LED Headlight update

[exE350]

Found a good discussion several years ago (2019) on replacing the poor OEM headlight and fog light bulbs with LEDs. Moderator (OSD Dad?) had installed Nineo H13's (I believe) and was well satisfied. In looking for these, I find an "ultra bright" version (Nineo II), but not sure they're the ones described in this forum. Amazon says these will not fit the NV3500. And I'm not sure i want "Ultra Bright". Are the bulbs described in your 2019 post still available? If not, do you know of an alternative?

[exE350]

Just checked, it's ASD Dad that had all the good info on light bulb replacements. Hope you're still involved.

[Local Apparent Friday]

This seems to be the post you are referencing.

 

Anyway, H13 is H13, so it should fit.  It's universal.  Here is the link to nineo's listing...if you are going by their fitment guide, I can't even get it to work. 
 

And here's 1000+ 4+ star ranked brands to choose from on Amazon.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Local Apparent Friday

[Local Apparent Friday]

@ASD Dad ping.

 

Looking at his profile though, he's been logged off for over a year.

 

Wait around for Radinson or Crusty to chime in though, they seem to be the resident knowledge at this time.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Local Apparent Friday

[exE350]

Thanks for the info. Yes, I'm familiar with the designation for mechanical fit, but before spending the money, would like to hear from someone who has installed them and confirms light spread, high/low, compatibility with the outdated electronics in the Nissan NV's,  etc, as ASD Dad had done. Nineo's site also lists an H13 "Mini" (not represented as "ultra bright") , so maybe this is the item similar to those used by ASD Dad. BTW, I've found the Amazon ratings to be largely untrustworthy.

Thanks again. This is a valuable forum to us, as we have one of the 2021 NV 3500's ... seemingly among the last (and by far the best) of the old-school full size vans.

[radin2son]

If ASD Dad doesn’t see this, you can PM him. Not sure if he still has his NVP or just parked it and the RV he pulled. 

[Local Apparent Friday]

@exE350 if you're still looking for something peer reviewed, I followed my own advice and went through the 1000+ list that I referenced above, ultimately deciding on Torchbeam T2s from Amazon.  I put them in tonight, can confirm that they fit great, make a bunch of light, and do a good job of patterning.  I'm actually realizing after installing these that I can bump my lights up a bit. Much tighter than the halogen I was running, and I can see quite a bit further on high beam. 

[Local Apparent Friday]

Quick reminder though... you have to pull the DRL relay fuse if you're installing LED headlights. It's fuse #3 in the under-hood fuse box, passenger side up against the firewall.  It has to go bc DRLs switch the bulbs to wired in series and drops the voltage to 6vdc, which will kill LEDs and generally wreak havoc.

[HERvan]

I recently installed the TorchBeam T2's, as referenced above.  High beam is really nice; lots of light down the road.  Low beam sucks - can maybe see 50 feet in front.  Reflective road signs can't be seen until within that 50 feet.  Critters not at all in time to avoid them.  Lots of critters on the main highways where I live.

[Local Apparent Friday]

21 hours ago, HERvan said:

I recently installed the TorchBeam T2's, as referenced above.  High beam is really nice; lots of light down the road.  Low beam sucks - can maybe see 50 feet in front.  Reflective road signs can't be seen until within that 50 feet.  Critters not at all in time to avoid them.  Lots of critters on the main highways where I live.

 

I would adjust your headlights and polish them. If they are clear and pointed correctly, then you should return the torchbeams and either ask for a different set or try something else.  The torchbeams I have, I rarely even bother to turn the high beams on because the lows are perfectly bright, and I live out in the woods where I need to see furry little critters.

[HERvan]

I did adjust the headlights and am very happy with them now.  I can now see the furry and not-so-furry (deer) critters quite a ways down the road.  A vast improvement over the factory lights.  I did remove the DRL fuse prior to first testing!

I do use the high beams regularly, and they do produce impressive seeing distances.

I had thought, when I first adjusted them, they were adjusted too high and were blinding to oncoming traffic.  It appears they were adjusted correctly - no high-beam flashes from oncoming traffic.  Well worth their price.

Edited December 4, 2022 by HERvan

[Local Apparent Friday]

Good good, glad that you are all set.

[Nissaron]

On 7/12/2022 at 7:49 PM, Local Apparent Friday said:

Quick reminder though... you have to pull the DRL relay fuse if you're installing LED headlights. It's fuse #3 in the under-hood fuse box, passenger side up against the firewall.  It has to go bc DRLs switch the bulbs to wired in series and drops the voltage to 6vdc, which will kill LEDs and generally wreak havoc.

 

Regarding this, how do you access that lil F3 bastard? Is it true you push in the tabs on each side of the fuse tray (labeled F2, not to be mistaken with fuse f2, on my 2015 NV3500 cargo) and pull upward? If so, I guess someone super glued mine... Sheesh! 

 

(Side note: just got the van in Sept 2023. I Just really started messing with it in the last couple months... I'm so amped! She will be a beautiful camper one day!)

