If we had to pinpoint the biggest change in automobiles across the board over the last five years or so, it would be the major influx of LED lighting. The compact light emitting diodes can be found on everything from the Toyota Tacoma to the Lamborghini Huracán. Given that LEDs are compact and can put out nearly double the lumens of a conventional halogen bulb, it’s no surprise why they have become the mainstay.
For vehicles such as the ’97 to ’06 Jeep Wrangler TJ, swapping out to a brighter LED light is extremely easy. This is largely due to the fact that the 7-inch-round headlight drops out with just a few turns of the screw (well, Torx to be exact). Looking to give our ’97 Jeep Wrangler some much needed night vision aid, we order a complete LED headlight and tail light conversion kit from Quadratec. This kit comes with Quadratec’s Gen II series LED headlamps, LED tail lights, and necessary signal flasher relay.
In the video above, you can see the lights in action as well as a start-to-finish overview of what it took to get the lights in place. Below, we’ll expand on the lights and why these are an excellent fit for those looking to bring their Jeep’s lighting up to speed.
The Quadratec GEN II LED headlights are designed as a bolt-in replacement for practically any Jeep model that runs a 7-inch-round headlamp. The DOT-compliant lights are built with a die-cast aluminum housing, which secures an extremely durable polycarbonate lens. For the ’97 to ’06 Jeep Wrangler TJ, it’s built as a plug-and-play upgrade and will not require any additional electrical upgrades or anti-flicker modules which is required on the ’07 to present JK.
The light is split into two sections. The top half is your low beam and uses a Phillips-brand 15-watt LED to pump out an impressive 732 Lumens. Quadratec equates this to a 81-percent increase in lumens and 92-percent increase in illuminating distances over the TJ’s stock headlights.
When you engage the high beams, four additional 3-watt LEDs illuminate. This blast by the ordinal 638 lumen output with a whopping 1,198 lumens. In terms of amp draw, the LEDs only require 2.15, less than half of the stock H13 light demand. Reducing the amp draw equates to less strain on your Jeep’s often over-taxed electrical system.
The Quadratec conversion kits comes with both headlights and LED tail lights. The solid-state LED tail lights bolt to the Jeeps tub using the stock mounting hardware and plug in to the vehicle's factory connectors. The lights are designed not only to last longer, but are tremendously brighter over stock as well. One other small aspect we’ve enjoyed is how much brighter the reverse lights are.
To ensure our Wrangler doesn’t experience what’s often referred to as hyper flashing, Quadratec includes a flasher relay. This plugs in place of the stock flasher relay, which was located next to the steering column behind the dash panel on our ’97 Wrangler.
All the lumen talk in the world doesn’t mean much if the lights don’t produce. Without question, the lights perform infinitely better than the pitiful glow of our stock headlamps. We could probably stand to do a little more headlight adjusting, but there’s no doubt that the light spread is much wider and whiter.
Even the taillights put off a tremendous glow. Given this upgrade is one we can use on a regular basis, it made the modest lighting investment extremely worthwhile.
We have more in store for our Twinkie TJ, so be sure to check back soon to see the build evolve!
