Disappointed OEM LED

Hello all,

I installed a new set of OEM LED headlights and am extremely underwhelmed with the output. They may even be on par, or slightly dimmer, than my original halogens. This also confuses me given the very positive feedback from other members who have installed these. The light does not evenly cover the ground well and appears blotchy. Similar to when I tried retrofit leds, but with a much better cutoff. The output has me wanting to put my old set back in. The brightest area of light appears concentrated in a small short square dead center of the light cast. Everything else is extremely dark. Adjusting distance has not improved visibility

Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Am I missing something?
Were my expectations too high?

Both left and right have even output. Nothing points to untypical operation. I'm going to depin the low beam tomorrow and meter the amperage output to make sure I'm getting close to factory spec. Super bummed

 

Did you get a harness adapter? Or did you just manage to connect your existing harness to the new assemblies?

I would say i got 2-3 times more visibility when I switched from stock halogens to the led assemblies with the iHacker harness. Gained more illumination on the sides so I can see more on the shoulder and everything is easier to see. I was very skeptical that the led assemblies could be as drastically different as folks said, but I would agree that you should have seen massive improvements.

 

Mine are much better than the halogen headlights, even more so in high beams.
Did you pull up to a wall or garage door at night and check the alignment?
I had to manually align each of mine after I installed them..

Also what harness did you use?
Headlight revolution or @iHacker?

 

If it isn’t drastically improved from stock halogens something is definitely wrong - I think the DRL on the LEDs are as bright as the halogen low beams.

 

Hi Robert. Your experience seems typical of most owners. I assembled a harness myself. I also wired the headlight right off the battery to eliminate any control failure. It has good input. I love the way the lights look on the truck. I may keep them either way, given that my SS3 fogs do most the work.

 

I'd recommend buying the iHacker harness. 100% worth it to get the expected result. His quality is on par with Toyota and it was super easy to use.

 

^ This may be part of the problem.
The @iHacker harness isn't that expensive, compared to what you paid for the headlights, and it works like a charm..

Do you have high and low DRLs with your homemade harness?

Good luck..

 

The hi beams are great. and I did manually adjust them before hitting the road. There was a slight difference

 

I appreciate the input. I run yellow ambers only, similar to yours. I like that look. I've been a commercial and industrial electrician for a couple of decades and felt more confident assembling my own than purchasing off the web. No offense. Your low beams call for 12v through a series of control and line voltage. At the beginning of the circuit and at the end, there is only 12v. No matter how many controls exist in the middle, the lights want to see 12v. The harness is simply a 3 pin to 8 pin adapter, where only 5 conductors are used, including the added 12v pair for hi and low led drl. There's no magic. I actually didn't make an adapter harness, I removed the 3 pin connector and reterminated directly into a new Toyota 8 pin connector. But because I am not immune to mistakes, I did bypass the connector and wired straight to battery, the output stayed the same.

I just called my coworker over who has a 2020 with factory LEDs. Going to compare. I'll update.

 

It would appear my lights operate as designed. The headlight output is identical to my coworker's. I was really expecting something better. These might be the lowest output factory LEDs I've ever seen. I'm disappointed but thank you all for the input. I'm still keeping them because I do really want a better kelvin match to my SS3 fogs. The fogs still light up the road like the sun, so I'm not too bummed. I'll get over it

 

Something is wrong if you are not seeing a huge difference.

 

I have a 2020 platinum with a factory LEDs, more than happy with their light output. My wife has a Acura RDX that has a similar light output

 

I too switched from factory halogens to the TRD LED lights with the iHacker harness and saw a literal night and day difference. It looks like you may have an issue with alignment. The passenger side headlight typically comes slightly higher so that you can see a little further down the road for signs and stuff, this is also so that you dont blind the other side of the road drivers with your driver side headlight being slighly lower for that reason. Once i realized that fact and raised my passenger side headlight to be a little higher, it further improved my visibility, especially on mountain roads.

 

Thank you for the input. I compared them to a Tundra that came with factory LED and they are identical in output. Parked side by side with my '21 F150 and Volvo, the Tundra headlights don't even appear to be on.

The headlights work as they should, I just expected more. There's nothing further for me to do. Thank you

 

When I first got my LED set, I was somewhat disappointed, but it was also my aim was way off and it was skyward, so after adjusting it, it was still, lacking....
Later when I reflect on it, I think it may have something to do with the color temperature range of a halogen bulb vs LED. LED tend to have "colder" color temperature, and sometimes would make it seem "weaker" whereas if you are in the opposite direction, it sure is nothing but a bright ball of light source.
After maybe 2 week? I finally got used to the LED light better, but sometimes I do kinda miss that warmer color temperature....

 

Thanks for the heads up. I was considering the change.

 

I suppose if a body is used to higher end lighting from the start, ex. BMW/Benz/Lexus, these are possibly not a significant improvement, if any. Coming from Halogens, it's no wonder we all sing the praises of the Sport LEDs - 2 high end flashlights duct taped to either side of the truck would be light years better vs stock Hals

 

Don't let me deter you, they do look very nice. They really changed the front end of the truck. However, I would definitely hop in a newer tundra that has them installed and take a night cruise before dropping the cash, just to see if they meet your expectations. It's not that brilliant blanket of light you see on most modern vehicles.

 

I installed to good quality LED bulbs and the light output and pattern is a good improvement over my halogen. I've been considering a headlight replacement but don't want to spend a good amount of cash for little or no gain.

 

I don't think I'm used to luxury headlights. Most modern vehicles, even budget vehicles like a base level Equinox or base model Ford escape, use projector style housing with their led. My base(ish) model f150 has this. The Tundra uses a reflective diffuser, similar to the OEM halogen housing. Exactly the same actually. The led is mounted backward and bounced off a reflected surface. That's why we get the blotchy pattern I described along with a not-so-defined cutoff.

You still end up with an led in a reflective diffuser. See above.

 

My '13 F150 must have had absolutely TRASH headlights, then, because my OEM LED headlights in my '20 Tundra are a giGANtic improvement upon them.

 

Having gone from the older style halogens to the 2018+ LEDs, this thread has me puzzled. The difference in light output based on my vehicle and observation is astonishing.

There aren’t any bulbs.

 

I was also puzzled. Most people are happy, but after exploring, there are a lot of owners that feel like I do also. And they have the same complaint; low and blotchy output. It comes back to the reflective diffuser design. As far as I can tell, Toyota is the only company I can find that does this, and only with this particular Tundra headlight. It's a very dated way of throwing led light. Manufacturers from Hyundai to Mazda to Ford have used projectors as a standard for several generations.


We throw light backward into an old school reflector. This is the worst way to use a quality led

 

Good observation.

I ran OEM LEDs and never saw the lackluster output you speak of. Even with Morimotos I don't personally see a huge gain (it's definitely better though).

 

I can say that my stock LEDs on the Tundra are hands down far superior to my wife's HIDs with Phillips ExtremeVision bulbs. I do have them set to 1.5 on the adjustment dial (unloaded), so maybe try to mess with that a bit. I found after the lift and tires they were aimed too far down the road for my liking.

 

I would have liked to try Morimoto but that is a very significant price difference

 

It is lol

 

My 2022 Nissan Frontier used the same style of led light as the Tundra but the led lights in that truck were very good. No weird blotchy patterns and the high beams were very good.

 

As I said above, parked side by side with a tundra with factory installed LEDs, they are identical. They did not meet my expectations but are operating correctly. There's nothing further I can do.

 

seriously