My take on Diode Dynamics and their offering for the Ram Truck line, including a review of my 5000K bright white HID kit and the company's warranty. This is the kit: www.diodedynam...
You DO NOT need to buy the harness to address the canbus system IF you go buy AlfaOBD software from FCA for $49 and change the headlight settings from Halogen to HID. This also applies to the other lights that you may want to switch over to LED, such as the 3rd brake light, license plate light, rear backup lights, etc. AlfaOBD lets you tell the Body Computer that you are running HID/LED in thse locations and it will send the corrent signal and voltage levels so you won't get any flickering or undervoltage to your HIDs. Plus, it lets you do several hundred other settings as well.
To people looking into LEDs for their low beam/high beam/whatever, do not cheap out and get amazon or ebay bulbs, especially if you are putting them in a reflector-type housing (still applies to projectors). The issue with some LEDs is that the reflector housing is designed to have a bulb that emits light 360*, and LED bulbs can't due to their design. So a good bulb will have the individual chips set up to imitate the shape of the filament in a halogen or HID in a certain orientation that is the most effective. This allows the beam pattern to be as close as possible to the OEM one. A cheap bulb will not do this, and as a result the light will spray in a useless pattern that ends up being worse than the OEM halogens, and the effective brightness of the bulb is also worse. Some LEDs may look brighter when you compare how they look in the housing, but they won't push any light down the road for that very reason; the light is obviously being sprayed at you even when you aren't standing where the beam should be.
Did try out the Diode Dynamics set up. Unfortunately did not work well for me (likely due to canbus system on my 2016 Ram 2500 Laramie) as they work fine on my wife's Honda Odyssey. Ended up installing a set of Morimoto XB35's that I've used before and wiring from the battery. PITA to install but work perfectly every time. Also selected the 5000k color option on mine but now I hate how they match up to the factory fog lights. Next project I suppose. As always, great informative video!
+CitizenMTB did you get the anti flicker module when you ordered the set? That's really interesting. Thanks man and I hear you on the fogs, that is in my future as well.
PNWreckage Did get the anti flicker module, grounded the connections to bare metal, etc. over the years I've just found Mopar CANBUS systems are very finicky. Just keep an eye out as mine worked great for about 2 months would only fire up about 50% of the time on start up. When I moved to my wife's van they start up 100% of the time so it was definitely my truck.
I kept my original "projector beam halogen" set up from the factory but I changed out the OEM bulbs and went with 9011 "Halogen Infrared Reflector" (HIR) bulbs. They are probably 75% brighter than the stock bulbs and a pair costs about $30.00
It's more a "pure white", whereas most halogen bulbs have that slightly yellowish tint. The 2.5" leveling kit that I had installed has also helped since I think that RAM aims the lights too low at the factory. They should, in my opinion make LED or HID standard on the Laramie trim levels and as an option on the lower trims.
+METALITHrevetments agreed. It's interesting, my headlights appeared too high from the factory judging by all of the people who brighted me before I adjusted them down.
I get brighted all the time. I installed LED back up lights which are super bight and I have them wired into auxiliary switch #2. Any smart ass who flashes me at the last minute gets the rear LED flash as he goes past me. It's important that I get the last word. I am aware of how petty I am.
+METALITHrevetments I laughed pretty hard when you first told me that but I am cracking up at the self commentary this time. High five because I have had my finger on the bed lights since hearing about your setup
I will confirm one of your statements about an led set up. I have a 2016 ram 1500. I have led in both my dims and brights. 32000 lumens of light when brights are on. It gets pretty cold here in the Kansas city area and one night this winter i got stuck in a freezing rain storm. My headlights collected about an 1/8" of ice and didn't melt off. With my brights on i maybe could only see about 20' infront of my truck! It was a big safety concern the whole way home. That's the only problem I've had so far running all led! Other than that freezing night they are amazing. At the time i wished i had hid bulbs in the dims atleast for the heat. Anyways good video and very informative. Diode dynamics is an outstanding company as well so great choice going with them.
My xK glow LED kit for my Durango works great. But you'd need a projector housing to make full use of it. I have a dual beam housing and it forced me to aim my low beams high and use the led fog lamps for high beamish applications. Because you can't get the high and low beams to focus right .
I don't think Truck manufacturers put HID headlights in their HD trucks in general. Ford's new design is one LED bulb with a huge lens in front of it. something that will last a very long time. As are HD trucks expected to.
I have the basic Halogen lamps. I think it's kinda dumb that RAM doesn't make those Projectors standard nowadays. It's smarter I think. Did you add HID'd to your fog lamps as well?
+Shane Bartlett agreed but I guess some people prefer the look of the reflector style over the projector version. I just ordered fogs and a handful of other things 😉
I'm planning on getting the same HID kit for my low beams and LED's for my high beams. However, I'm not sure on the fog lights if LEDs are worth it or buy HIDs with a projector housing. Did you do anything to the fog lights and if so what did you do and how do you like the setup?
