Lickskillet Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Greetings, My gal just got a 2013 Edge and the lighting is horrible. I have been going over some of the options for brighter light and I am looking for some current recommendations for the best route to improve this. From what I am seeing, HID seems to be the route to go... Please help me decide which kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWizard Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Try aiming first. The Edge halogen headlights seem to come from the factory aimed far lower than the specifications call for. I had the same complaint about the factory lighting until I had them properly aimed and then found that there was no need to spend the time or money making changes... there was that much of an improvement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lickskillet Posted January 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Thank.you.. I tried that and they just are not very bright. I wonder if a sylvania silverstar ultra in 9006 would be brighter than the stock phillips 9012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWizard Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Not a chance. The so-called high performance bulbs such as the Sylvania Silverstar and the Phillips Vision Plus are just standard bulbs that are set up to overdrive the filaments. Doing so gives a small boost in light output at the expense of bulb life. And they still don't come close to the HIR bulbs: Standard 9006 (55W): 1000 lumens, 875 hours "Ultra" 9006 (55W): 1090 lumens, 300 hours "Xtreme" 9006 (70W): 1120 lumens, 275 hours Standard 9012 HIR2 (55W): 1875 lumens, 875 hours As you can see, the 9012 HIR2 bulbs are some 85% brighter than 9006 with the same wattage and lifespan. To be honest, I have trouble understanding some concerns about recent vehicle lighting. You should have tried the old 7" sealed beam headlights... they brought meaning to "candle in the wind". The halogen projectors in the Edge, when properly aimed, are more than adequate for night driving in anything other than out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere darkness. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lickskillet Posted January 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Thanks for educating me. Funny you mention it, but I live in the middle of nowhere with fog, deer, beavers, elk, and narrow roads. My 2002 camry had better lighting than the edge does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWWPerfA_ZN0W Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 I hope Prinzll gets his Edge updated soon. He too faces the extreme conditions you do (in AZ), and is upgrading to LED lighting + lightbar. The LEDs he is using are from vLED. 4800 lumens each, IIRC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishx65 Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 (edited) Yes, the factory projectors are pretty sad even though they come with one of the brightest halogen bulbs you can get. Plug-n-Play Hid kits make a HUGE difference and work quite well in these halogen projectors. Since it's your girlfriends vehicle, you might want to stay with the halogens for durability reasons. ALL Chinese aftermarket Hid kits tend to have occasional failures with ballasts/bulbs and it would not be good if she had a failure while driving alone at night. If you still decide to do this, either use a 35 watt kit without a harness or 35/55 kit with a dual relay harness. This will lower the odds of losing both headlights at the same time. I carry a spare Hid bulb, relay, fuse and ballast along with the stock 9012 halogens with me at all times and would have no problem replacing a part in the middle of nowhere if I had to. Edited January 26, 2015 by fishx65 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 If you have not aimed your lights yet - that will yield a noticeable improvement. The factory lights are way too low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbwt Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 I tried those blue lights and other brands that were more intense and ended up changing them about twice a year. I then went back to the standard bulbs and they lasted forever. Those bulbs only make the manufacturer richer faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lickskillet Posted January 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 http://www.vleds.com/led-headlights/9006-hb4/lmz-ultra.html Looking at Vleds 9006 system for $250 is it all that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWWPerfA_ZN0W Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 Right now, yes, for a reliable leading-edge product. And you can get them in 5000K and 6000K choices. EBay LEDs are generally 6000K only, last time I checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWizard Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 Yes, the V-LEDs kit is a huge step up in lighting from any halogen or even HID kit. 9,000 lumens total for two headlight bulbs will burn the retinas of oncoming drivers if improperly aimed so you must be very careful not to blind people. If you are relatively new to projector lighting (halogen or HID) and you've fixed the terrible factory aiming, I recommend you allow yourself time to adjust to the lighting before spending a lot of money. Using a 2002 Camry with its halogen reflector headlights is not a good comparison because the Edge projectors have a very sharp horizontal cutoff that create a very different view than halogen reflectors which have central focus (hot spots) surrounded by "spill" light. It can take a while to get used to the feeling that the lighting is not bright enough because it is focused solely on the road surface and not lighting up the surroundings as much. But once you get used to it, you'll find that the 9012 projectors actually light up much further down the road - just not as much above the road. If that turns out to be the reason you don't like the lighting then you will be just as disappointed with HIDs or LEDs because the lighting pattern will remain the same. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipworkz Posted January 28, 2015 Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 TheWizard has a very good point. It takes a bit to get used to the light pattern these cars put out and just making it brighter may not give you what you are looking for. I was used to the old way of High Beams really making things brighter but with the shutter system and only one bulb in these cars, hitting the High Beams just opens the shutter and doesn't give the same feeling of being extra bright to me. It allows more light further down the road but up close doesn't change at all. It just takes a while to get used to it. If you do go with HID's I would advise you stay away from the 6000K bulbs. I drove across the desert which was pitch black and they sucked! Not worth the money to upgrade over the 9012 bulbs in my opinion in terms of light output. It started raining part way home on that same trip and I couldn't see squat with the 6000K bulbs! It was the strangest thing and I have never experienced anything like it. I couldn't even see the rain on the windshield or coming down in front of the car unless some light from an oncoming car or street light reflected off the water. I am replacing them with some 4500K bulbs that I hope I will like better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrinzII Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Lickskillet: As previously mentioned, I do face a LOT of things when driving around Arizona such as deer, pitch black roads, etc. The impetus for my current lighting upgrade is based on a recent trip driving to Chicago from Phoenix. Long story short, my wife complained that the visibility (I actually have 5000K HIDs (3200 lumens)) was very poor, especially on the I-40 corridor. I am seriously considering the VLED LED headlight kit for these reasons. 