Not sure if anyone posted a video about the LED headlights flickering, but I just posted this up on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXdn5S-2xik

 

That's interesting to watch. We're all aware of the flicker, but seeing it slowed down is pretty neat. Thanks for sharing. Maybe I missed it in one of the annotations, but which headlights are those?

If it ever becomes bothersome for you, SMS makes a harness that draws power directly from the battery, bypassing the CANBUS system. It's pricey, though ($125, I believe, maybe even $150).

 

Actually, all LED lights will have a slight flicker on them. Not just hooked up to the CANBIS system. I watch the Motortrend videos on YouTube and they show a lot of slow mo. You'll see even Porsche and McLaren's headlights will flicker under slow motion.

 

Yep. My LED Christmas lights even do it, despite being "flicker-free". They flicker way less than budget LED lights, but if you turn your head really fast while looking at my house and keeping your eyes locked and turning with the direction of your face you can still see it.

 

The headlights I have are GE Nighthawk. They are made by TruckLite but have the GE name molded in the lenses. Everything else is identical to the TruckLites. I got these from Amazon for $160 each when they were running a $100 off coupon promo.

 

LEDs will all flicker to a certain extent because they are powered by a switching supply designed to keep a constant current running through the lights.
If you ever played with an electronics kit, you will see that when you hook up an LED to a battery, there has to be a resistor to limit the current to the LED. If the resistor is not there, the LED will light briefly, and then burn-out. The resistor is there to burn off the excess current into heat. Obviously this is not the best way to get the current to the right level, but it works fine in certain applications. The ideal way to do it, specially when you deal with a system that has a varying voltage like a car battery that undergoes charging and discharging, is to control the current using a switching supply. The switching supply basically turns on and off at a very high frequency to control the current and create a constant current output. Some people's eyes are more sensitive to this high frequency switching, others may not perceive it. Sometimes these switching supplies hiccup and there's a more prominent Off-time, so you'll see some obvious flicker, but it shouldn't be constant. If it is, then that switching supply is either not getting a steady input voltage, or it's on its way to death. In a JK feeding the system with a PWM input from the canbus, a capacitor at the input tends to improve the situation, but it's not always the input voltage that is the source of the problem.