New LED headlights

[hogie]

I found this on motortrend yesterday. Aside from the bar across the center of the headlamps these look like they could be a good upgrade over our standard lighting. However, they are quite pricey.

Bright Eyes for your Retro Ride?Peterson 701C LED replacement lamps. - Motor Trend Blog

[rcb280z]

Little too expensive for me! Would have to come down half in price to consider it.

[SteveJ]

I have been very pleased with H4 lights and relays, and I will stay very pleased until the price comes down a lot on LED headlights.

Note: To use LEDs in the S30 you WILL need to use relays or do extensive re-wiring. A couple of years ago, someone started a thread on installing LED headlights. He could not understand why they did not work. The LED headlights expect the 12VDC positive to come from the high/low beam switch with a common ground. In the Z, the headlight circuit is wired to provide a common 12VDC positive to the headlight and switches the ground between the high and low beams. Since the D in LED stands for diode, it means that current can only flow in one direction.

[hogie]

Honestly, I can't complain about my headlights either. I have some cheapie sealed beams and a homeade relay harness.

Too bad running LED's would require even more work to the current wiring. That kind of defeats the point of taking some load off of the original wiring.

[SteveJ]

As long as your relays switch the positive and not the negative, you wouldn't need to change that. Give the choice between adding relays or re-wiring, I would choose relays.

[Powderkeg]

I'm with SteveJ.

Dave Irwin made a wiring harness for my stock 280 Z a few years ago and the headlights work great.

[SteveJ]

By the way, I found the old thread I was referring to: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/electrical-s30/42398-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-dot-legal-led-headlamps.html

[Carl Beck]

In 1970 the Cibie Biode's were about #120.00 a pair. I guess adjusted for inflation - $500.00 to $600.00 today is about right.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[SteveJ]

In 1970 the Cibie Biode's were about #120.00 a pair. I guess adjusted for inflation - $500.00 to $600.00 today is about right.

FWIW,

Carl B.

But who wants 60 pound headlights?

[rcb280z]

Dave also made me a PL harness and HL harness upgrade. They work perfect.

[Dr. 240Z]

Hi,

Here's an alternative to sealed beams/LED's that really works well: Wire in Dave's HL harness and purchase a pair of Cibie H4's (google: Daniel Stern)

Go with the bulbs DS recommends. I did and I'm very pleased as the illumination is as good as the xenons I've owned.

Cheers,

George