1) The light output of 4500 lumens/side is going to be a serious improvement (especially with us planning a couple of trips back up to Chicago) 2) The VLED kit also has a collar that allows for adjustment from left to right, not just up and down. Some HID kits tend to throw the beam off-center and there's no way to correct that. 3) I have had to replace multiple ballasts with my HID kit due to the extreme heat. The LED kit will mitigate that. In addition, I am also throwing on a VisionX LED light bar for auxiliary lighting. The light bar is an additional 8000+ lumens of light plus it will have 40 degree LEDs for light coverage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 You don't think the poor lighting is because you're using HIDs in a housing that wasn't designed for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrinzII Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) akirby: Nope. Using the stock halogen bulbs would have been even worse IMO. Even in a well-lit area, the output from the stock halogens sucked. Edited February 8, 2015 by PrinzII Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lickskillet Posted February 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Something has to be done. Still amazed at how terrible lights are even after aiming them on this new of a car. Probably will go with vled but want to make sure I can refund if not happy with them at $250 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWizard Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 (edited) If the V-LED 4500 lumen bulbs aren't enough then you need to stop wearing dark sunglasses at night. To be frank, there were a lot of things I hated about my late Edge but the halogen headlights were not among them. My wife initially complained about the headlights and lack of true fog lights but once I aimed them and she got used to the fact that you have a very controlled light pattern and not as much light close to the vehicle (you don't want lots of light close to the vehicle although many people judge that as poor lighting), she was quite happy with the headlights. And that's even though she's nearly as blind as a bat and has terrible night vision. I guess everyone is different but I really don't see (pun intended) why some seem to think the lighting is so bad. Edited February 10, 2015 by TheWizard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishx65 Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Something has to be done. Still amazed at how terrible lights are even after aiming them on this new of a car. Probably will go with vled but want to make sure I can refund if not happy with them at $250 Two sets of 55/5000 DDMs with a dual relay harness would be much more cost effective and, I would guess, be much brighter. I don't think I would want to be the Vled LMZ guinea pig. I'm guessing the lumen output is way over rated and who knows what kind of beam they will throw out of an Edges projectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWizard Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 (edited) That guess would be incorrect. I've dealt with V-LEDs for many years and they are very careful not to exagerate the output of their products. Granted, they use gross output level just like almost all other LED and HID vendors but the equipment to measure net output is prohibitively expensive and nobody else does it, so why bother. Their lumen ratings are a perfectly valid number to use when comparing to other vendors' products. The beam pattern should actually be better than HID because they have taken great care to position the LED elements in the same location as the filament of a halogen bulb - no HID capsule does that. Edited February 10, 2015 by TheWizard 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishx65 Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 (edited) Glad my guess was wrong. It was only a matter of time before we started seeing decent plug and play LED kits show up. If these are really that good, maybe they will solve some of the durability issues we see in HID kits. Will be really cool to start seeing beam pattern pics of these in Edge projectors. There's only a couple Youtube vids so far but some of them are in halogen reflector housings and the output, of course, is dim with a horrible beam pattern. http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?62146-VLED-LMZ-headlight-LED-bulb-output-picture Edited February 12, 2015 by fishx65 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lickskillet Posted February 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Thanks to everyone for chiming in. I am going to pull the trigger on the Vleds system. They have told me that if I am not 100% satisfied I can return for a full refund. With that said, I am doing it. My big question is I may have to come up with some modified cover for the back of the housing. Since the bulb currently sits inside the housing. The rep at Vleds said with the heatsink setup etc my cap/cover probably will not work and if it does fit, it will get too hot inside. So, I am looking for ideas to keep dust etc out and still keep the back of the Vled system open and exposed to the air where it can cool... Lets hear your ideas if your able to envision what my minor dilemma is..... I am thinking maybe some sort of moldable plastic/wax maybe?? not sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWizard Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 (edited) The most common way of handling the dust cover issue is to buy a couple of extras from the dealer (just in case) and then make a hole large enough to accomodate the bulb and a rubber grommet. Did they indicate that doing so would not be enough? There is a fan on the back of the bulb's heat sink that I would think would be sufficient to keep the back of the bulb cool enough. You could always add a few extra small holes around the edge of the cover to allow air to escape - there should be positive air pressure inside from the bulb cooling fans so dust entry shouldn't be a problem. Bear in mind that the LEDs themselves produce very little heat. It's the power management circuitry behind the LEDs that gets hot. Edited February 11, 2015 by TheWizard 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrinzII Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 That guess would be incorrect. I've dealt with V-LEDs for many years and they are very careful not to exagerate the output of their products. Granted, they use gross output level just like almost all other LED and HID vendors but the equipment to measure net output is prohibitively expensive and nobody else does it, so why bother. Their lumen ratings are a perfectly valid number to use when comparing to other vendors' products. The beam pattern should actually be better than HID because they have taken great care to position the LED elements in the same location as the filament of a halogen bulb - no HID capsule does that. That is another point. The HID bulbs in most aftermarket kits are much longer than the halogen bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lickskillet Posted February 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Thanks to Wizard and Prinzll... I will post up once I have it installed and share my reults Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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