Jeep Wrangler H4 headlight conversions?

[Canonista]

I read a comparison between Hella, Delta, and a couple other makers of aftermarket headlight conversions for Wranglers that'll help the truck's weak light output and still be DOT legal.

My "go to" brand that I trust is Hella, but I sure like the looks of the Rampage brand lights. Are some of these products far and away better than the others? IIRC, a couple years ago some offroad mag reviewed em' and that Hella was the most "bang for buck", but I can't recall which magazine or how many brands were tested.

http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.aspx?jeep-sid=402&plID=930&partID=12035

http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.aspx?jeep-sid=402&plID=930&partID=3304

http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.aspx?jeep-sid=402&plID=930&partID=9988

http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.aspx?jeep-sid=402&plID=930&partID=7420

Any help/advice would be appreciated.:twothumbs

 

[Bogie]

My YJ has Hella H4 housings as does my Ram both are E-Code the Jeep has higher wattage bulbs the ram now has HID. But I have heard good things about the IPF units as well.

 

[Bogie]

Double Tap

 

[-Virgil-]

I read a comparison between Hella, Delta, and a couple other makers of aftermarket headlight conversions for Wranglers that'll help the truck's weak light output and still be DOT legal.

Delta is a marketer/importer of Taiwanese lamps that aren't very good. The Hella units are well made of high-quality materials, but aren't very good optically; beam performance is weak. Go take a look at these isocandela diagrams for four name-brand 7" round H4 headlamps...there's a huge range of performance even among reputable-brand lamps, let alone the off-brand junk. This four-way comparison doesn't look at some brands that ought to be evaluated (Wipac makes a good lamp, IPF isn't as good as is claimed, there's a nice looking but cruddy aluminum-reflector line from Nunseing Sirius in China being brought in by a couple different marketers...).

Then there's the king-of-the-hill XE7 BiXenon projector unit from ValeoSylvania (better pricing here, where the XE7 is the only non-garbage lighting offered for sale...). Some bucket mods required. If you go this route, get the XE7, not the cheaper/not-very-good XE7R.

 

[craig333]

Never heard of Delta or Rampage. Hella and IPF (used em both and was very happy with both, but I"ve never tried the cibie or marchal) may not be the best e-codes but they're light years ahead of stock. And they're relative easy to find. Cibie and Marchal will take a little effort.

 

[R290]

I put a "bright lights" kit on my Scout. Basically it uses the headlight power to run a relay that is now used to turn on your headlights. I ran some fused 14 ga wire from the battery to the head lights via the relay. This give you very little voltage drop. To see if you need this mod, turn on your headlights and measure the voltage at the back of the headlight. Then measure the battery voltage, mine was about 1.5v lower and that made a Hugh!! difference in how bright my lights are with the relay installed. I ran two relays one for low and one for high beams.

 

[craig333]

I just assume everyone has or will do that. Don't need to buy a kit to do that.

 

[jzmtl]

IPF H4 housing with fatboy bulb seem to be the most popular choice. Another thing you should do is buy/build your own harness, wire lights directly from battery and use relay to control it.

If you want hella, take a look here for the housing with 100/80w bulb.

 

[-Virgil-]

IPF H4 housing with fatboy bulb seem to be the most popular choice.

Perhaps, but the "fatboy" bulb is a scam (and an overpriced one). They make a bunch of noise about the bulb being extra tough, extra bright, extra wonderful because of the larger diameter of the glass tube used to build it. Wrong, a smaller glass tube is what is needed if you're trying to boost the performance of a tungsten-halogen bulb (smaller tube = walls closer to filament = walls heat up faster and run hotter = more efficient halogen cycle = can drive the filament harder without unacceptable losses in filament lifespan...opposite of all this is true of larger tube). And the IPF lights themselves are decent but not great and not approved under any regulations (they're not DOT and they're not E-code) so all we have is IPF's word that they're properly engineered. It might be easier to take them at their word if they would quit lying about things like their fatboy bulbs!

Another thing you should do is buy/build your own harness, wire lights directly from battery and use relay to control it.

Yep!

If you want hella, take a look here for the housing with 100/80w bulb.

Good vendor for Hella products. 100/80 isn't necessarily the best choice for an on-road Jeep for reasons having nothing to do with electric power. Headlights mounted up high + high power low beams = having to aim the lights low to avoid blinding other drivers (including oncoming cops...).

