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Outdoordog
This is the same path I took with My 1st Gen Tacoma. Back in 2007ish I got in contact with Daniel Stern (
www.danielsternlighting.com) and went over the issues that I was having with my Tacoma headlights. (Burning out a lot, pain in the butt to change out the sealed beams, crappy light down road, and nearly useless in the Colorado Snow due to reflection.)
To see if the wiring upgrade would be helpful you can backprobe the bulb sockets and check for existing system voltage loss.
From Daniel:
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Conditions:
ALL headlamps connected - you may have to backprobe the sockets, but removing the socket from the headlamp invalidates the test.
Engine off, circuit to be tested (low or high beam) energized
First, connect your voltmeter across the battery + and - terminals. Record the voltage reading, this is the battery voltage.
Connect your voltmeter positive lead to the battery (+) and the voltmeter negative lead to the + terminal of whichever headlamp beam you're testing
-- use the bulb farthest away from the battery. With the lamps on, your voltmeter will give a direct reading of the voltage drop. Write it down.
Then connect the positive voltmeter lead to the ground terminal of the headlamp bulb, and the negative voltmeter lead to the (-) terminal of the battery. With the lamps on, your voltmeter will again give a direct
reading of the voltage drop. Write it down.
Add the two voltage drop figures obtained, and this is the total circuit drop.
Subtract the total circuit drop from the battery voltage to find the voltage at which your bulbs are operating.
Remember, light output drops exponentially, not linearly, with voltage drop. Small voltage drops = large light losses. The formula for determining the change in light output with a change in voltage is:
lumens @old volts x [(new volts /old volts) ^3.4] = lumens @new volts
So for simplicity's sake, let's take a 9006 low beam bulb rated 1000lumens at 12.8 Volts and plug in different voltages.
10.5V : 510 lumens
11.0V : 597 lumens
11.5V : 695 lumens
12.0V : 803 lumens
12.5V : 923 lumens
12.8V : 1000 lumens
13.0V : 1054 lumens
13.5V : 1198 lumens
14.0V : 1356 lumens
14.5V : 1528 lumens
Of course, there is a life tradeoff. Higher voltage = more light but also less life. If you're using a short-lived bulb (any of the blue junk, Silverstar, Coolblue, etc.) you'll be changing bulbs all the time
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When I ran this test my results were about a 11.5v or ~ a 1v drop at the Passengers side headlight relitive to the Battery voltage. Running the numbers after the upgrade came up with:
(13.2v Battery ÷ 11.48v Headlamp)^3.4 =
161%, which is the rough increase in lumens (relative to previous output not factoring in running a higher wattage bulb or the better focus produced by the Upgraded housings)
So 61% increase in brightness just for the relay and better wiring. I also upgraded the housings to focus that light where it's needed (this was the most costly part of the upgrade but has been offset by the ease of replacement factor IMHO.)
I took his advice all those years ago and my only regret is NOT DOING THE UPGRADE SOONER!
I've run both offroad 74w low/ 65w High beam bulbs was well as the stock 55w ones over the years and whyile I can tell the difference between the bulbs it is not nearly as noticable and the difference between the stock wiring and the relay kit! (yes the upgrade was totally reversible on my truck - the 2 holes for mounting the relays in the engine bay) so I have tested the stock vs relay paths.
So for my issues:
* Burning out a lot - more or less resolved I need new H4 bulbs roughly yearly was 2-3 times a year due to the low voltage.
* Pain in the butt to change out the sealed beams - FIXED by the switch to glass housings now just pop a bulb out / new one in and takes 5 mins in the driveway. No more sealed beams that require the side markers to be removed, and the grill and a trip to Toyota for a bunch more f'n nearly one time use plastic clips that hold the grill on.
* Crappy light down road - FIXED
* Problems with Snow reflection - FIXED by housings having sharp cutoff.
Wish the upgrade was as easy on my 4Runner. Luckily the 2006 has projector lamps but I still miss the beam pattern and cutoff of the 97's housings in the snow or heavy rain. With Modern CanBus everything cars and LED technology things are changing fast. A LOT of the LED replacement bulbs are just junk as a retrofit for Halegons. They are getting better with each generation, and some are starting to produce beam patterns that look promising. I'm waiting to see if they can control the CRI and Color temp in the Next generation. I don't prefer the "Blue HID look" for long night drives. So hoping the next Gen will combine the newer non-glare beam patterns with a 90+CRI and ~4500k-5000k color temp (Current are not CRI rated so likely 70-80CRI and 5500K )
I've been looking for upgrades for the 4Runner and found the Youtube channel for headlightrevolution.com. They seem to be doing some testing of various LED upgrades and replacement housings. They seem to actually care about putting the light on the road where it belongs and not just trying to make a buck selling "upgrades" that add another driver blinding glarebomb truck to the road. (They have a section for the JK's at
Jeep Wrangler JK LED and HID Headlight Upgrades ) I've no afillation with them other than considering them next time I need to upgrade the 4runner or maybe the SO's ride. Ask to see their beam tests of anything you are considering and let me know how it goes if you do choose to work with them.
Boort
