Dodge RAM 1500 headlights - improving them

[OVERKILL]

So one of our guys drives a 2011 RAM 1500. It has the traditional halogen non-projector bi-bulb housings (one bulb for high/low, one for turn/marker) and I was told yesterday that the lights are simply awful. Apparently he googled the issue and he is not alone in that opinion. So, looking at options on improving the lights without going to something illegal/offensive (like HID retrofit). Somebody suggested a direct-fit LED replacement with the LED's in the same position as the light kernel on the halogen bulb. Another simply suggested higher output bulbs. My original thought was a higher trim level housing, hopefully in a projector, but it does not appear such a beast exists unless I'm looking in the wrong spot.

Thoughts?

 

[wrcsixeight]

I'd check voltage at headlight and compare to battery voltage with engine running. If more than 0.75 volt difference it will benefit from an upgraded harness.

New Phillips extreme bulbs.

HID or LED bulbs in those housings are illegal,, and will badly glare other drivers, especially at truck light height, and cause road rage.

Email Daniel stern.
[email protected]

 

[OVERKILL]

Yes, as I mentioned, I have no intention of recommending an illegal HID retrofit for the aforementioned reasons. I absolutely hate them.

 

[bmwjohn]

if you do not have relays to give your lights better voltage, do it. Use Phillips or Osram bulbs. Keep windshield very clean inside and out, replace windshield wiper blades often, don't wear self tinting varilux style glasses, they NEVER go completely clear, consider some fog or similar lights to assist with highway curves etc. Don't smoke.Since you live in Canada, is there a European headlight version available? Are there any CLEAR??? replacement windshields?

 

[OVERKILL]

The windshield is in good shape and pretty clear (not tinted from what I can see). The driver doesn't smoke. The relay setup may make sense, depending on drop to the bulbs.

 

[Farmer]

On the 4th gen Ram trucks with the Dual Headlight system can be changed easily to a Quad Headlight system. Craigslist usually has the housings for cheap. But the Quad Headlights aren't that good. Does the truck have fog lights? You can put a 9005 bulb in there instead of the H10/9145.

 

[OVERKILL]

Thanks Farmer. I do not believe the truck has fog lights.

If the quad headlights aren't that good, are they at least better than the duals?

 

[Garak]

Now, are the headlights actually poor, or do they just "seem" poor? How good is visibility of reflective markers on a dark highway?

Of course, that certainly doesn't preclude checking proper voltage and sensible bulbs, which is a good BITOG OCD thing in the first place.

 

[c502cid]

I had a 2010. They are awful and were from brand new. I went to better bulbs (forget which) and put a better bulb in my OEM fog/driving light. The only way I felt safe is with the driving lights on too. If he doesn't have the bumper with the fog lights in them I'd find one of those first. The headlight lenses are also very prone to fogging over. I cleaned mine about 4 times before I finally bought new (aftermarket) housings. That helped too.

 

[Danno]

How about slow down and drive according to conditions and within the capabilities of your equipment and senses?

 

[Farmer]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Now, are the headlights actually poor, or do they just "seem" poor? How good is visibility of reflective markers on a dark highway?

Of course, that certainly doesn't preclude checking proper voltage and sensible bulbs, which is a good BITOG OCD thing in the first place.

My truck has the dual headlight set up. Its absolutely trash. I think a 90s car will have better output than this. I just put in 5K 35W HIDs and removed my fog lights out for Rigid Industries' pods with their fog light bracket.

Even with upgraded bulbs, they're pretty terrible. I've ran the following in my housings, Sylvania Silverstar and XtraVision. Have a friend that ran Silverstar Ultras and they were not much of an improvement either.

Not sure what makes the output so poor.

Originally Posted By: Danno
How about slow down and drive according to conditions and within the capabilities of your equipment and senses?


I didn't feel safe driving on unlit two lane roads going the speed limit without the fog lights on. I wouldn't say I have bad vision or road sense either.

 

[Olas]

First check the aim, then If Osram NightBreakers and a relay'd loom don't do what you want look at new reflectors/housings.

Or be a hillbilly about it and strap 4000w of flood lighting on the roof and a generator in the back to power them.

Either will work.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

SilverStar Ultras, yo!

(no, don't do that.)

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
So one of our guys drives a 2011 RAM 1500. It has the traditional halogen non-projector bi-bulb housings (one bulb for high/low, one for turn/marker) and I was told yesterday that the lights are simply awful. Apparently he googled the issue and he is not alone in that opinion. So, looking at options on improving the lights without going to something illegal/offensive (like HID retrofit). Somebody suggested a direct-fit LED replacement with the LED's in the same position as the light kernel on the halogen bulb. Another simply suggested higher output bulbs. My original thought was a higher trim level housing, hopefully in a projector, but it does not appear such a beast exists unless I'm looking in the wrong spot.


