ANYONE actually install LED headlights in Gen1?

Well it seems these LED lamps haven't held up too well for me. The past few months they've been visibly flickering. Not enough to noticeably affect visibility, but probably enough to distract the drivers ahead, or worse for drivers sensitive to strobing. They only seem to do it when the engine is on, and especially when it's starting or stopping. Oddly, I only noticed this recently, and the onset seemed to coincide with the onset of some strange new engine noises. Also oddly, only the low beams seem to be affected; there never seems to be any flicker with the high beams on.

I'm going to switch back to halogen bulbs for now, but I'll see if I can find out any more about why the LEDs might be doing this. Shot in the dark, but has anybody else noticed anything like this happening? Any ideas for how to diagnose the issue? Might just have to try out a different brand of LED lamp; I see a few other options on Amazon.

 

Flickering due to cheap LED Chip and or Driver. I’ve since then upgraded mine to LasFit LED Bulbs for 6 months now and they’ve been super bright, reliable. I’ve used them in the past on other vehicles and they’ve also been reliable.

 

LED lamps seem to do pretty well in the projector low-beams of a Gen 3 Prius. They give a nice controlled beam with a sharp cutoff.

I don't know that they are such a good idea in a Gen 1 or Gen 2, where the headlights are reflectors instead of projectors. The ones I've seem come with notes on the box not to install in reflector-style headlights.

 

Stock808, thanks for the recommendation. The Lasfit site lists three headlight bulbs compatible with the Gen 1 though, with three different values of "light power" (does that just mean power?): 50W, 60W, and 72W. Do you remember which you went with? I believe the halogen bulbs for this car are 60W.

I was very annoyed to find out just now that apparently using LED lights in a housing designed for halogen bulbs is categorically illegal in the US. Previously I had assumed that it would come down to the characteristics of the setup, and so there would at least be some chance of a mod being legal if the light pattern and brightness seemed reasonable. In my experience the headlights are dim enough with halogens that it's a choice between legality and my own safety while driving. Although I suppose it would be pretty unlikely to actually get in trouble for this mod unless there's an obvious safety issue with the setup?

 

I went with the 50W or LC Plus as that design mimicked the shape and form of a halogen bulb. I found the beam pattern to be similar to the halogen bulbs.

 

While I believe the use of LEDs in originally halogen headlights isn’t at the ready for street use phase, I suggest you look into replacing your spark plugs. Most spark plugs have a resistor built in to mitigate noise and they may eventually fail (I’d guess/venture)….


iPhone ?

 

As for H4 Daniel Stern Lighting has Tungsram +120 for $43.18 a pair (don’t know how much he charges for shipping)…


iPhone ?

 

Mods, I support having this thread made a sticky, and maybe a title change. jakob (#24 in this thread) correctly notes that, at present, the use of LED replacements for halogen bulbs is ILLEGAL in the United States.

 

Just happened upon this Reddit thread on LED upgrades for the Gen 1 which mentions another option: Morimoto has a few headlight products for our generation (LED and HID). If price is any indication these seem to be higher-end.

 

Found a deep dive into halogen -> LED upgrades and why they're probably bad even if they look fine: ledlights - cars

 

Hopefully sometime soon. I knew about this task force working on LED replacement bulbs for a long time now. I can’t open it (unless I pay) but the SAE is working on this.

Standards Works - SAE International