[theVandalorian7]

Has anyone installed these Torchbeams on their 2011-2017 Ody? It appears that they would work just fine as I believe they come with a canbus decoder already attached. I found them on FB Marketplace for $15 so it sounds like it'd be a great deal, but I don't want to have to deal with any flickering lights or DRL dash errors.


Here are pics that the seller included.

 

[0dyfamily]

Did you check that Amazon link that you posted? 21% of the reviews were less than 4 stars, and they all centered around not fitting correctly, not working, or non-standard connector plugs.

These don't look promising.

OF

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

im part of the club if the headlight/lens is not a projector type, stick to quality xenon bulbs.

one family member had a Hyundai with the projector type headlights with H11 bulbs, these were a good candidate for LED drop ins and the upgrade was safe for oncoming drivers.

Im finding more often the modern toyotas and bmw's and audis with the oem projectors are dangerous and blinding.

not cool

 

[SparkyJJO]

im part of the club if the headlight/lens is not a projector type, stick to quality xenon bulbs.

1) He said 11-17, so the low beams are projector type.
2) He said high beams, so in that way it doesn't matter as those shouldn't be on around other drivers anyway. I have LEDs in my high beams, they aren't on around other drivers.

OP, the thing you need to be aware of is the DRL uses the high beams at a high frequency pulse (Pulse Width Modulation - PWM) to dim them during the day. LEDs tend to not like that, and/or they have a very annoying flicker. If you put LEDs in your high beams, pull the DRL fuse. If you want DRL, then I would recommend using something else for that. I installed aftermarket LED fog light housings from Morimoto (got them dirt cheap off ebay) and wired them so they come on when ignition is on. They also stay on when headlamps are on, but that's OK as they're proper fog/driving light housings.

 

[theVandalorian7]

1) He said 11-17, so the low beams are projector type.
2) He said high beams, so in that way it doesn't matter as those shouldn't be on around other drivers anyway. I have LEDs in my high beams, they aren't on around other drivers.

OP, the thing you need to be aware of is the DRL uses the high beams at a high frequency pulse (Pulse Width Modulation - PWM) to dim them during the day. LEDs tend to not like that, and/or they have a very annoying flicker. If you put LEDs in your high beams, pull the DRL fuse. If you want DRL, then I would recommend using something else for that. I installed aftermarket LED fog light housings from Morimoto (got them dirt cheap off ebay) and wired them so they come on when ignition is on. They also stay on when headlamps are on, but that's OK as they're proper fog/driving light housings.

Heyoooooo...now this is the kind of helpful response I was hoping for. Thank you for taking the time to read and respond thoroughly!

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

To date I have not seen the drl/high beams work on the gen 4 ody with the canbus adaptor.

Tried a couple on my van to confirm, all kinds of dash lights illuminated.

Since sparky appears to have been through this process, please share the part number of canbus adapter your used to make this work without the drl light.

 

[SparkyJJO]

To date I have not seen the drl/high beams work on the gen 4 ody with the canbus adaptor.

Tried a couple on my van to confirm, all kinds of dash lights illuminated.

Since sparky appears to have been through this process, please share the part number of canbus adapter your used to make this work without the drl light.

I cut the wire
Pulling the DRL fuse works too.

What I personally did was trace which wire in the engine bay was fed by the DRL fuse, cut it (so the entire DRL circuit including warning light is disabled), and then fed my add-on DRL directly with that DRL fused power feed. I have no qualms modifying my harness a little bit, but I understand if others do.

I used the wiring diagrams to figure it out.

 

[KYRGYZ]

$15 LEDs are never good. Yes, they might be brighter than old halogen bulbs, but as long as you're satisfied, that's what matters.

My go-to LED lights for brightness and reliability are the GTR Lighting Ultra 2 (I think that's what they're called). They're super bright and reliable—I’ve used them on a 2016 Nissan Rogue Sport, 2016 Civic, and 2020 Odyssey.

 

[theVandalorian7]

$15 LEDs are never good. Yes, they might be brighter than old halogen bulbs, but as long as you're satisfied, that's what matters.

