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1G 1GA LED Headlight Conversions

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SouthIndy_Talon

Proven Member
149
55
Jul 1, 2014
Greenwood, Indiana
Hello all,

For those of you that have upgraded from the standard halogen lights on the 1ga pop-up headlights, how did you go about doing so?

I am wondering has anybody used LED conversion headlights from like Grote or anything like that? Any feedback is greatly appreciated as I am trying to figure out all the options out there.

Thanks!
 
Just curious about all the different types of upgrades you fellow 1ga owners have done to the pop-up headlights. Any details and pictures would be greatly appreciated!
 
I didn't do a LED upgrade, I just upgraded the housing and bulbs. The result was very satisfying. I have looked into getting some proper LED sealed beams 4x6, but they are expensive.There is a video floating around youtube of a guy modifying housings like our 4x6 to accept hid/led projectors. There are options out there, it's just a matter of looking around.

Here's the link to the one I did. it's a pretty easy straight forward mod. https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/headlight-conversion-info.516116/
 
I ended up buying a led sealed beam that probably for a semi but it fits in the bucket, only thing I had to do was buy some longer screws so the bracket that goes over the bucket and secures it. I think goonie with the red 90 gsx has the similar ones
 
I ended up buying a led sealed beam that probably for a semi but it fits in the bucket, only thing I had to do was buy some longer screws so the bracket that goes over the bucket and secures it. I think goonie with the red 90 gsx has the similar ones

Do you have any pictures of how they look once installed and what the light output looks like shining down the road? I was thinking about trying to do something similar
 
Figured I would update this thread...

After initially asking the question about the LED headlight conversion and trying LED bulbs in the Hella conversion housing, I was still not really happy with the results. After that failed attempt, I just left the car as is was for the rest of the year. However, I was always thinking of a new approach to try.

After some more research over the winter, I came across LED headlight that are really marketed for tractor trailer use, but had the same dimensions as the stock sealed beams on the 1GA's. They were expensive, so I put off purchasing them for the time being. Once I got my tax return, I decided to pull the trigger and give it a shot.

The bulbs that I bought are from a company named Grote Industries. I am not going to post any links, but I quick google search should get you there. I liked the fact that they still had high and low beams and are even listed as DOT approved. The bulbs arrived this weekend, so I decided to test fit them in a spare housing that I had sitting around and they fit exactly like stock! Excited, I decided to connect them to a 12V supply so see how they looked turned on. Shining them across my kitchen/living room showed that there is a perfectly defined cutoff line (won't blind other drivers) and were extremely bright. This is probably due to the projectors that they use to help aim/focus the light. (Pictures attached below)

The next day, I decided to go ahead and install them on the car. They include an adapter that mates right up to factory harness on my 1990. However, that is where I started to run into issues. After plugging the headlight in and turning on the lights.... nothing. I eventually figured out that power and ground are essentially "switched" on the car compared to what the bulb was expecting. Since LED's are polarity sensitive, they did not come on until those were switched. Luckily, the connectors on the headlights are easily removed.... so it was an easy fix or so I thought....

After switching the pins around the headlight did come on, but only the high beams. No matter what I did, the high beams would be the only thing that would come on. That is when a noticed that the 1GA's use a single "power" pin and just switched between the "ground" pins for the separate low and high beam circuits. The bulb itself has a common "ground" and wants a separate power source for each high and low beam pin (if that makes sense). After messing around with the bulb some more, it appears that due to this mismatch and the internal circuitry in the bulb itself, the bulb will be stuck on "highs" if all three pins are attached. Once I only connected the low beam pin and ground.... the low beam FINALLY came on. At that point, I stopped messing with it for the day.

I don't ever use high beams and my talon is no longer my daily driver, so I will probably leave it this way. Although, I may eventually design an relay harness that will allow me fix this issue in the future.

The car is still put up for a few more weeks until the salt gets washed off the roads, but I will reply back once I am able to test the bulbs out on the road. However, I have no doubts at this point that they will be MUCH BETTER than the factory sealed beams.
 

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These are the ones I was looking at.
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Nice write up on the issues and some solutions :thumb:
 
My chief concern about these kind of headlights are whether they are voltage regulated or not. If they are only using a resistor as a current limiter, fluctuations in voltage from your alternator will cause constant changes in lumen output. I would be interested to see a comparison between 12.5v and 13.8v, a range lots of us live in and move about depending on electrical load and RPM.

Others that appear almost identical are also potentially only 45W at 36v, so at 12v YMMV.

I do find it funny that all of their product pictures aren't in agreement with each other. In one they show how their product differs from others as theirs has a breather hole which is near where the plug wire enters the unit. Yet, in another they show the plug end and the body has no hole anywhere to be seen. Typical, I suppose, for products made and marketed where this product was made and marketed from.

Still curious.. just not $100 curious as it would be on this side of the border. Somebody buy one and take it apart so we can have pictures that the insurance investigation team will need later LOL
and so I can see how they filter unstable voltage into a system that needs stable voltage.
 
Did you happen to take a picture of them mounted in the car? They look weird, but at least with the pop ups you can hide them when not in use. Cool find though.

I can post some pictures once I get them fully installed. After fighting the wiring problems all day, I called it quits once I found the solution. I was not in a rush since it will still be several weeks before I will get the car out due to the weather. Give me a few days and I should have at least one side installed.

I do agree... they looked weird at first. However, they won't ever be seen unless it is dark outside so it didn't really matter to me. I do think look a little better after holding in place in the headlight bucket. As long as they perform well, that is what I was ultimately looking for.

