Lighting Upgrade Questions

AK83,by the time the power goes from the alternator back to the battery,the battery to the dash,through two switches,back out the dash,through the engine bay,across the front from one light to the other you only have 11.4V left,both of my Defenders had that before the uprated loom's. LandCruisers are the same,next time you see one at night you'll notice one headlight is brighter than the other,and they burn out the head light switch also.Both Vehicles need a loom upgrade,as does the Patrol,I fitted an ARB loom to my last Cruiser.You have a D1,they run a relay already from memory?. Pat

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Originally Posted by PAT303

I had a 20 minute phone call with Tim aka Drivesafe about LED's,there's no advantage with them at all unless you do the loom upgrade so why bother ....

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Not my (recent)experience.

Can't remember if I posted in this thread or another, but I recently fitted a pair of Philips Ultinon LED H4s to my D1.
Difference is (pun intended) night and day.
No other change made, and I thought of adding a new self made relayed system as an alternative.
Brightness appears to be at least double the poor underpowered 55/60's I had(still have).

I also made the comment in whichever thread I did post in, that my volt meter with the lights on now sits at a steady 14.0v, whereas with the halogens it used to sit closer to 13.5-13.3v(this is obviously with the Tdi running).
Never really checked with engine off, but this is unimportant to me, as I rarely do that anyhow.

While I was doing the change I also changed the park lights(the T10 press in bulbs) to LED types too.
They, in themselves, look like headlights when on by themselves too.

I think you're right in that the D1's do have a relayed setup, and relays are in the engine bay fuse box(haven't really checked properly yet)
.. but the wires to the 3pin plug are dinky at best, and I'm imagining that they aren't supplying what they did when new.

ps. I do vaguely remember that the defender is setup to power the lights directly from the light switch too ... I'd be doing the loom upgrade just based on that setup alone. Can't imagine the light switch lasting too long running all that power through it.
I had a '79 RRC way back and I think it had the same system, and I changed it pretty much straight up after I got the car too.

But I'm with Vern in my thinking about LED H4 replacements. The Ultinons run at ~13W each globe, so 26W per pair. The low beam is a separate chip to the high beam chip, and so they're mutually exclusive.
So they only, and always, run at 26W per pair ie. Not 13W(low) plus another 13W for high beam for each globe.
Compared to a std halogen 55/60 setup, those globes try to draw 110W(per pair) at any one time, and obviously sometimes more.
So just like Vern estimated, that's only 1/4 the power(or current) requirement, and if those dinky, barely 4 amp capable, wires can supply those 4 amps(ie. 2 amps each line) then the LEDs should be running fine.

.. and this is what I see.

I need to measure their current draw one day, just for my own sake.

D1 have no relays at all. They have good enough wiring to the headlamps to support 100/90w h4 globes if relays are wired in though, however The Traxide kit is a perfect total solution.

Jc

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Originally Posted by PAT303

I had a 20 minute phone call with Tim aka Drivesafe about LED's,there's no advantage with them at all unless you do the loom upgrade so why bother,just do the loom and fit night eater globes. Pat

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Thats the way i look at it to pat

We have a '13 Puma 90, so I think I will have to do the loom upgrade at some stage.
Most on here have gone the Traxide way which is which is the way I think I will go, but I've heard a Piranha item mentioned on here as well,...is there a difference? My car has the factory driving light option as well,..would the loom cover them as well?
Can't do this stuff myself, so I'd be looking for a good Auto Elec in Melbourne, who was familiar with Defenders, to do a lovely "Factory" job for me...."Driven Auto Electrics" (Mobile Elec) has been mentioned.
I would welcome any further info, comments etc, from members, particularly with respect to a good Auto Elec who is familiar with Defenders. We're in Bayside Melb, but for a lovely job, I'm happy to travel.
Thanks, Pickles.

