Kizashi Club

LPSISRL wrote:Kuro,
The site still has "bulbs" for $35 but says that all you get are bulbs. Do you know if the capacitors come with it even though it says bulbs only. The work "Kit" is not be found. I'd hate to order and just get bulbs.

Sorry, I should have made it more clear. $35 is for the bulbs but the bulbs come in the box with the drivers. Basically, what you see in the box is what you get. The capacitor harnesses are separate and cost $15 each, I think. These will prevent the bulbs from the flickering they will likely experience without them because of the Kizashi's Pulsed Width Modulation of the DRLs. The reason why the bulbs don't come with the capacitors is because not all vehicles need them. It just happens our Kizashis do because of the PWM.
I already had two capacitor links from my previous LED kit but actually put those in for my HIDs to better stabilize them so I ordered a new pair for these LED bulbs.
The real cost is closer to $65 but you can try to find promo codes for TRS to get the price down.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm curious if you can get a better focus by adjusting them. Can you only adjust them with the headlights out?

LPSISRL wrote:Thanks for the clarification. I'm curious if you can get a better focus by adjusting them. Can you only adjust them with the headlights out?

Adjusting them isn't easy because you'd have to be able to reach into the headlight and rotate the bulb. This can only be done after the heat sink is screwed off and the bulb's base is loosened (via Allen screw) so the bulb's body can rotate within it. I had a hard time doing so even with the headlight out of the car and on my kitchen table. I basically had my jump starter powering the bulb so I could see the pattern as I tried to adjust it in my kitchen. Aside from the tight clearance inside the headlight, the bulb gets hot quickly and will get too hot to comfortably handle. Also, it's hard to optimize a headlight pattern when the headlight is not in the car with the proper distance to the wall. I basically ended up doing a quick test to see what the patterns looked like when I rotated the bulb as I was installing the kit. I saw that when the LED emitters were facing the sides, it looked to have the tightest pattern. That's why I left them like that. It's possible that there is a better angle for optimal reflection or at least better fine-tuning, but I don't think they can reflect a focused hotspot of light like halogens can, at least in these headlights. I've seen a very similar LED bulb installed in a Toyota truck with almost the identical pattern as the halogens. The owner was talking about how awesome it was as a drop-in. Basically, the headlight reflectors are all a bit different so they end up reflecting LED bulbs in different patterns. Like I said, it's possible that it can be improved, but fine-tuning would be a lot of work.

I'll take some wall photos tonight and upload them so you have a sense of what to expect. They basically look circular in a jagged pattern up close. With distance, it spreads out sort of like a massive shotgun blast of light. While it's not a great output, it's not useless. For urban driving, they work fine and seem to get more attention when flashed. Road signs and reflectors certainly seem to jump out when the light hits them. On dark, unlit roads in the countryside, it does augment the low beams, but the light isn't focused far down on the road like halogen high beams. It more of a wider blast of less-concentrated light. It's still better than my old LED kit though and for the price, worth it.

Lastly, I should note that because the LED kit is on clearance, there are no returns or refunds accepted by TRS. I just wanted to warn you of that in case you missed that. They only cover DOA (Dead On Arrival).

Here are some photos from my dash camera.

Below is a close-up. DRLs only. The wall is about 5 feet away. Below is further away. DRLs only. You can see the circular pattern I'm talking about. Below is the high beam with the low beam HID. While it may not look like it in the photos, the high beam output is brighter than the DRL output. The circular pattern is not ideal, but it's not entirely useless either. The sides also have "wings" which help to illuminate the road better. It's quite possible that the pattern can be improved with better bulb adjustment.

Awesome review as always KuruNekko. And just in time too as both low beams on our car are out again.

SamirD wrote:Awesome review as always KuruNekko. And just in time too as both low beams on our car are out again.

Thanks. I think the kit I have for my high beams would be ideal for the low beams in the Kizashi. I'm not 100% sure about light reflection inside for the projector, but I know the heat sink will fit inside the dust cap. To this day, my LED kit is working perfectly.

KuroNekko wrote:I'm not 100% sure about light reflection inside for the projector...

That's my only concern as well as you brought that up at an earlier thread somewhere when you were discussing the choice to go with LEDs for high beams vs low-beam. At this point, I'll just continue to wait and see what the market produces. There are a variety of products now out there for 1/2 the cost of what there used to be, and with seemingly even better quality than ever.

SamirD wrote:

KuroNekko wrote:I'm not 100% sure about light reflection inside for the projector...

That's my only concern as well as you brought that up at an earlier thread somewhere when you were discussing the choice to go with LEDs for high beams vs low-beam. At this point, I'll just continue to wait and see what the market produces. There are a variety of products now out there for 1/2 the cost of what there used to be, and with seemingly even better quality than ever.

Eh, you can wait but I'll tell you that it's evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Nothing is going to be a ground-breaking product that changes things drastically. It's more like incremental improvements over time and finding the bulb design that's best for your particular headlight. Then, it's about optimal adjustment. While LEDs have their pros, they are rather finicky and I find HIDs to be the more reliable and higher performing option. Even to this day, most LED kits are compared to HID performance as the gold standard and only a few LED bulbs come close to the focus and output of a quality HID system.

KuroNekko wrote:

SamirD wrote:

KuroNekko wrote:I'm not 100% sure about light reflection inside for the projector...

That's my only concern as well as you brought that up at an earlier thread somewhere when you were discussing the choice to go with LEDs for high beams vs low-beam. At this point, I'll just continue to wait and see what the market produces. There are a variety of products now out there for 1/2 the cost of what there used to be, and with seemingly even better quality than ever.

Eh, you can wait but I'll tell you that it's evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Nothing is going to be a ground-breaking product that changes things drastically. It's more like incremental improvements over time and finding the bulb design that's best for your particular headlight. Then, it's about optimal adjustment. While LEDs have their pros, they are rather finicky and I find HIDs to be the more reliable and higher performing option. Even to this day, most LED kits are compared to HID performance as the gold standard and only a few LED bulbs come close to the focus and output of a quality HID system.

I agree. Even Morimoto points that out in their marketing material about their LED product.

I think HID products are going at best evolve with smaller ballasts that can be placed more easily into a large headlight assembly like the Kizashi's. There are already a few manufacturers that seem to be making 'slim' or 'mini' ballasts (mainly for the motorcycle market), but I've seen some for automotive applications as well.

LED still has a bit to go. The light throw needs to be addressed as does cooling and longevity of the components like the fan. The kits are bit more cumbersome because of the large bulb assembly, but I think as LED technology keeps evolving, the size and cooling requirements will shrink as the lumens increases. I remember when LED technology was only on par with CFL in residential and commercial lighting, and now it has exceeded it. In another 3-5 years, I think even CFLs will start to be displaced. (HIDs in commercial light fixtures are already being replaced by LEDs--just check out the canopy lights on any new gas station--they'll be LED).

The ballasts in my HIDs fit very nicely on the bottom of the headlight assembly with some double-back foam tape. Plus they were less expensive than 2 halogen bulbs.