[Local Apparent Friday]

Pretty sure yes but I'm out of the country rn.  I can look for you in a week or so if someone else hasn't already.

[Nissaron]

4 hours ago, Local Apparent Friday said:

Pretty sure yes but I'm out of the country rn.  I can look for you in a week or so if someone else hasn't already.

 

I would appreciate it! I probably just need to pull harder on the tray. I just don't wanna damage the van or myself, esp if I'm not accessing them correctly. Im 99% sure I cannot get to that f3 fuse otherwise. I can't believe I can't find any info on the Internet. Most of the relevant/helpful results are from this glorious forum. 

[Nissaron]

6 hours ago, Local Apparent Friday said:

Pretty sure yes but I'm out of the country rn.  I can look for you in a week or so if someone else hasn't already.

 

Holy crap, I found video of someone accessing the panel finally (footage at the end). I guess I just have to pull harder but GD is it IN there!

 

The video above gives you the idea but this video (see 0:57) actually shows how it works, and the tray being taken out (on a Titan, but similar panel/same procedure)

Edited February 26 by Nissaron

[Nissaron]

UPDATE: I'm at wits end and want to break lots of things!

 

Any ideas?

 

Long(er) version:

The left side of my fuse tray will not give... Not an inch... Not 1/1000 of a millimeter! The right side is willing and able but the left side is anchoring it down. I tried to get under it with a c-clamp so I could pull it up from below... only to bend my c-clamp. I dunno wtf else to do. This situation seems ridiculous and even more so that I'm considering taking it to Nissan. I'm assuming it's something unique about mine (like maybe someone accessed it before I owned it and put it back incorrectly) and they're not all this difficult. *Shrug*

[Local Apparent Friday]

I'm going off of memory here but iirc it seemed silly to me when I finally got it. Again, can check next week. @radin2soncan you provide some quicker insight?

[radin2son]

 No clue. 

[OpenRoad]

After reading this thread it prompted me to upgrade my headlights as the stock lights are not that great.  Followed recommendation and purchased the Torchbeam LED's off of Amazon.  It doesn't seem that they are selling the T2 style anymore but just the T6 (which seem very similar).  So the units I installed were the T6 style, H13/9008 model.  Appreciate the heads up on needing to remove the F3 fuse from the IPDM box in the engine compartment.  How the Daytime Running Light relay 1 switches the lowbeams to run in series to act as DRL's is kind of strange and I would not have probably picked up on that until I had potentially damaged the new LED's by running them at 6V.  So no more DRL's after this upgrade but don't think I will ever miss them.  Torchbeam recommended that the installed LED chips be facing at 3 and 9 o'clock positions but mine ended up at a 45 degree offset from that after seating them in headlight housing.  Hopefully that doesn't matter much.  New lights (hi & low) seem to be working fine but still need to check headlight vertical adjustment but will wait until the van is loaded for our next trip.

Nissaron,

Sorry to hear about the problems of removing your IPDM box cover.  Mine came right off.  It did take some effort to loosen the vertical fuse tray inside the box so that I could raise it up to access the F3 fuse.  Good luck on figuring out why yours is so difficult to remove.

[Nissaron]

Thanks for the well wishes but it's not the cover that's the problem, it's the fuse tray. I'm working on it now, gonna see if my (stronger) friend (with more tools) can help. This is so ridic. The left side simply will not move...

[Nissaron]

VICTORY IS MINE! 

I'm so happy with the new headlights and no DRL! So the saga is even more ridic... I pulled up on that fuse tray with all my might multiple times from an array of angles, bruising my forearm in multiple places (not to mention all the tools and tricks I tried). I took a screwdriver and BARELY TOUCHED the left side... when I pulled again, it slid right out like it was lubed with vasoline. *Smacks forehead* I dunno wtf that is aboot, but whatever! Of course the bulb swap wasn't as smooth as it was supposed to be either but nbd. All good now! Thank you everyone for your attention & support!!!

 

[OpenRoad]

Glad to hear you had success.  I had the same problem with the fuse tray.  Left side seemed stuck.  It appeared to be held in with locking tabs and I worked with screwdriver to make sure they released.  Pulling and pushing with no result and then suddenly it came out easily.  Like you I'm not sure what I did to free it but happy to be able to as there is no way to reach the F3 fuse without elevating the tray a bit.

[Local Apparent Friday]

Glad to hear you were successful

[OpenRoad]

One last update to this thread.  I thought that I had a successful install but...  Installed Torchbeams during the day and tested that headlights came on which they did.  Finally got around to checking headlight aim (during the night) and discovered that the Torchbeam T6 style, H13/9008 model is wired wrong for the NV.  When low beams are selected the high beams are on and vice versa.  Could possibly live with this but really don't want to see the high beam indicator in the instrument cluster on all the time.  Can't flip the plug around because it has a tab and can only go one way.  So the stock OEM headlights are back in and the Torchbeams are being returned.  Will have to research what other options are out there.