Headlight Upgrades?

[brokedown]

Absolutely having proper aim is critical, and was one of the first things I did after buying the bus. When I bought the bus it was scanning the skies for UFOs! After tuning, these lights are pointed where they should be and made all the difference for night driving.. It took me almost 4 days because I almost never drive at night!

[rensch26]

Originally Posted by family wagon

Please don't take this personally, it's just that careless operators who run maladjusted headlights are one of the things that really set me off on the road. It makes me want to build a 1 kW LED array to help light the way so I can see my own lane over the glare from the oncoming vehicle. Maybe it'll shine "a little" into the eyes of that careless operator, too..

I completely agree with this. I get angry when some guy in his jeep has all of his off road LED light bars turned on and blinds me as I'm going the opposite direction. I do think that with the lights being located very low on my bus (about 2 feet above the ground) and with proper aiming I can do better job of keeping them out of the eyes of oncoming traffic.

[DoubleO7]

I really do not get the appeal of having an butt dragging pickup.
But if your going that route, adjust your damn headlights down.

[cadillackid]

well thats why on the second bus I went with the lights I noted in my reply.. the separate housing is DOT approved and has a definite cut-off that can be adjusted for... which also means my light is directed in the direction that it is beneficial to me seeing better and not just "lighting things up"..

the 15 LED lights I adjusted the best I could but they definitely dont help me on situations where i want them the most like rain / fog / snow..

ive never gotten stopped ..perhaps having them adjusted all the way over makes them passable for oncoming drivers.. I havent had a chance to see that bus from the vantage point of a car..
-Christopher

[Iceni John]

One easy way to know if your low-beams will glare and blind oncoming drivers is to stand in front of them with your eyes at the same height as when driving a car. Assuming they don't glare, slowly squat down, and you should see a sudden increase in light as you drop below their vertical cut-off. Good E-Code lights will also have a slight up-turn at the top of their low-beam on the right side (for LHD cars) to better illuminate road signs and pedestrians. The most precise low-beam control is by solenoid shutters over a projector light - reflector lights can't do that as well. Another thing important for cars but not for buses is to level the lights: that's why HIDs in Europe must have automatic self-leveling.

I agree that badly-adjusted headlights, home-made HID "conversions" in conventional reflector lights, unnecessary and useless "foglights", high-K blue or violet light, or (most idiotic of all) smoked covers over the headlights and tail lights, are all more than just annoying. I've been tempted to put a hammer through lights like that!

John

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Iceni John

One easy way to know if your low-beams will glare and blind oncoming drivers is to stand in front of them with your eyes at the same height as when driving a car. Assuming they don't glare, slowly squat down, and you should see a sudden increase in light as you drop below their vertical cut-off. Good E-Code lights will also have a slight up-turn at the top of their beam on the right side (for LHD cars) to better illuminate road signs and pedestrians. The most precise low-beam control is by solenoid shutters over a projector light - reflector lights can't do that as well. Another thing important for cars but not for buses is to level the lights: that's why HIDs in Europe must have automatic self-leveling.

I agree that badly-adjusted headlights, home-made HID "conversions" in conventional reflector lights, unnecessary and useless "foglights", high-K blue or violet light, or (most idiotic of all) smoked covers over the headlights and tail lights, are all more than just annoying. I've been tempted to put a hammer through lights like that!

John

my newest car.. 2017 Malibu Premier has the mentioned projector lights with a mechanical shutter as opposed to a separate set of lights...

the RedByrd bus LED bulbs are much like a halogen H4, though I did go to a 6000k color as opposed to the dim / warm 3000k.. im not ricer blue by any means, but a nice solid white light.. those when adjusting on my garage door adjusted nicely as opposed to the 15 LED lights in the DEV..

they are a reflector light as I couldnt find a projector housing that would begin to fit the bus with H6054 buckets.. and im NOT a fiberglass fabricator so modifying the bus itself was out...

these lights never get flashes from drivers and defimitelty offer me a much better and true hi / low experience so they work in adverse visibility weather..

I'll have to park the bus level and then drive onto it in my car like im on a 2 lane road to see just how good the cutoff is...

im a huge fan of projector lenses versus reflector style.. the projector halogen lights in my malibu are very effective.. ive not found a need to try and convert them to LED or HID..

