Fix / retrofit/ replace Delta off-road light bar

Alaric Darconville

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Back to the drawing board since Daniel was unable / unwilling to supply one single installed picture of the Weldex (none existed in Google), and I am reluctant to be the guinea pig for these $600 lights.
He's a 4th Dan in Google Foo, but searches take time.

Does anyone have personal experience with Morimoto Super7 Bi LED? Supposedly the lights come in a kit that's fully customizable (i.e I can add Halos to them)? Online reviews seemed to speak very highly of their beam pattern & lumen (low beam is a priority to me as I hardly use high beam)
You might also ask if any of us has experience with lighting small piles of cash on fire. Avoid the Morimoto junk, and remember that online reviews are mostly junk, made by people who don't understand automotive lighting, and in some case are shills for the vendor.

If you're going to replace your headlamps with aftermarket parts, look to J.W. Speaker, who make a wide range of 7" round headlamps.

Why do you hardly use high beam? Are you never on an empty road at night going more than 45mph?

The reason being Morimotos also make 4.7"/120mm Type T2 XB (for Tacoma) fog lights that should fit nicely as replacement for the H2's large DRL (my stock ones have foggy reflector, and OEM replacement is $389 which doesn't seem like a good buy).
Fog lamps aren't extremely useful; Morimoto ones will be even less so. Also, fog lamps aren't DRLs. If you want DRLs, you can use a module like the DRL-1 to move the DRL function to the turn signals.

A Hummer forum I read also recommended the IJDMTOY Tacoma/Tundra 120mm fog lights — with Halos! Alas reviews on Amazon is quite bad, and I'm hesitant to ask for any Tacoma/Tundra 4.7" Halo-fogs recommendations here, given how useless they are viewed as in this fine forum lol.
The word "toy" is right in the name!

(FYI I plan to wire both halos ON to act as DRL during daytime. Both will be OFF during nightime. Actual drl/fog LEDs would be wired on to high beam — or manually switched as actual fogs).
The halos can pretend to be DRLs but unless they meet the DRL photometric requirements, they won't be DRLs. Again, fog lamps are not DRLs either.


Matching brand bulb temperature for both my headlights & DRLs would be nice!
Stop. It still seems you are treating your vehicle lighting as a fashion accessory first and safety... never. This is not the right attitude to have, both for yourself and other road users. I mean, look at the Hummer in that above pic: The owner has tinted the turn signals and other lighting. Maybe you don't want to emulate these people.

Don't worry about color temperatures matching between different lamp functions. A quality halogen bulb is a quality halogen bulb. It's one thing to make sure that your left and right headlamps match (since you replace those bulbs in pairs that should be easy) but matching fog lamps to your headlamps and DRLs and front position lights is really not necessary and can be counterproductive. You don't want to have the coolest-looking vehicle in the junkyard because you got in a collision that smart lighting choices would have prevented.
 
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-Virgil-

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Back to the drawing board since Daniel was unable / unwilling to supply one single installed picture of the Weldex

I'm going ahead and making a guess that conversation maybe didn't go down quite like the way you describe it here. 😜 What did Stern actually say?
 

H2Finally

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I'm going ahead and making a guess that conversation maybe didn't go down quite like the way you describe it here. 😜 What did Stern actually say?
Apologies for the tackiness of screenshots of a 3rd party conversation, but since you asked. He doesn't have any Weldex installed pictures, ignored my request for any pics from his previous customers, and replied to my drl question with not wishing to do any business with me — as is his prerogative; and my final reply not to be a guinea pig, as is my prerogative 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

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H2Finally

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Avoid the Morimoto junk,
Was not aware Morimoto is junk! Watched 2 seemingly professional youtube reviews (one in US, and one in Aussie) comparing many headlights which seemed to consider Morimoto at least on par with JW.

Why do you hardly use high beam? Are you never on an empty road at night going more than 45mph?
The last time I remembered driving with highs was on switchback roads down Bear mountain in CA after a day of skiing, and an oncoming bike appeared around the corner and I remembered seing the guy literally flinched & turned his helmet to the side before I could kill the highs. I guess I mainly do city driving / busy freeways that I did not need to drive with high beams on (and the H2 drives too slow most of the time for me to flicker anyone to get out of my way 😆)

The halos can pretend to be DRLs but unless they meet the DRL photometric requirements, they won't be DRLs. Again, fog lamps are not DRLs either.

matching fog lamps to your headlamps and DRLs and front position lights is really not necessary and can be counterproductive.
Oic
 

Alaric Darconville

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Apologies for the tackiness of screenshots of a 3rd party conversation, but since you asked. He doesn't have any Weldex installed pictures, ignored my request for any pics from his previous customers, and replied to my drl question with not wishing to do any business with me — as is his prerogative; and my final reply not to be a guinea pig, as is my prerogative 🤷🏻‍♂️
Maybe it was the "zero real life reviews" thing (because photometric testing is the only real "real life" review, because they are objective and can be compared to other photometric tests; what people call "real life reviews" are full of impressions, guesses, assumptions, and other subjective things), and maybe it's that he doesn't maintain a database of customer-submitted photos in the first place (are people even sending him photos?). If he were to maintain such a database, he'd need the submitter's permission to share them.

