Six or Eight LEDs would only be used for high beam; four are used for low beam to best match the position and size of the original H4 filament and at this point, that is not exceeding a standard H4 halogen lamp, which is 1,000 lumens.
My understanding is there are 6 (Philips) or 8 (non-Phillips) ZES chips per side. In low beam, it will use the 3 or 4 that are shielded, closest to the tip of the bulb, on both sides (which is 6 or 8 total chips being illuminated per bulb). In high beam, it will use the 3 or 4 that are unshielded, closest to the base (which is 6 or 8 total chips being illuminated per bulb). Is this not correct? If correct, my calculations should be valid and we are talking about a lot more than 1,000 lumens for each bulb, on low or high beam (at least on the non-Phillips bulb).
As far as LEDs being 'better' than HIDs regarding light pattern, there is no reason to believe that is the case. Again, the HID is positioned so that the arc duplicates the low beam placement, and it is close to the original H4 filament (slightly smaller, which would yield a tighter light pattern) so the basic light pattern is extremely close to the H4 lamp pattern.
That is assuming that the sloppy, spring-loaded, pop-in/out electromagnet positioning system is working perfectly and has zero slop. Mine doesn't. In fact, the light patterns even jiggle with road disturbance. If I remove the HID bulbs and shake them, they move around some and will sometimes not even return to the same position. My left bulb actually droops a few millimeters in the actuator, and that is bound to change the pattern. LED bulbs are more like halogen bulbs- the "filaments" are at an exact, fixed position and never have to move. This is what I was referring to in my comparison.
And there is no reason to believe any method of light generation (filament, LED or arc) would matter as long as it was the right size, in the right position w/in the reflector bucket and the low beam element(s) was properly shielded.
Agreed. It is all about positioning, amount of light, and light distribution that results in the ultimate pattern projected on the road. The distribution for filament and arc might be better than LED, since they are 360 degree sources instead of two 180 degree sources separated by several mm (or however thick that sucker is). I didn't put that in my comparison, and probably should. Not sure if it matters though, just speculating.
HIDs do suffer from one condition which is reflector overload. There is just so much light that stray light, the light not in the desired place or pattern, is increased.
And I do have that issue on my HID system now. I covered it pretty well in another thread a while ago (showed photos, described, etc). Some of that is unavoidable when you put a lot of light in a reflector not designed to handle it. The stray light levels might be acceptable at X lumens, but not at X*2 or X*3 lumens (it would need tighter tolerances/better design).
But high output halogen lamps suffer from the same problem; it is not due to the type of light, it is simply due to much, much more light than the reflector was designed to produce.
Agreed. But HID kits don't have fixed light sources, they move. And anything that can move can cause malpositioning for a variety of reasons. That is why I said it is possible that HID can produce more glare than LED (or high output halogen); but it will depend on the kit, the age, the design, etc.