DFWWIZ Cree/Philips LED headlights

[Matt]

I just let mine hang, as does Kevin. The driver is light enough not to worry about it.

 

[Darkrider_LS]

Anybody have pictures of how you mounted the ballasts?

I ziptied mine to the backside of the grille/headlight support.

View attachment 33209

 

[dmanns67]

Forum Runner FAIL

 

[jrSS]

Forum Runner FAIL

Yup forum runner fail indeed. If you open the thread titled "open browser" you can look at the pics on your phone on the original site. Forum runner won't let see pics for some reason. Sorry but I am not digging this forum runner app at all.

 

[Envoy_04]

Here's an interesting little tidbit for you Cree headlight guys. The lifespan of those bulbs is said to be 30,000 hours. Say your headlights burn 3 hours a day every day all year. That should round you out to about average, probably a little on the heavy side especially if you've got the DRL killer instead of the cap mod. 3 hours a day all week is 21 hours a week, multiply that by the 52 weeks in a year and you get 1092 hours a year. Divide that into the 30,000 hour lifespan, and these lights will burn for...

27.5 YEARS!!!

Pretty amazing, now you can definitely justify em to the wife.

 

[SBUBandit]

Here's an interesting little tidbit for you Cree headlight guys. The lifespan of those bulbs is said to be 30,000 hours. Say your headlights burn 3 hours a day every day all year. That should round you out to about average, probably a little on the heavy side especially if you've got the DRL killer instead of the cap mod. 3 hours a day all week is 21 hours a week, multiply that by the 52 weeks in a year and you get 1092 hours a year. Divide that into the 30,000 hour lifespan, and these lights will burn for...

27.5 YEARS!!!

Pretty amazing, now you can definitely justify em to the wife.

My TB sits in the driveway about 5 days a week, and runs to town a few times here and there. In an entire year it probably sees less than 5 hours of dark, and it does have DRL killer. So if I eventually put the Cree in my high beams, in 6000 years when either an alien species or the monkeys that are ruling earth find the front of a Trailblazer sticking out of a sand dune where the Great Lakes of Michigan used to be, the lights will still work.

...How many of you are now picturing the rusted out hulk of the Statue of Liberty being illuminated by some 6000 yr old Crees while Charlton Heston yells "You Bastards!"

 

[Envoy_04]

You guys who have them, how are they doing? Looking into getting some for the Envoy, looking for your opinions of em. You getting flashed a lot, etc?

Kevin, don't know how soon it will be that I can order, but as of now the pricing is still the same as listed here before?

 

[DFWWIZ]

You guys who have them, how are they doing? Looking into getting some for the Envoy, looking for your opinions of em. You getting flashed a lot, etc?

Kevin, don't know how soon it will be that I can order, but as of now the pricing is still the same as listed here before?

I don't know of anyone saying they have been flashed for being too bright. I have a shipment coming in Monday or Tuesday but all have been spoken for. I will order more next week after these come in. I did raise the price by $5 so its $75 per set + shipping $5.80 for priority mail with tracking. There is one other person from NY with this type now selling on EBAY @ $99/set.

 

[Matt]

I've been flashed twice in the few months that I've had them. My lights are adjusted correctly, so I'd say the two who flashed are just wankers...compared to the 100's that I've passed and haven't done a thing.

 

[IllogicTC]

I've been flashed twice in the few months that I've had them.

You got these and now you get flashed? I didn't know these things turned on Mardi Gras mode in the ladies

 

[Matt]

You got these and now you get flashed? I didn't know these things turned on Mardi Gras mode in the ladies

Only by my wife mate...:wootwoot:

 

[Envoy_04]

Just finalized my order with Kev, I've got some 9006, 9005, and 880s spoken for! Should be a couple weeks, maybe mid April with wait time. It's gonna be nice to finally be able to use my 6 hi mod to its full potential and really light up the road! :wootwoot:

A side note for anyone considering ordering: You aren't gonna find this kind of pricing elsewhere nor will you find a nicer guy to work with on buying them than Kevin.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Got me thinking now...

Wondering if my HID are leaving me with less light than these. I have no issues, but mo light mo better on the backroads I am typically on.

 

[Envoy_04]

Got a nice surprise today, all 3 sets of my bulbs showed up! :wootwoot: I was expecting mid-April arrival on these, I sure was shocked to see them waiting on my porch when I got home!

I have the highs and lows installed now, the fogs are going to have to wait. I need to do some dremel work to the plastic surrounding my fog light bulb hole so that the aluminum cooling fins will fit, it'll most likely be next weekend before I can get to that. I'm not sure if anyone else has this trouble or not, heck, I don't know that anyone else has 'em in an Envoy! (at least not that I've seen on here) I'm also gonna try and snag a right inner fender from a junkyard somewhere this coming week too, the current one is cracked and lets some more water than I'd like come forward onto the back of the fog light housing. I want to have that fixed before I go putting my new bulbs in.