Pickles,I'd get it done mate.Tim's kit comes with full instructions,if you can change a head light globe you can fit his kit,best thing is he will sell you a basic loom,or a loom with a driving light circuit added.If you get stuck he is a phone call away.You'd be supprised how much brighter your lights are and you'll never be stuck with a failed switch,that's not nice. Pat

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Originally Posted by Pickles2

We have a '13 Puma 90, so I think I will have to do the loom upgrade at some stage.
Most on here have gone the Traxide way which is which is the way I think I will go, but I've heard a Piranha item mentioned on here as well,...is there a difference? My car has the factory driving light option as well,..would the loom cover them as well?
Can't do this stuff myself, so I'd be looking for a good Auto Elec in Melbourne, who was familiar with Defenders, to do a lovely "Factory" job for me...."Driven Auto Electrics" (Mobile Elec) has been mentioned.
I would welcome any further info, comments etc, from members, particularly with respect to a good Auto Elec who is familiar with Defenders. We're in Bayside Melb, but for a lovely job, I'm happy to travel.
Thanks, Pickles.

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Heh pickles, just buy the traxide unit and I'll help you fit it. Its not terribly difficult Ive done it to mine.

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Originally Posted by karlz

Heh pickles, just buy the traxide unit and I'll help you fit it. Its not terribly difficult Ive done it to mine.

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That would be good mate, I'm bloody hopeless.
Pickles.

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Originally Posted by PAT303

I had a 20 minute phone call with Tim aka Drivesafe about LED's,there's no advantage with them at all unless you do the loom upgrade so why bother,just do the loom and fit night eater globes. Pat

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Originally Posted by AK83

Not my (recent)experience.....

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....not my experience either. I have swap-in LED headlights, 25W low beam, 48W high. Dramatic light-on-road difference - the LEDs are much more efficient in converting power to light, compared to halogen. [But, not the cheapest option.]

I'm not saying LEDs can't get better with proper wiring & relays (although I don't think it'll make a big difference to low beam, at half the wattage of standard) and I must admit I am thinking of doing this, for belt & braces. Also, with some LED headlights now getting up to 100W or more a side on high beam, I would say you certainly should. But, around town, low beam (where I must admit most of my night driving is), more than adequate light from 25W-a-side LEDs, really nice sharp cut-off. WAY better than standard.

Now, driving lights, another story! I have gone Lightforce 7" Strikers with a HID kit, and proper wiring/relays. Great long-range vision. Which again suits me - I am more likely to be road touring at night, rather than track crawling, and my research suggests that HIDs are still a better option for long range as compared to LEDs. So, the high-beam LEDs throw a great local flood, and the HID driving lights throw a great long-range spot. Side note: I should probably experiment with a spreader lens on one of them.

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Originally Posted by skidrov

....not my experience either. I have swap-in LED headlights, 25W low beam, 48W high. Dramatic light-on-road difference - the LEDs are much more efficient in converting power to light, compared to halogen. [But, not the cheapest option.]
....

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First. I have Traxide wiring upgrade for both driving and headlights.

Driving Lights
I bought some really strong and bright "ARB illuminator clones" LED driving lights but I hated them.
At first I was toally amazed how bright they were, how everything looked like day time.
But then I started noticing a few irriatants. First was the street signs, they would reflect back so much of the led lights that all you noticed when driving were the street signs.
Next was the rain. When it rained, all you saw was raindrops and the led's sometimes made it harder to see.
Finally was the fog or smoke on the road, they just didnt cut it for me, so I took them off (I still have them if anyones interested) and replaced them with some halogen fyrlts (150w).
I'm really happy with the halogen driving lights. Yes, they dont seem as powerful as the led's but you can see further with them. Things in the bush are now noticeable.
So, in my opinion halogens are superior.

Headlights
I replaced my headlight bulbs with the Osram night breakers. I chose them over the Phillips because they were a more yellow light. In my opinion the yellow light is superior.
However, within 3 months the right hand normal beam bulb failed, so I just put the standard one back in. 2 months later the left hand High bean Osram failed, so I then decided to replace both with the Philips Eco. The Osrams were good, but the longevity wasnt. The eco's havent failed yet, but they arent as good as the Osrams.

LED Headlights
So for my main headlights I now am considering LED's, but I dont want the distraction LED's cause when I'm out in the bush and using the fyrlts.

Any chance I could see yours function at night?
I'm in Melb as well, SE suburbs.

Cheers