How to dim led headlights

Bought these cheap led headlights from eBay. They fit and work great. The cleat light is much better than yellowish halogen bulbs and I can see the road so much better when it's raining. They also match the color of my light bar (it bothers me to see two different colors when using my bar.) Only problem is there is no real difference between bight and dim. They are always extremely bright. It really pisses other drivers off. I don't wanna be that asshole on the road. Also I'll eventually run into a cop which will probably lead to a ticket. Does any one know of a way to dim these when using my low beams. I was thinking of building a voltage divider to drop from 12v to ~9v but not sure what resistors I'll need to use or even if that will work with these leds. I'm pretty good with wiring when it comes to relays, switches, ect. but have very littke experience with more complex curcuits. Anyone have any ideas of how to resolve this issue?

 

Isn't the high beam just turning on the other LED that's the same wattage but it aims down vs up for the low beams. I would assume to dim them you would replace the LED with a lower wattage one.

 

If you're going to go through all that effort, why not just buy some nicer bulbs?

 

Wait, what year is your truck?

 

3rd gen doesn't use H4's does it?

 

Not a clue. I assumed he was a third gen but looking at his avatar I think he's a first gen. If so, he should not be running LEDs in a halogen housing. That's a dick move.

 

Truck is a 2002. I just bought these because that's what I found. If you know of better led headlights I'm up for suggestions. Didn't wanna spend a lot of $ and get crap leds. The high beams do turn on the top leds for a higher and wider beam but it would also bypass the low beam circuit and would cancel out the voltage divider. Lowering the volts on the leds should dim them by lowering the wattage and they claim and operating voltage between 9-32v. That's why I was thinking 9v

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-not-led-or-hid.398066/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-vs-philips-led-headlights.460313/

If you're not wanting to spend that much money on the Phillips LED, check out the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade. You'll get a lot more usable light that way. I know it won't match your light bar, but your safety and the safety of others (i.e. not blinding them) is much more important than that.

 

Yes the ultimate headlight upgrade thread is worth reading..

The light that is produced by your "upgraded" bulbs is going up into the trees and not down the road. The relationship between the filament and its position in the headlamp housing is critical. The source of light in your leds is in a different position thus affecting the angle of the beam as it leaves the housing..

 

Im not worried about spending money on a good set of led highlights and housing if needed. Just haven't found any options after searching for a couple weeks. Saw these for $25 and thought I'd give them a shot. They throw the beam on the road instead of up. They just don't dim at all. The truck doesn't see much road use but it would be nice to not blind others when driving around town but still have leds.

 

That's gonna be a tough one. I've got to ask though. Why are you so set on LEDs if the truck doesn't see much road use? Why not just throw the halogen bulbs in there and call it good? I'd recommend a proper retrofit from @LSC15 but they can get pricey.

 

Im not "set" on leds. I put the halogen back in after trying these out because of the issues. I've just never found any halogen bulbs that actually work well when it rains and I've tried many different brands over the years. They all just seems so dim and hard to see. The leds where like night and day difference. I'd just be nice to have the clear light leds produce and not the yellow tint halogen have.

 

READ THE ULTIMATE HEADLIGHT UPGRADE!!

 

You could do a super basic retrofit and it'll beat any other possible options hands down (aside from a more expensive retrofit kit)

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/c...versal-kits/bi-xenon-acme-h1-stage-3-kit.html

 

Option 1: retrofit of some sort

Option 2: aim your headlights way down

Option 3: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/problem-solved-the-led-headlights-glare-guard-mod.395222/

 

The retrofit sounds like a much better option. How have I never heard of this before. I'll be ordering a kit here soon.

 

I also suggest you read this thread to see why running those LEDs in your halogen reflectors is such a poor practice and how they can be drastically outperformed by a proper halogen upgrade as others mentioned earlier. They don't need to be dimmed, they never worked right in the first place.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/