Installation of the highs and lows was a breeze, the only problem I had was that all the dang wires for the power to the ballasts were backwards. I just flipped the plug over and it plugged in that way, it plugs in tight enough that there shouldn't be issues with the little latch thingy not catching anything. I decided to keep the rubber caps on the back of the lights, I just cut an x in the back of them and pushed the wires for the driver through.

I got a couple of pictures, but they do NOTHING to actually show how awesome these lights are. They aren't a bit blue at all, they're extremely white and amazingly bright. I've only taken one short test drive, but the brightness is amazing and the light output is definitely much greater than before. The only thing I can see is that before the halogens projected straight down the road a LITTLE further than these do, but the difference is negligible. That's a housing issue anyhow, not the bulbs.


Again, the difference in the halogens and these lights is actually much greater, phone pictures really don't do any type of lighting real justice.

View attachment 33827

View attachment 33828

The new pattern (low beam only). I wish I'd gotten a pic of the old one, but I was too excited to get the Crees in. The old pattern was smaller though, and dimmer. And yellower.

View attachment 33829

EDIT: Another pic, looks funny looking at the lights and not seeing a bulb. I like it!

View attachment 33831

 

[djthumper]

I quickly flipped the pins in mine so that they locked in place. Of course with off-roading I don't want them coming disconnected.

 

[Envoy_04]

I quickly flipped the pins in mine so that they locked in place. Of course with off-roading I don't want them coming disconnected.

I looked, but I didn't spend too much time doing it before just plugging it in upside down. What exactly did you do to get the pins swapped?

 

[djthumper]

A small pointy object like a scribe one one side to release the pin. Then I flipped them and pushed them in until they locked. Having a small screw driver helps to get it back in and may be small enough to get them out.

 

[Matt]

Got a nice surprise today, all 3 sets of my bulbs showed up! :wootwoot: I was expecting mid-April arrival on these, I sure was shocked to see them waiting on my porch when I got home!

I have the highs and lows installed now, the fogs are going to have to wait. I need to do some dremel work to the plastic surrounding my fog light bulb hole so that the aluminum cooling fins will fit, it'll most likely be next weekend before I can get to that. I'm not sure if anyone else has this trouble or not, heck, I don't know that anyone else has 'em in an Envoy!

I had to do the same thing on my TB. Your best bet is to use the bit that looks like a drill bit and take out a small amount at a time. Don't be surprised with how much plastic you need to take off to get them in.

 

[Envoy_04]

For those of you considering Crees, here's how they compare to standard halogen bulbs. Literally looks like someone's holding a candle in the fog housings. Gotta get the fogs in this weekend...

View attachment 33858

 

[TexazReece]

Looking good there Bro Might I add that I love your front plate as well

 

[Envoy_04]

Looking good there Bro Might I add that I love your front plate as well

Thanks! The plate is from my high school days as a Tiger at Wirt County High. You just werent cool unless you had that plate. I had the Voy my senior year, I liked it so well I left it on.

 

[Envoy_04]

I know its a double post, but I couldn't edit the one above.

Ive found my first issue with the new headlights, and oddly enough I found it in daytime! I was in traffic today and had the radio on and windows down, and I wanted to see what the reflection of the headlights looked like on the van in front of me. As soon as I turned on the lights, the radio staticed over! I did several more trials on different stations to confirm, and it does appear that the lights are causing radio interference, any ideas???

I'm running stock everything as far as the radio goes

 

[jrSS]

Has to be a bad ground. Mine did the same thing when I had hids installed.

 

[Envoy_04]

Has to be a bad ground. Mine did the same thing when I had hids installed.

Hate to be one of those guys who asks about every little thing, but where is the ground for the lights at? I'm good with mechanical stuff, the electrical stuff I sometimes need a little guidance with.

 

[Sparky]

My HIDs cause my radio to static as well, only the FM radio (well, AM might too but haven't tried). CD or USB is fine, which is what I primarily use anyway, so I haven't messed around with anything.

 

[jrSS]

Hids....relay harness I would imagine. Actually my crees do it too. Damn it!! Lol

 

[Blckshdw]

I know its a double post, but I couldn't edit the one above.

Ive found my first issue with the new headlights, and oddly enough I found it in daytime! I was in traffic today and had the radio on and windows down, and I wanted to see what the reflection of the headlights looked like on the van in front of me. As soon as I turned on the lights, the radio staticed over! I did several more trials on different stations to confirm, and it does appear that the lights are causing radio interference, any ideas???

I'm running stock everything as far as the radio goes

Your post was quite a few hours after the first one, so that's OK. It's when you post a few minutes later, that people at you.

I agree with everyone else, you need to check your ground connections. Are you running your LED drivers on a relay harness? I run my harnesses and any other underhood accessories to the fender grounds on either side. (between the battery and fuse block, and between the air box and coolant overflow tank)

 

[Envoy_04]

I agree with everyone else, you need to check your ground connections. Are you running your LED drivers on a relay harness? I run my harnesses and any other underhood accessories to the fender grounds on either side. (between the battery and fuse block, and between the air box and coolant overflow tank)

No relay harnesses on it, I'm going to go check grounds while I've got some daylight left.