 

[jzmtl]

Good to know about the fatboys, I bought silverstar instead because they were way too expensive.

Definately a good idea to check your headlight aim if you were to upgrade them.

 

[craig333]

I have the IPF with the 100/80 bulbs in my Jeep and don't have a problem on the road. They really work well and are at least mostly similar to a true e-code. Of course I don't drive my Jeep on the freeway. Something about not being able to go over 55.

 

[Brownstone]

I read a comparison between Hella, Delta, and a couple other makers of aftermarket headlight conversions for Wranglers that'll help the truck's weak light output and still be DOT legal.

Do you care about being DOT legal? DOT regulations have to do with manufacturing, importing, and selling. If someone sells you a "illegal" HID kit, they are they ones that aren't in compliance with the law. There is no federal penalty for you using the lights that they sold you.

See 49 USC 30118 to review relevant section of federal laws.

State law may vary, and are more likely a concern to you, but that isn't directly a DOT issue.

Also, to clear up a common misconception, there is no such thing as a "DOT Approved" light. DOT doesn't approve automobile equipment.

 

[-Virgil-]

Good to know about the fatboys, I bought silverstar instead

Out of the frying pan (avoiding the IPF scam) and into the fire (falling for the Sylvania Silverstar scam instead). :-(

See this thread and these two posts for details.

Bulbs with blue glass are never an improvement over bulbs with uncolored clear glass, unless we're stacking up a really unfair comparison (years-old, age-dimmed, under-powered "long life" bulbs with untinted glass compared to properly-powered brand new tinted bulbs).

 

[_Shawn_]

IPF H4 housing with fatboy bulb seem to be the most popular choice. Another thing you should do is buy/build your own harness, wire lights directly from battery and use relay to control it.

If you want hella, take a look here for the housing with 100/80w bulb.

1+

I have IPF H4 housing on my Rubicon. Love them. As long as you adjust them correctly you will not blind oncoming traffic. I run the IPF fatboy bulb.

The best thing you can do is to add a new wiring harness that connects directly to the battery with relays. There is an improvement even with the $10-$20 h4 bulbs.

 

[_Shawn_]

Another cool mod for a Jeep lighting. If you have a wrangler with the fog light option. You can modify, or bend a pin on the fog light relay to allow the fog lights to remain on when you turn the brights on.

Because the IPF brights really push the light up and out the fogs are nice to light up anything that is close. Very important on a trail.

I had the schematic/instructions at one time, if interested i could probably dig it up. PM if interested or do a Google search.

 

[Canonista]

Another cool mod for a Jeep lighting. If you have a wrangler with the fog light option. You can modify, or bend a pin on the fog light relay to allow the fog lights to remain on when you turn the brights on.

Because the IPF brights really push the light up and out the fogs are nice to light up anything that is close. Very important on a trail.

I had the schematic/instructions at one time, if interested i could probably dig it up. PM if interested or do a Google search.

Actually, my high beams quit altogether. My low beams work fine and I have a pair of Hella Rallye HIDs on the http://www.kozoffroad.com/ bumper (they even have a pic of my green Jeep and front bumper on their site). I think it just needs a new high beam switch http://www.quadratec.com/products/97047_101.htm but I don't want to have to buy the wiring and lights too. I don't think Mopar sells just the switch.

It doesn't matter much right now, because the Hellas are way more than I need, even though overkill feels soooo good.:devil:

 

[irsa76]

I assume you've checked the fuses, globes and relays? Unless JEEP is REALLY stupid, you can buy just the switch on it's own. Although if you've wired up the Hellas correctly, via a seperate switch feeding off the high beam switch, and they still work I would eliminate the switch as being faulty.

 

[craig333]

A hardtop? What kind of blasphemy is that? :thinking:

 

[Canonista]

A hardtop? What kind of blasphemy is that? :thinking:

Look at the half doors. It's an aftermarket top. I wanted something less of a temptation to slice open than the soft top. One kid with a pocket knife could ruin my commute to work when it's 10 degrees out.

 

[craig333]

Doors? Those are the IPF inserts, warn floods. Along the Hell Hole trail. And yes thats me, don't know why I wasn't smiling.