5th Generation Maxima (2000-2003) Learn more about the 5th Generation Maxima, including the VQ30DE-K and VQ35DE engines.

LED Headlight Kit

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Old Nov 3, 2014 | 07:21 PM
  #1  
Ray Torres's Avatar
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LED Headlight Kit

A few days ago i purchased a LED headlight kit for my 2000 max,
the lights were ok with good illumination spread but not as bright as i hoped they would be.
The high beam intensity was just about the same as the low beam, i was wondering if there is a relay or anything that required other then the normal installation....
Does anyone have this light kit or the same issue?




9003/H4 Hi-Low Cree LED Conversion Kit
Old Nov 3, 2014 | 07:24 PM
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Please put back in your halogens.
Old Nov 3, 2014 | 07:34 PM
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Originally Posted by ChrisMan287
Please put back in your halogens.
Never had them, had HID's before this kit.
Old Nov 3, 2014 | 07:36 PM
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Old Nov 3, 2014 | 07:37 PM
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^
You f8ker. Blinding me while I'm driving

GRRRRRR

Old Nov 3, 2014 | 07:43 PM
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Old Nov 3, 2014 | 09:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Ray Torres
A few days ago i purchased a LED headlight kit for my 2000 max,
the lights were ok with good illumination spread but not as bright as i hoped they would be.
Post pics of what you meant by good illumination is please. Your previous pics showed how bright the beam is but they are not illuminating the road.....
Old Nov 3, 2014 | 11:57 PM
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I wish I didn't have to have a front plate up here in Canada... looks a lot better without one! Those are some bright lights, holy ****!
Old Nov 4, 2014 | 09:33 AM
  #9  
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this is cool to see aftermarket LED headlight bulbs, I wonder how they do with glare compared to HID in halogen housings.

they seem as bright as halogen to me?

I wonder if these are intended for projectors considering alot of these newer cars come equipped with projectors regardless of HID or not.
Old Nov 4, 2014 | 12:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Ray Torres
A few days ago i purchased a LED headlight kit for my 2000 max,
the lights were ok with good illumination spread but not as bright as i hoped they would be.
The high beam intensity was just about the same as the low beam, i was wondering if there is a relay or anything that required other then the normal installation....
Does anyone have this light kit or the same issue?
9003/H4 Hi-Low Cree LED Conversion Kit
Yes. You need a relay. This is a special type of relay available only from OEMs that, when you turn on your headlights, deactivates the silly LED "headlights" and activates the OEM halogen headlights instead.

I have no idea why I am on the 5th generation forums again (those front page recently updated thread links always take me here for some reason), but let me give you some knowledge about headlights.

First, do you how your reflectors work?
Looking at your pictures, you appear to have halogen reflectors. Did you know how these reflectors were designed? No? Let me enlighten you (no pun intended): They were designed with specific tolerances in the position of the filament, specific tolerances in the part of the filament that emits the most light, and most importantly how that light is utilized. If you think your headlights are just giant flashlights and you can stick any bulb in there and it will be just fine, you are severely oversimplifying things.
Your headlights are somewhat precision devices, engineered to give you maximum output onto the ground for maximum safety, while also reducing glare going into other drivers eyes.
Here is a link to a picture for reference: http://dastern.torque.net/Photometry/filamentarc.jpg
If you also look at it closely, notice how most of the halogen "light" is from the center of the filament, and although not really shown, but the filament sags downwards.
The HID bulb on the other hand, produces most light near the poles or ends of the arc and the arc actually floats upward.
At the risk of repeating myself, you are ignoring the tolerances of where the source of light is coming from.

So what does this mean?
When you placed HIDs bulbs into your halogen reflectors, you have ignored all those precise tolerances and are endangering yourself and other drivers.
While yes, when YOU look at the headlights head on, they seem brighter. But in actuality, most of that light is unfocused and outputted haphazardly into the world.
Some of that light will end up on the road.
An increased amount of that light will end up going nowhere because it is improperly focused. Notice how there really bright spots right underneath your bumper?
An the worst one, an increased amount of that light will end up into oncoming driver's eyes blinding them potentially causing a collision.

Let's take a look at the LED bulbs you already put in now.
Notice how the LED emitter is FLAT and a CIRCLE? Notice how in a regular halogen bulb, the filament is ROUND and a very thin LINE?
Even if the LED bulb is double sided, again, most of that light is now unfocused and unable to be utilized properly.

Let me ask another question.
Do you know how many lumens the LED builbs output? I can probably safely say that it does not output as many lumens as the original halogen bulb you had. And covering my argument with the HID bulb so you don't go back to it, it doesn't matter how many lumens a bulb outputs. How you use those lumens is what is important.

So concluding my wall of text, either you go back to halogens for yours and other peoples safety, or you do things properly and get the proper HID reflectors (the later models of the 5th generation Maxima did have HID reflectors), or even better, you do a proper retrofit with HID projectors.
To properly answer your question, nothing will fix your headlights, whether it is adding a relay, or installing something more wiring, or whatever. Nothing.
Take a head-on picture for us looking at your LED "headlights" then take a picture of the beam pattern so we can all see how horrid it is.

I must head back to work now.... /rant over

Last edited by Akiyukio; Nov 4, 2014 at 01:05 PM.
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