LED headlight bulb for 9004 socket in 1987 911

[b moe]

Has anyone tried the LED headlight bulbs that plug into the regular 9004 bulb socket? They seem a bit longer and I wonder if they fit. Is one brand better?
Do the LEDs for dash illumination dim when using the dimmer rheostat?

[DNickel]

I have just put H4's in my '88 with new LED lights. Was worried the fan would be too deep but I think I just scraped by. I have changed every dash/gauge bulb to LED and all other bulbs except the 4 turn signals; I will deal with them later as the flash has to be changed. I have a bit of bleed on the 3rd eye and one brake light. Hoping to just put a 1-10K resistor to ground for some ma bleed or a voltage drop, we'll see what fixes it.
The rheostat doesn't seem to do much but the lights were so poor anyway I think I will be happy. It also seems a bit worn so it could be it's not doing the job properly.
My car is still up on the lift so there will be a real world update to this post for sure in May.
There a million Chinese LED headlight brands so hit an miss. I converted my 968 over years ago and they have been fine. I made sure I bought the latest CREE product and ignored the cheaper brands. Mine were called F2 6000K H4 and ran about 70-80 USD.
I used Superbrightled for all the other LEDS.

[4flyboy]

Hey Guys,

Just bought a pair myself but haven't installed them yet.....interested to see and also hear your experiences...I'm hoping the beam is focused.

And though I have a JWest relay kit installed I hope it'll drop the amperage down on the circuit/battery/alternator.

Next, I'm hoping to match something up for the pathetic driving/fog lights. Any ideas there?

[spoke]

Originally Posted by DNickel

...and all other bulbs except the 4 turn signals; I will deal with them later as the flash has to be changed.

An LED-compatible flasher is available everywhere online. EP26 is plug-in compatible. Just make sure it says "LED" on it as EP26 is an old number and some flashers aren't LED-compatible.

I have a bit of bleed on the 3rd eye and one brake light. Hoping to just put a 1-10K resistor to ground for some ma bleed or a voltage drop, we'll see what fixes it.

Care to elaborate on this? Are you referring to the brake lights and 3rd brake light being on gently at all times when they are LEDs? Do you have cruise control? The CC ECU dumps about 7ma into the brake lights which will gently light up LED brake lights.

The rheostat doesn't seem to do much but the lights were so poor anyway I think I will be happy. It also seems a bit worn so it could be it's not doing the job properly.

This is to be expected as the resistance of LED dash lights is much less than incandescent bulbs. Thus the rheostat will not do much through most of its rotation except at the end when the LEDs light up fully.

[needspeed]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WD18LLQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is in my '87 coupe. Beam height and width seems comparable to original halogen.

[ADDvanced]

Bad idea. LED headlights are garbage.

[pampadori]

Originally Posted by ADDvanced

Bad idea. LED headlights are garbage.

Are they worse than what is currently in most of our 35 year old cars? Probably not.
I have updated my E500 with both LED and HID bulbs and thoroughly enjoy driving that car at night. I can see everything so much more clearly, its remarkable.

I don't have them in my 911 so I'm curious of other's experiences.
You should "tune" the lights to make sure the beam cutoff doesn't blind oncoming traffic. Many of these lights you can twist inside their mount ring 360 degrees to supplement the other aiming adjustments of your headlight assemblies.

With the way the 911 headlight buckets are sort of enclosed, there isn't going to be a ton of airflow. Those little 9000RPM fans on the back of the LED bulbs need to shed the heat so there might be a consideration to the bucket design and the light's longevity.

[ADDvanced]

It's deceptive and you're being tricked. First off, the light is 'whiter', so it appears brighter even when it isn't. Secondly, every single LED bulb I've come across works great at short distances, but does NOT PUNCH AS FAR AS HALOGENS. They just don't have the distance.

What this does is illuminate the heck out of the foreground, giving you the impression of 'better lighting', but this is actually counter productive as the contrast ruins your night vision so you can't see things out in the distance.

[spoke]

I have these LED headlights from engelbert here on Pelican. Very bright with a nice sharp upper cutoff. Quite pleased with them and engelbert was great to work with.

These ones also have an option to operate as DRL when tied into the running light power of the 911. Easy to do as the running light power comes through the headlight bucket.

[ADDvanced]

Those are legit because actual projectors. I think OP was talking about using LED bulbs in a halogen housing.

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by spoke

This is to be expected as the resistance of LED dash lights is much less than incandescent bulbs. Thus the rheostat will not do much through most of its rotation except at the end when the LEDs light up fully.

LEDs stop emitting light abruptly and completely at their minimum operating voltage - the rheostat controls voltage. Red-hot glowing wire isn't sensitive to this, so bulbs keep emitting light over a much wider range.

Varies by technology/color, but

Most common LED’s require a forward operating voltage of between approximately 1.2 to 3.6 volts

It's made a little more complicated by the fact that most BA9 replacement LEDs have a resistor built-in to the base (so a 4V LED can work happily on a 12V circuit), but that's what's going on. Somewhere around half-way/two thirds the way through the range of the rheostat, the LEDs just turn off. With decent LEDs, they're still quite bright (e.g. much brighter than stock bulbs) - then they're off.

There do exist little black boxes expressly designed to dim LEDs (which, iirc, they do by "pulsing" the LEDs - fast enough that you cant' see the flicker - with longer "off" periods to make them appear dimmer).

Despite my old habit of turning instrument lights down on unlit roads until they're like watch dials, I've so far managed to avoid the temptation to fit one - but it's on the list. I'd also like a "dim" setting for at least the high beam indicator light when the lights are on....

[DNickel]

Many different thoughts on this topic.

I do agree LED bulbs have their place in headlights providing you stick to the colour spectrum your eyes were born with, not 6500K and above as most ricers believe.
Headlights NEED to have a properly designed bucket/lens to project and have a real cut-off line. I hate conversions that splash random bright light in your face, waste of unfocused light and dangerous to the oncoming driver.
I have LED lights in my 968 H4 buckets. The OEM halogen illumination was awesome, after conversion I can say it was better than OEM by a small margin but I did like the less yellow cast. These bulbs were not over 6000K though.

Heat/fan issue was a concern but I rarely drive at night and where I live the outdoor temps are usually never that high.

Yes, I need a voltage drop for my glowing brake lights (same with the dash rheostat). I will test with various values and thanks for the ECU heads up of 7 ma.

I didn't do my turn signals due to the flasher issue (I know LED ones exist) and I don't mind old school bulbs for this purpose.

[spoke]

Originally Posted by DNickel

Yes, I need a voltage drop for my glowing brake lights (same with the dash rheostat). I will test with various values and thanks for the ECU heads up of 7 ma.

So you do have cruise control? If so, does it work with all LED brake lights? Reason for asking is we (me and several 911 owners w/LED brake lights and CC) did a lot of testing to make sure the CC worked with LED brakes.

The solution we came up with was to install two 12 ohm 50W power resistors in parallel for a total of 6 ohms. This pigtail is installed in series with the brake light switch in the front trunk.

Below is the pigtail that I make and shown installed. If the 3rd brake light is left as an incandescent, the pigtail is not needed. Some guys have done this.

[DNickel]

Yes I have CC but haven't used it on this car yet. Will have some testing to do but at least I have a heads up from you

PS I noticed you said the pigtail is required if you use the 3rd eye.
1) The 3rd light is not in the harness with the rear tail lights, it's breaks out separately?
1a) Where is that connection up front? The picture only shows the brake booster connection.