Conversion to LED Headlights

[Commander Eddie]

If you do decide to use halogen bulbs, be aware they draw more current, and will trip the circuit breakers and you will be totally in the dark. They also will burn up the headlight switches if you do not wire them with a remote power relay.
If you get the right reflectors, and the correct LEDs you won't have any of those problems.

Brad, this is the first I have heard this. My car is actually running an 8 volt system and these are 6 volt bulbs. Would that make a difference?

[Commander Eddie]

If you do decide to use halogen bulbs, be aware they draw more current, and will trip the circuit breakers and you will be totally in the dark. They also will burn up the headlight switches if you do not wire them with a remote power relay.
If you get the right reflectors, and the correct LEDs you won't have any of those problems.

Brad, this is the first I have heard this. My car is actually running an 8 volt system and these are 6 volt bulbs. Would that make a difference?

[JoeHall]

I have been using Halogens in all Studes for over a decade (always with 30 amp headlight CB). But LEDs have taken usable brightness to a whole other level. LED "Driving lights" are popular on all types of vehicles, motorcycles, cars, off-road vehicles, etc.. To see what they are capable of, look up clearwaterlights.com. They make driving lights that put out 6,000 lumens (each) on only 60 watts of power. Compare to the halogens' 700 lumen low beams and 1200 high beams on our Studes. The Clearwater's come with an adjustable dimmer, and most users set at 10-15 percent, lest they blind other drivers. They also have a feature that kicks the lights to 100 percent anytime the horn is blown!

I am sure there are 7" LEDs out there somewhere for our Studes that far exceeds anything we have ever seen in halogens. Need to think out of the box, if driving our Studes on into the 21st century. LOL

[Son O Lark]

I have glass headlight conversion reflectors made for halogens and am using halogen to LED conversion bulbs. Brightest and coolest(to the touch) headlights that I have ever seen. I am not concerned about heat melting anything in my wiring harness or switches. Granted the glass conversion reflectors don't have same exact convex shape on outside as the original bulbs and you do have to cut the back out of your headlamp buckets to let the long LED lamps fit with their cooling fans, it is a hot rodded version of a '55 and I don't care about authenticity.

[Buzzard]

Hi Mike,
As per Mike Van's comments, I agree and have successfully used Cibie Biode lamps for decades. As mentioned by Brad Bez, you must upgrade the gauge of wire and use relays to keep the integrity of the rest of the system. These lamps allow the use of 100 watt bulbs for low beam and 130 watt for the specialized high beams. It literally turns nighttime into brilliant daylight as on high beam you are running 460 watts.
Good luck,
Bill

[Buzzard]

I forgot to mention, and perhaps it's only my perception, but does anyone else find the LED lamps unattractive to view on our handsome line of cars?
I particularly like the look of the Cibie Biodes on my GT Hawk and Avanti.In my estimation (and I used to do a ton of nighttime driving on very lonely roads) they are unbeatable for sourcing out animals and other hazards normally hidden from view at night.
Luck, Bill

[345 DeSoto]

"I forgot to mention, and perhaps it's only my perception, but does anyone else find the LED lamps unattractive to view on our handsome line of cars?"

That's the reason I went with the Cibie H4's...They look like regular headlights when you look at them, but the H4's really light up the road. And adding a 30 amp Maxie fuse with 2 relays was no biggy… and I'm electrically challenged...

[gordr]

I have yet to see LED headlamps with a decent beam pattern, or good upper cutoff on the low beam. I will be driving on the highway in my Suburban, and get overtaken by some new car with LED lights, and there is this huge pool of bright white light immediately in front of that car. But my headlights, dipped to low beam, are the ones that pick out the road sign half a mile down the road. I think it's hard to get really good optics, when your light source is very much not a point source.

Can one still get the Cibie Biiode lights?

[Buzzard]

Hi Gord,
Another one I have used is the Marchal Iode. As you can see like the Cibie's, they have a separate reflector for high beam which again allows the use of 4 very high powered bulbs(usually 100 watt for lows and 130 watt for highs), two for low beam(200 watt) and all four for high beam(460 watt). It is extremely effective as I described for ultimate night time driving safety and clariyt with a very controlled beam pattern on both low and high .

[Moe]

I have yet to see LED headlamps with a decent beam pattern, or good upper cutoff on the low beam. I will be driving on the highway in my Suburban, and get overtaken by some new car with LED lights, and there is this huge pool of bright white light immediately in front of that car. But my headlights, dipped to low beam, are the ones that pick out the road sign half a mile down the road. I think it's hard to get really good optics, when your light source is very much not a point source.

Can one still get the Cibie Biiode lights?

I have found the same problem for many LED lights. I did however find a brand that has a pretty darn good pattern. They are made by SEALIGHT. I have them in two of my modern cars and they have a very nice cut off so oncoming cars are not blinded. I'm not sure how they would work on a 7" round though. My go-to light for 7" round are the Cibies. I have purchased my last two sets from Daniel Stern Lighting. You can even get them with "city lights" which are a small bulb mounted inside for a dimmer parking light look. He even has many choices for bulbs depending on what wattage you want.