My go-to LED lights for brightness and reliability are the GTR Lighting Ultra 2 (I think that's what they're called). They're super bright and reliable—I’ve used them on a 2016 Nissan Rogue Sport, 2016 Civic, and 2020 Odyssey.

Hey they're actually $80 on Amazon, I just found someone selling them for $15 on Facebook Marketplace. But I get it and thanks for your feedback! Are these the bulbs you're talking about? If so, DANG they're expensive.

H11: GTR Ultra 2.0 LED Bulbs

The GTR Lighting Ultra 2.0 LED H11 Bulb provides 900 Lumens of bright light to your Fog Lights or DRLs. Amazing Quality and Lifespan. Headlight Revolution

www.headlightrevolution.com

It looks like they have some moderately priced halogens, so maybe I'll just look into those or other halogen options to avoid further pissing people off. I just want as bright as possible without blinding or annoying people. And I'm specifically looking at high beam bulbs so I won't be using those when there's oncoming traffic anyway.

 

[0dyfamily]

$80 on Amazon means nothing. You can still end up with high-priced garbage.

With those reviews, I'd pass and look for something else.

OF

 

[gizzo20]

Why don't you try them and let us know? You will have an answer to your concerns as soon as you turn them on.

 

[Juggawut]

That is not a canbus device or anything like that. It's just the driver for the lights. It is separate from the bulb to keep heat away from it. Heat is the #1 reason an LED bulb will fail. If you put the rubber caps back on the housing after installing the lights they will burn out as well as they can't properly cool themselves.

I've been wanting to add a toggle to the DRLs, and use switchback LEDs for the front turn signals in my 09. Load resistors will cancel the bulb out warning.

 

[crimecanine]

Here's additional discussion of the concerns with retrofitting LED headlights:

Retrofitting LED headlights, and best color temperature for street vision at night?

I drive a lot at night, for my work. Have a 2002 Civic EX. I'm currently using Sylvania 9003/H4 SilverStar Ultra headlight bulbs, which are high brightness and supposedly provide good down-the-road vision. I see one spec page on them that says: Lumens = 1500/900; Color Temp. (Kelvin) = 4100k...

www.candlepowerforums.com

Here's an article about why not LED/HID conversion:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

 

[adr5]

Has anyone installed these Torchbeams on their 2011-2017 Ody? It appears that they would work just fine as I believe they come with a canbus decoder already attached. I found them on FB Marketplace for $15 so it sounds like it'd be a great deal, but I don't want to have to deal with any flickering lights or DRL dash errors.

Here are pics that the seller included.

The Honda headlights do not have optic designed to handle LED lights. You will probably blind other drivers on the road and not get decent performance out of them. I would pass on them.

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

The Honda headlights do not have optic designed to handle LED lights. You will probably blind other drivers on the road and not get decent performance out of them. I would pass on them.

with one caveat... the lens is not a projector type.

I was unaware the 2012 lens the low beam is a projector lens, so the light gets a beam focus.

It would be good to see a review of this lens with both bulbs.

Regarding the high beam that the OP wants to replace, I think they went through what I did.
getting tired of changing DRL high beam halogen/xenon bulbs every year.

The issue is with the ody and LED you get the DRL dash light no matter how you try to mitigate it.

so back to xenon halogens for me after a few tests.

The osram night breakers have been doing well, been a few years they have been in without issues (knocks on head)

Oh and BTW if you swap with LED esp the low grade ones, you're still changing them out every few years.

The amazon LED's in my fogs last no longer than the halogens.
The light is diffused with the fogs, so im not concerned with blinding oncoming drivers.

 

[Juggawut]

The issue is with the ody and LED you get the DRL dash light no matter how you try to mitigate it.

Even with load resistors?

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

Even with load resistors?

yessir a couple of brands off scamazon (returned) one was even recommended from a post here.

Had another type in the junk pile from someone else's car after they went back to halogens, one caused weird shit to happen.
The parking sensors continually went bonkers, likely from all the trash those things threw on the canbus.

 

[SparkyJJO]

That's one reason (of several) why I did alternate DRL.

 

[Juggawut]

I've had great success with the $1 each load resistors from eBay, but I've also never used them on anything newer than my 2009.