I wanted to share some specific experiences I have personally had with LED upgrades and I believe a thread summarizing other people's experience could be valuable. As I'll describe below, I have some experience using two different brands and while I'm very happy with my lights, it would have been useful to more clearly understand potential issues going in.
Truck: 4th Gen, 2019 Ram 1500 Classic - Big Horn
Original Equipment: Incandescent Headlights (Quad) and Tail Lights
LED Headlights installed: Alpharex Luxx ("MK II 5th Gen 2500 Style")
LED Tail Lights installed: Morimoto xB Gen 2
I am also interested in any feedback / experience anyone can offer regarding 3rd brake lights or fog lights they have installed on their 4th Gen Ram.
Alpharex Luxx Headlights Review / Experience:
Good:
- Excellent looking headlight
- DRL look great; Apparently they can be changed to Amber instead of white by plugging or unplugging one wire within housing (I left them white / as-is)
- Attractive sequential turn signals w/ switchback
- Adjustable to same extent as OEM Quads (Up and down)
- Not inexpensive, but big chunk cheaper than Morimoto xB Headlights which are probably main aftermarket competitor
Meh:
- No documentation included. Must search the net for guides / videos.
- DRL wiring a bit clunky, but I don't know if I can really ding Alpharex for this. Electricity has to come from somewhere.
- Slow customer support (more below).
- LED Bulbs are not replaceable. Comes with 2 (maye 3?) year warranty. Hopefully they last.
Bad:
- "Parking Light Out" warnings
There is no shortage of posts on these forums describing this issue. Unlike issues with other headlights by Alpharex and other manufacturers,
this issue can NOT be solved with AlfaOBD (Changing LED settings).
I was only able to solve this issue using resistors. Not the end of the world, but great care must be taken to do this right:
- Unlike tail light resistors on blinkers or other circuits that are only live intermittantly, these resistors will be HOT the entire time your headlights are on. They MUST be mounted with care /safely.
- I mounted mine with hose clamps, directly attached to tow hooks behind bumper. This keeps hot resistors miles away from anything they could damage.
I actually tried 3 different types of resistors:
- Cheap Amazon 6 ohm / 50 W resistors; They work, but they get insanely hot, I was not comfortable with them
- More expensive, but still pretty cheap, Morimoto 7.5 ohm, 40 W resistors; They work. They get hot but not as hot as the cheap gold ones.
- After weeks of trying to reach support @ Alpharex, I eventually got ahold of someone through email.
They made me just through hoops, take video of my issue but eventually agreed to send me some resistors. I haven't actually installed them yet because the
Morimoto ones are working well. That said, I would like to try to ones Alpharex sent me because they have much higher resistance (50 ohm I believe) and
if that's enough to trick the truck and prevent the Parking Light Out message, these resistors may be the best (less current, less heat).
Final Thoughts: I love the look and performance at roughly half of what other options would cost. Would I buy again? Yes, BUT I am not thrilled about having to run resistors, but its not the end of the world.
Morimoto xB Gen 2 Tail Lights Review / Experience:
Good:
- Available with Red Lens; May or may not be valuable to you, This was huge for me, my truck is not "murdered out." I did not want smoked tail lights and it seems that most aftermarket options are smoked (or early 2000s goofy plasti-chrome style)
- Beautiful & bright LED lights; when headlights (or parking/running) are on, awesome looking and bright "C"-shape illumination on tail lights
- Has plug for easy install of optional Morimoto Backup bar (I did not purchase)
- Simple install
- Shipped with plug and play resistors
- Even better, I didn't even need to use the included resistors
- I get no light out warning and did NOT make any changes with AlfaOBD (did not change Tail light type to LED)
Meh:
- No documentation. This seems pretty standard. I don't think you'd need documentation anyway. If you do, Morimoto has plenty of install videos.
- A bit pricey @ $500+
- For me, there is a little bit of a gap where housing meets truck body. Not noticeable at all, but looks like it could invite more water in that OEM @ top of light. Probably uneccesary, but I'm adding some 1/4" neoprene weather stripping to back of housing to seal.
Bad:
- Nothing bad to say.
Final Thoughts: Despite the somewhat steep price, very pleased with this purchase and would definitely recommend.
I'll add pictures if there is interest. Anyone have experience with LED 3rd brake lights or fog lights?
Thank you.
-kermur
