This was Daniel Stern's response to 3 emails I sent him... He gave me permission to pass them along here...
Butch
My name is Butch and I have a USA (CA) spec 1986 Suzuki Samurai... I would like to up grade the sealed beam head lights to LED... The main reason for LED is that the car has anemic 65HP 1.3L engine with a small alternator.
Well, hang on a sec…I can certainly understand the desire for better lighting, and there are several good options for it—and yes, a relay harness will greatly improve matters, depending on what lamps you wind up with—but are you seeing some indication that your alternator isn't keeping up with the existing headlamp load? If so, and you haven't added any large nonstandard electrical loads, that means there's an issue with your charging system that should be diagnosed and repaired. If you don't have such an indication, you will not be able to perceive or measure any increase in available engine power or fuel economy by changing from your present sealed beams to any other type of headlamp, even if the new headlamps take (say) half the wattage of the originals.
(Trying to keep it "stock" looking)
This will not really be possible with LED headlamps worth having. The Retrobright LED sealed beams headlamp sold by Holley is sourced out of China. It is promoted along the lines of modern performance with vintage looks. I had high hopes for this product, but the end result is a serious let-down. It is not an effective, safe, or legal headlamp.
Maxxima, United Pacific, Anzo (etc)
These lamps are useless trinkets, best avoided.
> Do you sell or recommend any> 7"LED replacement head lights?
Yes; let's narrow in on what you'd like to achieve. How well do you want to be able to see at night, and what's your budget range for this round of upgrades?
So many reviews on
these things, but I think a lot are biased
There's an enormous mountain of bad advice, it's true. Even those who have good intent, their heart's in the right place, often aren't qualified to be giving out the advice they hand out.
Oh, this will be used 90% on well lit highways (SO
Cal) but occasionally off-road in the desert at deep dark night
Okeh, so mostly low beam, but with a need for punchy high beams, too…
may add a small LED lightbar or cubes later (Another reason to keep
the power usage down)...
Understandable. Very careful shopping is needed there, too; another lake of garbage on the market but there are good ones, too.
*My stock 45 amp alternator is working just fine, but I would like to lower the load on it because I may try and add some auxiliary lighting for use off-road.
If you want to do that, buy this (specific) unit:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M9YQK9N/?tag=cpf0b6-20
Install per the instructions included, and aim straight-ahead ("VO" setting on the beam machine). Together with careful headlamp aim, this'll do just what you want—and without drawing much current.
> *I think a reflector type LED like the Truck-Lites would be close enough
Alright, then you've got a couple options—but be careful of counterfeits and pretenders. The 701C from Peterson (in Peterson or Sylvania Zevo packaging -- same lamp) is fairly good,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MHX979S/?tag=cpf0b6-20 . The Truck-Lite unit is fairly good,
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007K8AA7I/?tag=cpf0b6-20 , or with heated lens
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0193VFCO0/?tag=cpf0b6-20. Get heated lenses if you do a lot of wintertime driving with heavy snow and slush; without a lens heater the LED headlamp lenses run cold so snow and ice can build up on them instead of melting off like they do from a warm halogen lamp.
And down from there is a whole lot of knockoff/fraudulent junk; don't buy.
New lamps or old, their aim is by far the main thing that determines how well you can (or can't) see at night, and how much glare you're throwing around. Even if the present lamps are correctly aimed, that won't carry over after lamp replacement, and even many brand-new vehicles have poorly aimed lamps, so this is crucial: you will need to see to it that your lamps are aimed carefully and correctly per the instructions at
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html .
