pjinca

Here is what I have learned:
HID kits last about 3-6 months then burn out, also they generate more heat than LEDs and can melt the wiring (saw this on my upgrade headlights on my old car)

On Ebay it is common for vendors to add the wattage together, so if you see "20W LED AEs" they really mean 10W each bulb when you really read the description.

John@ motorcepts is a great vendor, no doubt

My experience with Trinity's 12W AE (each bulb, BTW) was that they were easily brighter than stock during the day and they are very reliable.

Mike_K

If you're running off the stock wiring then yeah, the current draw can be a bit much but if you install them using a relay harness (which is really cheap and included with some kits) then they are more likely to melt wires than stock as you're only using the stock harness to signal the relay to turn the lights on.

paran

I know that CREE is a major supplier of super bright (high lumen) output LED bulbs. They are the premiere bulb in the flashlight market which has fanatics about lumen output and do extensive output testing.

Checkout the view counts per topic on this forum for flashlights: Flashlight Reviews

My solarforce flashlights have CREE bulbs that are blinding to look at and last years. So if a company is using CREE bulbs, I'd give that product an A+ and right up there with Nichia, Samsung, and Osram.

QuadCam

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is torn on the Angel Eye upgrades. Seems that there are alot of products out there, but not alot of substantiated data. In the short term, I'm just going to swap out the stock bulbs for some GP Thunder "xenon" bulbs. For $15, I can't go wrong.

pjinca

Before you waste time on the GP Thunders wiat until I get my new set of 12w fro Trinity, I will post daytime pics for you and anyone else that is interested.

I know we haven't mentioned them here, but without a doubt the brightest AE are the Orions (no matter how much I detest Umnitza, the Orions are the brightest) - however, if you're like me and the thought of opening your headlights and "hoping" they were sealed back up properly is less than appealing, then Trinity bulbs are the next best thing IMHO. Especially no that our resident Orion install guru (nomis_nehc) is relocating and will not be doing any more installs.

paran

Apparently, there is a lot of brand loyalty out the there on upgraded LED light kits.

The shop I am referring to that uses GP Thunder, has a 15 year, BMW trained, Master Technician, calling the shots on products.

I looked at the 12w product from Trinity, and there is nothing on lumen output tests nor component suppliers.

I don't know. But why isn't that information provided upfront?

Who makes the LED-SMD bulb for their 12w product?

Who makes their PCB boards?

Where is this product being assembled?

I am NO expert in this area, but I become very suspicious when a marketer (Trinity) or anybody else, doesn't provide that kind of detail about their product.

GP Thunder seems to be saying that they use CREE and/or Osram bulbs. I know that CREE is a premiere supplier of LED bulbs, and that Osram is OEM to BMW. There are hundreds upon hundreds of tests done on CREE bulbs by the flashlight community.

I guess, I would like Trinity and the others, to emulate what the flashlight guys are doing with lumen output etc. I mean, come on, what is more important? A BMW or a flashlight?

I harken back to the stop lights across the country that went "eco-friendly" with LED stop lights only to find that they are burning out at an alarming rate. Just look at the stop lights in your city. If they're LED, then a good 1/4 to 1/3 of the bulbs are already burned out.

That reeks of Chinese, no-name components, going into these stop lights. One of the 230+ companies over there making LED lights for BMW cars.

Trinity Autosport

Hi,

We use CREE for our LED angel eyes. I think John was just letting you know that the $15 GP Thunders are great for the price, BUT once you turn on your headlights the color gets distorted. There are a lot of people who sell LED lights. We give a lifetime warranty on our products and I can be reached on my cell phone anytime if you have any issues.

paran

Thank You Trinity for that information.

I've browsing around on Amazon, and this product offering lists their bulbs as CREE XP-G Q5



For those interested in how bright that is:

http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/Cr...g/XLampXPG.pdf

Trinity Autosport

NP!

The link you gave from Amazon's website are for pre lci models and we had those and it wasn't brighter than our 5w ae's so we kept the 5w and kept the price the same

BMW5Stiles

I would love to upgrade my AE's and headlamps on my 2010 BMW 528i but am also confused on where to start. I have Halogens now so what are the recommendations?
Should the AE's be done first and then the High and Low beams?
Then the fog lamps?

Thanks