Holley RetroBright led headlights

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Those do look like they might be good quality. Remember though, check your local laws regarding headlights.
 
Yeah, sure.....

1 laugh 3.jpg
 
Magnum Valiant said:
???? Checked the list on Holley site. No show.
Probably not plug & play, need some mods.
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It is stated that these are "plug and play", and even has a pic of the pigtail.
I have a similar set in my 76 Ventura, made by Lund under the brand name of Rampage. Installation was as simple as changing a regular sealed beam headlight, and they work great, much better light than the old school ones. The only thing I remember was that I couldn't use the small rubber boot as it interfered with the bucket.
 
The Holley RetroBrights are a promising new product. I was asked for some input during their development, and I expect to have samples in hand soon to scrutinise and evaluate. First impressions based on test data: very good low beam performance. High beam performance is more of an open question; probably not lousy, but maybe not excellent.

And yes, they plug right in (without adapters) and physically fit every A-body from '63-'76, and all other vehicles that take a 7" round headlamp, with the only exceptions being some vehicles that have headlight mount cups not built quite to the specification—sometimes the centre hole is smaller than it's supposed to be, or it's only a "half hole" (shaped like a lazy-D). This never made a problem with sealed beams, where the hole only had to be big enough for the three electric terminals. With other-than-sealed-beam headlamps (H4s and maybe these RetroBrights) the small/half hole might have to be enlarged. Removing and discarding seal boots is not the right way to do it; they're there for a reason, even on the crappiest pretend-headlights.

And since we're on the topic: Rampage = fraudulent headlite-shaped trinkets, not capable of producing even minimally adequate safety performance, let alone working great or being much better than the old school ones. The reason why it seems otherwise is that what we feel like we're seeing isn't what we're actually seeing. The human visual system is a lousy judge of how well it's doing. "I know what I can see!" seems reasonable, but it doesn't square up with reality because we humans are just not well equipped to accurately evaluate how well or poorly we can see (or how well a headlamp works). It's not because we're lying to ourselves or fooling ourselves or anything like that, it's because our visual systems just don't work the way it feels like they work.
 
Related to this thread but not directly addressed.
If you were going to get these, Which color would you get? Old school 3000K or modern 5700K for your car. I have a 73 scamp, somewhat hot rodded.
 
slantsixdan said:
The Holley RetroBrights are a promising new product. I was asked for some input during their development, and I expect to have samples in hand soon to scrutinise and evaluate. First impressions based on test data: very good low beam performance. High beam performance is more of an open question; probably not lousy, but maybe not excellent.

And yes, they plug right in (without adapters) and physically fit every A-body from '63-'76, and all other vehicles that take a 7" round headlamp, with the only exceptions being some vehicles that have headlight mount cups not built quite to the specification—sometimes the centre hole is smaller than it's supposed to be, or it's only a "half hole" (shaped like a lazy-D). This never made a problem with sealed beams, where the hole only had to be big enough for the three electric terminals. With other-than-sealed-beam headlamps (H4s and maybe these RetroBrights) the small/half hole might have to be enlarged. Removing and discarding seal boots is not the right way to do it; they're there for a reason, even on the crappiest pretend-headlights.

And since we're on the topic: Rampage = fraudulent headlite-shaped trinkets, not capable of producing even minimally adequate safety performance, let alone working great or being much better than the old school ones. The reason why it seems otherwise is that what we feel like we're seeing isn't what we're actually seeing. The human visual system is a lousy judge of how well it's doing. "I know what I can see!" seems reasonable, but it doesn't square up with reality because we humans are just not well equipped to accurately evaluate how well or poorly we can see (or how well a headlamp works). It's not because we're lying to ourselves or fooling ourselves or anything like that, it's because our visual systems just don't work the way it feels like they work.
Click to expand...
So, nighthawks and relay system it is?
 
I prefer the 5000k lights and have upgraded most of my DD vehicles to LEDs. My vintage ones I added the relays and run the headlights right off the alt. Used to be the thing to do for us old drivers before the LEDs came on the marker. Works pretty well but I may change over to the LED when the prices come down.
 
Kent mosby said:
Related to this thread but not directly addressed.
If you were going to get these, Which color would you get? Old school 3000K or modern 5700K for your car.
Click to expand...

