I took advantage of Diode Dynamics black friday sale and snagged some SLF H10 LED bulbs for my fog lights! This is a long post for what amounts to changing light bulbs but these things are $$$ and I couldn't find much info from other people who might've forked out $90 (black friday sale price) for bulbs, and I wanted the next guy to have something to go back and reference.

https://www.diodedynamics.com/fog-li...g-gt-pair.html (note the link defaults to the XP48, the SLF are nowhere near that cheap)

I was between the XP80 (510 lumens) and SLF (780 lumens) and I've been trying to find specs for stock H10/9145's vs Silverstar and every website lists them differently (Sylvania's amazon store listed the basic bulbs as 1005, the same as SilverStar which I know from experience isn't true). Since I couldn't find a reliable rating, I decided to go with the SLF because might as well go big or go home. Diode Dynamics has a fairly generous exchange policy so I knew I could downgrade if I had to. But with their street legal claims I figured even if they were hugely brighter than the halogen bulbs they had a good chance of not glaring other drivers.

Initial Impressions




They come with big metal heat sinks on both the bulbs themselves and the drivers and seem pretty decent quality. Compared with the Sylvania bulbs I'm upgrading from, the plastic on bulbs and the factory connections seem a little lower than factory quality, but still seem OK. The heat sink sticks out farther than the connector on the halogen bulbs, but not by a huge amount, and there's plenty of clearance behind the grille anyway, so not a problem. I also held them side-by-side and the LEDs themselves line up pretty well with the filament of the halogen, which bodes well for the "street legal" statements.







Installation
Goes pretty much like...changing a light bulb with a few exceptions. I've managed to change factory bulbs without removing the grille before, but you're definitely going to want to remove it for this installation. Reason is because the bulbs don't like to fit into the housings and you're going to use some force to get these things to seat in all the way. I think their o-rings are either slightly to big, too grippy, or not elastic enough to squeeze in on their own. There was a review on DD's site that said he couldn't get them to lock and secured them with electrical tape! I have a feeling he's probably going to have condensation issues.

I gave them a light coating of silicone to help it but I still had to use some force to get them far enough in to lock the tabs.





The same reviewer said he zip-tied the drivers so they weren't hanging though, which seemed like a good advice, so I went ahead and did that, making sure I wasn't putting any stress on the wires:







Plugging the connectors into the factory wiring harness was also a little bit of an issue. Just like the bulbs themselves, they took a lot of force to get far enough into the sockets to latch. Even then I had to press the latches down to get them to click. I'm sure if you slightly sanded down the connectors by half a millimeter it'd be fine.




Comparison to SilverStars:

To do a fair comparison, I took before/after photos and put the camera on manual mode, locking the settings so things would stay consistent between the pictures:
shutter : 1/13 sec
aperture: f/2.8
white balance 4850k (this towed the line between both the HIDs and halogen bulbs looking as close in the pics as it did in my eye)

Here's the beam pattern and brightness of silverstar vs LED:


Silverstar

SLF LED


Definitely a lot whiter and seems a lot brighter too.


Now for these next set of pics, I had to do some photochopping. I haven't been driving the car much lately and the battery was low for the first set of pictures so I couldn't get a shot of the HID headlights and SilverStar foglights on at the same time, I had to get them in separate pics and stitch them together. And even though I had the white balance locked, for some reason the HIDs by themselves look a LOT more blue than they actually are. By the time I got the LED's installed the charger had done its thing so I could get the pics I needed. So here's a combo pic of the HID+LED overlaid with the Halogens. The colors are pretty accurate to what I was seeing in person. You'll notice the part of the photo w/ the LED and headlight is a lot brighter, thats because there was a whole lot more light being thrown out than just the halogen foglights by themselves (the camera settings were still locked).



And just the LED's+HID's. In person there is a very SLIGHT difference in color, but you can't really see it unless you're looking for it. The LED's are slightly more cyan and the HID's are slightly more purple. I have no idea what bulbs are in the headlights or even what color temperature they are, they're the Saleen HID housings I got off eBay with bulbs already in them, but they seem pretty close to the 6K that the LEDs are.





