To BMWHD1 - Which 7" and 5.75" sealed beam → LED conversions have you found to have the best pattern?
I agree with your description about those newly available amps being a national treasure. I’m more concerned about the aging terminals and contacts in our 50+ year old electrical systems.
And my aging eyes would like more lumens in the right places.
Yes the new led and brighter lights while driving at night are horrible.
Add to the fact pitted windshields. All the sand and ice melt will pit a new windshield within a year and this creates the Star effect of on coming headlights.
I went out and got a prescription pair of glasses with the darker yellow lenses. This has helped greatly for driving at night.
The optician tried to discourage the darker lens. Blah blah blah. Told him. I can go somewhere else and get these.
Curious if the Dapper Lighting 575 have been tried by anyone? They seem to have decent reviews with OE looking glass as an option. I was looking at them, but without the halos.
I prefer LEDs due to the lower draw, but may jump to the halogens and relay if can’t find a quality LED setup.
https://www.dapperlighting.com/collections/projector-headlights/products/575
These https://www.octanelighting.com/auto-lighting/headlights/5-3-4-headlights/5-3-4-stock-glass-metal-headlight-18-24w-6k-led-h4-lamp-light-bulb-headlamp-set.html are another set I’d like to know if anyone has tried.
Dang, I like them, I’m going to look into them more closely.
It looks like they will have hi and low beam on all bulbs.
I like these. The Vintage Mustang Forum group had a group buy on these a short time ago but it closed and they wouldn’t extend the purchase discount to me. Oh well.
That’s the site I noticed them. They seem to be of good quality with the proper cutoffs to eliminate/ minimize blinding oncoming drivers.
I may take a chance on them later this year after finishing up higher priority things. I believe they are more of a “build to order” product…small company.
I am curious if there is still a benefit in installing the relay though to minimize power via the light switch?? I assume it won’t help the lights themselves being LED.
I don’t see much point in putting in a relay with the reduced current, but let’s do a little math.
A standard incandescent headlamp is 60 / 35 watts for high and low. At 12.8 volts, that’s 4.690 / 2.730 amps times two (for two headlamps) which is what our switches and connectors were designed for and care about.
The LED lamp I linked to earlier is 24 / 18 watts for high and low. At 12.8 volts, that’s 1.875 / 1.406 amps which is what the LED bulbs draw. That’s 40 % of the current for high beam, and 52% of the current for low beam. Does that mean that for low beam I generate only 52% of the heat at low beam and 40% of the heat at high beam in my connectors, wires, and switches?
It’s better than that, because the power lost in a connector, switch contact, or wire is R x I x I. The resistance in our electrical system doesn’t change, but the reduction in current benefits us twice. So the power loss, or heat generated is reduced to 27% of that with a standard incandescent headlamp for low beam, and 16% of that with a standard incandescent headlamp for high beam.
So why would I want to put in a relay when I’ve significantly reduced the heating in my switches and contacts and gained some margin in my headlamp circuit breaker sizing too?
Someone help me out, what is the $150. difference between the Daper and Octane lighting Why is one that much better? Serious question.
No need for relay with LED headlights.
I’d like to see a comparison of LED headlights. I have encountered a few on the road that are blinding to oncoming traffic
Here’s what I did for LED headlights.
“Installing LED headlights on a 1967 Mercury Cougar – svgimmeshelter” https://svgimmeshelter.com/2019/08/09/installing-led-headlights-on-a-1967-mercury-cougar/amp/
Nice write-up. I like what I see with those. Thanks for posting that!
Reviving an older post because I’m interested in LED headlights. Has anyone tried the Dapper Lighting or Octane Lighting? I priced the Dapper Lights and it came out configured to over $750 and the Octane Lights are only $200. Is the Dapper Lighting worth an extra $500?
I’m also considering LED headlights. I don’t drive much at night, but the stock headlights are really dim and there’s no streetlights in the country!
Not sure if all these have been mentioned here, but here’s the links to the ones I’ve looked at for my ‘70:
https://www.octanelighting.com/auto-lighting/headlights/5-3-4-headlights/5-34-crystal-clear-glass-metal-headlight-6k-set-033-034-3rd-gen-led-4.html
https://www.npdlink.com/product/bulb-set-led-generation-4/204064
https://www.drakeautomotivegroup.com/5-3-4-hi-headlamp-w-fomoco-b8az-13007-b
https://ledlightstreet.com/products/h5006-led-conversion-kit
https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.com/store/p/16120-Halogen-headlight-Conversion-Complete-Kit-Repro-1967-1968-Mercury-Cougar-clone.html
https://www.cjponyparts.com/redline-lumtronix-headlight-halogen-led-halo-multi-color-pair-1965-1968-1970-1973/p/HLA35
https://vintagecarleds.com/5-75-inch-round-headlights
https://www.octanelighting.com/kit5-3-4-halogen-green-led-ring-halo-angel-eyes-headl-pair-5-sc-green-led-hex-60w-blue-4.html
https://www.headlightexperts.com/carfinder?find=1970-mercury-cougar-27706&sid=NITWD3mlYa
https://www.dapperlighting.com/collections/1967-1970-mercury-cougar/products/575
https://www.holley.com/products/exterior/lighting/headlight/round_headlights/parts/LFRB125
Recommend that you get the LED lamps VS the Halogen. Halogen lamps require a lot of current - LED lights do not.
I purchased a pair of United Pacific LED headlights p/n 31201 for my cougar. Work fantastic and are DOT and SAE approved. Did have to modify the bucket slightly, (flared the flat around the bottom hole) but they went right in. They do have clear plastic lenses though and look like custom lights. Mine are hidden behind the doors so wasn’t too worried about the looks. Was more interested in seeing at night which I now can.
Andy
Much like the HID conversions that came before LED there is more junk then quality out there so it can be quite difficult to find something thats worth buying.
I do suggest avoiding the kits with the fans on the back of the bulb. Lifespan is short lived on most of those and the fan is bulky and takes up more space then it should. Some kits also have wiring adaptors and resistor modules on them that take up space as well and generally just clutters up the space. Some of the cheaper quality led housings and led bulbs provide terrible light patterns as well so be careful.
From those links provided it seems the holly kit is one of the better ones. Obviously Holley just sticks their name on it but Morimoto is the LED driver which these guys have been around a long while in the LED game and build a nice product. I would expect this one to give you a nice bright light output and pattern but I have no first hand knowledge of that. I also like the fact they look similar to a original lenses until its lit up, I dont care for the look of the halos or projector style lenses on the cougar.
I used Vision X VX series XIL-575RDB lights. I got an open box set but they are still expensive. They are DOT approved. I had the Dapper lights but they require a lot of modifications to the buckets. Her is a link to my thread when I redid my grill with the new lights.
https://cccforum.discoursehosting.net/t/location-east-coast-nos-and-used-cougar-parts/67/1
There are pictures of the Dapper lights for comparison.
A lot of good information and more to bulbs to consider. The Dapper 30w LED has a fan and based on the photos from Lxg44 there might be a concern with enough room for my 73. I emailed Dapper to see if they can provide me the exact depth of the 30W LED housing/bulb. The Holley kit may be the best option since there is no fan. Research continues…
Thanks
A very different take here.
I went LED taillights & dash cluster. I was very pleasantly surprised that my extra bright Sylvania (traditional) headlights brightened significantly with less power going elsewhere. The dash cluster made the bigger difference. 
I opted to forget about the LED headlights for now.