New JW Speaker 200mm rectangular LED headlamps

-Virgil-

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Oh, cool (or I should say "hot"): New JW Speaker 8910 Evolution 2 200mm x 142mm (large rectangular) LED sealed beam conversion lamps with heated lenses and "dual burn" (which keeps the low beam on with reduced foreground intensity during high beam operation). Bunch of interesting stuff about these. The lens heating setup looks similar to the setup in their 165mm x 100mm (small rectangular 8800) units, and it works very well on those. They stress NCAP 5-star low beam performance, which is also a brag they first made on the smaller rectangular lamps, and what it looks like on those is a nice Z-beam type of low beam pattern with a strong and well-placed hot spot and very smooth light throughout the beam with no streaks/spots/shadows and no stray light. Probably the same on these; note the DOT and RHT ECE lamps number two, not four (choice of chrome or black faceplate; you don't have to choose DOT or ECE). Interesting that the US aim marking is VOR; it could certainly be aimed VOL instead, but at this point it's a guess whether that would result in lower or higher aim. Depends on how much separation there is between the left cutoff and the right cutoff.

High beam peak intensity reference number is 12.5, which translates to about 37,500 candela -- probably means they are emphasizing beam width rather than ultimate maximum distance down the road, but I'd want to reserve judgment on that until I actually see them.

Non-heated 8900 Evo 2 version looks to be the same, but without lens heating.
 

Sadden

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Hmmm, can you get a bucketmount too fit these? These might be what i go too in my big truck.

Any idea what temperature the heating element turns on at? There are certain conditions where icefog will freeze up your headlamps even though its technically above freezing outside.
 

Alaric Darconville

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Hmmm, can you get a bucketmount too fit these?
They're designed to replace 200mm x 142mm (5"x7") sealed beams. Any bucket that can hold the traditional sealed beam of that size should hold these.

Speaker do not disclose the temperatures on their specification sheet, they simply say
When does the heater turn on?
Heater turns on or off according to temperature changes and vehicle power:
• Heater will turn on when temperatures drop, generating enough heat to prevent ice build-up
• Heater will turn on when powering up, de-icing the light as rapidly as possible
 

-Virgil-

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In practice, the thermostatically controlled heater kicks in at around 40 degrees F or so, again going on what I found with their small rectangular heated lamp. But I didn't try to dope out the relationship they imply between temperature and "vehicle power".
 

-Virgil-

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Brand-new product. Early adopters usually wind up paying high prices. Wait for the distribution pipelines to fill up and the price to come down.
 

Travler

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Yeah I saw the email about them last week. Going to give them serious consideration in the spring when I start a new wiring harness for my Bronco. Hoping to change everything over to LED.
 

Ofelas

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Good catch; I conjured up a pair of 0554461 last week from the Speaker distributor up here, should be here by Christmas.

The other difference between the 8910 & the redesigned 8900, aside from the heating element, is only the 8910 has "dual burn".

However, both SAE models now seem to have a fourth hot wire for some version of small "city light", as well as being "DRL compatible" - I wonder if this means they can be used with voltages as low as 6v.

Perfectly happy with last years 8900, but the heated lens function sounds useful.
 

Hilldweller

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Really really really need these in a 7" round version ------ we had a heavy snow recently and I was out at oh dark thirty. I had to stop every 1 - 2 miles to clean off my 8700Js. They caked over solidly and all that was coming out was an eerie dim glow.
 

Sadden

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Hopefully some of their driving lamps also make the list too get the heated lens upgrade.
 

-Virgil-

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The 8900 Evo 2 (non-heated) is dual-burn. They "oopsed" not to mention it on the web page.
 

Hilldweller

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Sorry i'm late to the party. This is going to be great!
Wrong Jason, I thijnk. :)

I still haven't heard back from him, Virgil. I'm salivating over the prospect of 8700-J2 with heater headlamps. Can you poke him with a stick for me? Let him know there's a line of people who want to know about them...
 

-Virgil-

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I still haven't heard back from him, Virgil. I'm salivating over the prospect of 8700-J2 with heater headlamps. Can you poke him with a stick for me? Let him know there's a line of people who want to know about them...

"Hi, when are the heated 7-inch lamps coming out? Asking for a friend." :)
 

-Virgil-

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I can't go into "names and places" detail, but I have it on pretty good authority it's actually coming soon. Given the "big splash" types of announcements JWS likes to make, it doesn't surprise me they'd deliberately keep quiet before the official release.
 

Alaric Darconville

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In practice, the thermostatically controlled heater kicks in at around 40 degrees F or so, again going on what I found with their small rectangular heated lamp. But I didn't try to dope out the relationship they imply between temperature and "vehicle power".
My hypothesis is that they may shut off the heaters based on system voltage, or even detect if the engine is running or not, so as to prioritize battery charging and/or reduce battery drain.

I suppose one could write them a nice email to know for sure.
 

Ofelas

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I'll have an initial pair to check out in 7" round flavor by mid May, but apparently mid November may be the retail release, not sure if that holds true for the "regular" 7" round or the JK specific or "halo" versions, I'll know soon enough.

Hang on! (I have it on good authority the 7" heated lamps are coming very soon)

I've had the heated 5x7s for a little over 3 months now, absolutely flawless as far as I can tell.

The heated grid function doesn't appear to be related to system voltage. I left these on while the engine wasn't running, and they stayed on, cycled off, and came on again. I then beat my Odyssey like a red headed stepchild by running my winch till the battery static voltage was dragged down to 11.6v, and the heated grids on the lens still cycled on and off as if the vehicle were running/charging.

Perhaps they won't activate the heater grids until the system drops below their minimum listed 10v?

But at that point, the vehicle won't start either.

My hypothesis is that they may shut off the heaters based on system voltage, or even detect if the engine is running or not, so as to prioritize battery charging and/or reduce battery drain.

I suppose one could write them a nice email to know for sure.
 
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