Apparently, I've been the asshole for the past 4 months (BEAMTECH LED replacement bulbs)

[jensjer]

Oracle LED replacements for stock halogens. Yes.

I suppose, just dropped 1500 for factory..

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[Orange01z28]

I spent like $60 on Amazon

 

[Dougstdig]

Bought beamtech led replacement bulbs for my gladiator based on recommendations and assurances that led replacements for halogen reflector housings had come a long way. Installed them and noticed a pretty serious cut-off line. Not quite projector housing crisp, but it looked like a clean-enough on/off. I figured driving at night would be the test. I got highbeamed once the first night, but i was cresting a hill and could clearly see my line was elevated because of the terrain and the person who flashed me was blinding me prior to the flash as well. So i wrote that off. I generally don't drive at night that often so it barely really came up again. I've never gotten multiple flashes on any given day, and the flashes i do get were usually 1-3 weeks apart.

Well, standard time (thank god it's gone next year) came around, and suddenly i'm driving in the dark more often. No increase in highbeamings though. But i did have occasion to drive behind my wife last night. She called me on the drive to ask if i had my highbeams on. No, definitely not. She said "holy fuck are those bright"... bright all the time or just when i hit bumps? "Bright all the time, but worse some moments"

Well fuck.

Final question "Bright like 'wow, that's a bright headlight' or 'look at this fucking asshole' bright?"

Asshole bright.

Just finished up putting my halogens back in. Can't wait for the Diode Dynamics black friday sale on their new projectors!

No such thing as a free lunch i guess.

I went to the BeamTech website and there is no reference to the bulbs being DOT or SAE compliant. I then went to the Philips website and all bulbs were listed as DOT compliant. Just because it fits in the hole Aldo want mean it’s legal to drive on the street.

Then you have those crayon lockers that place light bars on the front of their vehicles cuz they wanna be cool. I still haven’t seen and suspect all light bars are packaged as “Off-road Only”.

I commend you for doing the right thing after you found the error in your ways!

 

[AmishMike]

Talk to me about this cut-off line. I have the factory LED's (first experience with LED headlights). From what I am reading, the sharp cut-off line is an indication of a proper reflector? Personally I hate the sharp cut-off, it is like having no peripheral vision, things just suddenly appear. Also, there is no change in intensity for high beams, they just move that cut-off line further up and consequently ahead.

 

[Rick_Jame55]

Bought beamtech led replacement bulbs for my gladiator based on recommendations and assurances that led replacements for halogen reflector housings had come a long way. Installed them and noticed a pretty serious cut-off line. Not quite projector housing crisp, but it looked like a clean-enough on/off. I figured driving at night would be the test. I got highbeamed once the first night, but i was cresting a hill and could clearly see my line was elevated because of the terrain and the person who flashed me was blinding me prior to the flash as well. So i wrote that off. I generally don't drive at night that often so it barely really came up again. I've never gotten multiple flashes on any given day, and the flashes i do get were usually 1-3 weeks apart.

Well, standard time (thank god it's gone next year) came around, and suddenly i'm driving in the dark more often. No increase in highbeamings though. But i did have occasion to drive behind my wife last night. She called me on the drive to ask if i had my highbeams on. No, definitely not. She said "holy fuck are those bright"... bright all the time or just when i hit bumps? "Bright all the time, but worse some moments"

Well fuck.

Final question "Bright like 'wow, that's a bright headlight' or 'look at this fucking asshole' bright?"

Asshole bright.

Just finished up putting my halogens back in. Can't wait for the Diode Dynamics black friday sale on their new projectors!

No such thing as a free lunch i guess.

Just put in a big order with “DD” today. Black Friday sale is on!

 

[mryanwing]

I get flashed almost everyday with the stock leds.

 

[Gatorized]

I get flashed almost everyday with the stock leds.

I try to run with high beams on most of the time - not only because it provides best visibility on the road ahead, but also so I can dim them when the approaching vehicle can see me dim them so they know my headlines are not on high beam…. I still get flashed occasionally. And sometimes I deserved it because I forgot to dim them!

 

[Maximus Gladius]

I try to run with high beams on most of the time - not only because it provides best visibility on the road ahead, but also so I can dim them when the approaching vehicle can see me dim them so they know my headlines are not on high beam…. I still get flashed occasionally. And sometimes I deserved it because I forgot to dim them!

I also wait to dim them until oncoming knows I’ve dimmed them.

 

[John7595]

If you have a clean cutoff line with the beamtech LED bulbs and you're still getting flashed, you need to aim them down more.

An easy way to know if they're too high (besides getting flashed by everyone) is to watch where the bulbs are illuminating the backs of vehicles in front of you when in traffic while you're behind them 25' or so, you should be able to tell if you're shining your lights into their side mirrors. I pulled my JT up to several parked cars on side streets at night (creepy, I know) to test this way and made sure my cutoff line was a few inches below where they'd start to hit their side mirrors.

Keep in mind if you don't have them quite down far enough and your vehicle bounces on the road as you drive oncoming traffic is going to get a repeating flashing effect of getting the bulbs full brightness and low brightness because of the bouncing cutoff line. I'd bet you're right at this point which arguably is worse than if you had them way too high and oncoming traffic was just getting the bulbs full brightness without the bounce.

Fine tune yours a little more and I'm sure you'll be good to go, I've been running mine for 2 years now and no flashes after proper aiming.

Edit, added a pic of the bulb differences to show they have very similar patterns in the OEM housing.

Can you describe what you mean by a clean cutoff line? Would it be at the deadbolt on the door in the picture?

 

[JRobes]

Can you describe what you mean by a clean cutoff line? Would it be at the deadbolt on the door in the picture?

Exactly.

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