anybody use IPF H4 headlights?

I was thinking of getting ordering some better headlights for when mine decide to blow, that way i'll have em on hand to install when the time comes...

i was reading about the install of these on www.jeepin.com/features

they seem pretty good

anybody have any comments on these, the "magic-j" bulbs, and the MOO 2 wiring harness?

thanks!

CaptTrev

CaptTrev said:

anybody have any comments on these, the "magic-j" bulbs, and the MOO 2 wiring harness?

Click to expand...

You'll love them - I don't have experience with H4 upgrades from any other brands, but I was extremely happy with the performance of my IPF H4 Magic-J bulbs. I didn't get an aftermarket wiring harness.

one of the best upgrades i have made is to get full voltage to my headlights, i have Hella vision plus with silverstar bulbs and a homemade harness, was about 11.2 vdc now 14.5vdc at the bulbs, huge improvement!!

I think the J bulbs are overrated, unless you can get them less than the $75/pr I paid

They did last longer than the other H4 Halogen & xenon bulbs I've used, but at 3x the cost. One plus with Js is the supposed good illum. with less draw than hi-watt bulbs... good for OEM wiring. I don't think they were any brighter than $25/pr Hella Xenon (60-55 +30% IIRC) but that's not proven.

Currently running IPF H4 headlamps with 170/100 halogen bulbs and their M002 harness. IMHO this is a great -$200 upgrade. One could make their own harness for less if they were handy with wiring.

Doing it again (and I will) I'd skip on the $$J's, get the harness & either IPF or Hella lamps, and a set of bulbs with at least 80w lows.

Installed mine yesterday and I'll never go back. arty:
I love them. I got the J-bulbs nothing to compare it to but stock and it is so much brighter. On low beam I can see more then I could on stock high beam.
Barger

I agree w. Woody.

I have Hella H4 headlamps, w. (forgot the brand) 90/130 watt bulbs, w. a Jacobs harness (guess they don't make them anymore).

When I first installed them, the difference was amazing. Now I'm just spoiled, anything less just doesn't cut it. Tried some PIAA bulbs that were less wattage, but supposed to produce more light....Not!! I'm stickin' w. the regular ol' halogens.

Man, I'm going 100/170's next time around, wow!! Woody, you could prep your french toast right on the lens, I'll bring the maple syrup!!

awesome! --thanks for the responss guys--

now, a couple more questions--

1) watts
woody said to go with at least the 80w lows...
what is street legal?
i dont really care about the law so much as do blinding a lot of other people?
this is 100% my DD rig so they have to be traffic friendly too.
which setup (power) would be best all around?

2) wiring harness
if im going to do this right, do i definately need the wiring harness--it sounds like i do.

will i notice a huge difference in brightness with/without?

if i did the new IPF H4 install without the new harness would i run the risk of overloading my current wiring? (mines a 1996)

is the wiring harness mostly plug & play? (im certainly not afraid of wiring, but i just wanted to know)

i looked for the wiring harness at several places online, but didnt find it anywhere
wheres the best (cheapest) place to get everything (IPFs, magic j bulbs(ok, i like the blue after glow thing, so shoot me :laugh3: )and the wiring harness

thanks a lot guys!!!!

Trev

EDIT: anybody care to share their "homebrew" wiring upgrades/harness' ?
pics?

I can't answer all your ?'s, if the H-4's are properly adjusted, you'll have no problems. On low beam they have a hard cut-off line that angles down on the driver's side so you won't offend oncoming traffic. I've run mine for many years inMN and now many years in CA, never a problem. Just use the highs only when you should.

The harness helps the brightness tremendously, the juice is coming directly from the battery. Plus the stock wiring won't take to kindly to the draw of the new lamps, it'll be too much for it.

CaptTrev said:

awesome! --thanks for the responss guys--

now, a couple more questions--

1) watts
woody said to go with at least the 80w lows...
what is street legal?
i dont really care about the law so much as do blinding a lot of other people?
this is 100% my DD rig so they have to be traffic friendly too.
which setup (power) would be best all around?

2) wiring harness
if im going to do this right, do i definately need the wiring harness--it sounds like i do.

will i notice a huge difference in brightness with/without?

if i did the new IPF H4 install without the new harness would i run the risk of overloading my current wiring? (mines a 1996)

is the wiring harness mostly plug & play? (im certainly not afraid of wiring, but i just wanted to know)

i looked for the wiring harness at several places online, but didnt find it anywhere
wheres the best (cheapest) place to get everything (IPFs, magic j bulbs(ok, i like the blue after glow thing, so shoot me :laugh3: )and the wiring harness

thanks a lot guys!!!!

