i'm unsure of how the A-Sun LED can make it work. but check out their video here


the flicker is from the camera, not the light (as they say)

 

Nope. The flicker is from the combination of the camera's frame rate and the LED's pulse rate. You don't see it with the naked eye because the DRL pulse rate is faster than our eyes are able to see, but the DRLs are indeed flickering. The way the voltage is reduced to them is by the computer doing something called "pulse width modulation" – feeding them pulsating direct current, instead of steady direct current. By the way, this is the same way that the computer controls the speed of the fan for the computer's cpu. I could be wrong but my understanding is that if you take 12 volts and pulsate it on and off (create a square wave) an incandescent filament will react its average voltage rather the maximum voltage. So for example if every second the voltage goes on 60 times and off 60 times (has a 60 cycle per second square wave, the waves frequency is 60 cps) the average voltage over that second and over each second will be 6 volts and the incandescent filament will light up about 1/2 as bright. If you change the width of the on-pulse to make it a little shorter than 1/2 the width of the whole on-off cycle (half the width of the wavelength of the wave), and change the width of the off pulse to make it a little longer than 1/2 the width, the average voltage goes down a little - in the case of the Honda Fit – goes down to 5 volts.

With an incandescent filament if the pulse is fast enough, the filament never gets a chance to go all the way bright, or all the way dim, although it does change in brightness. Maybe the LED reacts faster and goes completely on and completely off? I don't know. But it seems apparent that the voltage to the LED is being pulsed. Does this harm the LEDs? I don't know for sure. Can LEDs go on and off 60 times per second without damage, without having a shortened life? I don't know. But the entire web page has so much fishy sounding information, for example "high beams optional - what does that mean?, that I am skeptical about any claims they make, including their claim that the LEDs work satisfactorily with the DRL voltage. If you look at VLEDs.com page for their overpriced headlights, you'll see that they say that their lamps are designed to operate at between 8 and 32 volts and that they are "not for use in high/low beam DRL applications that operate at less than 8V." The Honda Fit operates at 5 volts. The A-Sun page says they their lamps are designed to work at between 10 and 30 volts. So according to that they would be inappropriate for a Honda Fit.

You can see the light pattern is very poor. The better LED lamps have the LEDs positioned to mimic the position of the 2 filaments in the OEM halogens, so that they work better with the reflector designed to work with those halogen filaments. You can see on the A Sun web page that this lamp does not have the better-positioned LEDs. The VLED page - there you can see how the better-positioned LEDs are arranged.

 

wow thx 4 the awesome info. u r very knowledgeable. do what lights r u running? i don't have money for retrofit HID and i hate OEM halogen. HID kits (H4) won't have DRL mode either due to same low 5V voltage issue. and LED kits seem to all have flicker DRL mode issue also. i guess the only alternative is those "white" halogen?

thx!

 

I hate the OEM halogens but I'm not sure what I am going to do about it. I was thinking of just get LED fog lights (I have an LX, with no fog lights) so I can see side streets when turning onto them - because not seeing side streets is the worse problem i'm having with the OEM headlight. But I'm not looking forward to running wires to a switch in the passenger cabin. I might simply buy some LED lamps with the LEDs placed the way the VLEDs are, but a cheaper brand. I think I can get a pair for about $75. I'd want to make sure they have enough light output. Some LEDs don't seem a lot brighter than the halogen lamps. I would pull the fuse for the DRL function, and install separate daytime running lights LEDs in the false air ducts in the bumpers, the same air ducts where OEM fog lights go. I might install one of the voltage-operated switch that turns on the DRLs when the battery voltage goes up from 11.5 to over 13, which happens when the alternator starts turning. Then the DRLs would be on whenever the engine is running. There is a fitfreak thread somewhere where someone describes this. Or, after pulling the DRL fuse, I might configure DRLs by simply remembering to turn the LED headlights on in the daytime, on low beam. I'd also have to remember to turn them off when leaving the car.

 

I'm pretty sure the headlights automatically turn off 15 seconds after exiting the car when in the "auto" or "on" position, so there should be nothing to remember. I know they do this in the "auto" mode, and the book says they do in the "on" mode, as well, but I haven't tried it.

 

With the headlight switch in the auto position, the headlights will not go on in the daytime, so no daytime running lights unless the DRL fuse is still in place.

If you turn the headlight switch to the on position and have left it there when you turn the key to shut off the engine, you hear beeping, reminding you to shut off your headlights, or turn them to auto. I could be wrong but I think that if you don't do that, the headlights will stay on indefinitely. Else - why the beep? I'd bet that something similar would happen if you have push-button start – turn off the engine without first turning the headlights to off or auto, and you'll getting beeping, and headlights that stay on indefinitely.

