The Ultimate Headlight H4, Fog Light and Revers Light Upgrade Not LED or HID 1st Gen Tundra Addition

Plus it's available anytime.

 

@tdrich7 I have an 03, but I never had any issue with the headlight service harness. I bought it new, and the guy chatted me to confirm that I had ground-switched vs power-switched headlights and it worked no problems. I will say that I bought the headlight bulbs he recommended (Phillips something) and they didn't work well in snow, so I switched to Hellas with a little more yellow.

 

To be honest I have no clue whether or not I actually needed one. I know after reading through this whole thread though I came away with the impression I did, and after installing I've never had any issues. Nice peace of mind for the small % of the overall cost it was. Good to know there's another option though.

 

For those of you tracking this thread: Power Bulbs can ship the recommended Osram bulbs from post 1 to the United States again. Just ordered mine today.

 

I've swapped in LED's for my fog lights, interior bulbs (including dash), license plate, running lights, and reverse lights. Headlights are H4 Hella Halogen's. I don't have any issues with lights on the dash or hyper flashing.

 

Guys. I was going to order the co-whatever mini projectors then realized I have this exact set from crashburns post at Tacoma world (for the Tacoma I'm selling). It's all sitting in the garage. Never installed. Should I go this route and put this in my truck, or go the route of the mini projectors that a lot of people are doing?

Tagging @shifty` since we talked about the mini projectors a few days ago. I'm pretty sure all the parts for the Tacoma are the exact same parts that will work for my Tundra.

 

The "co-whatever mini projectors" are what we're talking about. Then you asked, "should I go this route and put this in my truck, or go the route of the mini projectors that a lot of people are doing". This is confusing to me - we're talking about the CO-LIGHT mini projectors (which are same as the BraveWAY mini projectors), so you'd basically be doing what we're talking about?

Post a pic of what you've got in the garage, it may help reduce the confusion.

 

I haven't purchased the co-lights or braves yet. In the garage I just found the harness and h4s for the ultimate h4 mod this thread covers. So I may clean up my housing and install this mod instead of the mini projector since I have it all ready to go. Will take a pic of my stuff when I get home.

 

I mean, the big thing is, either way, that the housings are refinished (if hazy). The 'ultimate h4 mod' will definitely get you brighter lights in halogen. If you have the stuff and it's comatible, I mean, why not install it? But I personally think you'll get more bang vs. buck out of the mini projectors. You may not get the same longevity, though. I'm also really curious what the latest mini projector offerings will do as far as beam and cutoff, may want to wait a couple months to see what others find.

 

PS - it appears for CO-LIGHT, the latest offerings they have in projector are here: https://www.led-colight.com/collections/built-in-lens-series

At the time of this reply, there are two offerings for fanless, which is my personal preference:

• Y6: https://www.led-colight.com/products/y6-mini-projector-6000k-led-headlight-blub-h4-9003-hb2
• Y7S: https://www.led-colight.com/products/y7s-tri-color-mini-lense-h4-bulbs-for-reflector-headlight

It looks like @RustyShackles is running the Y7S, which I hope he didn't already post in one of the 8 pages of this thread, but here's the output, the abberation on the line looks a little cleaner to me than the prior generation mini projectors - note his comment about really bad interference!: https://www.tundras.com/threads/led-colight-y7s-tri-color-for-1st-gen-tundras.123353/

I totally missed his thread because it's over in the lighting section.

 

Skip the H4 upgrade and go straight to mini-projectors. From a guy that's done both. I did the harness upgrade also.

 

Finally got the SS3's mounted up with my prototype adapter. The light output on these is amazing compared to the stock fog lights. Pictures in my driveway are crappy, but on a country road in the dead of night, these really help fill out the foreground and to the ditch to a certain extent.

 

Looks pretty freakin' awesome to me!

 

thanks guys. think i'll just go straight to the mini-projectors

 

Yes. Yes. I like it. I like it alot. Also do I spy Coopers on your truck? They look familiar to me.

 

I run osram H4’s w harness and voltage booster in new Oem housings. I am counterpoint to those who like mini projectors.

 

I thought my 85/100w upgrade bulbs in new (aftermarket) housings was pretty good. Light output was nice. Typical everywhere halogen light pattern. Nothing amazing. These projectors are next level in comparison. Crisp, bright light with focus. I was genuinely impressed with the difference. As good as my OEM LEDs on my 2019 and my wife’s HID projectors on her JGC. It does lack an impressive high beam, but the low output is so good, I’ll deal.

 

Have you tried the mini projectors yet in your FGT?

 

I do respect others opinions. But I’d never put aftermarket headlights on any of my vehicles. For some reason I just won’t go there.

I also think it’s a significant waste of real estate to use projectors inside a halogen reflector enclosure.

Sounds like we might actually get some data on these products, though, assuming others can pitch in:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-not-led-or-hid.398066/page-249#post-29307378

 

I haven’t, primarily for the reasons crash mentions. I also do not fancy the look. I specifically like the large reflectors on these older trucks. I really do like halogen bulbs in large reflectors, even for a desk lamp. They are not power efficient and they generate a lot of heat. In the case of headlights, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, particularly in the cold.

Meanwhile I definitely dislike halogen projectors. Mostly the look but also the performance. It seems like a poor design to me, a projector seems like it should be hid or led to make good use of small space. I wanted to swap to the Oem led headlights in the odyssey but they were expensive and tested poorly, a downgrade for the high beam over a hir 9011 which I definitely can visually tell is awesome.