Also, hearing that you intended to use your fog lamps as DRLs might have been a turn-off. Maybe he got the impression that advising you not to do that would have been ignored and you'd have chugged along doing that anyway.

Was not aware Morimoto is junk! Watched 2 seemingly professional youtube reviews (one in US, and one in Aussie) comparing many headlights which seemed to consider Morimoto at least on par with JW.
Were they by Headlight Revolution or HIDplanet? HoonigansRus.co.au? Toyotanation.com? I've seen so many of these "professional reviews" where they just have a blank wall to shine the lights on and consider that a good test. I'm pretty sure none of them have ever generated a beam isoplot in their life.

Morimoto is absolutely not on par with JW Speaker. Heck, it's not even a real company, just some Japanese-sounding brand made by whatever lowest-bidder factory is available. I can hear Daniel Stern's eye twitching from here!
 

-Virgil-

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Apologies for the tackiness of screenshots of a 3rd party conversation

Pee-yoo, tacky is right; that's just not good manners. The fact that you tried at all -- and that you are making it look like you hope we'll assume Stern was rude (or ????) to you -- reflects worse on you than it does on him, IMO.

replied to my drl question with not wishing to do any business with me

Having looked at the "evidence" you've posted...I'd have to say that seems like a wise decision on his part.

Was not aware Morimoto is junk! Watched 2 seemingly professional youtube reviews (one in US, and one in Aussie) comparing many headlights which seemed to consider Morimoto at least on par with JW.

You seem very determined to not be aware of anything that runs counter to the styling you're trying to achieve with your lights. You've got almost literally a blue-ribbon panel of SMEs here, all giving you good advice, plus another SME not on this board (Stern), and you are dismissing it all because of internet "reviews" (which have also been repeatedly explained as useless...you're ignoring that, too). So is there really a point to continuing with this thread?
 
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-Virgil-

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Morimoto is absolutely not on par with JW Speaker. Heck, it's not even a real company, just some Japanese-sounding brand made by whatever lowest-bidder factory is available. I can hear Daniel Stern's eye twitching from here!

I wish I had that kind of super-hearing! Or maybe I don't, because it would get distracting having to listen to mice farting and mosquitos snoring and dust grains hitting the windowsills all the time 😳😄 I don't characterize the Morimoto brand the same as you, though in the past that might have been more or less accurate. There are some respectable Morimoto-branded lighting parts and systems, and AFAIK Stern agrees. My main beef with TRS/Morimoto is their using sales of fundamentally bad products (unsafe, noncompliant, etc) to finance the development of fundamentally good products (safe, compliant, etc). It's worth noting I have a similar objection to Sylvania and Philips doing a similar thing in their own automotive lighting product lines.
 

Alaric Darconville

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My main beef with TRS/Morimoto is their using sales of fundamentally bad products (unsafe, noncompliant, etc) to finance the development of fundamentally good products (safe, compliant, etc). It's worth noting I have a similar objection to Sylvania and Philips doing a similar thing in their own automotive lighting product lines.
Philips and Sylvania at least started making legitimate products and happened upon the illegitimate ones (which is bad in its own right); Morimoto's start was with the illegal tuner crowd stuff. So maybe kudos to Morimoto for moving in the other direction?

(And yes, even JW Speaker ventured into LED drop-in for headlamps territory. A blemish on their reputation for sure.)
 

-Virgil-

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Philips and Sylvania at least started making legitimate products and happened upon the illegitimate ones (which is bad in its own right); Morimoto's start was with the illegal tuner crowd stuff. So maybe kudos to Morimoto for moving in the other direction?

Absolutely kudos to Morimoto for moving toward legit products!

(And yes, even JW Speaker ventured into LED drop-in for headlamps territory. A blemish on their reputation for sure.)

It's interesting to note that they only sell them in un-regulated markets. That doesn't make it ethically A-OK; it's still not, but at least they're not pulling a Sylvania-style stunt by selling them "for fog lamp usage only" (headlight bulbs) or "for interior use only" (signal bulbs).
 

