, create a massive dark area that light would never reach. This is critical in a headlight as they are designed to focus light in certain areas and at certain intensity. Just slightly altering the angle at which light comes out of the headlight can translate to a few feet of light being casted somewhere where it is useless to a driver. The same thing happens in a projector housings as well. The focal point at where the light is focused inside a projector is moved. Very similar to how our eyeballs work and how people can have nearsightedness or farsightedness.
Here is how an LED looks like in a reflector headlight.
In the end, there's nothing that you can do to try and fix the light output of the LED bulb, because physically, they are completely different. The diodes of the LED will always be out of focus when installed into a halogen housing.
Reference:
Evaluation of After-Market Light Emitting Diode Headlight Bulbs
Thinking of converting your halogen headlamps to HID or LED?
I recommend installing high quality halogen bulbs.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
Your vehicle has halogen headlamp assemblies.
LED headlight bulbs, especially in reflectors, are not upgrades. They are downgrades in every way. The only problem they solve is making whoever sold it to you less poor.
It was found that these 9 LED bulbs, tested in 3 different headlamps, failed the most basic photometric testing. Usually, photometric testing consists of measuring light output at a few dozen test points in the beam pattern. These scientists only tested 5 points, and all 27 combinations of LED bulb+halogen headlamp failed. Most produced excessive glare, and even those that did not produce excessive glare actually produced less distance vision light. In other words, chances are LED bulbs both create glare for others and don't light up the road as well as halogen bulbs.
https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-0850/
Several different LED replacement bulb kits, each designed to replace a conventional 55-W H11 halogen bulb, were purchased and tested in three different low-beam headlight units. [...]These findings suggest that using after-market LEDs to replace halogen bulbs can compromise headlighting performance.
You might think LED bulbs light up the road just fine and dandy after a test drive, but that's because of the excessive foreground light produced by unfocused LED chips. Excessive foreground light--defined in the literature as 10 to 26 feet in front of the vehicle--is highly correlated with positive headlamp impressions. However, when travelling 40 MPH (60 feet/second), is seeing what's 25 feet ahead of you relevant, or is seeing what's 150 feet ahead more relevant?
Have you ever wondered why no car manufacturer makes or produces their own LED bulbs and just swap them out from the halogen bulbs? People would be more inclined to buy directly from a dealership instead of buying LED bulbs online from companies that they have never heard of before. Sales people could easily up-sell LED bulbs if the same claims that online sellers make are true.
Instead, car manufacturers spend time and money creating new headlamps specifically for LED technology. They even go as far as over designing these headlamps to get a perfect score from IIHS.
I recommend installing high quality halogen bulbs.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 NightGuide Platinum
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Xenon
