Gary Lewis Posted May 24, 2023 Author Share Posted May 24, 2023 Daniel Stern lighting consultancy. Mr* Stern offers a LOT of information on his site. Yep, Daniel is the one that pointed out that problem with the Hellas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
351FUN Posted May 25, 2023 Share Posted May 25, 2023 Yep, Daniel is the one that pointed out that problem with the Hellas. This is a thread I'll love to read at work, lighting is something I'm a stickler about and I can't scroll past a FB post with the harbor freight flashlight headlights without saying something. On mine I'm running the trucklite units, but as much as I love how close to classic they look I may have to upgrade to something heated now that I live in WA. I'm also gonna play around with putting projectors into some cheap shells and running HID, which is my preferred light type. Led just isn't good in wet and snowy conditions, my '21 q60 has factory leds and they're some of the worst factory headlights I've ever had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBrother-84 Posted August 4, 2023 Share Posted August 4, 2023 I love them! I hadn’t really driven at night with them until a couple of weeks ago when we went to New Mexico. But I did then and they put out a LOT more light and it goes a LOT farther down the road on high. I’m very pleased and highly recommend them. While restoring Big Brother, I decided to upgrade the headlights, tired about the standard H4 sealed beams. We quickly get used to modern vehicles lighting power and sealed beam were looking yellow… So I went with LED kit solution. Although they were much more powerful than H4 sealed beams, I was still not satisfied. Don’t know if the truck height is the cause, but I wasn’t able to adjust them correctly: There is almost no difference between High and Low beams, and coming vehicles are continuously flashing me. Here is this LED kit (bought from NAPA, Car Lighting District brand). PA11703CL Upgrade Kit and the LED bulb, CLD HEH4: This kit was ok for driving around here, no big distances, no big yearly mileage. But I’m going on a long road trip next September, and wanted to replace it with something performant and allowing a good High-Low adjustment. Today, I pulled out the LED kit and installed a Koito one. Gentlemen, sorry but each time I see this brand name, I realize that these Japanese marketing guys are surely not speaking French. Ok, let's keep serious. So today, I installed this Koito kit. Sorry… Instead, let's call it "Daniel Stern Kit". Or, "DS Kit". This will allow me to keep concentrated and focus. Now, where was I… Oh yeah, talking about the headlight kit swap. I also bought DS's harness so the DS Kit is powered directly from the battery (with fuses and relays). The original wiring stays in place and is not modified, used only to control the lights (on-off low-high). Was almost plug-n-play. Here is DS wiring Diagram: And the DS Kit: Let's compare the "look" between the LED kit and the DS Kit: Now, let's wait for the night for testing it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted August 5, 2023 Share Posted August 5, 2023 While restoring Big Brother, I decided to upgrade the headlights, tired about the standard H4 sealed beams. We quickly get used to modern vehicles lighting power and sealed beam were looking yellow… So I went with LED kit solution. Although they were much more powerful than H4 sealed beams, I was still not satisfied. Don’t know if the truck height is the cause, but I wasn’t able to adjust them correctly: There is almost no difference between High and Low beams, and coming vehicles are continuously flashing me. Here is this LED kit (bought from NAPA, Car Lighting District brand). PA11703CL Upgrade Kit and the LED bulb, CLD HEH4: This kit was ok for driving around here, no big distances, no big yearly mileage. But I’m going on a long road trip next September, and wanted to replace it with something performant and allowing a good High-Low adjustment. Today, I pulled out the LED kit and installed a Koito one. Gentlemen, sorry but each time I see this brand name, I realize that these Japanese marketing guys are surely not speaking French. Ok, let's keep serious. So today, I installed this Koito kit. Sorry… Instead, let's call it "Daniel Stern Kit". Or, "DS Kit". This will allow me to keep concentrated and focus. Now, where was I… Oh yeah, talking about the headlight kit swap. I also bought DS's harness so the DS Kit is powered directly from the battery (with fuses and relays). The original wiring stays in place and is not modified, used only to control the lights (on-off low-high). Was almost plug-n-play. Here is DS wiring Diagram: And the DS Kit: Let's compare the "look" between the LED kit and the DS Kit: Now, let's wait for the night for testing it! You can't go wrong with DS. He really knows his stuff! It's his life's calling after all... They look much more "stock" in keeping with your theme for Big Brother. Looking forward to see what you think about the new pattern and power. Gary's photos really show the difference in his (Big Blue's) lamps and I hope you are equally impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 5, 2023 Author Share Posted August 5, 2023 You can't go wrong with DS. He really knows his stuff! It's his life's calling after all... They look much more "stock" in keeping with your theme for Big Brother. Looking forward to see what you think about the new pattern and power. Gary's photos really show the difference in his (Big Blue's) lamps and I hope you are equally impressed. I hope you love them as much as I do mine. They are very adjustable and quite precise. And on high they light up the road far ahead. As for having someone ask that I dim them, it hasn’t happened yet - in spite of the fog lights being on with either setting of the headlights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBrother-84 Posted August 5, 2023 Share Posted August 5, 2023 I hope you love them as much as I do mine. They are very adjustable and quite precise. And on high they light up the road far ahead. As for having someone ask that I dim them, it hasn’t happened yet - in spite of the fog lights being on with either setting of the headlights. I LOVE them! Did a short test, there is a BIG difference between Low and High adjustment. Not equipped here for a precise adjustment (no flat parking facing a wall at our chalet). I made a partial adjustment on a straight flat road, so not lighting to the sky , pointing in a reasonable direction. Will fine tune when coming back home tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 5, 2023 Author Share Posted August 5, 2023 I LOVE them! Did a short test, there is a BIG difference between Low and High adjustment. Not equipped here for a precise adjustment (no flat parking facing a wall at our chalet). I made a partial adjustment on a straight flat road, so not lighting to the sky , pointing in a reasonable direction. Will fine tune when coming back home tomorrow. Excellent! I knew you would love them as I'm confident that I'm not imagining the difference. Big! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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