About to pull my HIDs. My passenger light "burnt out" swapped out the bulbs hit the lights......nothing! Both lights are out. Trouble shot the entire system. Relays good, ballast good, bulbs good. Talked to a buddy at the dealership and he told me to bring it in, but I have to pull the HIDs off first becuase it voids my warranty. He's hoping that flashing the TIPM will reset it but it will trip it again eventually he says. Got less than 24k on the clock so its still under warranty so if the TIPM is bad they will cover it, IF, the HID's are out. Its the Morimoto kit that was on the truck when I bought it. It is a plug and play system that plugged directly in to stock plugs. Looked amazing when they worked, actually hoping to find something to replace that is close to same look. Looking into LEDs to see if they void my warranty.
yea I agree the high end rams should come with HIDS from the factory. My girlfriends 2017 cherokee came with them and their awesome. I just installed 6500k HIDS from xenon Depot, love em
Does your truck have any heat damage on the plastic reflector around your projector in the headlight? My 15 that Iv owned since new has very small bubbles that look like heat damage inside the headlight (very small) and I was wondering, do hids burn cooler then typical bulb?
NoblesTx I believe the issue isn't actually whatever the type of light you use but it's the reflection from the sun getting magnified and directed to the housing.
+Powerstroke 6.7 Tweakers are predictable.. And dumb. I waited for them to pop up for sale and then had a somewhat uncomfortable talk with the sh*tbag who had them.
I purchased this same kit and installed it today and only one side works...which kind of sucks since you have to pull the grill apart to install them. diode dynamics is closed so we will see what they say tomorrow when I call them. To be continued.......
PNWreckage yeah I pulled it all apart and played with the connectors. Felt like Clark Griswald checking every connection. Didn't have time to do the trouble shooting procedure that diode requires to get replacement parts so I ended up just buying a single complete set and it was just a bad bulb so now I have spare parts in case anything else goes out. Drove around for about 2 weeks with a single headlight waiting for the kit because the bulb was out of stock. So needless to say I am master of installing this HID kit after doing it multiple times. I ordered the 5000k but they have a slight blue tint to them curious if it's just the color from the lense because it's not 6000k blue.
I’m planing on ordering these for my 2018 Ram 2500 which is almost identical to your truck. Which version bulbs did you get, projector or non-projector?
@@PNWreckage Honestly I don't know. I have the 2018 Ram 2500 4x4 Cummins, Laramie with Off Road Package, but not the sport package. Is that a feature of the sport package? BTW, I watched ALL your videos in the last 2 days and learned quite a lot from you. Thanks for doing those...
Damn man I'm surprised you're still responding after binging all of my videos! I am 99% sure all Laramie models have projectors. The key is whether or not yours have the lens on each side that are pictured in the thumbnail of this video. You could also send a picture to PNWreckage@gmail.com and I can tell you for sure. Thank you for your support btw, and I am really happy these were helpful.
I bought some hids for my 15 2500 they were working fine at first then one went out and problems but lights are still okay so I switched to Leds and they are not as bright which brand do recommend
Careful! Any female with the last name of, "Conner" maybe from the future and sent back to this time to alter your state! On the subject of lighting systems, it sad that the costs of trucks these day is the crappy headlights from the factory! By all means do your, "due-dillegence" in terms of purchasing ANY aftermarket products! My experience is that if/when you "buy" anything for your vehicle, buy American made products! I find the engineering is made and designed for your specific application!
I'm a bit anal. I like every thing the same when it comes to things like uniform paint color, the color of glass, and so on. The lights you got (low beams), are they the same color as your fog lights and high beams? If not, do you know if Diode Dynamics offers a kit to update all of your lights (low beams, high beams, and fog lights) to the same technology and light color? (Really hate seeing white headlights and yellow fog lights, looks lame)
+Mark Kelly Definitely hear what you're saying about uniformity and I have similar traits. The 5000k makes the highs and fogs look a bit yellow by comparison. Weird thing is I actually love the 3000k deep yellow for fogs but that is a function over form thing. I just ordered LED fog replacements from them and should get the package tomorrow if you're interested in what those are like. They had highs at one point but I don't believe right now. Depending on your stock bulb color temp, you might consider a lower color temperature HID kit to match. If you're happy with the light output from the fogs and highs, of course.
Hey I just picked up a 2017 ram 2500 with the 6.7 liter cummins and was wondering if you had any tips or mods I should do right away. Thanks love the content!
+TANNER SOMMERS Hey man, congratulations and thank you! I would pull the whole intake baffle out first and foremost. It's free, the truck sounds better, and I feel like throttle response is snappier. I did a video on it, it's pretty simple. Does your truck have the 4x4 Off Road package?
PNWreckage Interesting.. I had a shop tell me that LED was less harsh. So I went with a full LED headlight/fog light set up on my 2011 ram 3500. When the guy told me that and knowing that the LED doesn’t heat up nearly as much as the HID bulb, I figured that the guy was right. I have a HID DDM tuning kit (well known, at least in Southern California) on my 2000 Excursion and have had issues with the bulbs being so hot that it melted the housing and the bulb fell out...
+Luke DeAtley I considered them the first time I bought HIDs but they weren't available when I checked recently. I would not have gone with them this time around for a few reasons. It required wiring in a relay for each light and further complicated the installation. The lamp life was also reported to be reduced because of the increased output of the 55w setup. I've been impressed with the brightness of the factory wattage setup but I was tempted by the increased output. I ended up with the 35w to keep things simple and as reliable as possible.
