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Morimoto 2Stroke LED headlight kit - the future of LEDs

OffTheWall503

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#1
I have been a big fan of RetrofitSource for a long time, and now they are offering an LED headlight kit from Morimoto who makes a lot of projector and HID products. I trust TRS with their opinions so I pulled the trigger on a set. Will post a review when I get them.



https://www.theretrofitsource.com/led-lighting/led-bulbs/2stroke-h11-led.html#.V3CNTHplDqB

RetrofitSource said:
Dime a Dozen: Everybody wants LED headlight bulbs today, but for all the wrong reasons. The diverse marketing tactics and the numbers war that's pushed onto ill-advised consumers is only getting more and more amusing to guys like us who actually know better. 100W? 10,000 lumens? Top-secret LED chip formula with seemingly exotic blend of rare materials or fancy coatings? Cool story, bro, but how do they actually work on the road at night? Isn't that what headlights are for?

2Stroke: Despite the fact that we haven't really had anything to offer in this niche, well, at least without risking our reputation selling our customers something that we truly didn't believe in: We respect the fact that Morimoto stood on the sidelines for so long, simply learning from everybody else's mistakes. In testing the 2Stroke system side by side with a multitude of other designs, we finally became excited about LED headlight bulbs for the first time. Against the odds and certainly our expectations; seeing is believing and we agree they actually work pretty darn well! Here's why.

Safety: You won't be putting yourself at risk while driving at night with the 2Stroke Bulbs. Prior to this, we could only ever comfortably recommend LED bulbs for use as auxiliary lighting, high beams, fog lights, etc. Here, we test a lot of automotive lighting products. (really, a lot) Until now, there were literally no options that would translate their luminosity out onto the road into a useful-enough beam pattern (and measured lux at a distance) to really call adequate for on-road use. The optics for the H11 2Stroke bulbs are unique compared to other sizes in the range in order to produce the best possible results in H11 headlights.

Daytime Running Lights: The vast majority of other LED headlight bulbs are powered by drivers that flicker, flash, or simply wont turn on when powered by a low voltage DRL (daytime running light) circuit. The 2Stroke works like a charm here, behaving as it should and simply running at a lower intensity. A simple, smart, compact voltage regulator that's protected inside of a sealed aluminum housing drives the 2Stroke's CREE XHP50 LED chips at varying degrees of intensity depending on the input voltage. Max output is reached at 10V.

Pretty Cool: Heat management is crucial for lumen maintenance and reliability. The 2Stroke bulb's internally opposed 1.5mm copper boards extract as much heat as possible from the area surrounding the LED chips and transfers it to the radiator at the back of the bulb. Yea yea, copper stuff and fans, seen that before...The key here though is that the 2Stroke's copper core has almost 3x more surface area than anything else, and it's fan is A) Mounted sideways so that it not only sucks cool air but also blows hot air out. B) It's a magnetic levitating unit, so there's no ball bearing to seize up and eventually fail. #winning

Size Matters: Due to the extra depth of most LED bulbs, they won't fit inside headlights with solid plastic rear housing caps. The 2Stroke is no different, but they come with specially designed housing cap extensions to solve that common problem. If the original halogen bulb is exposed it's not a problem, but if its internally wired and capped off: you would not be able to close the headlight back up without these caps. They look pretty cool too, with the embossed "2S" logo molded into the back.

Trusted: For more than a decade, we've worked hard to earn our reputation. Car guys world-wide know that TRS carries the internet's best selection of high performance automotive lighting products at the best prices, and we've got the best, most knowledgeable team of real enthusiasts to help back it up. If we sell it, then you bet we've put it to the test on our own cars.
 


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#3
Sub'd as well. Looking forward to see how these turn out. I have the Xenondepot LED's, but I returned to stock halogen as I wasn't all that happy with the beam pattern and all the scatter.

-Matt
 


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#5
Glad to see more people are trying them out - I pre ordered these Friday as well. I'll also post up impressions once I have them installed. I've been really impressed with Morimoto in the past, and can't wait to see how these do!
 


FistSt215

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#8
Are these simple plug and play ? Take the old stock bulbs and swap these in? If so might get a set
 


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#9
If they're anything like the Xenon Depot LEDs, they'll be brighter and whiter than the stock halogens but you'll give up the halfway decent cutoff and pattern of the stock lights. Not to mention you'll probably get a bit of light scatter that you didn't notice before.

You guys should really look into a retrofit, I promise it is VERY easy, just time consuming.
 


