Led headlight mod

[Old Guy Bill]

I used a cheapo Amazon set to just check out wiring etc.. when I first rebuilt the truck. They worked ok but were barely better than originals.
I just installed the RMS 7" versions and it was a HUGE difference.
These are real LED assemblies with glass lens and removable fan cooled bulbs.
The factory headlight bucket pieces had to be opened up slightly.
Massive difference.
You will need the relay kit also.

 

[idrivea2002golf]

If you still have the sealed beam bulb in the truck you'll need to do a H4 swap before you can use you the plug-n-play LEDs. I would not recommend this route because the reflectors/LEDs aren't really made for each other and you'll just end up throwing light everywhere and blinding oncoming traffic. Yes it'll be brighter but everyone coming the opposite way will give you the one finger solute.

Do to it right, go with one of the brands that make specific conversions for Halogen to LED for the sealed beam style housings. If you want to go obviously LED there are companies like Morimoto which make the Sealed7 or Sealed5 LED lamps. They more or less bolt right in and you'll get great light. I run these in my 1961 CJ5 and they are WONDERFUL. But they don't look OEM.

Sealed7 bulb:

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You can also do one of the LED bulbs from something like Holley and their Retrobright series. They look OEM but are LEDs. You can get them in different color temperatures if you want to keep that yellow halogen look (3,000K). I run this in my Avanti and I can't be more happy with them in that application. The brights are a little underwhelming but the lows are great.

Holley Retrobright sealed 5x7:

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Another option is the Hella H4 conversion housing and a high quality Halogen bulb. This will keep a halogen bulb in a halogen reflector style housing but the light output is leaps and bounds over the factory style sealed beam housing. I run these in my 1993 Wrangler and am happy with them. I use a higher tier Sylvania bulb and I have no complaints. The width is better and the throw is better. The pattern is under control so as to not blind people. You would need this housing if you want to put Amazon PiP LEDs in, but again, I wouldn't recommend doing this.

Hella H4 conversion:

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I'm not sure where you're located, but if it's anywhere near San Diego you're welcome to come and see all 3 of the above options in action.

 

[Terlingueno]

I installed the Hella conversion referenced above. It came with a kit I bought from LMC in '07 or '08. Came with a really high quality harness too. Not sure the quality is still like that though and they don't sell Hella anymore.

 

[xm20k]

I don’t want to be that guy, but I’ll spin my propeller hat and be that guy real quick-

1980 non V22 (RPO deluxe front end appearance package) trucks got the same bezels and were 7” round like the 79s, but with the new grille for 1980.

1980 V22 trucks got the squircle headlights. It is not an early/late change, rather an RPO code available for any 1980 model year pickup.

1981+ V22 got dual stacked headlights, non V22 got single headlights.

The V22 RPO would also get one some other things like a chromed grille, bow tie badge instead of the foil badge, etc.

See I 've heard early/late and it seemed to make sense to me, but RPO seems to fit it is GM after all.

The Summit ones I'm running fit the stock buckets and just plug right into the stock harness. They even look like the stock bulbs but with a line thru the middle of them.

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[Matt69olds]

I REALLY don’t want to be “that guy”, but I don’t have any issues driving with primative halogen bulbs. I don’t see the need or fascination with headlights bright enough to melt your retina.

While I’m not nearly old enough to require soaking my dentures in carb cleaner, I’m definitely not 20 anymore, and my vision isn’t nearly as sharp as it once was.

Unless your scared of the dark, assuming the headlights are aimed correctly and the wiring is in good condition, good stock replacements bulbs are all that’s needed. And if the wiring is substandard, that will still need to be fixed regardless of headlights.

Powering the headlights with relays does make a noticeable improvement, and is much cheaper.

 

[Hunter79764]

I REALLY don’t want to be “that guy”, but I don’t have any issues driving with primative halogen bulbs. I don’t see the need or fascination with headlights bright enough to melt your retina.

While I’m not nearly old enough to require soaking my dentures in carb cleaner, I’m definitely not 20 anymore, and my vision isn’t nearly as sharp as it once was.

Unless your scared of the dark, assuming the headlights are aimed correctly and the wiring is in good condition, good stock replacements bulbs are all that’s needed. And if the wiring is substandard, that will still need to be fixed regardless of headlights.

Powering the headlights with relays does make a noticeable improvement, and is much cheaper.

I didn't say it earlier, but YES, this is also a very valid option, same for H4 conversion. Run a relay kit and use good quality replacement headlights and you may be amazed at the increase. A good LED is an option, but DO NOT use LED or HID lamps in a reflector housing. LED and HID are both better with a projector lens, but LED's can be done in a dedicated LED-specific housing. But yes, making sure you are getting 14.4V or as close as you can to a halogen that isn't worn out may surprise a lot of folks.

 

[Ricko1966]

If you have doubts about the above 2 posts,make your self some jumper wires hook them to the battery to the right front head light. Then turn on your headlights. Right front will be brighter. That's what the relays do they provide battery voltage to the headlights. As is,battery power goes to the headlight switch on 1 wire,through the switch divided into two wires then runs back to the headlights so 15 foot of line loss and skinny wires. Use the relays to trigger battery voltage from the battery to the lights maybe 5 foot at most of line loss and a separate power source for each light

 

[YakkoWarner]

I didn't say it earlier, but YES, this is also a very valid option, same for H4 conversion. Run a relay kit and use good quality replacement headlights and you may be amazed at the increase. A good LED is an option, but DO NOT use LED or HID lamps in a reflector housing. LED and HID are both better with a projector lens, but LED's can be done in a dedicated LED-specific housing. But yes, making sure you are getting 14.4V or as close as you can to a halogen that isn't worn out may surprise a lot of folks.

