JL LED owners that have seen snow....

YAHAHA

New member
When the lights were fully packed, the whole cavity in front of the lens packed FULL... the light output was very significantly diminished. The light did not even illuminate the snow 10' away.


It's not just a Jeep, it's an amusement park on wheels.
 

NFRs2000NYC

Member
Two things....

1) From what I've seen, many units came off the factor floor with the headlights aimed too high. Here is a video (no affiliation) that illustrates how headlights should be aimed. Cliffs....center of headlight, measure distance to level ground, with jeep 20 feet from wall, measure from floor to 1" below the center measurement, put piece of tape on wall at that level, and adjust headlights to hit the tape at the TOP of the beam.


2) I have driven in near arctic conditions with my Jeep in Canada, and NEVER had I ever seen the grill inserts get packed with snow like that....that's crazy.
 

BillArnett

New member
... many units came off the factor floor with the headlights aimed too high...

And if you have bigger tires and/or a lift then they're certain to be pointing too high. Driving at night on the highways in Death Valley last week I got flashed at least a dozen times. So yesterday, I checked my headlight aiming and it was indeed way off. Fortunately, it's a very simple job to readjust them.
 

notnalc68

That dude from Mississippi
I agree with what has already been said about these LED headlights being garbage in a snow storm. Today I drove 5 1/2 hours through the Illinois blizzard. With the headlights on, visibility was 0 feet! All we could see was a bright, BLINDING sheet of white in front of us. I could not see to even drive 10mph. Fortunately, plenty of people passed us and we followed them.

After about an hour of driving <20 mph through the blizzard, the head lights and fog lights were so packed with snow that it was bearable to have the on. I made the mistake of cleaning them off when we stopped for the accident blocking the road. The whole front of the Jeep was a solid sheet of frozen snow. It took 5 minutes to clear them.

These lights are DANGEROUS in a heavy snow storm! They do not give off enough heat to keep them clear. They also illuminate the area above the hood too much. These need to be angled down more to see the road, not the sky.

It's ridiculous that 10-year-old RWD cars were passing us in the storm because they could see and we could not.

The first picture was taken through the windshield driving 10mph in the storm. I think it looks really cool but it was truly HELL to try to drive like this!

The second was after driving 30 minutes in the storm after I had cleaned them out once already. The third is the same as the second with the lights on. The lights aren't completely packed in these pictures. I'm going to need to spray them with PAM in the morning to keep the snow from sticking.

View attachment 7148View attachment 7149View attachment 7150

I must say that I'm truly shocked that these lights perform so poorly in the snow!


It's not just a Jeep, it's an amusement park on wheels.

It is no secret that LED headlights do not produce as much heat as halogen lights. That’s why Trucklite made a heated version for the JK. Try driving with only the park lights and fogs on. You’ll probably be able to see better.


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

NFRs2000NYC

Member
And if you have bigger tires and/or a lift then they're certain to be pointing too high. Driving at night on the highways in Death Valley last week I got flashed at least a dozen times. So yesterday, I checked my headlight aiming and it was indeed way off. Fortunately, it's a very simple job to readjust them.

The pointing angle doesnt change with lift heights. If you are lifted, there are going to be certain cars that you will hit in the eyes, despite having them aimed correctly, no getting around that.
 

YAHAHA

New member
Our fog lights packed up more quickly than the headlights because they are smaller and lower to the ground. Snow kicked up by vehicles in front of us loved packing the fogs.


It's not just a Jeep, it's an amusement park on wheels.
 

BillArnett

New member
The pointing angle doesnt change with lift heights. If you are lifted, there are going to be certain cars that you will hit in the eyes, despite having them aimed correctly, no getting around that.

Other states may be different :-( but in California the specifications for headlight aiming are very clear that tall vehicles must aim their lights slightly downward. Here's the crucial diagram from https://www.bar.ca.gov/pdf/Lamp_Handbook_9.3.15.pdf ; note the little table at the bottom:

Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 4.12.22 PM.jpg

The center of my lights is 43.5 inches above ground so the correct aim is 2 inches below horizontal. That's what I did and it works much better.
 

Steve

New member
Where I live, Iron River, MI. which is about as far from a great lake as you can get in the U.P. (yup, I'm a Yooper) we normally only get about 50 or 60 inches of snow a winter. A good portion of that is lake effect and usually quite heavy. It doesn't matter what your driving, that snow is going to pack up everywhere, windshield, lights, fender wells, engine compartment... But I thank my lucky stars that I don't live in the Keweenaw Peninsula where they average over 300 inches a season, most of it wet sticky snow. Driving there is a real treat as the snow packs into everything (the TV stations there remind parents to warn their children not to touch the electric wires while they are playing on the snow drifts....piles....whatever).

I guess what I'm saying is "It is what it is"! We just have to deal with it.

Steve
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
So we've been getting hammered all day today and what do you know, our LED headlights started to ice up. Not that big of a deal to me but I thought it might be worth noting here.

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WWRuby_Svi

New member
I saw the same thing again from our storm in Illinois last week. This was from a 30 minute drive home from work. I think it would of gotten worse if I was traveling through the storm for hours and not just going home.
IMG_1273.JPGIMG_1274.JPG


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

JAGS

Member
If anyone wants to upgrade their headlights to heated LEDs and sell there stock LEDs, let me know. [emoji6]
 

CalSgt

Member
Heres a picture with the lights on at night, this was at the half way point coming over the sierras from Sac to Susanville going an average of 25 MPH due to low visibility even when headlights were clean

head 1.jpg

head 2.jpg
 

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