Holly retrobright led headlights

J

jhm5

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I want to maximize my headlight function for occasional nighttime driving; 1971 E9 2800 cs
Does anyone have experience with the Holly retrobright headlights?
I have installed Hikari LED bulbs in existing Marchal headlights; high beams ok ; low beams not so good
I am trying CIBIE units tonight with Hikari bulbs;
Any help would be appreciated
JH
 
i have mixed feelings about this subject. the way the quartz halogen bulbs / fixtures work is to put light out in an 'omni directional' pattern into the reflector which focuses the light into the faceted lens. this is based on the shape of the lamp and the pattern of reflection. so if the LED bulb, which depending on the lamp design, push light in more linear patterns depending on the placement of the diodes. this may or may not work with the given reflector / lens. if the lamp is a different length than the halogen bulb (probably), it will reflect differently into the reflector and then may or may not translate to great light output through the lens. it seems to me that many new fixtures use LEDs to push light straight out rather than using a reflector / faceted lens.
 
rsporsche said:
i have mixed feelings about this subject. the way the quartz halogen bulbs / fixtures work is to put light out in an 'omni directional' pattern into the reflector which focuses the light into the faceted lens. this is based on the shape of the lamp and the pattern of reflection. so if the LED bulb, which depending on the lamp design, push light in more linear patterns depending on the placement of the diodes. this may or may not work with the given reflector / lens. if the lamp is a different length than the halogen bulb (probably), it will reflect differently into the reflector and then may or may not translate to great light output through the lens. it seems to me that many new fixtures use LEDs to push light straight out rather than using a reflector / faceted lens.
Click to expand...

Plus the fact that most LED round retrofit headlights look ridiculous on classic cars.
 
HB Chris said:
I tried a replacement LED bulb in my Marchals, the lens looked bright but there was almost no output whatsoever, a huge fail.
Click to expand...
Somebody did it for Carello headlight and found out that the LED surface shape matter a lot and of course the placement must be at the focal point.
 
I had my Mustang restored some time ago.
I'd stop by the shop a couple of times a week to see how it was going (when I was on my way home from work) and noticed they had some funky 'modern' headlights they were going to put in. They told me how bright they were and all - but I thought they looked goofy and all too modern and such for installing on a 1960's Mustang.

I told them I would provide the headlights. I just made sure they wired both the high and low beams on relays with good gauge wiring and all.
These were 7" round with H4 bulbs.... I got them from Daniel Stern Lighting

The shop that was working on the Mustang was kind of 'ho hum' about what I brought.....
But the next day - they owner of the shop called me in the morning asking about what these were. The guys were super impressed with the light output and the pattern and were very interested in putting these in their personal cars (as well as offering to their customers).

I think I installed CIbie lenses back then (NLA now) - but there are other options on the Stern website he recommends - Koito is one of them that he carries. Koito is a good brand that is also an aerospace supplier (and I have used their products on jets)...

YMMV as usual.
Good luck
 
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