I am switching everything I can in my British car project to LED lamps not because I am dissatisfied with the output from the traditional bulbs, but more to reduce the electrical load on the alternator and the wiring. This really becomes a concern on vehicles where the alternators (or depending on age even DC generators) could barely provide enough juice, and/or on vehicles where everything is hot-switched without use of relays. Changing all the side markers, parking, tail, panel illumination and brake lamps over to LEDs took a good 15 amps of load off the alternator, switch and wiring (and thats before swapping the headlights over). When you only have an alternator rated for 60 amps to begin with, thats a 25% reduction assuming it was able to deliver full rated utput to begin with. I'm still trying to figure out the comparison info for power draw on a 7 inch round sealed-beam vs. 7 inch round LED to determine if thats worth pursuing. I'm perfectly OK with it being the same output light wise, I just want to be as non-demanding as possible on 55 year old wiring.

 

[Hunter79764]

It looks like the Holley lights are 25/30W (low/high), sealed beam or halogen should be 55/60W, so running on low, it should be a 60 watt reduction, so 4 or so amps. But one benefit is that you will likely get pretty close to full output from an LED at lower voltages, but the sealed beam/halogen are pretty sensitive to voltage reduction and fall off on output pretty quick, which is why the relay mod works so well. Just a few tenths of a volt makes a visible difference, so yes, it makes a big difference on a marginal charging system.

(sorry, I'm a part time lighting engineer and have spent too much time researching this stuff...)

 

[Dejure]

Aside that absurdly bright low beams belong in one of the owner's particular orifices, I upgraded the lights on my 69 step side to the component halogens, which were more powerful than the sealed beam.

The only times I ever got flashed for high beams was, in the rain, and by the big trucks. Something about the bouncing light, I guess.

I was looking into LED's, but everything suggests its a pig-in-a-poke thing, if your reflectors were not engineered for them.

After running the halogens common to cars today (you just swap the bulb and not the whole lens and bulb (sealed beam), the only reason I'd need LED's would be IF they gave me longer bulb life, which it's indicated they can. However, they kick out a lot of heat, so if the coolers fail, or are under engineered. . . . .

SIDE NOTE: I did buy the round headlight aiming tool and used it from time to time, including after I added air to the back coils.

 

[xm20k]

The main reasons I run them is not just brightness because they really are not much brighter if at all from the stock bulbs, however they are whiter. The rangers' low beams get flashed because people think my high beams are on till they get it back, nobody seems to be bothered with the C10.

I also run not just headlights, but all the lights, bulb availability locally is almost nonexistent, and I'd rather not pay and wait for bulbs to ship to me.

Lastly total power draw, my accessory drive is for race usage underdriven by 10% with a 55-70 watt output when not underdriven. The biggest power draws on my system are the high torque starter irrelevant when running and lights. Only other electrical is a couple of my gauges the wiper motor that rarely gets used and the MSD box and 2 step.

 

[YakkoWarner]

It looks like the Holley lights are 25/30W (low/high), sealed beam or halogen should be 55/60W, so running on low, it should be a 60 watt reduction, so 4 or so amps. But one benefit is that you will likely get pretty close to full output from an LED at lower voltages, but the sealed beam/halogen are pretty sensitive to voltage reduction and fall off on output pretty quick, which is why the relay mod works so well. Just a few tenths of a volt makes a visible difference, so yes, it makes a big difference on a marginal charging system.

(sorry, I'm a part time lighting engineer and have spent too much time researching this stuff...)

That seems worth messing with then - getting another 4 amps out of the circuit won't make much difference on the alternator at this point, but the aftermarket switches for the British cars are not all that confidence-inspiring in the quality control department - having 4 amps less flowing thru it is not a bad thing. I'll probably wait until after I see the thing move under its own power and get a valid registration though - the existing lights work for now and I have bigger fish to grill on it. I'm in less of a hurry to go there on the squarebody because GM's electrical stuff seems a bit more durable.

 

[Ricko1966]

That seems worth messing with then - getting another 4 amps out of the circuit won't make much difference on the alternator at this point, but the aftermarket switches for the British cars are not all that confidence-inspiring in the quality control department - having 4 amps less flowing thru it is not a bad thing. I'll probably wait until after I see the thing move under its own power and get a valid registration though - the existing lights work for now and I have bigger fish to grill on it. I'm in less of a hurry to go there on the squarebody because GM's electrical stuff seems a bit more durable.

Relays will take 99% of the load off the switches. 200 milliamps vs. 4 amps .

 

[YakkoWarner]

Relays will take 99% of the load off the switches. 200 milliamps vs. 4 amps .

They make a relay kit for those older cars to do just that. That might be a good way to go since most LED headlamps don't always look right on really old cars.

 

[Sad Sack]

I didn't say it earlier, but YES, this is also a very valid option, same for H4 conversion. Run a relay kit and use good quality replacement headlights and you may be amazed at the increase. A good LED is an option, but DO NOT use LED or HID lamps in a reflector housing. LED and HID are both better with a projector lens, but LED's can be done in a dedicated LED-specific housing. But yes, making sure you are getting 14.4V or as close as you can to a halogen that isn't worn out may surprise a lot of folks.

Are you aware of any supplier of these relay kits that would work in an 85 GMC with quad HL's?