With limited time, I’d rather do a one and done harness and regularly change high performance bulbs than try to skimp on aftermarket housings to build a mini projector solution which ends up more expensive than new OEM housings and requires DIY assembly and baking to complete. That’s time I don’t have.

I also have zero trust in aftermarket lighting “solutions” other than from very specific reputable sources (pretty much dd ss3 max for fog lights and maybe 3’s or 5’s for driving lights.). I won’t even put a light bar on yet, don’t think there is one I like.

I’m shifty level of picky on this subject

I even swapped out a brand new Oem headlight because it had very slight water intrusion. I consider headlights as I do brake pads. Buy high performance and replace as needed rather than restore. It’s nice that they are still available and reasonably priced.

 

Maybe there’s some confusion here. There’s no baking and mad scientist action needed here. You can use whatever housing you have, or purchase. The only “mod” needed is to remove the inside deflector. The mini projector referenced is just a bulb replacement that goes in like your regular bulbs do. It uses a down firing led to take advantage of the halogen reflector and a forward firing led fitted with a projector lens for a sharp, focused beam and pattern. Cost me $38 for the bulbs. Still looks factory, but I am now enjoying the best headlight output and pattern I’ve ever had on this vehicle in 18 years, which has ranged from the original bulbs looking like a pair of coal miners oil lamps, to the harness and high performance Osram’s that did significantly improve the output.

 

Simply put, I trust crash more than you on this subject.

also simple physics that the constraints of size will dictate lower performance

added to the human / brain tendency to favor foreground light.

how do you remove the deflector? I thought that was the baking part? You can extract it from the bulb hole? So permanent destruction of a good housing ? That’s not something I’m keen on.

I respect you guys and your opinions but it’s not my style and I haven’t seen any data. If data tells an interesting story I’ll definitely be listening and so will crash.

 

Hell yeah, in this case, like, I'd take that pulled pair of headlight housings that were moist, make sure the moisture is out, then pull the reflector cup out of the bulb hole and swap some of these in. Toss 'em in, and give 'em a shot (after adjusting). It's a no-loss situation if the lights are discarded anyway.

Removing the cup reflector only takes 2-3 minutes, and I was taking my time. Waching a video where someone effs it up helps a lot

 

It’s funny how this discussion vs the alternator discussion has us flip flopping roles.

I’m 100% on board for sequoia alternator, no downside at all. Shifty is as opposed to that as it’s possible to be, Oem spec only.

and here we are on the other side of each other with me sticking to pure OEM spec and voltage boosted agm w harness for power delivery.

I’m reasonably confident my approach yields higher output at the cutoff for distance vision and has proper uplight. But I’m game to see the actual numbers.

 

Headlight aiming took me about 2h. And I’ve redone all the suspensions since then so I need to repeat x 3 rigs. That’s next on my list.

ironically, the sd office new parking garage would be perfect for aiming.

 

I 100% agree the harness upgrade and higher wattage upgrade bulbs were a revelation from the regular factory bulb setups or Sylvanias or whatever other factory spec bulb I tried. These mini-projector bulbs were a similar revelation up from the high wattage bulb upgrade. I was pleasantly surprised. I was not unhappy with the setup you have, light output was good and such an upgrade over the oil lamps.

 

But did you take any measurements? Do you have data? If it’s subjective, it’s still valid but not the same as eyes favor foreground light.

 

I may end up rolling w/the Sequ alt. Will need to see how the audio system is.

RE: The crash conversation. I disagree with this statement: "All things being equal, optical performance is related to the size of the reflective housing." Unless I'm misunderstanding this in particular, I disagree. I LMAO when I first saw the latest Jeep Cherokee headlights that are like slivers, an inch tall or whatever - barely taller than this mini projector - but they're actually pretty gd bright, brighter than what's in my truck currently. Based on his reticence to even accept it could be possible, I can't accept the mini projectors would ever get a fair shake in good faith with his review, but I'd be interested in seeing his output.

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Oh, and my main beef with the Seq alt and the headlight beef-up is pretty simple: Heat (/load) and wiring.

Wiring-wise, I prefer solutions that don't require extra wire, it's why I haven't done the big three (yet) or any individual component required. I honestly don't want to cut into, duplicate, nor bypass OEM wiring unless there's no viable alternative, and the OEM solution isn't cutting it. OEM solution is cutting it for me currently (haha), but that may change, as I mentioned.

Heat/load-wise, and maybe it's my own ignorance here, but I don't feel any better about the idea of dropping an alternator capable of putting out 130A when the main fuse in its path is 120A and more than I'd want to put a 30A fuse in a 20A circuit, which is the inverse, but still. What are the chances that alt is going to outflow 130A long enough to blow that square fuse? Unlikely. Do I want to do it? Nope. Though now I mention it, I am curious what the Sequoia uses for that main fuse.

I haven't gone AGM primarily because I just bought a battery in a pinch within the last couple of years and it's still rock solid.

 

Oh, my eyes do love foreground light. And it’s totally subjective, no lumens or lux were measured or harmed during this experiment. The high beams on the high wattage bulbs with the upgraded harness are definitely better than the mini projectors output. Low beams are no contest for me though, mini projectors for the win. My son who occasionally uses my truck as his daily when he has “car problems” was very impressed with the new lights after a night drive, I hadn’t told him anything about them. I had my brother in law over and when I showed him the lights on at night without telling him what I did his response was “Dang!!” It is a noticeable and impressive upgrade. No one ever noticed my previous lighting upgrade but me. And with a definitive cutoff, the brightness is not scattered and offensive to oncoming drivers. I’m pleased.