Ah OK, I thought you wanted to increase the brightness only. Iām not a cool white person when it comes to driving 5000K-5700K is my upper limit. Cooler temp increase your awareness, especially in your peripheral vision region. But for me, on a long drive itās just straining my eyes. I really hate CW headlight when transitioning from dark asphalt to light grey concrete. Or tailing a big white bus.
Yes, not many sell those Luxeon LED in smaller quantity
Iām not sure. The driver box should accept from 9 volt to 28 volt input so it obviously regulates the output. Iāve yet to check the draw at a different voltage. One thing I really like about them (LED in general) is the constant output. Incandescent bulbs noticeably dim and brighten depending on idle speed and load and I never liked that.
A little update. I decided to add some rtv silicone between the plastic and metal pieces where they are at 45*. After sitting up 12 hours they are semi glued together. Tight enough so the metal bulb wonāt rotate or wiggle out over time messing up the beam pattern. I should still be able to twist it loose with some muscle if I ever need to later on.
I finally got to drive with them tonight and I was surprised by the color temp. My old set of leds were CW and had a definite hint of blue that kinda washed out colors. This set doesnāt have any blue in it, no yellow either. I wouldnāt call it NW, but itās a very nice CW. Colors seem more accurate. I like it a lot. Iāll try and get some pictures soon that show the colors accurately.
Here they are installed.
Since heat is a concern when it comes to a long lifespan, I was thinking of adding some small air scoops from behind my grill to the braided copper heatsinks. It couldnāt hurt.
Iām really liking the color temp of these bulbs.
Here are some pictures. My camera added extra color, so I had to reduce the color saturation to get them more realistic. Itās definetly cool white, but thereās not much blue, if any. A nice improvement over my last set of lights that also used the Luxeon chips.
I also have a theory about the 9007 bulbs. With HID lights the manufacturer designs the inner, electrical part to be very generic, then slaps different mounts (the black plastic pieces) on it. Itās possible these lights Iām using right now were designed to 9008/h13 specs then they slapped a 9007 mount on it. It saves them a lot of money compared to making a dedicated 9007 light. It would explain the length and led arraignment.
9008 is a newer style and is probably in higher demand.
You can even see the high beam is moved back a little like the 2 led kits I got.
Here is the 9008:
Here is the 9007 in the middle.
Here is a 9007 next to 9008. These are hid (only pics I could find), but you can see that the 9008 bulbs light source is about 4mm lower.
My reactions are a bit mixed. On one hand, they ARE a bit brighter than stock, but the big color change is something I havenāt got used to yet. I have a gray interior and Iām just so used to the yellow incandescent bulbs. These leds are listed as 6,000k xenon white. They are definitely on the cooler side of white. I think this is one area where I would prefer some leds in a NW color temp. Something in between the stock warm and these very cool white. Just like with led headlights, your not gonna find these in NW tints. Maybe I can find a tinted film to add? Idk. Maybe in time Iāll get used to it.
Edit: In some other brands I see they offer warm white led bulbs in 194. Maybe if I keep looking I can find a NW.
Update
Let me update my opinion of these bulbs. They are a LOT brighter than stock. Now that Iāve gotten out of my driveway and are using them in normal situations, Iām surprised everytime time I open my door. Itās like a blast of light. Lol. Its very easy to tell they are much brighter than incandescent bulbs.
The color is also fine. Iām starting to get used to the new color. Before I would have given these a 4 out of 5 star rating, but now Iād say they are 5 out of 5. :+1:
I didnāt take any pictures, but I did go through all 450 reviews and snatched up some pictures that I felt are really representative and show the differences well. You can see they are a bit brighter than incandescent. Not a whole lot brighter, but a bit more.
These bulbs use 3 leds each and the mounting arrangement seems to give pretty good coverage. The base is a bit thicker than a 194, so you have to push it in a bit harder. The overall size is a good match for 194ās so they will fit just about anywhere a 194 fits. They are not polarity sensitive so you can just stick them in and they work. I donāt know if they are āerror freeā as my car is older and doesnāt monitor that stuff.
90% of the low star reviews are from people using the online compatibility software instead of actually looking at what size bulbs they need then complaining they donāt fit. You canāt fault the bulbs for that. So make sure you get the size you need.
Overall they are a great value at 10 bulbs for $13. Iām not sure about the shipping costs as I got them as an Amazon Prime member and got shipping for free.
These are 2 bulbs for $11, but one reviewer said they are not very cool in color, more like 4300k temperature. Since I have 2 bulbs for dome lights, I may try these out. These should have the biggest effect on the interior color. My other bulbs are for floor illumination and they can stay as is.
If youāre not terribly interested in high-brightness, Fasttech has a whole bunch of NW ābulbsā. I went nuts and ordered a minimum of 2 of each for my tag-lights, just to try them all.
For that (tag-lights), I actually donāt want brighter, in fact dimmer would be better. Just donāt like the appearance of a billboard on the back of my carā¦
Anyway, I did find one set thatās got a single 5050 NW on it, which Iām using now. Still lights up the plate just fine, but is a great match for my carās shade of white (ādiamond whiteā; not eyeball-searing paper-white like most white cars are, and not mayonnaise-yellow like a Chrysler 300). Beautiful match, just ever so slightly off-white.
For interior lighting, I went with WW. Where theyād fit, I used Amazon.com , which are quite nice. Where I couldnāt fit the extra length (map lights, etc.), I used Amazon.com , also nice, but not quite as bright.
For most exterior lighting, Iām okay with CW. I like those 800lm CW JDMs that Iām running now for backup-lights. Didnāt replace the lights on the underside of the doors (puddle-lights), etc. Maybe I will, maybe I wonāt, but I got āem if I do.
Hate when people do that.
Also hate those emails Amazon sends me, āCan you answer this question?ā when the question is something like āWill these bulbs fit my āmakeā and āmodelā car?ā. Uhhh, howābout you look at the light first and see what form factor it is, first??
I try to stay away from ācanbusā lights except in those rare cases when I absolutely need them, because they have those resistors in the base just to burn off extra current (as heat!!).
Map-lights, puddle-lights, footwell-lights, glovebox-lightsā¦ who needs canbus?? Only really for exterior lighting do you need them to not throw errors.
Hmm, trust random feedback saying theyāre NW, or the printed spex and all the pix saying CWā¦?
I went with all WW, like those 5050s I pointed to in the previous post. Black leather interior, I just like the āwarmthā.
My other car actually has a grayish-beige interior where WW would probably look nice, too, but I already did it in CW, which is all that was available at the time.
Yeah, 194, 921, W5W, T-whateverā¦ they pretty much all fit the same base, but have different bulb sizes and lumenage.