Regardless of what you purchase, Aftermarket LED lighting doesn't integrate with OEM Halagon, Incadescent or even OEM LED in some cases without getting annoying error messages. They will work, but your CANBUS won't like it.

 

I'm sure this may ruffle some people's feathers, and this is in no means trying to be confrontational. Just my un-scientific results.



Not necessarily true. I installed THESE in my wife's '20 JLU with no issues - no aiming problems, no CANBus errors, nothing. Work perfectly.

With my aging eyes, I am very sensitive to the extra glare caused when LEDs are retrofitted into halogen fixtures, so when I did this, I purposely chose a relatively inexpensive LED bulb to test that I could easily return if the results were not good. I tried the same test in my '15 Silverado when I had it, and could NEVER get a glare-free, decent result. This time, with my wife's JLU the results were perfect. We live on an almost empty road in the sticks, so my wife and I did numerous test with both of us driving towards each other in different vehicles, and not once was there any glare or issues with the light pattern. They are even aimed the same as the original halogen bulbs, just brighter and whiter. And I have no affiliation to the maker or seller, just happy with what I found.

 

Yes, I have gathered that that is often the case, TG. That was why I was curious if anyone here had any experience with these particular bulbs.

But for what it's worth, I have been in communication with H.I.D. Kit Pros today, back and forth asking about exactly that, and they tell me that the use of these bulbs to replace the factory halogen bulbs will not result in any flickering, flashing or error messages. That's what they tell me, anyway.

If one did get such error messages, though, TG, is there any way to reprogram the CANBUS to not send those error messages?

 

You might want to consider purchasing a Tazer module.

 

First - inserting "LED bulbs" in a housing designed for incandescent (halogen) bulbs does not work. When you see a vehicle coming toward you at night with the light blasting at you and no difference between their "low beam" and "high beam" settings, that is what they have done.

Incandescent headlight reflectors are based on a single point of illumination and the LED "bulbs" have multi points of illumination. The result is a scattering of light.

Installing the LED headlights (single unit, not a bulb in a housing) may require some fittings unique to the JL, as the incandescent headlight is not a standard 7" round housing in the traditional bucket. Here is a listing for the Quadratec GenII LED (standard 7" round single unit light) and all the adapters needed to intall it. (I have these lights in my TJ and they are excellent and as good as the factory LEDs in my '17 JKU). Putting typical LEDs in a CANBUS system requires tha pulse modulator and adapter from the JL plug to the JK H13 socket and the H13 plug to the H4 socket as the lights have the typical H4 prongs on the back.

Quadratec Gen II LED Headlights for 18-22 Jeep Wrangler JL & Gladiator JT

If you do not have the factory LED headlights in your Wrangler JL no worries we have you covered! With our adapter brackets you can add our powerful Gen II LED Headlights to your JL to light up a path in front of your Jeep.

www.quadratec.com

As to the LED bulbs for the back up lights, the socket for the incandescent back up lights is the standard 3157 base. You can insert an LED version bulb with the 3157 base without issue. You just have to remove the housings and swap the bulbs. While the JL actually specifies a 7440 bulb, both the 7440 and 3157 bulbs use the same socket. The difference is in the actual bulb part of the light. The lights out sensor only works on the brake/turn and tail light part of the tail light.

I bought a pair of 3157 based LED bulbs from Amazon last year for less than $18. They still have a lot of different ones in stock. You can find them from $12 for 1000 lumens up. You can also search for 7440 bulbs and get similar results. I certainly would not pay an outfit $40 for a pair of bulbs I can get off of Amazon for much less.

 

So, RGreen, it sounds like you are saying that the LED backup lights here would probably work OK for me, but not the headlights, is that correct?

 

Incandescent headlight reflectors are based on a single point of illumination and the LED "bulbs" have multi points of illumination. The result is a scattering of light.

You make good points and ones that aren't mentioned on this forum. I think we can agree, LED's are great and are the future of all things lighting, but retrofitting automobiles can be problematic. Some examples; I replaced my incadescent outdoor deck lights last summer with replaceable LED lamps. I had to replace the transformer and finding lamps with replaceable bulbs was a challenge. We also had LED pot lights installed in our kitchen, only to find that the dimmer switch made them flicker and a LED compatible wall dimmer had to be installed.

 

I've heard that some of these bulbs get hot and will melt/distort the plastic housings.. I can't confirm this but my trusted Jeep mechanic mentioned this to me when I was looking for alternatives for my halogens. He's also a Jeep fan and has owned several himself.

 

OldBlueEyes, you raise a valid point, particularly inasmuch as the LED headlight bulbs that I referenced in my original post here do claim that they have been engineered to match the localized source output from the stock halogen bulbs, which is not in fact a point source, but an incandescent filament of some length.

I have no doubt that a lot of the early LED headlight bulbs did not take this fact into account, and actually I was one of those damning all those drivers with those glaring, overbright headlights. But in the past year or more I've been steadily noticing more and more LED headlights that are NOT assholishly bright and glaring, spreading their light everywhere, but that have more focused beams that do not disturb oncoming drivers. So maybe there is something to the manufacturer's claims here.

 

So maybe there is something to the manufacturer's claims here.

Vendors will say anything to sell a product, short of breaking the law. I visited the links your provided and didn't see a
"No Error Message or Bulb Out" claim.

 

Vendors will say anything to sell a product, short of breaking the law. I visited the links your provided and didn't see a
"No Error Message or Bulb Out" claim.

Fair enough, TG, although they (H.I.P. Kit Pros, anyway) did tell me that there would be no such messages displayed after installing their bulbs in a JL Wrangler.

I'm not automatically buying their claims, but I do notice in the reviews on Amazon and elsewhere that many --- but not all --- users of similar incandescent-replacing-LED headlight bulbs have said that they do not receive such messages after installing those kind of bulbs. It seems like the most common problems lie, for some reason, with those replacing turn signal or running light halogen bulbs with LED bulbs.

 

FWIW: I replaced the stock halogen headlights on my 2014 Sahara with a pair of Oracle LEDs. Back then Jeep didn’t offer factory LEDs on JK.

The LEDs started flickering after two weeks. I then bought a much-recommended anti-flicker adapter: it hid the issue for two weeks and then it gradually returned. I ended swapping the old headlamps back on and reselling the LEDs for half of why I had paid.

That is the reason I got the Mopar LEDs this time.

 

I installed THESE in my wife's '20 JLU with no issues

Glad they worked out! You got very lucky. The product you installed states; some vehicles, computer system may be sensitive and send error message for any aftermarket bulbs. To solve the issue, an additional CANbus Decoder is needed to make the bulb perform well. Please contact us with Amazon Buyer Message to get halp and solutions.
So the seller put in a disclaimer. Smart.