I have been beating myself for the last year on what to get. I love reading Nicks posts as he seems to have tried them all but I do not want to go through the work/time/expense of buying different housings, baking them, buying different projectors to install in those aftermarket housings.....ect.ect. Don't get me wrong, the light pattern is amazing, I'm just looking (hoping) for an easy way. I have the factory projectors so I want to just install a HID kit in the lows and LED's in the high. From my research so far I personally think Morimoto and DD are the best out there. The pricing is about the same so is this just a Ram vs Chevy/Ford thing? Have any of you installed both because of a failure or lack of performance? I will be adjusting truck with Alpha so I don't plan on any anti-flicker stuff.
If it’s a regular bulb they’re all the same. Morimoto/DIODE..it all comes from the same factory. They both have way to high of a markup when there’s nothing special about them.
Morimoto
Diode Dynamics
So don’t go beating yourself up if you think you got the wrong one. The real difference doesn’t come into play until you upgrade to Osram or Philips.
Lastly, don’t go spending hundreds on a cheap bulb (Morimoto/Diode). Just buy it off amazon. Not to mention even name brand bulbs can be had off amazon for a fraction of the price that others sell it for.
This probably isn’t anything new for yah but I hope it helps.
Technically all bulbs fall in the HID category. Philips and Osram will be better. However they were only used as a pricing example, not sure if they make a 9006/9012 bulb for stock projectors.
I went back and found your old thread " INNOVITED 55w 5000k in stock projectors" and now I'm more confused....why didn't you just purchase bulbs like you advised me in this thread instead of installing these off of Amazon? Or knowing what you know now this is what you are advising me to do?
Yes, Amazon needs to be like Ebay and disclose when they are coming from a foreign Country!! I ordered some and now it is saying Feb.!!!:frown2::frown2:
I had retro solutions 55W HIDs and over the past 3 years I’ve had one ballast and one bulb go out. I recently made the switch to headlight revolution. 55W low beam 35W fogs. Looks really great I was just expecting a little better color on the 6000k temp. Quality of ballast, wiring is pretty substantial. I would consider them
Morimotos ballasts have come a long way - now Hylux (basically the best aftermarket) does their electronics. The XB series is solid.
If you’re retrofitting, always use an OE (Philips or Osram) D2S bulb - most of the rebased amp connector bulbs are similar quality but I still will recommend Morimoto.
Why? The “Elite HID” kit can be had for about $120 on a good holiday sale, and it’s warrantied for an entire 5 years
I’ve posted about it before but TRS has such good warranty service I literally had an old old XB series bulb fail, ONE MONTH BEFORE WARRANTY EXPIRED - 4 yrs 11 months - also had some corrosion on the relays
A couple of pics and about 48 hours later there were a brand new pair of bulbs and fresh relays on my way to my house shipped 2 day priority mail.
And about 2 years prior, I had a ballast fail (old style “SS” ballast which was not reliable in the least if anyone is in the retrofit world) and I got a new pair of ballasts as well
Diode Dynamics is top notch as well I just am sharing my experience. I usually buy my stuff from Caesar @ Lightwerkz in NJ as he always has great sales and support and is one of the top retrofitting operations out there
For the newer XB ballasts (2nd gen) yes I am pretty sure Hylux does the electronics for them. The other ballasts I recommend are the 2A888 35w ballast - yes it’s a Canbus ballast but works great on cars that don’t need it - Caesar said they literally have a .2% failure rate
I’ve had my Morimoto 55w HID kit in my Projectors for 4 years with no issue whatsoever. I also bought the XB LED Fog Lights to replace my OEM in-bumper fogs. I haven’t done anything to my high beams yet but was waiting for someone to come out with something impressive to make me change out my halogens.
What’s the best and brightest LED’s in a 9005 high beam bulb?
Hey OP one more thing.. I get it though. I don’t like people making decisions for me. I like finding out on my own. But when I’m so sure of something, having tried everything on my 2014, 2017 and now 2018, I can’t help but put the pressure.
Don't take offense at all and actually I am glad you responded. Have read your posts for the last couple years and you have tried so many things it's been hard to keep track of! But what you have now is f'ing awesome......from the pics anyway! Thanks for the tip on no LED in the stock projector and that Innovited kit you linked in above response is really hard to beat price wise. For the cost I have to try it! I think I should do the Mori XB LED fogs then the DD SL1 LED in the high beams and that should be a wrap? What you think?
I will be crucified for this but I'm running DD LED's in my projectors and fogs. I had DD HID kit in my projectors but every 5th time turning them on, one wouldn't light up. The DD LED's might not be optimal for everyone but the simplicity and consistency is what I want, the light output is tons better than stock so I'm happy enough for now.
I would assume problems would be when using a 50W-55W ballast setup - you have to remember the startup wattage and power draw is more than a normal 55w halogen bulb at first strike so yes that is likely the issue.
35W ballast setup should be fine with no additionals, but always test out first. We did find out there is a max current on the circuit for the fogs so I'm assuming it would be same on low beams.
I have the XB LED fogs and they really updated the looks - have my Morimoto HID's ready to go in my projectors, just trying to find time with a 4 month old to install them properly and turn on the HID setting with Alfa. I missed it terribly on my recent 900 mile round trip up north and back for sure but just didnt have the time to install them and test them and I didn't want to be far from home with a potential issue.
They look white till you compare them to 5000k just like my rigid lights side by side to my Baja designs (6000k vs 5000k). I just prefer a warmer temperature they’re not nearly as much strain on my eyes over time. I can drive over 2 hours one way in the dark both ways every day so I can really feel the difference in color by the time I get to my destination.
Honestly, best way to check is simply pull your headlight which takes all of 5 minutes and see what’s written on the back of your bulb.
Anti flicker isn’t necessary if you change your BCM settings via alfa. If you haven’t then you’ll want an anti flicker harness. Might even need some resistors. It’s been a while since I’ve had to buy all the extra unnecessary parts now that my settings are changed in alfa.
Now all I need these days is 2 bulbs, 2 ballasts, and a harness to give them power from the battery.
Thanks Nick - I just ordered a 9005 Relay from TRS to use with my kit - I had the Anti flicker modules which I don't need because I have Alfa, but your reasoning for the relay makes sense to me - I'd rather have the relay and not need it for the $30 it costs -
I haven't installed my kit yet but will update - I have 35W XB ballasts, 5000K XB bulbs in 9005 as well (Morimoto Elite HID kit) to match my XB LED fogs -
Personally I'm not a 50W or 55W guy because the increase in intensity on the higher wattage ballasts does so at reduced bulb life and washes out some color, IMO -
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