LED Headlights

[ChimpOnGas]

A900ss said:

I tested them with the engine off.

I'll get out the multimeter at the weekend and test the voltage with engine running and without.

I also need to sort out my halogen lights issue now..... Hoping a fuse or a relay will sort it.

[ChimpOnGas]

Digitalize said:

Been following this just for the interest of LED bulbs, not sure if the Lumen output is when on Main Beam as all the H7 bulbs I can find are considerably lower? Or if the rating is the theoretical output if you had dipped and main on at the same time?

The lumen figures quoted are always on full beam, IE when all the LEDs are lit.

The dip lumen figures are nearly always half the quoted main beam figures.

As a rule of thumb the 3200 lumen LED H4s I've been using for six months are around twice as bright as the very best regular bulbs you can buy on both main & dip beam, so to my mind well worth it for £50 as you can easily pay £20 for Philips Extremes.

LED H4s also resolve the disadvantages of HiD conversions.

Since fitting mine we have seen these LED H4s increase from 3200 lumens to 4000 lumens and now a whopping 4500 lumens, but to be honest the 3200 lumen ones are easily as bright as you could ever want on the road and are now well proven in my car.

With the power of these LEDs getting higher by the month and the technology becoming more accepted we should start to see my proven 3200 lumen versions get cheaper & cheaper.

But remember they're only as good as your corrosion prone reflectors and the beam delivered by the engraved glass lens used in the Chimaera. However, even if your silvering is going and your glass lenses are pitted (most will be) you'll still see a big improvement over incandescent bulbs.

Just make sure you put the car on a beam setter after fitting them, what was an acceptable adjustment with regular bulbs can soon become an antisocial blinding set of lights when you switch to these super powerful LEDs.

"ChimpOnGas & A900S testing new stuff so you dont have to"

[ChimpOnGas]

jj. said:

Although not TVR related - I can add further content to this tread. I stumbled across this thread whilst searching for fuel pump related issue for my Chimaera. Upon reading the first few pages, I thought, I have to have them. Well 2 weeks later they were delivered and have been fitted.

Most Impressive...!!!!

As per the OP says - very easy to fit, simply plug 'n' play, our original dust cap covers no longer fitted, due to the size of the heat sink/fan.

We wanted a clean/white look to the front of our race car and basically to get rid of the yellowing lens covers. These little babies have solved the issue for £50.

The Flash! is immediate and I mean very positive and urgent - we're not too fussed about throw (no dark racing for us), but brightness and 'look out you're about to be lapped' were more of a requirement - these are perfect.

Well done OP for you initial write-up...
jj

Great stuff

[ChimpOnGas]

SILICONEKID345HP said:

Dave did you fit these ?






http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by SILICONEKID345HP on Thursday 30th April 22:37

Yes, but not to my TVR.

They are very good lights, but the LED H4 bulbs are the way forward for our cars in my opinion.

I also have some LED long range spots that I plan to fit before next winter comes.

They are very small, about 3" diameter, but serve up a very focused long range 3,500 lumens each. So the pair will add a further 7,000 lumens to my Mk3 headlight conversion with 4,000 lumen a peice LED H4s.

With the compete discrete package delivering 15,000 lumens in total I'm confident gloomy TVR headlights will just be a bad memory for me.

[ChimpOnGas]

mach2 said:

Ok guys, what am I doing wrong?
Bought the LED's that Chimp fitted and recommended, followed the install to the letter and zilch!
No light, no fan kicking in, nothing.
Have tried every combination of the two bulbs, fans and drivers but nothing works. Have power at the original light connector and have even swapped the original bulb back in to check all is working and it is.
I must be doing something wrong as surely the whole set can't be defunct!!
Have checked and re-checked everything is connected how it should be but just not getting any joy.
All help and ideas welcomed.

It's almost impossible to get the installation wrong so it does sound like you may have a dead set, if it were me I'd be bench testing them.

Get an old H4 connector, fit the LED units and hook up to a battery.

At least then you'll know if they're defunct or not.

[ChimpOnGas]

mach2 said:

I've basically done that on the car, started with one set and when that didn't work first tried changing the bulb, then the fan and then the driver itself. Swapped it all around so I'd tried every combination of all the units and then thought it must be me!!
I agree it's practically impossible to get wrong but I just can't believe the whole set would be defunct?
There's nothing daft like an earth being provided by the fitting on the back of the bowl?
The original bulb works without actually being in the housing so I assume not.