From my understanding, these headlamps are both objectively and subjectively poor. That is, reports from the field are accurate -- they're genuinely lousy lamps. Further, the base model version with a single bulb (H13) offers you no real upgrade options. The H13 bulb is a poor one to begin with. Fortunately, these bulbs are rarely used anymore, but some applications still use them. We had this bulb in our 2007 Chrysler T&C, and there really isn't much you can do with it. The upgrade bulbs offer a slim improvement, but not much.

I do think there are two equipment upgrades you could make, though. His current housings are single-segment, where one bulb is used for the high and low beam. Also offered that year on higher trims was a dual-segment housing, which used an H11 for the low beam and an HB3 for the high beam. This would offer much better beam focus on both the high and the low beam, and he'd likely be able to see better. I understand these housings still aren't good performers, but they could be better than what he has.

Another option is the projector setup offered in later model years. I don't personally care for these, either. If they're like other Mopar products of the era, they use an HIR2 bulb in the projector and there's a movable shutter for high beam, not unlike an HID projector. Problem is, it's NOT HID, and it's only a halogen source, so I don't think it works well in practice. In fact, the IIHS headlamp testing bears that out.

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/ram/1500-crew-cab-pickup/2016

This is the same generation, I think, as the 2011 Ram 1500. According to their testing, the halogen reflector lamps performed similarly to the halogen projectors, but the projectors created excessive glare.

My personal plan would probably be to upgrade to the dual-segment halogen reflector housings. I don't know if they make conversion wiring harnesses for H13-to-H11/HB3 lamps or not. If he doesn't want to go to that trouble, there's not much he can do. I'm glad to know he's not thinking about HID or LED. They will NOT be good in this application.

 

[sciphi]

H13 with bad optics = ditch it for lamps that use better bulbs.

The H11 can be swapped for a H9 and deliver about twice the lumens at half the life in the uplevel lamp. That can be a decent upgrade.

There are DOT-compliant aftermarket projector headlamps, but those look to be a pain to install.

Really no good choices here.

 

[meep]

A lot could be said for a nicely - designed aux driving light kit, provided it has glare shield, crisp cutoff, and is aimed properly.

Unfortunately, most of the new stuff is junk. I got better light output and control from $10 walmart lamps in the 80s than the bulk of what I see now. One could take the fog housings with the glare shield, use the clear glass lens from the driving light version, and have a shielded, controllable lamp with good output for a small cost.

of course, they did rust....

-m

 

[OVERKILL]

Currently looking at the cost of a set of 2013+ OEM projectors (halogen) with an adapter harness. We'll see what that ends up running.

 

[Smokescreen]

I have driven in both versions on Dodge the single bulb and dual bulb setups...They are both absolutely atrocious. The dual beam versions have poor aim, poor beam pattern, glare poor everything. I don't know how they passed any kind of certification for being safe.

There really is nothing you could do to improve them. Kind of like the Dodge Nitro housings...just awful.

I would install some quality aux driving lights Cibie, Marshal etc. and put the light exactly where you want it. (say no to low CRI LED)

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Currently looking at the cost of a set of 2013+ OEM projectors (halogen) with an adapter harness.


I'll bet it'll be high. Certainly weigh the cost against the potential benefits. Ram are using the HIR2 in their projectors and, if they're anything like the single-segment projectors on the 2012 300 I rented, performance is pretty disappointing. I think the IIHS testing bears that out -- there just isn't enough light for ChryCo to be trying to use a single-segment projector with a movable shutter and, in consequence, high beam performance with the projectors is actually WORSE than with the halogen reflectors. I think ChryCo made a mistake with that projector system, and they've sprinkled it throughout their lineup and the customer is on the losing end of it. Fortunately, it's not used in everything...your Durango, for instance, uses a dedicated H11 low beam projector with a HB3 reflector high beam if I'm not mistaken. This is usually a pretty good setup -- it's how our 2005 MDX is and I've 0 complaints about it. The projector is optimized for low beam performance, and the high beams cast this spot light down the road when on. Both segments are lit with the high beams, so you light up a rural road like DAYLIGHT when both are running.

The only question unanswered in the IIHS testing is which version of the halogen reflector they were using. Were they using the single-segment unit with the H13 bulb, or the dual-segment unit with the H11/HB3 bulbs? If they were using the single-segment unit, then it's possible that the dual-segment unit could out-perform both other options. If they were already testing the dual-segment unit, then there probably is no real hope other than auxiliary lighting options.

 

[xxch4osxx]

I replaced the low beam H11 bulbs in my Ram with the modded H9 bulb and it made a huge difference! If the 2011 has the same headlights as mine, tell him to try the H11 to H9 modification.

Those OEM projectors are not cheap, I looked into those as well.