OEM LED Lamps why are they so bad?

[MaXXX_LUX]

Hello everyone. Im new here but not to the world of vehicle lighting. In fact I've been obsessed with it for as long as i could drive. Seeing good at night has always been important to me. My question is in regards to factory LED headlights. I have now drove a newer Ford f150 and a Toyota Rav 4. Both with stock LED headlights and the color temp is absolutely terrible. Very high whiteish blue. Bad visibility at night and eye strain. Is there not laws in place to prevent this? LEDs can be made in any color temp and a lower one around 4000k would surely provide better visibility instead of worse. Are they simply choosing style over safety? Anyone have any insight into this?

 

[PaladinNO]

Greetings!

Yeah, I have noticed this as well. And not just in the world of LEDs. My guess is the OEMs does it as cheaply as possible to drive the price down to push the sales numbers up. Whereas 3rd parties makes better quality because it's what they do.

If Rigid or Lazer made bad products, everyone would drop them like hot coals. Whereas a car manufacturer makes a whole car, with lots of parts. And maybe they figure people will add aftermarket illumination anyway (which would be rather cynical), and just does the minimum they can get away with. For your eyestrain (I feel you on that one), add yellow filters if you can. Much easier on the eyes over time, though you will lose some of the output.

I had just fitted a pair of Rigid 504815 (replacing Rigid 202513 as supplemental low beams) on my 2008 VW Caddy, and the blue stripes along the edges of the beam was really "eewww!!!". Just drove home with them today, so haven't put my filters on them yet.

The discussion on this is endless, and there are personal preferences to consider as well. Me, I like warm white. 3000-4000 Kelvin. But for the road, 5000-6500K gives the best visibility. But it also gives the most annoying glare.

You at least has stock LED. I got stock halogen, and I cannot even do anything about them due the bulb fixture. And the legislations regarding adding aftermarket lights for better visibility and safety, ugh, I am still going rounds with the rule enforcers since my vehicle was deemed "not legal to use" in November, all because of illegal lights.

This is not even a new question regarding flashlight manufacturer either. For example, where is the warm white Nichia 519A from Fenix. Or my favourite, the E21A.

 

[F89]

I posted on the forum about how I specified halogen over LED when I bought a new car (4 years ago now) and got ridiculed on here (by one particular character).
The advantages of decent halogen headlights over the current LED offerings are numerous in my experience and opinion.

Even if car manufacturers used LEDs with good CCT, tint and CRI they still wouldn't perform as well generally and in adverse conditions like rain and dust etc or be as comfortable on the eyes.

 

[MaXXX_LUX]

I posted on the forum about how I specified halogen over LED when I bought a new car (4 years ago now) and got ridiculed on here (by one particular character).
The advantages of decent halogen headlights over the current LED offerings are numerous in my experience and opinion.

Even if car manufacturers used LEDs with good CCT, tint and CRI they still wouldn't perform as well generally and in adverse conditions like rain and dust etc or be as comfortable on the eyes.

Wouldn't the proper color temp solve the issues? Is there another issue with LED that I'm unaware of? The lamps would perform with better output than halogen and have the proper temp to properly illuminate the road especially in adverse conditions. OEM HID headlights didn't have this problem. They are around 4300k and work great. Why did they decide to change this when going to LED?

 

[Lights and Guns]

Man, I have a 2017 laredo Jeep Grand Cherokee and my headlight since the day I bought the Jeep back in late 2016 has been my one and only gripe about the Jeep I have.

I love everything about it and intend on keeping it for many years to come.
With that said, If I could have better headlights in it I would - however after briefly looking into how I can go about it, I decided to stop pursuing it as I was seeing around $1,500-2,000 for a proper job and good quality stuff...

If anybody knows any solid options that aren't a tremendous amount of money let me know!

When I'm in the city It's no big deal, but when I'm out in the sticks on the highways without .... driving in the dark isn't fun!

 

[LEDphile]

One reason that LED headlamps tend towards high CCT and low CRI is the high lumen density LED chips used as the source (smaller sources give better optical control). If you need a certain output, the only way to shrink the size is to increase the current/lumen density, and that tends to result in operating conditions that the red phosphors won't survive in. But since LED gives significantly better optical design freedom than halogen or HID does, meaning more light down the road (even if it's lower quality light), in a smaller and lower maintenance package than HID, it's won out.

 

[MaXXX_LUX]

One reason that LED headlamps tend towards high CCT and low CRI is that the high lumen density LED chips used as the source (smaller sources give better optical control. But if you need a certain output, the only way to shrink the size is to increase the current/lumen density, and that tends to result in operating conditions that the red phosphors won't survive in. But since LED gives significantly better optical design freedom than halogen or HID does, meaning more light down the road (even if it's lower quality light), in a smaller and lower maintenance package than HID, it's won out.

Very interesting, I had no idea. Makes more sense. They still suck tho. More eye strain and in the rain practically impossible to see. Seems dangerous. I swear the f150 I had drove was the worst. It seemed to be around 6500k to my eyes.