 

[Blckshdw]

No relay harnesses on it, I'm going to go check grounds while I've got some daylight left.

I thought I saw it somewhere, maybe on the SSOwners page, that he highly recommended using a relay harness. Really all you can do is make sure your connections are tight, and there's no corrosion present that you can see. Maybe check the bolt for the splice pack at the bottom of the radio stack on the passenger side behind that flap of carpet. Make sure that's good and tight too.

 

[djthumper]

I would definitely start with the grounds under the hood. Particularly the big 3. I have no issues with the Crees causing issues and I even have multiple communications radios in my truck and a power inverter.

 

[Envoy_04]

Checked the fender grounds and the splice pack bolt, cleaned and tightened them all and still no change. I was running out of usable daylight, so I had to quit. I'll check the rest of "the big 3" tomorrow. Also checked all the connections on the Crees themselves, no loose connections anywhere. Hope to get to the bottom of this soon, I really like listening to the radio.

 

[Sparky]

Hids....relay harness I would imagine. Actually my crees do it too. Damn it!! Lol

I have a relay harness on my HIDs.

Something about these trucks and non-resistive loads I guess? The way the FM antenna is grounded? No idea.

 

[Envoy_04]

Alright, I think I've checked everything. Checked all the grounds and cleaned and tightened them, including the radio antenna. Made sure the antenna was plugged into the back of the radio correctly also. I unplugged the headlights one at a time to see if I could isolate it to one or the other causing the problem, and they both cause the interference. The halogen bulbs never did this, and the fog lights alone still don't since they're still halogen. I'm thinking that the drivers or the bulbs might be making some sort of interference? You electrical guys please help out here, I'm at a loss for things to look at now...

 

[kjkim93]

Alright, I think I've checked everything. Checked all the grounds and cleaned and tightened them, including the radio antenna. Made sure the antenna was plugged into the back of the radio correctly also. I unplugged the headlights one at a time to see if I could isolate it to one or the other causing the problem, and they both cause the interference. The halogen bulbs never did this, and the fog lights alone still don't since they're still halogen. I'm thinking that the drivers or the bulbs might be making some sort of interference? You electrical guys please help out here, I'm at a loss for things to look at now...

You sure you aren't just hearing the fan? I thought I had interference but it ended up being the fan noise

 

[Envoy_04]

You sure you aren't just hearing the fan? I thought I had interference but it ended up being the fan noise

This is definitely radio interference. You can be listening to a station clear as a bell, and the second you turn on the headlights it goes completely to static. Clears right up the very instant the headlights go off.

 

[Blckshdw]

I say buy a cheap $10 HID harness, hook up the grounds to the fender grounds and call it a day.

 

[Sparky]

Not guaranteed to fix it, as my HIDs are through a harness and still create the static.

 

[jrSS]

Not guaranteed to fix it, as my HIDs are through a harness and still create the static.

I agree. My hids had a relay harness and also created static when lights were turned on. :dunno:

 

[Blckshdw]

Ehh, good point. OK, I got nothin else.

 

[Envoy_04]

Did the Cree fog light install today, and finally, I have all Cree highs, lows, and fogs!

View attachment 33932

Yes, I had to have the jack to be able to get my fat butt under there.

The difference is really amazing, I can't believe how much better the light output and pattern is. I had to dremel the area just above the fog light bulb holes on each side so that the heat sink would fit without binding, but all in all not much plastic had to go. I also noticed that the Cree 880 bulbs don't come with the rubber washers at the base, so I pulled the ones off my old bulbs and stuck them on the new LED bulbs and they fit like a glove. 880 Cree bulbs are also not "clockable" like the highs and lows, but the position the tabs are machined at is perfect for alignment in the housing anyhow with the LEDs firing at 9 and 3. I took the time while I was at it today to swap all the pins in the connectors of the drivers so the connectors will snap together properly as well, since thanks to GM the wiring is backwards. As for driver mounting, on the headlights I was able to have the drivers lying behind since there's some room, but for the fogs I found a nice spot to ziptie them on the metal of the bumper bracing.

View attachment 33934

A big plus of LED headlights, aside from the amazing light output and lack of heat produced and the longevity, is the fact that even when they're off they look really cool. Makes a good conversation when other car guys ask me what the heck that is inside my headlights. I've only had the Crees a short time, and it's already happened. :wootwoot:



A side note to add: I've yet to figure out the radio interference problem but I am working on it, the fogs cause it by themselves now too. My next idea is to run another ground on the radio antenna, maybe down to the frame or somewhere, and see if that helps at all. First I'm gonna take a small portable radio, probably tomorrow, and set it on the hood and tune in to a station, then turn on the headlights and see if I get static. That'll tell me if it's a wiring problem or if the lights/drivers are actually giving interference, in which case I'm probably just SOL on getting the radio to work when the lights are on.