SEALIGHT - very poor low beam

I've had the Sealight H11s for a month or two now to see what I think, and I haven't been displeased. I wonder what accounts for the difference?

I don't really have tools to do actual, quantitative comparison....

 

I already posted this just now to another thread but anyway my recommendation is buy the Beamtech led H11 fanless bulbs from Amazon. I have had them for about a year and a half by now with no problems. The light output is much much brighter than stock bulbs. Also aim your headlights a bit higher it helps a lot, you won’t blind incoming traffic, they point too low from factory.

 

Iceman, I actually followed your advice and purchased the H11 Beamtech LED replacements for my 2013 Prius C One. $36 via amazon, install took all of 10 minutes with no tools, straight plug and play. Very pleased with it. My next question is are there any recommendation to change our the DRL 9005 bulbs to LEDs? Looks like the clearance is a little tighter under the hood, just curious.

Seal2

 

I’m glad you are as pleased as I am with the Beamtechs. . Mine have been installed for over a year and they are still as bright as new. Regarding the 9005 I still have the stock halogens. I actually don’t know if LED 9005 would work well in the DRL mode because in that mode the voltage is reduced. They might flicker on DRL mode and work normally on High Beam mode but I’m just speculating.

 

There are some dual LED bulbs that work as DRLs, but they are stupid expensive... you could get standard 9005 LEDs and put it, but you'd have to be able to turn off your DRLs.

 

Ice -
Just ordered up the Beamtech 9005 / HB3's to see how they'll perform. The heatsink adds about 1/2" as you know but I think there's clearance. The passenger side on both the 9005 and H11's have plenty of clearance, the driverside is a little snug. Will install today and report back - happy to help others who would like info on how to upgrade / install. For the beamtechs on amazon, H11 / 9005 are sold as two LEDs and cost about $35 each. No error messages or issues with the H11 low beams and standby for feedback re: 9005s.

Seal2

 

Well, Beamtech 9005 LEDs installed easily out of the package (took all of 2 minutes). There's plenty of clearance to accommodate the fanless heat sink on both passenger and driver sides to boot.

Ice, your hunch was right - good news is the high-beams work perfectly, the DRL feature...not so much (as in the LEDs don't illuminate at all when I select DRL). I've reached out to the manufacturer and will let you know what they recommend (likely a decoder cable).

 

Sadly I don’t think they can offer a solution. The reduced voltage in DRL mode can’t be changed and the LED bulb won’t turn on at such a low voltage which might be as low as 6v maybe. If you are required DRLs by law you can install ones that are external and not the 9005 bulb, of course the DRL stalk position still won’t do anything in your case with the LED bulbs. I installed some DRLs I bought from amazon japan because of the looks, not because I have LED 9005s. I will try and find a picture or take a picture later during the day.

 

This picture is from 2017, since then I have added fog lights and a relay to the DRLs so they turn off when the headlights and fog lights turn on. I’m sorry I can’t remember the manufacturer, I know I did a search on Amazon Japan for Toyota NHP10 DRL. NHP10 is the Prius C in Asia. They came with all Japanese instructions had to figure it out on my own to install them.

 

Roger Ice - curiously the DRL function is operating well (just had to drive it around the block?). I'll add a pic soon but I think we're in business. Everything I've read about the OEM 9005 bulb has the vehicle voltage at 12V, which is well within the 9-32V spec for these LEDs. No flickering while in DRL mode to boot so that's a plus for a plug and play install.

 

That’s great! Do post some pics.

 

Hey @Seal2, what year is your Prius C? I have a 2012, and just purchased a set of Sealight S1’s, the H11 for low beam and 9005 for high beam. Here in Canada, the high beams run as DRL even if the headlight knob is in the off position, so I’m really curious to see if the 9005 LEDs will work in DRL mode without flickering.

 

How are the Beamtechs for radio interference? I have the Sealight H11s and while, unlike the original poster, I don't have any complaint about their light output or beam quality, my radio reception is cr@p whenever they are turned on.

 

Do you know which model Sealight you have? I ordered the S1 which is supposedly newer than the X1, and should arrive tomorrow.

 

This may not apply to Prius C, but I recently installed SEALIGHT 9005/HB3 LED Headlight Bulbs High Beam X3 Series CSP Chips 10000LM and SEALIGHT H11/H9 LED Headlight Bulbs Low Beam/Fog Lights X3 Series CSP Chips 10000LM on my son's Honda. The installation was plug-and-play. We were very pleased with extremely bright outputs of both high and low beam lights. However, HONDA also uses the high beam lamp as DRL. After the LED high beam installation, if the headlight is off while the car is running, a DRL error warning lights up on the dash and DRL high beam flickers. I ended up ordering one of the anti-flicker/error code cancellation capacitors. Only $13 from Amazon, and it solved the problem.

XtremeVision LED Anti Flicker Capacitors - Error Code Canceller Capacitor (1 Pair) - 9006/9005 / 9012 / H10
http://www.amazon.com/XtremeVision-Flicker-Resistor-Warning-Decoder/dp/B07DJYWXLD

 

Absolutely zero radio interference. I’ve had them for a long time now and listen to the radio on every drive, there is no difference in radio signal when the lights are on.

 

I should clarify that the interference effect with my Sealights doesn't "sound like" interference if a station is nearby or strong enough; those will still sound fine. What's noticeable is on a longer road trip with distance between stations, I will lose stations much earlier while driving away from them, and go through larger 'deserts' where hardly any stations come in well enough for the automatic station scan to find them.