LED Headlight Showdown

[jaudette3]

Thinking about LED headlights? Coming soon, a showdown between halogen headlights (H4's) and the following LED headlights built for 911's:

• Truck-Lite 27270C (also branded as GE Nighthawk)
• Pilot Nolden VP-3106B
• JW Speaker 8700 Evolution 2

I've built assemblies for two of the three, the other set will be ready in a couple of days. I'll be mounting them on a '71 911S and taking pictures of how well they light up the night here in dark Central Oregon.


Chrome Pilot Noldens with clear lenses in front, Truck-Lites with fluted lenses (Bosch Euro SWB) in back. JW Speakers on the way.

I've read *a lot* of reviews of these three LED headlamps. They all blow away halogens but they vary a bit in price (the Truck-Lites are less expensive than the other two, which are comparatively priced) and they vary a bit in performance. I'm really looking forward to see how they stack up against each other. I will be offering the winner(s) as plug and play assemblies moving forward.

Stay tuned...

Cheers,
John

[redrobin911]

HI please include details if any are available for 911 owners with the steering wheel on the other side - RHD. thx in advance

[jaudette3]

RHD is no prblem. With clear lenses it's just a matter of adjustment. With fluted lenses the RHD pattern is used.

John

[Bullethead]

Looking forward to the results, John. You've also included something I was particularly interested in: how fluted lenses affect performance.
After your thread on building these, I looked up several makes and noted their reflector designs would probably not work properly with say, H4 lenses.

I'd like the lighting advantage of LEDs but prefer an old-school aesthetic. The only way that seems possible is with one of the many conversion kits.

[jaudette3]

Russ...

A competitor offers the Pilot Noldens in a 911 assembly standard with a fluted H4 lens:



They offer a clear lens as an option. I'll be checking out fluted lens vs. clear lens performance. If fluted lenses check out, the flat Bosch 4487 would be perfect for up to MY72 and the H4 from 72 on.

I really like the flexibility in building these with different looks. Pretty close to traditional with a chrome LED lamp and a fluted lens - and pretty close to radical with a black LED, black bucket and clear lens.

John

[Schiefer]

Excellent John! Subscribed!

[304065]

John, what kind of light meter will you use to objectively measure the output?

[jaudette3]

Thanks for bringing that up. I'm not an engineer by training and this will be a subjective test with myself and another longtime Porsche enthusiast as the judges. Ther's no need to get technical as there are a number of excellent technical studies out there, such as this one: http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/usmcdoc/lights/. The FWD guys have been all over these for some time.

Most of these tests rate the JW Speakers as the class of the field - check out this review: http://youtu.be/8AR2XHtrTyw

I'm probably going in somewhat biased. But I want to see which light patterns I most prefer as a Porsche driver. I'm going to be selling these and I need to be 100% confident in what I sell.

John

[Sun888]

John, great stuff. Good that someone is sorting this out. Good luck with the tests.

Marcus

[StephenAcworth]

I'm guessing any old-fashioned photographic light meter, such as a Gossen or the like would suffice to give an accurate measure?

John, what kind of light meter will you use to objectively measure the output?