 

You get the warning tone the lights are on, but they still turn off after a little while. Been that way since I owned the car in 2015.

 

Wow! Fantastic! Can I get the headlights to stay on indefinitely if I leave the key in the keyhole, and in the ignition position, accessory position, or off position? It is nice to have automatic off, but it it is also nice to have lamps that I can use to throw some light on one situation or another.

 

I'll admit it. All this discussion of headlamp alternatives has piqued my curiosity to the point where I sprang for some LED replacement lamps to try in my '15 Fit. These are the ones I bought:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ink/3929/8565/

These LED lamps attempt to mimic the style and placement of the filaments in an H$ halogen lamp, so I was curious to see how well they would duplicate the beam pattern.
Installation was as easy as replacing a standard halogen bulb, and I was able to retain the stock dust cover. I didn't need the headlight load resistor kit for the Fit, everything worked fine without it.

DRLs worked! I'm not sure how the Honda achieves the voltage reduction, although I suspect it's done by pulsed DC. However it works, the LEDs light up on high beam at reduced brightness. If there's any flickering, it's too fast for the human eye to detect. Will it shorten the life of the LEDs? I don't know. I've had them in the car for less than a week, so I can't say for sure. The heat sinks get quite warm, not too hot to touch, but hot enough that you wouldn't hold you hand on them.

Color is a nice cool white color, and low beam performance I would rate as excellent. Even without adjustment, these lamps throw a nice bright beam down the road. Cutoff is sharp, though there may be a bit more glare than the halogen bulbs. That's the limit of this technology at present, where you're trying to duplicate a cylindrical filament with a series of flat LED elements. I can say I've been road testing these all week, and so far, nobody has flashed their high beams at me, so they are probably pretty good.

High beam performance is more mixed. The high beam elements are the same power as the low beam elements, so the high beam is "higher" than the low beam, but no brighter, in fact, it seems as though the light is more diffused and less focused. To be sure, the high beams pick up distant road signs, but they don't seem to light up the road as well as I'd hoped, at least to these 65 year old eyes. One thing I did notice, they do seem to be better at filling in the "dark spots" that the halogen bulbs always seemed to have on high beam, that is, the light is spread more evenly with the LEDs.

To be sure, I've only had them on the car for a few days, so I can't rule out "confirmation bias" in my findings. More research is necessary.

Also, my lawyer says I have to remind you that modifications to your headlamps may be illegal under state and federal motor vehicle laws, and vehicles so modified may be restricted to off-highway use in closed-course competition use only. YMMV, void where prohibited and all other disclaimers apply.

 

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts after a little while driving at night with these, and in general.

 

Please keep us updated ok your leds. The are cheap so I got might buy one soon if It improves visibility and reliability is good.

Thanks in advice.

 

just wanted to report back that the Philips 9003 X-tremeVision bulb are garbage and burnt out last night within 11 months. definitely NOT worth it. now back on stockers.

 

11 months isn't a very meaningful measurement. How many hours of nighttime driving do you figure you got out of them before they went?

 

 

..like a normal person who only has one car driving it every day as a dd. considering my wife only drives mostly during daylight during DLS, you can sort of tell how short the life is.

 

keep us posted cause i dont mind trying LED bulbs if they last longer than 11months.

the funny is my wife didnt even notice the driver side bulb was burnt out until my son told her. and this was at night! so you can tell how bad the GK's headlights are..

 

My Phillips LED's are still going strong after over a year. Most of my driving was at night, hence the need to switch away from the Phillips incandescents.

 

sounds great. which bulbs are u running? i dont want to spend a fortune on this car as my GK is already half dead (one foot already in coffin)

 

If honda can find a way not to cut corners elsewhere, it would be nice to see the new fits shipping with LEDs standard.

I agree. I do a fair bit of night driving, highway and county roads with no lighting, and I find them more then sufficient. Granted I know a majority of the roads I drive on like the back of my hand.

 

They have started to put LEDs on to the North American Fit - the 2018 has LED brake lights along with some other lessor things so I'd guess cost is no longer a real barrier. To go to LED headlights they'll probably need a new design headlight lens and electrical changes so I'm guessing we really won't see anything until the next major Fit redesign. There's the possibility of seeing adaptive headlights since the IIHS has been looking at that and seems to like the opportunity to reduce crashes and save lives.