Either would be fine, but personally I'd opt for the 3000K. The blue-white 5000K to 6500K light is what we see on all the new cars with factory LED lights, for two reasons. Primarily, it gives marketers a hardon because it lets them babble, with no basis in fact, about "closer to natural daylight" and blah-blah-blah, and it differentiates new cars from old cars so people who enslave themselves to what they imagine other people think (keep up with the Joneses, etc) will feel like their old car isn't hep and stylish any more and they have to replace it.

Secondarily, published output figures for the cold white LEDs (5000K, 6000K, 6500K…) are somewhat higher than for the neutral and warm white LEDs (4000K, 3500K, 3000K). So obvs MOAR LUMENZ is better, right? Yes, if they're useful, but in this case the extra lumens are all in the blue-violet wavelengths, which are very difficult for the human eye to process effectively (in a word: useless light). If you've ever gone walking somewhere the local authorities retrofitting street lights from the awful old orange sodium ones to LED made the boneheaded decision to put in 5500K, 6000K, 6500K lights, you might have experienced a creepy feeling of light that's obviously there, but isn't helping you see. Keep walking til you get to a neighbourhood with someone else in charge who picked 3500K or 4000K LEDs, and suddenly the light seems to "start working".

The French took this to an extreme for sixty years; they required all headlamps to be yellow. Not like off-white or cloudy-lens yellow—real, deliberate yellow like the headlamps in this '64 Valiant. Read all about it here, if y'want.

Valiant-France.jpg


One thing the higher colour temperatures are really good at is producing glare. For equal intensity, a ~5000K light produces just under 50% more glare than a ~3000K light, without any seeing benefit.

But 5000K is not extreme, and neither is 3000K. Again, either choice will be fine. If we were talking 6500K I'd call that too extreme in one direction, and 2700K would be too extreme in the other direction.
 
slantsixdan said:
Either would be fine, but personally I'd opt for the 3000K. The blue-white 5000K to 6500K light is what we see on all the new cars with factory LED lights, for two reasons. Primarily, it gives marketers a hardon because it lets them babble, with no basis in fact, about "closer to natural daylight" and blah-blah-blah, and it differentiates new cars from old cars so people who enslave themselves to what they imagine other people think (keep up with the Joneses, etc) will feel like their old car isn't hep and stylish any more and they have to replace it.

Secondarily, published output figures for the cold white LEDs (5000K, 6000K, 6500K…) are somewhat higher than for the neutral and warm white LEDs (4000K, 3500K, 3000K). So obvs MOAR LUMENZ is better, right? Yes, if they're useful, but in this case the extra lumens are all in the blue-violet wavelengths, which are very difficult for the human eye to process effectively (in a word: useless light). If you've ever gone walking somewhere the local authorities retrofitting street lights from the awful old orange sodium ones to LED made the boneheaded decision to put in 5500K, 6000K, 6500K lights, you might have experienced a creepy feeling of light that's obviously there, but isn't helping you see. Keep walking til you get to a neighbourhood with someone else in charge who picked 3500K or 4000K LEDs, and suddenly the light seems to "start working".

The French took this to an extreme for sixty years; they required all headlamps to be yellow. Not like off-white or cloudy-lens yellow—real, deliberate yellow like the headlamps in this '64 Valiant. Read all about it here, if y'want.

View attachment 1715825582

One thing the higher colour temperatures are really good at is producing glare. For equal intensity, a ~5000K light produces just under 50% more glare than a ~3000K light, without any seeing benefit.

But 5000K is not extreme, and neither is 3000K. Again, either choice will be fine. If we were talking 6500K I'd call that too extreme in one direction, and 2700K would be too extreme in the other direction.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the thorough explanation. I appreciate it.
 
I'd be willing to buy them at 200 for a pair. 200 each seems a little steep.
 
200 bucks... for ******* headlights...lmao


Attention everybody go by yourself what's called a headlight amplifier and wire it in between the switch and the headlights.
It will almost double the brightness of your stock wagners...

This concludes the announcement ....
 
Mike69cuda said:
What’s a headlight amplifier?
Click to expand...
Mine is older...and tired looking. Heres the newer version. Its the size of a regulator but taller. There's also a relay kit you can buy from a member here a couple different ways to do it I like the little black box when I had the car rewired the guy put that in there for me and I much appreciate it at night when I can finally see LOL

31716107_Dualheadlightrelay.jpg.045472a22edf874464a826ebe064980c.jpg


20211124_182050.jpg
 
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