Our last blog post may have been over a year ago, but you may remember the mention of "bad" vs "good" aftermarket LED options. This is still a very real challenge for folks taking to one of the many ecommerce platforms to buy their lighting, so we figured we'd lay out the background work we've done to guarantee you won't have the same issues they do.
Output brightness and pattern
Let's cut straight to the chase here. Your headlights need to do 2 things: produce a lot of light and send it to the right places. This is the more apparent difference to be found when you compare an "eBay special" to our products. Here's what that looks like:
In fact, we go a step further to analyze the output of each bulb type, making sure it stays within factory prescribed areas, and that the brightness in each area is equal to or higher than the halogens they replace:
Reliability
Once you've got great light on the road, you want the honeymoon to last as long as possible, and the biggest part of getting an LED to last more than 50,000 hours like ours is keeping them reliably cool. The common solution to this is to tack on a fan, but this is awfully crude. Not only are these noisy, but they can interfere with your vehicle's radio (especially for folks using aftermarket FM/Bluetooth kits), and cheap construction leads to frequent failures and overheating. We avoid this by designing our lights to rely on solid-state, high quality aluminum (aluminium...) heatsinks. If fans are absolutely necessary for a bulb type, we ensure they use high quality components that'll last for years to come.
Electrical Load
Fans lead us into the last technical piece - electrical load. Nobody wants to cause hundreds of dollars of electrical damage simply trying to get brighter lights. It's easy to make lights bright and keep them cool by tacking on overpowered LED chips or large fans, but this risks your LEDs drawing more current than the vehicle was designed to supply. Good LEDs, like ours, are designed with this balance in mind. We carefully select appropriate LED chips for each bulb type (CSP in our Halogen replacements, for example) and use an intelligent driver to control its current consumption so that the replacement bulb never draws more power than the factory bulb, all the while performing far better. This can take load off your wiring harness, alternator, and other electrical components - keeping them healthier for longer!
Form factor
You now want to buy one of everything we've got in stock - and we don't blame you! You'll be happy to know that we're car people ourselves, and have been through the struggle of 1 hour repairs turning into weekend ordeal with a lot of beer. This isn't the case with our lights! Everything we offer has been extensively tested, on real cars, so you can rest assured it'll fit right the first time. In fact, if you buy one of our vehicle-specific upgrade kits, you'll get a guide telling you exactly where each bulb goes, and a guarantee that you won't get any fitment or computer issues!
Of course, if you do run into challenges, reach out to us and you'll be supported by a real, knowledgeable, human who wants to get you back on the road safely, quickly, and easily.