legal aftermarket headlamps? police officers, state inspection officials please help

[-Virgil-]

DOT rated housings are legal in USA and decent, but not great. ECE are much better for focusing the low and high beam, especially the high-beam. ECE housings are preferable (over DOT) for their better beam focus

That is common "wisdom", but it really is not at all true. Some DOT headlamps are objectively better than some ECE headlamps, and vice versa. Both headlamp specifications (regulations) allow for headlight performance that ranges from very good to very bad, and it is just not possible to say one specification is better than the other one. This issue has been discussed at huge length on here numerous times; if you want to see a big mama of a thread on the subject, it's this one (starting at post #15). It goes into a whole lot of highly technical detail, and Daniel Stern chimes in at the top of page 2.

Hella also makes Hella ECE housings, but I never tried them. So I don't know how good they are.

They aren't very good at all, in the size used in a Cherokee. High beam is too high and low beam is weak and too low. But this doesn't mean ECE headlamps are bad, it means this specific headlamp is a "swing and miss".

I think Cibie is just as good (perhaps better).

The Cibie lamp in the 200mm rectangular size (Cherokee size) is better than the Hella.

the ECE low-beam pattern is much kinder to oncoming drivers.

The ECE specification allows less low beam glare than the DOT specification allows, but that doesn't automatically mean it works this way every time when we're looking at actual headlamps. In this case, there's almost no difference in glare on low beam between the Hella DOT and the Cibie ECE, with equal aim.

The ECE high-beam is much better because it's better focused and where I need it.

The high beam pattern from the Cibie 200mm H4 headlamp is well focused, but that doesn't mean ECE high beams are better, it means this specific headlamp has a good high beam.

It's possible to aim headlights very well with ECE housings.

It's equally as easy to aim the Hella DOT headlamp in this size, the Hella ECE headlamp in this size, and the Cibie ECE headlamp in this size.

Cibie makes very good ECE housings

That is generally true.

Make sure you get housings for right hand traffic. That means for driving on right hand side of the road (like we do in North America).

Also very important.

For a good bulb, IMO the Philips XtremeVision +100 is the best there is for stock wattage (stock wiring) and arguably the best even with upgraded wiring. That's my opinion based on research and experience. I have tried Philps XtremeVision Plus +130 and don't like them as well because their color is whiter than I prefer for wet weather, and it's high beam doesn't seem to me any brighter than the +100.

There's a good thread about that here.

 

[Need a Light?]

I have nothing to add, but wanted to thank you for trying to do it the right way, and keeping other drivers in mind.

I drive a fairly short car. And live in the land of pickups with a bunch of rednecks either lifting them and not readjusting, or just switching to 7500k 100klumen (obvious exaggeration) HID and not caring who else can see apparently, as long as they can. Or the horrible many-thousand lumen LED bars I see mounted above the license plate sometimes that isn't directional, just blinds everything in 'front'

It means a lot when people take the time to do it right. I know people want to see better, but many don't consider that others may not be able to at all as an expense.

 

[Hilldweller]

JK owner here and o-scope operator.

The "Sticky" on WranglerForum has some flat-out bad info. I've measured the JK headlight circuit a few times and the wave runs from 4.6v to 12.6v. The median voltage is in the 8v area but the average is about 12.6v. It spends almost no time at 4.6v but it's enough to make an LED flicker (which isn't quite legal and is annoying).
You can do better with a bypass harness and a Cibie housing from Daniel Stern, a set of Philips bulbs.
The bulbs will burn out about 3 times a year with that much voltage though. Been there, replaced that.

If you want something to last longer and melt some snow, the Trucklite LED with heated element isn't bad. JW Speaker has a heated light for the XJ but not JK yet. JW Speaker's product is superior except for that aspect, melting snow on the lens. And I can attest to the fact that snow builds up in the headlight cavity on a JK; you have to stop almost once/mile in a snow storm to clear them.

 

[-Virgil-]

If you want something to last longer and melt some snow, the Trucklite LED with heated element isn't bad. JW Speaker has a heated light for the XJ but not JK yet.

AFAIK Speaker doesn't have a heated-lens 200 x 142 mm (big rectangular) LED headlamp yet (for the XJ), but they do have a heated 7" round -- just released, not yet on their site, give 'em a call for availability. They don't sell it with an H13-style plug on the back (it has the regualr H4/sealed beam plug), but that's no big deal, you just buy two of these or these or these (more expensive, but they get reviews saying "These don't fail like the other ones did") and plug 'em in.

I think you're right about the headlight cavity on a JK (or a TJ...or a YJ...or an XJ) serving as a snow scoop, and it makes me wonder pretty hard about the new factory LED headlamp being offered on the '17 JK. It does not have any lens heating!

 

[Hilldweller]

AFAIK Speaker doesn't have a heated-lens 200 x 142 mm (big rectangular) LED headlamp yet (for the XJ), but they do have a heated 7" round -- just released, not yet on their site, give 'em a call for availability. ....

http://www.jwspeaker.com/products/heated-4x6-led-headlights-model-8800-evolution-2/
Got a holler from Lisa the other day. I think they're way-coool.
They said no round ones yet though...? You have other intel?

 

[-Virgil-]

http://www.jwspeaker.com/products/h...flicting "now" and "soon" on the heated 8700.

 

[Hilldweller]

Those will not fit an XJ. They're the smaller 165 x 100 mm rectangular, not the larger 200 x 142 mm rectangular size the XJ takes. When there's a heated-lens Speaker #8900, then that'll fit the XJ.

As for the round one, digging through my correspondence with Speaker I have conflicting "now" and "soon" on the heated 8700.

Dang-it. I looked fast, saw the shape, and assumed they were 5x7 XJ-sized.

I'm really hoping for the heated 8700-J to happen.
The only thing that I can think of to top that would be one that self-levels. The soft springs on a Jeep beg for that.