They are designed to be totally plug and play, so it's hard to tell why you are having the issue

There are no extra earths and I had zero issues fitting mine, just popped them in and they worked.

What did your multimeter say when you tested the voltage at the H4 connector?

The LED driver packs will have a lower voltage limit before they will bring the units on, that's also why it's wise to bench test direct to a known good battery, you'll be eliminating any voltage drop in the TVR loom.

Good luck with it and let us know how you get on.

[ChimpOnGas]

DaiBakes said:

Did anybody end up testing the later fanless type?

Yes, I have the new no-fan 4000 lumen units in my Mk3 faired headlight conversion.



Here they are in action



However, what I've discovered after extensive testing of two types of these LED units is....

I can adjust the headlight to either deliver devastating main beam performance with a little less reach than I'd like on dip.

Or...

Crazy dip beam performance but with a main beam that illuminates the tree tops above the road. In this state you can get flashed occasionally too.

It would seem to be impossible to get the perfect beam on both dip & main. Adjust the dip up so it's spot on and the mains are too high, adjust for the perfect main beam and the dips are a little too low.

I've chosen to set mine so the mains are like Zeppelin search lights and the dips are completely safe for oncoming drivers, the problem with this is when you go from main down to dip you're eyes can take a split second to adjust to the big transition in light output.

This can be tricky on narrow country roads as invariably you're going to dip because there's car coming towards you, and that's when you realise you could do with a bit more reach from the dips to set your possession in the road.

I've now got a set of super small Ring Micro Cruiselites (BRL0370) that will be set into the grill aperture.





As you can see these lights really are tiny but are very bright indeed, they should also give me the dip beam reach I need to just fill the area the LED units are lacking without dazzling oncoming drivers.

All in all I'd say these new LED units are fantastically good and make a massive difference to night driving in a Chimaera, but only on dip or main beam depending on how you've chosen to adjust them.

If you don't want to dazzle oncoming drivers and you dont want to fit a set of Ring Micro Cruiselites like me, then people are advised to just fit a set of Phillips X-Treme Vision H4 bulbs (the new +130% version).

That's the honest truth from me about these LED units, they're almost there but my guess is they may well be designed to work best with projector lenses rather than our old school reflector and engraved lens setups.

I'm not saying they're no good, actually I love mine and with a little more reach on dip they'll be completely unbeatable.

But you pays your money and make your choice, in this case I've done the spending, testing and write-up so you can make your own decision on fitting them or not without risk of being disappointed.

I've tried to keep my feedback honest throughout so I hope this complete post will be seen as helpful to all my TVR mates on here?

Dave

[ChimpOnGas]

DaiBakes said:

ChimpOnGas said:

Yes

Awesome, thank you for the reply!

I've been watching this thread for a while with the aim to fir the bulbs in my VW T5. I rarely use main beam these days, travelling on known roads at quite a slow speed in the van, so the dip\main issue will be even less present for me.

Was about to pull the trigger on a set when I read your concerns about the strobing risk on the newer fanless types, so thank you for confirming all is well.

Dai

You're welcome, and I can absolutely confirm there is no strobing with these LED units.

Well not in my car anyway.

Enjoy the improved light on dip

[ChimpOnGas]

GC8 said:

ChimpOnGas said:

I've chosen to set mine so the mains are like Zeppelin search lights and the dips are completely safe for oncoming drivers, the problem with this is when you go from main down to dip you're eyes can take a split second to adjust to the big transition in light output.

Dave, is this the case only with the later bulbs or did the original fanned bulbs also require this compromise?

Both types I've tested had the exactly same characteristics, this leads me to think it's a trait you'll find with all these LED H4 units.

From what I've read HiDs do the same thing, so I'm thinking both these LEDs & the HiDs were designed with projector lenses in mind rather than our outdated silvered reflectors and engraved glass lenses?

But dont let it put you off, these days there's so much traffic about that 95% of all driving is done on dip anyway. In which case (and if you're happy to do so) just adjust them so they perform best on dip and perhaps fit a set of long range spots to fill in the high beam hole.

I chose to do it the other way around because I really really dont want to dazzle oncoming traffic, if you set them up so the main beam is spot on you will never give other drivers a problem, you may however melt the Tarmac directly in front of the car

I'm going to wire my Ring Micro Cruise Lites off a new Vauxhall wiper stalk switch I've just bought.

It's exactly the same as the Vectra/Corsa one TVR fitted but has the rear wash wipe switch, our TVR right hand stalk clicks back & forth but there's actually no switch in there. The Micro Cruise Lites will be turned on & off independently of the light circuit using my new switch.

