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Upgrading '16 OB Headlights to Kensun HIDs and my DRL/High Beam to Stark LED

8K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  RockyMtns 
#1 ·
So I wanted to upgrade my headlights + DRLs/High Beams for a long time now. I am making this post for others who are doing their research and adding my expediences. For those with shorter attention span, I have a video of the comparison of the final results to save your eyeballs from my extended story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJz0hwv3MpQ :nerd: .

Low Beam H11:
Initially I really wanted to go with LEDs. I tried Stark 40W LEDs (6000K). From the kit I got, first bulb was dead, 2nd bulb did work (at least for me to see that the light output is not as the OEM), before it broke apart on me while troubleshooting. I proceeded with Kensun 30W LED (6000K). It also did not provide better light output than OEMs. Both were very bright but the light in the projector housing failed to form the needed beam to be broadcast further out as much as the OEMs. There was a lot of light close to the car, but not going out as far as I would have liked. Perhaps someday there will be better LED H11 options out there but it seems that the technology is not there yet. The HID route I must go.

Finally went with Kensun HIDs bulbs + ballast; no need for relay/separate battery connection as the bulbs are 35W. I liked the result! If you watch the above video, you will see the stock vs HID comparison. The HID's have more light output but not excessively to bother others. The HID's beam is also a bit wider compared to Halogen, so the sides of the road are better lit. My kit was the 6000K. I am happy with it, the cost (Amazon ~$50 for the kit), and the result.

HB3 Daytime Driving Lights / High Beam Upgrade:
I will start with saying that DRLs are a very important function for me - SAFETY - so any upgrade should retain the HB3 ability to work both as DRL and High Beam. Some "solutions" that upgrade their HB3's require disabling of the DRL, and I ruled those out very quickly. DRL provides a critical visibility aspect on the road to other drivers who are "situationally blind" .

I got the Stark HB3 40W LEDs, 6000K Kit. The LEDs work with a fan at the end of the base to help with cooling. I really love the new look of the white DRLs; even better visibility to other during the day. The high beam, also provides a lot of light but the light reach/distance does not go out as far as the OEM.

I think they work well in conjunction with my HIDs. They are ok for some who only use the high beams occasionally. There is a lot of light output from them. However, if you use high beams a lot, even with the good brightness, the lack of distance of the beam reaching the distance as the OEM, it may not provide the desired result.

The LEDs bulbs are designed in a triangle format. The "side" /\ of the bulb are used for DRL. When you use the high beam, the bottom LED also turns on, which helps with the light to be bounced in the reflector housing. I paid $43 via Amazon.

One of my HB3's fan started to act up and runs really loud (soon to burn out?). I spoke with the seller/distributor for the Stark and they are sending me a replacement unit. It was a quick call, easy to work with. They verified my order, and within minutes had USPS tracking of the new bulb. There do come with 2 years warranty.

I was glad to be able to find an HB3 LED that can work effectively as DRL and as High Beam, as some LED bulbs out there cannot handle the lower voltage for DRL and the higher power for High Beams.

HID Install Info:
Install is pretty simple. Remove old bulb and install the HID Bulb with the included wires. The wires are connected to the ballast. The time that it takes to do this depends on how complex you want to make it to secure the ballast. I was done within the hour for both.

Passenger side: I mounted the ballast to one of the existing threaded holes that is unused. I do not know the bolt size so it took my some time to sort though my "bolts box" to find the correct size that fit. The triangle bracket that attaches to the ballast is included in the kit. The sorting took me a while until I got the right bolt, as I did not want to go to the store and buy 3-4 ones and then return any unused ones. The wires are secured with a zip tie + Velcro tape from bouncing around.

Driver side: I secured it to the bolt that hold down the battery. The included kit bracket holes was just a bit too small for the bolt's diameter. One could drill into it to make it bigger and bend it. In my case, I had some galvanized metal plumbers tape and I made a bigger hole in it and used it to make an"L-bracket". I attached it to the ballast with their supplied bracket to my L-bracket with a bolt/nut.

Pics of the HID with LED High-beams, and the ballast locations.
 

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#6 ·
The HID lows are great, but I didn't care for LED hi/DRL combo, because the difference in voltage isn't enough to provide a noticeable difference between Hi Beam & DRL. This results in the same effect as having high beams on all the time and, when I tested this on my Outback, I found it extremely distracting when drivng toward the vehicle (I drove another car while mine was driven toward me). I hope it's a better, more substantive difference on the Gen 5 vehicles.
 
#7 ·
because the difference in voltage isn't enough to provide a noticeable difference between Hi Beam & DRL.
This depends on the bulb, for many that is the case. With mine (Stark) the LED is three sided. The bottom side/part of the LED lights up only in High-Beam mode to use the reflector. There are still issues with LED Bulb, as explained above, but the voltage issue is based on bulb/manufacturer type.
 
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