Front side lights

[mettisse]

Apologies if this has already been dealt with, my question is has anyone been successful in “ brightening up” the front side lights on an 80 series, I have replacement units and standard bulbs, and I feel they could be a lot better, it’s something I’ve been meaning to address but it’s only the early evening winter darkness has reminded me of my dissatisfaction, I have the Philips bulbs in the dipped/ main headlights already, so I wondered if there was a similar “ fix” for the sidelights. Any solutions / suggestions welcome. Best regards to all, Bill Westley

 

[Grimbo]

LED versions of the standard bulbs from the likes of Halfords in the side lights and while you're shopping get LED reversing light bulbs and LED interior light bulbs ....
The best upgrade for headlights was add a couple of additional relays and go for some proper upgrade bulbs like 160/100 watt halogens that cost about £12 each.... ...the "200% brighter" type ones are still only the same wattage so can't really be brighter ....

 

[Towpack]

The front sidelight bulbs are T10's and there's plenty of LED versions available which offer a whiter light. I have LED H4's and H1's in the headlights and they are way better than the 60/55w halogens for much less current draw. I tried some "brighter/whiter" halogen 60/55w bulbs and they were disappointing, a bit whiter but that's all.

 

[mettisse]

Thanks , I’ll give the LED emplacements a go, I appreciate your response , best regards,Bill Westley

 

[ofm4x4uk]

Apologies if this has already been dealt with, my question is has anyone been successful in “ brightening up” the front side lights on an 80 series, I have replacement units and standard bulbs, and I feel they could be a lot better, it’s something I’ve been meaning to address but it’s only the early evening winter darkness has reminded me of my dissatisfaction, I have the Philips bulbs in the dipped/ main headlights already, so I wondered if there was a similar “ fix” for the sidelights. Any solutions / suggestions welcome. Best regards to all, Bill Westley

if you want the best of the best, you can install some projectors like the Bi-LED https://ofm4x4.co.uk/4x4-electrical...OFM4x4-UK/morimoto-bi-led-m-led-2-0-projector Would be advisable to change the headlamps for the clear ones.

LED bulbs would be our second choice.
Our 3rd choice would be Osram Nightbreaker.

 

[Tractionman]

On the OP's original question about front side lights, on my old 78 they looked almost yellowy and dim, but after upgrading to led bulbs, it made a world of difference.

 

[thelal]

The front sidelight bulbs are T10's and there's plenty of LED versions available which offer a whiter light. I have LED H4's and H1's in the headlights and they are way better than the 60/55w halogens for much less current draw. I tried some "brighter/whiter" halogen 60/55w bulbs and they were disappointing, a bit whiter but that's all.

is there not an issue with LED 'scatter' from proper cutoffs and other drivers?

 

[Towpack]

All halogen H4 bulbs are made to the same standard as regards filament position and spacing which is why they give consistent beam patterns. Aftermarket LED's vary massively in the beam patterns they produce so it's really a case of suck it and see when fitting the in headlight housings made for filament bulbs. Obviously it's the low beam pattern that's the most important and the LED's I fitted produce a good beam with good cutoff which focused well after using the beam adjusters. I tried some HID H4's in the past and they were terrible so I ended up replacing the old filament bulbs.

 

[frank rabbets]

Back in the day my Dad explained that a new type of bulb had been invented. It was called a "pre focus" bulb. Before these had been produced I assume your headlamp focus was in the lap of the gods.

 

[flint]

It looks as though lens glass was a breakthrough (Corning Conaphore). History of headlights: Headlamp - Wikipedia - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]
On the recommendation on the forum (thanks StarCruiser) I replaced my H4s with Philips leds, a big improvement in output and no problems with aim or annoyed flashing from oncoming cars. On the JDM 81, the sidelight bulbs are dual wattage (5/21) the brighter filament coming on when the indicators are flashing.

 

[t00manyusers]

It looks as though lens glass was a breakthrough (Corning Conaphore). History of headlights: Headlamp - Wikipedia - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]
On the recommendation on the forum (thanks StarCruiser) I replaced my H4s with Philips leds, a big improvement in output and no problems with aim or annoyed flashing from oncoming cars. On the JDM 81, the sidelight bulbs are dual wattage (5/21) the brighter filament coming on when the indicators are flashing.

Hmm, can you share exactly which Philips LEDs you replaced with?

 

[Towpack]

the sidelight bulbs are dual wattage (5/21) the brighter filament coming on when the indicators are flashing.

Shouldn't that be the other way round? That's what happens on many modern vehicles with DRL's, the light on the side with the flashing indicator dims or even goes out completely.

 

[Tachycardic]

For the low beams, I went with these: Pair of LED Headlight Conversion Bulbs HB3 HB4 4600 Lumen Main Dipped Fog P20D P22D - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

I'm using the stock glass housing/reflectors and have used various halogen bulbs--their performance were all disappointing. I tried amazon LEDs, but the dazzle was too much and I was being flashed at night by oncoming cars often. Since switching to the classiccarleds 3 months ago, I have not been flashed by oncoming traffic and they performed better than the halogens and Amazon units.