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If you already have h4s, you can simply install the j West upgrade to the fuse box, and buy a set of $50 Amazon LEDs for the h4s and it works amazing.
I have seen that combo and was not impressed....as per Stern and others in the lighting business, the H4 depends on a specific geometry for the light source which LED's can't properly reproduce due to their geometry and the result is definitely more light, but also more splash and glare. Some of those fairly knowledgeable guys also don't even like the 100w H4 bulbs due to their longer filament lengths screwing up the pattern.
I of course have upgraded the lighting system, new larger guage wires for high beams, larger ground wires and have the Classic Retrofit fuse panel which has built in headlight relays.
Original were H-5, these are much brighter, project further and throw a fairly flat beam. Sign pickup range is a lot better, I don’t see a big difference between low & high but do see
sign reflection sooner than I see objects which makes sense. My night vision has gotten worse so these were on my list when I did the restoration.
I would agree with cweed.
No significant difference between high and low but both are a HUGE improvement from my old H5 lamps.
I work late sometimes and night time driving is now so much better.
I'm in the process of installing the Rennline LED kit in my '88 Carrera but have two concerns regarding the subsequent light output and pattern. I say process because I'm running without reflectors and lens until I decide to keep them. After a couple adjustments (per Rennline's suggested video
) and nighttime runs I too questioned the improvements. Without a doubt output is superior - white, bright light and wider throw (wonder how this impacts pedestrians) but I was expecting a longer throw. Aside from that I'd appreciate other's thoughts on the following:
1. Referring to the first photo below, after adjustment, there's a notch in the cutoff shadow towards the left. It's disconcerting to these older eyes but perhaps its just a matter of getting use to it? Is this trait common with all the retrokits? Also I was expecting to see a hot spot in order to set horizontal adjustment. Without that, the side adjusters don't seem to change things much.
2. After a couple different adjustments per video instructions, from the 2nd photo taken over windshield it seems I've got adjustment wrong, at least on one side with lots of shadow in left foreground and a bright hot spot on right. Granted most of this foreground stuff is not such a factor from drivers seat. After first adjustment, with cutoff set at recommended 2" below my 26.5" projector height, the range seemed too low so I readjusted upwards to the 26.5" height. That improved things and does not seem to blind oncoming cars (at least nobody flashing me yet).
3. The last photo, taken straight on which may not be a good indicator, seems to show similar output patterns as photo 2, brighter on passenger side unit while driver's side is less. Of course maybe once installation is completed with reflector surround and lens, a lot of these concerns will go away.
12-18-2020, 10:00 PM