These are the ones I was looking at.
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Nice write up on the issues and some solutions :thumb:

Yeah... I had originally looked at something similar. However, I did end up swap LED bulbs into my daily drive (2017 Accord) that uses projector housings and was really pleased with the results on that setup. It seems like like that the biggest complaint people have with LED headlights is the lack of "throw" or distance that they can see with the light produced. IMHO, the projector style housings help that issue some. Therefore, I went with something that have a projector style lens and based on the bright spot that is produced, it should offer some usable distance. After playing with it with my bench top power, I was surprised on how perfect the cutoff line was (won't blind other) and how bright the "bright spot" (ability to get light out in the distance).

My chief concern about these kind of headlights are whether they are voltage regulated or not. If they are only using a resistor as a current limiter, fluctuations in voltage from your alternator will cause constant changes in lumen output. I would be interested to see a comparison between 12.5v and 13.8v, a range lots of us live in and move about depending on electrical load and RPM.

Others that appear almost identical are also potentially only 45W at 36v, so at 12v YMMV.

I do find it funny that all of their product pictures aren't in agreement with each other. In one they show how their product differs from others as theirs has a breather hole which is near where the plug wire enters the unit. Yet, in another they show the plug end and the body has no hole anywhere to be seen. Typical, I suppose, for products made and marketed where this product was made and marketed from.

Still curious.. just not $100 curious as it would be on this side of the border. Somebody buy one and take it apart so we can have pictures that the insurance investigation team will need later LOL
and so I can see how they filter unstable voltage into a system that needs stable voltage.

That is a good point that I had not thought of. In the limited testing that I have done so far, I have not noticed any difference in the light output based on the different sources I have had it connected to. The bulbs that I am trying are actually rated for both 12V and 24V systems, but have the same specs are far as light output. Therefore, I would imagine that there is some kind of circuitry built into the bulb to combat power swings.

Ultimately, I still need to do a test drive with the lights, but wanted to share what I have experienced so far. I will post back with the final results once I get to take them for a spin.
 
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Your right Curt, I should. I have a few irons in the fire in a 7 bolt build for my son to put a smile back on his face then I will look into it because I HAVE wanted them in the 1ga for a while. :thumb:
 
Did you happen to take a picture of them mounted in the car? They look weird, but at least with the pop ups you can hide them when not in use. Cool find though.

I was able to find a few mins to get one side installed tonight (Pictures attached). Will be working on getting the passenger side installed tomorrow.

The bottom two "projectors" are for the high beams, so they are not supposed to be on in the pictures. I personal don't think they look as bad on the car as I thought they would.

... now I need to work on restoring the lenses on the lights to make them look much nice. All of those years of it being my daily really took a toll.
 

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I agree.... they look better installed than I expected. Nice to potentially have another alternative to the Hella kit.
 
I was able to find a few mins to get one side installed tonight (Pictures attached). Will be working on getting the passenger side installed tomorrow.

The bottom two "projectors" are for the high beams, so they are not supposed to be on in the pictures. I personal don't think they look as bad on the car as I thought they would.

... now I need to work on restoring the lenses on the lights to make them look much nice. All of those years of it being my daily really took a toll.

Do they provide more output in a better, more focused beam pattern? ie. can you measure candelas? Have to admit the whole thing looks ... odd ... with the three lenses but if they provide more light where you need and less where you don't it is a worthwhile upgrade.
 
Unfortunately, I do not have a way to measure the candelas. I have been thinking about trying these bulbs for over a year, so I figured I would give it a shot.

I do agree... they are interesting looking. From what I can tell, the lights on either side of the low beam projector are responsible for most of the lighting immediately in front of the car. The projector is used to focus light out into the distance. I think they should do an okay job since it appeared to be focusing the light so well that you could actually see the outlines of the 5 Led chips in the projector while shining it against the wall. My only concern, is that the beam in the “distance” might be too narrow since due to the amount of “focus” it was achieving.

In the next couple of weeks, I should finally be able to get the car out due to the weather and salt being washed off the roads. I may leave just the one installed for now so I can do a quick comparison to the stock light on the other side.

Until I actually get a chance to drive with them, this is just an experiment at this point, but wanted to share my experiences so far.
 
We are glad you are, your efforts are very much appreciated. I am really curious because even though I got new 4x6 halogens I do yearn for better lighting. Even a side by side against the inner garage wall whets the ol noodle of information :D
 
Damnit! another dead end! Any results/opinions from the last year, SouthIndy-Talon? inquiring minds want to know?
 
Damnit! another dead end! Any results/opinions from the last year, SouthIndy-Talon? inquiring minds want to know?


Sorry... forgot to post back here

I ended up putting the car back to stock headlights since I ran into a few issues and didn’t have time to investigate further since I wanted to start driving the car to work.

The wiring has to be modified to get these to work. I swapped the pins around to get them to work in the picture above, but you will not be able to switch between low and high beams without addressing the reverse polarity and common ground setup on my car at least.

Secondly, the lights would go to like a 50percent power if two LED lights were connected. The LED works fine if you have a halogen in the other side. I guessing it has something to do with low load on the headlight circuitry with the LEDs, but I haven’t taken the time to look at the diagrams to figure out why. I have a HID relay harness that I might try and see if it gets me past that issue as a bandaid

I still plan on digging into at some point. It just too cold out in the garage for me to get motivated at the moment haha
 
Morimoto is in the process of releasing a set of 4x6 led lights. They look very nice and based on HR review, they are very bright and the price for them is really good. If I lived somewhere where snow accumulation on headlights wasn't an issue, I would buy them, but I am not too confident on the led bulbs ability to produce enough heat to melt the snow. Here is a link: https://www.morimotohid.com/morimoto-sealed4-4x6-led-housing?quantity=1
 
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