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Headlight conversion

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Old 02-10-2019, 08:46 PM
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Default Headlight conversion

How hard is to change to convert to an led system
 
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Old 02-10-2019, 09:01 PM
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No clue, but I'm curious as well, I'll be following this thread
 
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Old 02-10-2019, 09:15 PM
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I'll give the same answer I give to people asking about HID conversions.

The not so great way of just sticking an LED bulb in the factory headlight assembly is just a plug and play, no harder than changing a stock bulb out. But that typically yields less than desired light output (ESPECIALLY with cheap LED bulbs) and will throw light where it doesn't need to be going and will blind oncoming traffic most of the time.

The proper way of doing it would be opening up the headlight assembly and retrofitting an LED projector into the housing. Requires a lot more skill, especially on our smaller Blazer headlights, but will yield light output on par if not better than brand new cars with LED headlights.
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Old 02-10-2019, 09:54 PM
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Originally Posted by blazen_red_4x4
I'll give the same answer I give to people asking about HID conversions.

The not so great way of just sticking an LED bulb in the factory headlight assembly is just a plug and play, no harder than changing a stock bulb out. But that typically yields less than desired light output (ESPECIALLY with cheap LED bulbs) and will throw light where it doesn't need to be going and will blind oncoming traffic most of the time.

The proper way of doing it would be opening up the headlight assembly and retrofitting an LED projector into the housing. Requires a lot more skill, especially on our smaller Blazer headlights, but will yield light output on par if not better than brand new cars with LED headlights.
​​​​
^ YES. Precisely. Optics engineered for halogens don't just play well with LEDs, with perhaps the worst problem being that the 'cutoff' isn't in the right place so you're shining light right into the eyes of other drivers.

There are crummy aftermarket projector housings on eBay and such but I really can't recommend them. The LED bulbs are known for failing early, and mine got water in them almost right away and started failing so I swapped the factory housings back in. They sent me replacements, but it was like a year before I got around to sealing the new ones up with silicone before reinstalling them this weekend. I'm hoping for the best, but I'm not optimistic and made sure to hang onto my stock housings.
 
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