SC- 1st Gen (1992-2000)

I have LED lights; still barely see on the road. Help!

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Old 05-18-18, 09:54 PM
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Luxurious
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Default I have LED lights; still barely see on the road. Help!

I have a 93 SC3 and I've got LEDs for the low beams, they look awesome but barely provide any illumination on the road. Have the same ones on my GS for the fogs and they are stupid bright. Anyone know ways I can increase the light output? The fogs just turn on when the blinker is on and I don't know what else to do.
Old 05-18-18, 10:31 PM
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714cindy
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possible your headlights are aimed too low? common issue with an easy fix
Old 05-19-18, 01:03 AM
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Luxurious
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didn't even think of that, lol. well i'll try that but incase it doesn't work.. anyone else?
Old 05-19-18, 04:22 AM
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super400
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Ok for starters your fogs are actually not fogs. They are cornering lights and they only come on when you turn on the turn signals to help you see corners. Very common old luxury car thing. I actually used to run leds but just went back to halogens. The color with led was great and they were really bright, but only right in front of the car. Even aimed correctly they never shoot the light very far. I think the big reason is the way led bulbs are made. You don’t have 360 of light being output. Just two little nubs on each side. It’s just not enough in our halogen designed projectors.
Old 05-19-18, 06:15 AM
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logix7
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also.... what kind of LED are they. cheap *** ones or at least something decent with the built in cooling-fans?
Old 05-27-18, 06:20 AM
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Carbon J
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I would just add a HID kit for your headlights, and just convert your corning lights to fogs. I used an old PIAA kit I had laying around.
Old 05-27-18, 11:14 AM
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+1 on the HID kit. i got one a little while back for mine and i will never go back to halogens.
Old 05-27-18, 02:24 PM
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The cheap LED headlight bulbs are pretty much junk in regards to performance, IMO. In the first place, I thought the idea of using LEDs was due to the lower power draw required. From what I can tell they take as much, if not close to as much, power to run compared to a 35w HID setup. I think The Retrofit Source has some good performing LED gear though (at least in regards to quality) in case you are set on running LEDs.
Old 06-14-18, 08:48 PM
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Wintercat
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Originally Posted by super400
Ok for starters your fogs are actually not fogs. They are cornering lights and they only come on when you turn on the turn signals to help you see corners. Very common old luxury car thing. I actually used to run leds but just went back to halogens. The color with led was great and they were really bright, but only right in front of the car. Even aimed correctly they never shoot the light very far. I think the big reason is the way led bulbs are made. You don’t have 360 of light being output. Just two little nubs on each side. It’s just not enough in our halogen designed projectors.
That. 92-94 is 15w cornering lights. 95+ is 55w H3 foglights. You can convert, but you'd need to do a lot of rewiring with relays.

Someone here seems to have posted a procedure for that years ago. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...og-lights.html
Old 06-14-18, 09:10 PM
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redSOARER
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I used HID for a long time and they light up as much as LED that i have now. I love the bright white of them tho. But seriously they light up the same poop... I can only see about 10 to 12 feet from the bumper. The only thing about the LED is that they reflect pretty good on signs far away.
Old 06-14-18, 10:28 PM
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Originally Posted by redSOARER
I used HID for a long time and they light up as much as LED that i have now. I love the bright white of them tho. But seriously they light up the same poop... I can only see about 10 to 12 feet from the bumper. The only thing about the LED is that they reflect pretty good on signs far away.
projector quality and clarity, lens clarity and bulb quality all make huge differences for HIDs. I can tell you that in a clean stock housing id take HID over LED but a proper led projector can perform just as well if not better. But a proper led setup will cost significantly more than an hid setup.
Old 06-17-18, 10:03 PM
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Reflection means light scatter where it isn't supposed to which also means blinding to oncoming traffic --> NOT good. Head to ebay/Amazon and get a $60 55W HID kit 9006 bulb 5000K color and move on to the next life's worry.
Old 06-17-18, 11:22 PM
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BLK13X
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If you want to increase the output I would look at doing a projector retrofit. Have a look around on the forums, plenty of people, myself included, have done it.
Old 06-26-18, 04:28 PM
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Crypto79
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Not to derail the thread but with HID so prevalent, I almost think the old halogen projector setup is how one stands out currently. I left those OEM bulbs and put in 2500k yellow high beams and fogs to give it the retro JDM look. Sometimes the simple answer is the cleanest IMHO
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