Jeep lights and always-on high beams

I have a JK and I felt that the OEM lamps were not much better than useless. My solution was to outright replace them with a set of Hella "Super 7 H4" 7" lamps, H4 halogen bulbs and a relay harness that run them right off the battery and to finish it off, the other set of headlamp aiming screws as would be found anywhere else in the world allowing both vertical AND horizontal aim adjustment. The stock H13 is a poor bulb, the stock lamp looks like it came off the discount rack at walmart and the canbus electrical system means the lamp is off something like 30% of the time, so chances are you are seeing it either heating up or cooling off, not in a steady and efficient state.

What I ended up with is smooth pool of glare free light on low beams and focused long range illumination with the high beams. With some aiming I keep the light off the mirrors of the cars in front of me in traffic and out of oncoming traffic with the high beams.

And I just have this to ask, when did it become cool and trendy to drive around with your high beams on in traffic or during the day? I understand when the guys with the zillion lumen LED light bars do it, we all have to acknowledge their superiority and desirability for mating but I'm talking about the mid size korean imports etc, do you not see the little blue high beam lamp? Do you not notice that the mirrors on the car in front are glaring back? Do you not notice that all the road signs sure are brighter today?

I just have this to ask, when did it become cool and trendy to drive around with your high beams on in traffic or during the day? I understand when the guys with the zillion lumen LED light bars do it, we all have to acknowledge their superiority and desirability for mating but I'm talking about the mid size korean imports etc, do you not see the little blue high beam lamp? Do you not notice that the mirrors on the car in front are glaring back? Do you not notice that all the road signs sure are brighter today?

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Usually it means that one (or both) of their low beams are burnt out.Rather then fix it they just drive around with high beams on till that burns out too.

ACAD_Cowboy said:

I have a JK and I felt that the OEM lamps were not much better than useless.

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That's a common feeling. The stock JK headlamps are not very pleasant or confidence-inspiring to drive with. And they're not near the top of the pack in terms of objective performance, either, but they're also not as bad as they feel like they are.

My solution was to outright replace them with a set of Hella "Super 7 H4" 7" lamps, H4 halogen bulbs and a relay harness that run them right off the battery

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...and not only are these are not as good as they feel like they are, they're also objectively a whole lot weaker on low beam than your original lamps. Peak intensity (hot spot) from the original lamps: about 27,000 candela. Peak intensity from the H4s you installed: about 13,000 candela. It's tempting to believe the overblown hype these are sold with -- even the reputable brands like Hella are often promoted with bogus claims like "FOUR TIMES AS MUCH LIGHT ON LOW BEAM!!!! TWICE AS MUCH ON HIGH BEAM!!!", which are not even a little bit based in fact. There's a detailed take-apart of the claims for the particular lamps you bought here. But at least you bought headlamps made by a legitimate maker; you could have done much worse with the crap that's all over the place (Rampage, Eagle Eye, Pilot, and hundreds of other brands of headlight-shaped trinkets).

Headlight relays on a Jeep JK: a little more light but MUCH shorter bulb life.

and to finish it off, the other set of headlamp aiming screws as would be found anywhere else in the world allowing both vertical AND horizontal aim adjustment.

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There is only one correct horizontal adjustment: straight ahead, which is where the US JK headlight bracket (with fixed horizontal positioning) puts it.

The stock H13 is a poor bulb

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It certainly was designed with priorities other than maximum beam performance (long life, low cost). But the H4 is a poor bulb, too, for different reasons (grossly inefficient on low beam, for example). The newest 2-filament bulb, H19, has the potential for excellent low and high beam performance and long life with low cost, but it will likely be used mostly to squeeze just adequate performance out of lamps too small to give it with an H4. It would be nice if we could have a well-made H19 7" round headlamp, but that is unlikely to happen.

the canbus electrical system means the lamp is off something like 30% of the time, so chances are you are seeing it either heating up or cooling off, not in a steady and efficient state.

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This doesn't even come close to being slightly true. That's just not how this works. Whoever told you this does not know what they're talking about.

What I ended up with is smooth pool of glare free light on low beams and focused long range illumination with the high beams.

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What you ended up with is a headlamp that you feel comfortable driving with. That does not mean it's a good headlamp. See here and here.

With some aiming I keep the light off the mirrors of the cars in front of me in traffic and out of oncoming traffic with the high beams.

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There is only one correct aim setting for any given headlamp at any given mount height for use in any given traffic system. Random aiming is not OK, and the European aim setting (3" drop at 25 feet) is much too low for adequate seeing distance on American infrastructure. See aim procedure here. And high beams are NEVER for use with oncoming traffic. You're probably mistaken about the high beams not glaring oncoming drivers because of how you've aimed them, but if you're correct it's because you've aimed your lamps much, much too far to the right. This is dangerous, it means you have no effective seeing distance on low beam.

when did it become cool and trendy to drive around with your high beams on in traffic or during the day?

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This isn't new -- oblivious and careless misuse of lights is a problem as old as the headlamp itself.
But it's also not a hugely widespread problem.

I'm talking about the mid size korean imports

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C'mon, this just isn't real. It's not an especially big problem with "mid size Korean imports". Those might be the cars you notice, but that's a different matter.