New headlights suggestions

[Garrett2500]

Bought new headlights assemblies. The LED bulbs that it came with worked a month then started flickering and cut off when you start the motor. Bought new LED and same thing but new lights started immediately. Need to know what the brightest lights I can use for the wife. Was my truck now it's hers so I want to make sure it's the brightest. Just need it to light the road in front of her to make it safely to her destination. 2006 3500

 

[seafish]

Please look into buying HID projector lamps to retrofit into the housings you just already bought.

Or if you a not handy enough to do the cnversion yourself, you can buy already retrofitted aftermarket housings with HID projectors already installed into them from a reputable source.

Doing so will NOT be cheap but WILL simply give your wife the best and brightest forward lighting available for her 3rd gen truck WITHOUT blinding other oncoming drivers!!!

Just my .02

 

[Ozymandias]

I second this.
To many cars on the road nowadays with just LED bulbs in the headlights blinding so badly.

 

[Jim W]

I have been running LED's lights in my third gen since Jan 2019. My older son the "GEAR HEAD" bought me a set for my truck as a Christmas present. He gave me head lights and fog lights. When we installed them, we made sure that they were clocked per the installation instructions. This is to prevent blinding the oncoming driver from the LED light output. The other reason is to provide an even light pattern as you drive eliminating blind spots at night.

The lights also included resistors that are compatible with the CAN-BUS electrical system that Dodge/Ram uses in their trucks. This is to fool the ECM that the standard lights have not burnt out since the LED's have less resistance when using than standard filament bulbs do. There are also AL strips that are spread out at the back of each LED light to dissipate the heat that the drivers of the LED lights generate.

He installed "HID" lights in his 2006 truck around 2012, but if he was to do this over, he said that he would use LED's now. At the time the LED lights were not that good and prone to failure early in their life.

 

[immortl]

If you're looking for LED bulb suggestions, I've recently upgraded to the ARC Lighting Xtreme Series bulbs in my AlphaRex Pro housings on my 2009 Ram 3500. Prior, I never felt LED had the light output compared to HIDs and always ran HIDs. Put a set of the ARC Xtremes in the wife's old VW and thought the output was finally up to that of the HID (to my eyes' perception at least, ymmv), so I put them into the truck when I upgraded its headlights. I really like them. I was not impressed with the AlphaRex Pro housing with Sylvania Silverstar bulbs. However, the housings are working very well with the ARC Xtreme bulbs, full light with no dark spots and a very clear and defined cutoff (to not blind oncoming drivers). In my case I did have to put in the resistors. You can put that together yourself or in the interest of time, I just picked up 2 sets of the ARC ones (high and low beam are separate H7 bulbs with the AlphaRex housings, note that link is specifically for the H7 version, poke around the site for other versions).

Thanks,
Joe

 

[twildman]

If you're looking for LED bulb suggestions, I've recently upgraded to the ARC Lighting Xtreme Series bulbs in my AlphaRex Pro housings on my 2009 Ram 3500. Prior, I never felt LED had the light output compared to HIDs and always ran HIDs. Put a set of the ARC Xtremes in the wife's old VW and thought the output was finally up to that of the HID (to my eyes' perception at least, ymmv), so I put them into the truck when I upgraded its headlights. I really like them. I was not impressed with the AlphaRex Pro housing with Sylvania Silverstar bulbs. However, the housings are working very well with the ARC Xtreme bulbs, full light with no dark spots and a very clear and defined cutoff (to not blind oncoming drivers). In my case I did have to put in the resistors. You can put that together yourself or in the interest of time, I just picked up 2 sets of the ARC ones (high and low beam are separate H7 bulbs with the AlphaRex housings, note that link is specifically for the H7 version, poke around the site for other versions).

Thanks,
Joe

Joe, I have the same headlights and went with the Aukee H7 bulbs, no resistors or anything, they work fine with the truck off and turning the headlights on, then when I start the truck one will shut off, then the other. I have Autoenginuity and enabled HID on there, but no difference, I don't have a flickering issue, they just shut off. Do you think the harness you referenced will fix that? Thanks!

 

[immortl]

Joe, I have the same headlights and went with the Aukee H7 bulbs, no resistors or anything, they work fine with the truck off and turning the headlights on, then when I start the truck one will shut off, then the other. I have Autoenginuity and enabled HID on there, but no difference, I don't have a flickering issue, they just shut off. Do you think the harness you referenced will fix that? Thanks!

Yes, that's exactly what mine were doing. All worked fine when truck was not running, but when the truck was running, they would shut off after a brief period of time. I tried adjusting HID settings and voltage settings, neither helped. The harness fixed them right up. The part number is available from amazon, easy returns if it doesn't work for you, but I'm pretty sure it will fix you right up.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[twildman]

Yes, that's exactly what mine were doing. All worked fine when truck was not running, but when the truck was running, they would shut off after a brief period of time. I tried adjusting HID settings and voltage settings, neither helped. The harness fixed them right up. The part number is available from amazon, easy returns if it doesn't work for you, but I'm pretty sure it will fix you right up.

Thanks,
Joe

Awesome, thanks, next question, did you get the all in one harness? If so, how did you go about plugging them in and getting it all hooked up? Did you drill holes in the dust caps? or? Thanks!

 

[immortl]

Awesome, thanks, next question, did you get the all in one harness? If so, how did you go about plugging them in and getting it all hooked up? Did you drill holes in the dust caps? or? Thanks!

I did get the all in 1 harness. For the LEDs I used, the LEDs themselves and their wiring all fit into the housing. The metal housing deal for the anti-flicker harness needs to sit outside the headlight housing. To accommodate this I drilled a 7/8" hole in the dust cover to feed the wiring through. I used a hole saw on a drill and BEFORE drilling the hole, I looked at the orientation of the LEDs in the housing, lined up the dust cover cap as it would be when snugged into place, and drilled the 7/8" hole over 'to the side' where there was room. My LEDs just clear the dust cap, so there wouldn't be room for wires coming in immediately behind them. The wiring harness comes with a rubber plug to fill the hole (the wires pass through the plug). I think the directions said to drill a 1" hole, but I wanted a snug fit for the plug. I did have to mildly finagle and manhandle the harness plug through that slightly smaller hole but I got it through.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[jraker]

After switching over to HID's and running those for 4 years I kicked them to the curb and bought the AlphaRex lights. Love them and they are very crisp and clear and the headlights also bring the truck up to par with the current trucks. I have the black 2 lenses 600 variety and I can't say enough good things about them. I was never happy with the HID's and then parts would start to fail and you have to trouble shoot it. These were way easier to install and I don't have a flicker although I did buy the flicker harness just incase.

 

[Regcabguy]

I second this.
To many cars on the road nowadays with just LED bulbs in the headlights blinding so badly.

European cars here were the first i got blinded by.