Driving Impressions:

I did a test drive last night (sorry no pics), and they seemed to work OK. Standing in front of the car I had no glare and I didn't have any other drivers flashing me. They lit up the sides of the road a little bit and pretty decently in front of the car, but weren't a jaw dropping WOW difference. I wouldn't go in expecting the sort of brightness you get from HID foglights where night becomes day, but those also glare the ****e out of other drivers and I got pulled over for those once. I wonder if the glare shields in the housing might have anything to do with it, since they sit right over the LED chips.

 

Nice write-up with what appears to be great results. It's nice that you wanted to make sure you don't blind other drivers. I hate it when people put some aftermarket light in their car that is poorly aimed and blinding.

 

Thx, believe me, I've been there, used to be guilty of it myself

https://themustangsource.com/forums/...lights-519057/

 

I was actually looking into making the switch from OEM to the Diode Dynamics SL1 LED fog lamps until coming across a safety recall notice that was posted on S197 forums. It appears there have been reports/complaints about the SL1 led fogs as being too bright and causing excessive glare to oncoming traffic. According to the safety recall notice, it also claims that DD will replace all its SL1 led's with halogen bulbs in accordance with the recall. If these claims are in fact accurate? then I see no real advantage in upgrading from the OEM halogen fog light bulbs to the DD SL1 fogs which will be replaced with halogen bulbs over the current LED chips. At any rate, I suppose it's also safe to assume the same will also apply to the Diode Dynamics SLF LED fog light bulbs as well Meanwhile, here's a link provided below about the safety recall notification.

https://livingsafelyrecalls.wordpres...nited%20States

 

Yeah I saw that, don't think I've ever seen a NHTSA recall for aftermarket lights like that before. I looked up the part numbers in the recall, the H10 SLF doesn't seem to be part of it. Maybe because of the lower output (780 lumens in the SLF vs 1630 in the SL1).

Here's the model numbers from the recall:

Versus what Diode Dynamics has on their website for the H10 bulbs (mine underlined):


Looking up some of the part numbers, SLF and SL1 are two different levels (I initially thought SLF was just an SL1 for Fog lights, but not only are they different part numbers but as mentioned above they list different outputs too. SLF is 780 lumens and SL1 puts out 1630.
Weirdly enough, I'm able to find a couple of these recalled part numbers still for sale on their website. You'd think they would have put them "out of stock" or something.

 

I just submitted a reply over on S197 forums which also addresses this topic as well..

Just for your own piece of mind, I would contact DD by phone to bring them up to speed about your concerns regarding the recall notification. Despite the SL1 and SLF having different part numbers and putting out different output lumens, I would still be concerned as both are in fact H10's.. Here's the link provided below for the SL1 in H10

https://www.diodedynamics.com/h10-sl...ulbs-pair.html

 

We appreciate your interest in our company! Our SLF was designed as a fog light specific bulb and is not part of the recall. This recall applies to the use of aftermarket LED bulbs as headlights in the US. If you would like further information on this topic, feel free to contact us at 314-205-3033 or shoot us an email to contact@diodedynamics.com. Thanks!

-Collin

 

According to the recall, it clearly states your SL1 LED kits, are in fact also part of the recall, including part/model number DD0216P which I have a strong interest in purchasing as a replacement for my OEM fog lights!

US NHTSA Recalls: Diode Dynamics Headlamp Bulbs

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Recalls Direct™





1 Vote
Washington, DC: As of Friday, October 23, 2020, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”), a division of the US Department of Transportation, has posted a total of fifty-five (55) vehicle, tire, accessory or other automotive-related product recalls this month. Are yours listed? http://ht.ly/cXy430qH5Ln

Direct link: https://www.nhtsa.gov/search/safety-issues#recall

Additional information:

Among the fifty-five (55) recalls the NHTSA has announced this month comes news of the following:

Diode Dynamics, LLC (“Diode”), an Earth City, Missouri establishment, has recalled an estimated 27,890 model year SL1 LED Replacement Headlamp Bulbs, part numbers DD0215P, DD0216P, DD0217P, DD0218P, DD0219P, DD0323P and DD0340P marketed, sold and delivered in the United States.