-Christopher

[Marvin]

I turned on the lights and noticed that they were yellow and weak. The lenses look clear and not cracked though so I'm assuming I just need to put some new bulbs in there. I didn't have a screw driver long enough to get the assembly out today but was curious what you recommended for bulb replacement. In the past I have gone to the local auto parts store and just bought some super bright halogen bulbs but they were all over the place in regards to distribution. LED would be preferred but I read something about flickering issues.

[family wagon]

That lens has 2B1 embossed at the top indicating it's the same H6054 type spoken of. It seems terrible because it is: just 35 watts on the low beam, and that's if the terminals are actually at 12.8 volts and if the lamp is young. Likely neither is true..

Earlier in this thread I described modifying H6052 lamps (55 watt) to fit in my bus. I'd love to get my hands on a legitimate E-code compliant LED replacement, but the H6052 are working well enough that I'm not in a hurry anymore.

[rensch26]

I ended up going with these lights from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I had to modify the headlight buckets slightly. There was a piece of the new headlight assembly that was protruding too far back and preventing the headlight from sitting properly in the bucket. I solved this problem by cutting out a hole in the bucket and allowing that protrusion to extend through the hole. Mounting the headlights up the rest of the way was a piece of cake.

I did have to swap the pins on two of the lights to get the high beams and low beams to work like I wanted. I've only had them for a few weeks so I can't speak for their durability yet but the LED lighting is an improvement over my old H4651/H4656 headlight combo.

[EastCoastCB]

2pcs LED Headlights For International Truck 3800 4700 4800 4900 8100 8200 95 -04 | eBay

[Marvin]

Thanks for the information. I'll check them out this evening and go with one. East Coast, are those direct fit plug & play? Do you have those? Any pictures of them besides the advertisement?

[brokedown]

Look earlier in this thread, I linked the ones I put in my bus along with some pics.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

2pcs LED Headlights For International Truck 3800 4700 4800 4900 8100 8200 95 -04 | eBay

I have those on the DEV.. they are Bright *BUT* there is almost no cutoff... I adjusted the best i could.. but oh the poor drivers facing me.... not good..

-Christopher

[cadillackid]

on my RedByrd, I used these housings..

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006309WA..._ste_e404_dp_1

and these bulbs..

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

this setup did seem to barely fit the buckets using the flicker harness included.. however I was able to adjust them to not blind other drivers and they do A good job of focusing the light where i want it...

-Christopher

[Marvin]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

on my RedByrd, I used these housings..

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006309WA..._ste_e404_dp_1

and these bulbs..

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

this setup did seem to barely fit the buckets using the flicker harness included.. however I was able to adjust them to not blind other drivers and they do A good job of focusing the light where i want it...

-Christopher

Would I need to get new housings though or couldn't I just get the bulbs since the housing seems fine.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by rensch26

Hey everyone,

I'd like to upgrade the headlights on my bus. It's a 1999 AmTran and the headlights are horrible for driving at night. Ideally I'd like to upgrade the headlights themselves to LEDs. My lights are either 4x6 or 5x7 units (I haven't measured them yet). It appears there are some LED headlight units out there in those rectangular shapes and I was wondering if anyone had tried them?

I've also considered mounting a LED light bar on the front but that would be my second choice.

Just wondering what the rest of you have done to upgrade your headlights if anything.

I recently upgraded my headlights on my 1989 Bluebird to LEDs. I did an Instructable on it here: https://www.instructables.com/id/Upg...nd-Headlights/

Leonard

[Tango]

Hmmm...wonder if there is a way to adapt those bulbs to a 7" round (antique) lamp fixture?

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Marvin

Would I need to get new housings though or couldn't I just get the bulbs since the housing seems fine.

the stock bulbs in yours are a sealed-beam, the bulb and housing are one, so when you take it out there wont be a separate part. thus the need for the housings.

here is a quick pic of what my lights look like on the road.. the ones with housing / bulb that i posted.. the beam pattern is friendly it seems to other drivers.




-Christopher

[Tootalltechie]

Originally Posted by Tango

Hmmm...wonder if there is a way to adapt those bulbs to a 7" round (antique) lamp fixture?

Here you go [emoji4]
https://m.summitracing.com/search/pa...ht-conversions

Just a start...I will be looking as well

Sent from my SM-G530W using Tapatalk

[BigDavid]

Same size housing.

FORD F150 F250 F350 JEEP CHEROKEE WRANGLER PONTIAC FIREBIRD H4 HEADLIGHT L+R SET | eBay

I was actually looking up Auto Pal brand lights. That's what I have in my Jeep. I bought a set of $25 LED lights for the bus. Plug n play. I've not had a chance to try them out yet.