Trev

EDIT: anybody care to share their "homebrew" wiring upgrades/harness' ?
pics?

Click to expand...

1) Street Legal = 60-50's or 65-55's

2) I do not have the harness, 65-55's running off stock wire. Still much brighter than sealed bulbs. My '91 runs just fine without any over load. DD and on all the time while I'm drivin.


http://www.jeepersandcreepers.com/gear/pages/ipflights.htm

http://www.bulldogs-house.com/pics/Headlites/headlite.htm

http://www.dpgoffroad.com/Lights/IPF.htm

Agree that 60-55 is more or less legal strength...if the H4 lenses are adjusted own per the instructions.

The J bulbs shouldn't tax your OEM wiring, I've run 100-80 halogens on OEM wiring/alt with no problems.

I get Hella stuff from www.rallylights.com and IPF from www.rustysoffroad.com

I've been running the Magic-J's for about a year now on stock wiring w/ no problems.

As for the brightness, I drive a friend's XJ regularly, and it's downright scary at night compared to the IPFs.

thanks again everyone!! (i JUST ordered them!!)

cant wait for em to arrive!

trev

Cool Trev, you won't regret it... I'll say (& say again) that this is the #1 mod I have ever done to a vehicle that is driven at road speed after dark.

Forgot to mention, the IPF harness is too easy: the battery end has a + and a - pigtail/ring, there are 3 relays to plug in, feed/tuck the two bulb sockets & trigger plug down & through the lens buckets. Plug the male 'trigger' plug into one OEM socket, tuck it back through, plug up the lamps & reassemble. Take time to aim them with the approx. cargo load you usually carry...that way unladen they should be a hair low.

My old homemade harness on the MJ was way less sexy than the IPF...it worked fine enough (most of the time) but my execution/build was fairly hasty. I used 10 ga for the light power & ground, 12 ga for the trigger wires... but I only used 2 relays vs IPF's 3. MJR's harnesses looked really good and his writeup did too.

CaptTrev said:

anybody have any comments on these, the "magic-j" bulbs, and the MOO 2 wiring harness?

Click to expand...

Here's a repost of comments I made on another thread:


I was over at Mike Rollins' house a couple of weekends ago. Together, (he did most of the work) we made up three wiring harnesses to upgrade the headlights in our rigs.

Mike's work was fantastic. He used terminal blocks mounted to the inner fender just below the hood prop. The hot side attached to the battery connection of the fuse block via a fuse and the ground went to the same bolt as the regular chassis ground. All connections were crimped, soldered and heat shrinked. The long wire runs were twisted and encased in wire loom that looks like Chinese finger torture netting.

The triggers were soldered to the old headlight connectors and new connectors were wired. The only available headlight connectors had 16 gauge pigtails so we had to remove the brass connector from the plastic housing, uncrimped them and discarded the pigtails so that we could reuse the connectors with 12 gauge wire.

Once everything was connected, we plugged in the relays, popped in the fuse and installed the headlights into the new connectors. The old connectors remained alongside. Should I ever need or want to pull the harness, all I have to cut is the two trigger wires, pull the harness out and plug the headlights back into the old harness.

It's such a clean install, you wouldn't believe...
Photos of wiring harness install


Voltage at the connector jumped from 11.7 to 13.6 volts; a gain of almost two volts!

I bought Sylvania Silverstars online at <http://www.sylvania.com/auto/silverstar.htm>, but think that I may go with a IPF and 90/130 bulbs as a future upgrade.

The Silverstars, at 60/70 watts, are marginally brighter than a street legal H4, 55/60 lamp. However, with the new harness, I had a hard time discerning any difference between my lights' output and a Beemer's HID lights as we drove side-by-side down the freeway. There was no difference in the color temp, as both were glaringly white. The Beemer did have a more focused beam (beam... Beemer... I say, pay attenshun son!) but that's a function of the reflector.

I installed them last week and even without the new harness, the increase in light output and whiteness was dramatic. The Silverstars are a regular sealed beam headlight so the swap takes only five minutes. These are great headlights, even without the harness.

Andy-

Mike Rollins' electrical work is fantastic.

I really like his work because I (like to think I) am really anal about electrical wiring on my jeep (and my boat, and at work (im a marine diesel mechanic, amongst other things :looney: )

I can only hope the IPF harness is as nice as Mike's!

anyway--after reading even MORE of your posts, i am SO excited about rigging this up!!

thanks guys!

Trev