While I had my Genesis lights mocked up in the basement (I'm building a custom light bar and my garage isn't heated), I decided I'd experiment/gamble with an AliExpress order. For $32 CDN, I had 4 LED 9005 bulbs (including shipping) to my door in 10 days. They were advertised as 4000 lumens each. The reviews were good and the price was one of the lowest I could find.
The lights were a direct fit. The Xenophot bulb holders (and the HID upgrade lights you can buy from Lightforce are indeed 9005...I guessed at the socket and was right.
The lights did NOT however clear the back of the housing thanks to a cooling fan integrated into the bulb. A quick hit later with a hammer and punch and the fans were in the bin...problem solved. I figure if the housings can handle 100W of incandescent bulb, the 40ish watts of LED shouldn't be an issue. And if the lights fail, well they were cheap.
They most certainly are not 4000 lumens but I knew they wouldn't be. They are brighter than the 100W Lightforce bulbs. The LED bulbs have two COB elements; one on each side. This style of bulb is famous for dim spots and uneven coverage. This isn't an issue when you have a mirrored 8" reflector around it. The beam pattern is just as full as the original bulb.
Will they stay lit once they bounce down the road or will they fail prematurely? Who knows. I'd never put such a cheap bulb in for a headlight but for an aux beam, why not? I like the results. The color is perfect and they're plenty bright. If one does fail on a trip, I have two others...then I'll replace it with something more reliable. Until then I have to think I got the deal of the century compared to the hundreds of dollars for a Lightforce HID upgrade kit.
The lights were a direct fit. The Xenophot bulb holders (and the HID upgrade lights you can buy from Lightforce are indeed 9005...I guessed at the socket and was right.
The lights did NOT however clear the back of the housing thanks to a cooling fan integrated into the bulb. A quick hit later with a hammer and punch and the fans were in the bin...problem solved. I figure if the housings can handle 100W of incandescent bulb, the 40ish watts of LED shouldn't be an issue. And if the lights fail, well they were cheap.
They most certainly are not 4000 lumens but I knew they wouldn't be. They are brighter than the 100W Lightforce bulbs. The LED bulbs have two COB elements; one on each side. This style of bulb is famous for dim spots and uneven coverage. This isn't an issue when you have a mirrored 8" reflector around it. The beam pattern is just as full as the original bulb.
Will they stay lit once they bounce down the road or will they fail prematurely? Who knows. I'd never put such a cheap bulb in for a headlight but for an aux beam, why not? I like the results. The color is perfect and they're plenty bright. If one does fail on a trip, I have two others...then I'll replace it with something more reliable. Until then I have to think I got the deal of the century compared to the hundreds of dollars for a Lightforce HID upgrade kit.