OP
OffTheWall503

OffTheWall503

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Thread Starter #10
They are specifically designed for headlight use, while other brand kits are simply auxillary bulbs fitted onto headlight bulb bases.

The 2Stroke bulbs designed so that light output is properly optimized and output correctly for headlight use. I trust RetrofitSource with their opinion that they were wanting to wait until something designed for this particular application that provided the results that were good enough to endorse.

No doubt it won't be good as a retrofit (I used to do it as a side business), but it would provide good results and be a much better alternative to halogen bulbs if the kits claims are true.

Are these simple plug and play ? Take the old stock bulbs and swap these in? If so might get a set
Yes, they are designed to be plug and play. However, because these bulbs have much more depth due to the fan/heatsinks the kit includes new caps that go behind the bulb in the headlight housing.
 


LilPartyBox

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#11
Sub'd. Curious about the scatter. Multi-reflector housings like ours are notorious for crapping out light from HIDs and LEDs. I wonder how these are going to pull off a clean l, sharp cutoff with no glare.
 


FistSt215

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#12
Might look into these as I don't drive at night as much but if when I do they're gonna be way better than the stock halogen. Can you put these in a projector headlight ? I'm still on the fence if I want to purchase the EU oem projectors .
 


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#13
I definitely want the EU projectors too, but I want a black housing like the aftermarket version posted in the MK7 headlight thread, and LHD. It's unclear whether that combo is available. Either way though, an improvement to the light output will be huge. Nothing beats a proper projector cutoff, but even the xenon depot LEDs have a very acceptable cut off in the stock reflector housings. TRS does their homework very well - these should be really good if it's anything like their other products.
 


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#14
They are specifically designed for headlight use, while other brand kits are simply auxillary bulbs fitted onto headlight bulb bases.

The 2Stroke bulbs designed so that light output is properly optimized and output correctly for headlight use. I trust RetrofitSource with their opinion that they were wanting to wait until something designed for this particular application that provided the results that were good enough to endorse.

No doubt it won't be good as a retrofit (I used to do it as a side business), but it would provide good results and be a much better alternative to halogen bulbs if the kits claims are true.
I trust them too, I've bought from them multiple times but I have a feeling that these are more geared towards replacing bulbs in halogen projectors and not reflectors. Regardless, I look forward to seeing the beam pattern after installing these.
 


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#15
SO TEMPTED.... but 6k is a little on the higher end of the spectrum for me, i prefer me a 4300 or 5k.
 


OP
OffTheWall503

OffTheWall503

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Thread Starter #16
I just got shipping confirmation so maybe the parts arrived to them earlier than expected. If I get them in time I hope to install on Saturday.
 


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#17
I just got shipping confirmation so maybe the parts arrived to them earlier than expected. If I get them in time I hope to install on Saturday.
Interested to see pics of the cutoff.

Also interested to see how they fit. I purchased some LED bulbs that had the cooling fans and they hit the headlamp housing.
 


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#18
There are some output shots in the listings in an H11 halogen projector. You can see how well it is able to work with the optics of the projector and keeps a rather crisp cutoff line still.





Starting early 2014, we started looking at wanting to produce our own LED bulb. It took about 18 months of testing various designs, maybe about 30 in total, to find one we were satisfied with. We worked with the engineer to tune it even better, so we had found our recipe for the best performing LED drop-in bulb that exists--we just needed a uniquely-designed case to fit it in.

My original sketch from December 4, 2015 of the 2Stroke:



With that said, any optical flaws in the reflector, which there will inevitably be, will be amplified by a sharp increase in bulb luminosity. Regardless of what bulb it is, no matter how exact, those flaws are going to produce glare. The only way to prevent it? Proper projectors for the light source to be used, be it halogen, HID, or LED.

We did receive our initial shipment earlier today and thus they have already begun shipping.

Hope this helps shed some light! (pun intended)
 


OP
OffTheWall503

OffTheWall503

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Thread Starter #19
So while they will work with reflectors, as always projectors are recommended. Something I already knew so not surprised.

Do you know if the caps included with the kit will fit our headlights properly? [MENTION=3577]trsandrew[/MENTION]
 


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#20
So while they will work with reflectors, as always projectors are recommended. Something I already knew so not surprised.

Do you know if the caps included with the kit will fit properly? [MENTION=3577]trsandrew[/MENTION]
Yes, caps are included always. I admittedly havent tested them in a Fiesta light--sold the car before we got these in.
 




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