Recall Category: Exterior Lighting – These Replacement Headlight Bulbs reportedly create excessive glare in apparent contravention of US FMVSS 108

NHTSA Safety Notification 20E077000 reports these Headlight Bulbs exceed the luminous flux standards for replaceable light sources, causing excessive glare or brightness to oncoming drivers. As such, these Bulbs fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 108, “Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment”.

According to the NHTSA, if the Bulbs cause excessive glare, or brightness for oncoming drivers, it can increase the risk of crash.

==> If you have a medical emergency, please contact 9-1-1, your closest hospital or emergency center equipped to properly treat lacerations, concussions and/or bone fractures.

 

They replied to an email I sent too, specifying the recall is specifically for headlights, not fog lights:



And when I asked about glare in a fog lamp housing, they said

Quote:

There should be no glare from a foglamp unless the vehicle is lifted or on larger tires than what comes stock.

 

The recall clearly states that part/model number SL1 DD0216P is included as part of the recall. Model/part number DD0216P is also an H10 socket designed exclusively for fog light use only. Therefore what I don't quite understand, is if the recall is specifically for headlights only, then why would the recall notification include part/model number DD0216P which is the SL1 LED H10 kit designed exclusively for fog light use only

 

Yes, you are correct in saying that the SL1 Headlight Bulbs were recalled. However, our SLF LED Fog Light Bulbs were not. Thank you and let us know if you have any further questions.

-Collin

 

Collin,

Just spoke with Matthew from DD. Needless to say, he did in fact confirm the SL1 LED fog light kit, model# DD0216P is legal when installed within a fog light housing. Being as my fog light housings have the H10 socket, the SL1 LED fog light kit is considered legal and does not fall under the headlight bulb category according to the safety recall. Anyhow, just wanted to provide some clarification and heads up for anyone who may have any doubts or concerns. Meanwhile, thanks for providing all your feedback and support.

-Rocky

 

Fair point, I wonder if they just listed every part number they had for an SL1 LED.

From what I've read, DD is pretty good about providing exchanges, so you could check with them if you get the SL1's and find they're too bright or have too much glare that you can exchange them for SLFs.

The SLFs are pretty bright though and w/ SL1's being twice that I really wonder how bad it'll be for anyone coming the other way.

 

Here's what the SLF's look like zoomed in from across the street on my cell phone.

 

Yes! The safety recall listed every part number for the SL1 LED kits as being headlight bulbs, which was more than likely a typo error on their part. According to Matthew from DD, he confirmed the part numbers listed are in fact SL1 LED fog light kits which are totally legal when installed as fog lights. However, if they're installed in a headlight housing assembly as either a high or low beam? they are not considered as street legal for headlight use. I also brought up the excessive glare and brightness concerns I had about the SL1's and was assured there are no differences in design between the SL1 and SLF LED kits with the exception of the SL1 LED's being twice as bright vs the SLF LED's. Matthew also assured me that it's not so much the brightness of the bulb that causes excessive glare for oncoming traffic, but rather is caused by factors such as improper beam adjustment and whether the location of the LED chips are similar by comparison with the OEM halogen assemblies. He also confirmed the SL1 LED kits are designed in the same way as the SLF LED's which prevent any type of excessive glare, but also assured me that if for any reason I'm not satisfied or if in the event encounter any type of glare related issues? I can always return them for either a full refund or can exchange them for the SLF LED kit within 30 days of purchase. At any rate, sure seems like a win-win from Diode Dynamics, at least as far as I'm concerned anyhow

 

Cool, so you're getting the SL1's? Interested to hear how they work out

 

The Mustang is in the garage for the winter, so it won't be on the road again until at least April or May. In the meantime, I'll make sure to follow up once I get them to let you know how they work out