H2Finally

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Pee-yoo, tacky is right; that's just not good manners. The fact that you tried at all -- and that you are making it look like you hope we'll assume Stern was rude (or ????) to you -- reflects worse on you than it does on him, IMO.
Oof, I thought I was being polite by posting only my side since I did not ask Daniel's permission to post his side. We are both adults and do not need to resort to rudeness (as I hope my reply shows). I never said he insulted me, nor did I insult him. The only missing conversation was just the one reply where (as far as I'm concerned) he is acting as a businessman who decided not to sell to me, and I replied as a consumer who decided not to buy from him. Simple as that, and moving on from the nebulous Weldex…

…to my question on Morimotos. Since Alaric advised that they're junk, I posted my surprise and the reason why, and said I will look harder at JW offerings. Not sure where the I'm "..very determined to not be aware of anything that runs counter.." come from?

Not sure why my replies seemed to get under your skin so much Virgil? Real life has plenty enough stress not to let some interweb exchange needle you so!
 

H2Finally

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Maybe it was the "zero real life reviews" thing..
I don't doubt your explanations, nor did I doubt Daniel's expertise. But in this instance I am asserting my right as a consumer to make informed decision. That's just not how I would do business. If I am 1000% confident on my product, I would say, "hey you'll be happy. If not, send it back for full refund / less reasonable restock fee". Since there is no information for me to decide on, I am moving away from the Weldex. That's all.

Were they by Headlight Revolution or HIDplanet? HoonigansRus.co.au? Toyotanation.com? I've seen so many of these "professional reviews" where they just have a blank wall to shine the lights on and consider that a good test. I'm pretty sure none of them have ever generated a beam isoplot in their life.
They were!

Morimoto is absolutely not on par with JW Speaker.
Ok, back to research! And to repeat my argument on "continuum" — on the scale where the lowest performing is oem GM headlight, and the highest is JW/Weldex, which other brands can I look at in between the 2?
 

H2Finally

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Also, hearing that you intended to use your fog lamps as DRLs might have been a turn-off.
GM nomenclature describes the 2 smaller lights in the front of the H2 as DRLs, not as fog lights.

Does your reply mean I should not be looking for "fog light" products to use as replacement for my foggy DRLs? It's difficult enough to find any 4.7"/120mm light anything! (Tons of 4") Are there any DRLs in that diameter as alternative to the stock H2's?
 

Alaric Darconville

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GM nomenclature describes the 2 smaller lights in the front of the H2 as DRLs, not as fog lights.
And when you replace them with fog lamps, they become fog lamps, not DRLs. This is because the photometric requirements for DRLs and fog lamps vary greatly.

Does your reply mean I should not be looking for "fog light" products to use as replacement for my foggy DRLs? It's difficult enough to find any 4.7"/120mm light anything! (Tons of 4") Are there any DRLs in that diameter as alternative to the stock H2's?
You could use a module like the DRL-1 to move the DRL function to the turn signals, then you can install fog lamps where the DRLs are now and have fog lamps, but that's quite a bit of money to spend to have lights that really aren't that useful. If you really want a useful light for the fog, get a rear fog lamp.

You could also go to GMPartsDirect and replace those messed-up DRLs with functional DRLs for $133.43 each.
 
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Alaric Darconville

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This is the stock H2 DRL right? Not sure I'd replace with identical at $266/pair which pretty much all H2 owners agree are of poor quality & becomes cloudy quickly ☹️
Yes, that's the genuine GM product.

The DRL-1 module may be your best bet for functional DRLs, and then you can just leave those existing lamps in place and turned off.
 

Hilldweller

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I will look harder. Only found JW with half halo instead of full
I asked Jason about the half halo when he first sent me one and he never answered. At first I thought they were using the halo as the DRL but it wasn't the case. My first JWS light was a huge unit, no halo at all, and just two lights. It worked well. And then they added the light fin-things on the sides, and then two light fin-things with a halo. Then heat and a new LED pattern. They kept innovating and improving.

What you'll find about this forum is that it all boils down to performance; we give aesthetics a last place in the point system. I manage a training lab for chemical analysis equipment ---- what do you think one of my customers would say if I had a QQQ that looked great but didn't actually measure the toxins in their product correctly? Kill a million people but, dang, it looked good doing it?

Nah. Performance, accuracy, that's the ticket. Function is beauty; beauty is function.
 

H2Finally

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Nah. Performance, accuracy, that's the ticket. Function is beauty; beauty is function.
I understand going for best function when warranted.

However coming from my 17-year old stock GM headlights, might there not be a product that would be BETTER in performance (again, low bar here with stock H2 headlights) with aesthetics that I like (since it is MY truck), without having to go all the way to the BEST performance product with aesthetics I don't like?

Wouldn't pretty much any random (legit brands) modern product would be an improvement over my stockers just because of how headlight technology has progressed in SEVENTEEN YEARS? If the answer is not true, or not really, then I shall be content to keep driving with the stock.

i sincerely very much appreciate everyone's advice. But I think this thread has reached the end of productive discussion. Thank you again to all who shared their knowledge with me!
 
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