It'll be kind of a duplicate dip & main function on the right hand stalk if you like, wiring the Cruise Lites this way gives me complete flexibility to use them as daytime running lights, with or without dip beam and or with or without main beam.

Because it gives a mirrored function of the normal dip main stalk on the left I'm hoping it'll become intuitive to flick them on or off as I see fit given the situation.

Of course completely illegal though

If anyone wants a stalk with the rear wash wipe switch the Vauxhall part number is: 90243395

I'll be fitting my lovely Leven turned aluminum stalk to it so it looks proper TVR

[ChimpOnGas]

cptsideways said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161858738281?_trksid=p20... 2x High Power 68W H4 9003 HB2 Xenon White CREE LED Low Beam Fog Headlight Bulb


Are in reality utter toss!! Beam pattern is flat, but too high too adjust & in reality are no better than the cars fog lights. Being sent back..

Not impressed so far, has anybody got any H4 success stories?

I have used and extensively tested two types of LED H4s and in two types of Chimaera headlight setups, standard headlights and more recently the Mk3 type. My latest version of these LED H4s do away with the integral fans cooling and LED driver boxes making them even easier to fit and removing the fan reliability question mark.

While my newer versions came with an even higher lumen figure to me they seem to deliver exactly the same amount of light as the first fan & driver type I purchased. I would say the lumen ratings are more of a guide than anything, I suspect the manufacturers are in a war of overstating their lumen outputs to gain sales over the competition.

All you really need to know is they are all insanely bright!

As the author of this post and I believe one of the first drivers in the UK to use this new breed of high lumen output LED bulbs, I can conclusively confirm the following:

1. The light output of these LED units is a massive step up, even from the excellent Philips Xtreme halogen bulbs I was using before going LED

2. They are on par with (if not slightly better) than HiDs

3. They run massively cooler and draw a lot less current than a halogen incandescent bulb or an HiD unit

4. Unlike HiDs the light is instant, there is no delay or warm up period when switching on and the transition from beams is again instantaneous, much faster and immediately noticeable even when compared with halogen bulbs in fact

5. They are super simple to fit, indeed the latest type with no fans or LED driver box's are no more complicated to fit than a standard H4 halogen bulb

6. My chosen LED H4s have proved (so far) to be 100% reliable

7. You should always replace your reflectors if you want to get the best from any headlight bulb upgrade, Chimaera reflectors corrode very quickly and are therefore nearly always shot


Now for the only disadvantage of going LED, and basically it's ll in the adjustment.

With our old fashioned bowl type reflectors after fitting these LED H4s you will find the following:

A: You can either adjust your headlights to give devastating low beam performance but suffer high beams that are a bit too high

B: You can adjust your headlights to give devastating high beam performance but find your low beams will be a bit too low to give the very best spread & reach of light when you dip to low beam

C: If you try to find the point where you get the best performance on both high & dipped beam you will dazzle oncoming drivers on dip beam

So they are rubbish then?

Well no, they are fantastic but just require a little help

I've chosen to adjust mine so that they are 100% safe to oncoming drivers on dip, because anything else would be irresponsible.

This means I'm already enjoying the devastating high beam performance but it also means I'm suffering from dip beams that don't really give the very best spread & reach of light when compared with the Philips Xtreme halogen H4s.

While this is a little disappointing on busy A & B roads where you more or less permanently need to be on dip due to the frequency of oncoming cars, it is not really a big problem and when you do get the opportunity go to high beam it's a case of "Oh my God, it's daylight again!"

Is this disappointing low beam situation with my current chosen adjustment a reason to give up on these LED bulbs?

No way

To my mind all that's needed is simply something to solve the slightly worse low beam spread & reach, I believe such a solution will give a perfect combination of the already insane high beam performance with equally devastatingly good dip beams.

But most importantly if I mount my auxiliary driving lights low enough they will be no problem to oncoming drivers.

To this end I have purchased (but not yet fitted) a set of tiny Ring Micro Cruise Lights.



The plan is to fit these well reviewed and powerful little lights in the lower of the two grill apertures, they will sit in the small voids either side of the outer edges of the front number plate.



I've already bonded the mounts in place, the low recessed position of these tiny lights makes them both virtually invisible when off but perfectly positioned to give a massive improvement to the current low beam spread & reach of light offered by the LED H4s without dazzling oncoming drivers.

All I need to do is run my already pre-made wiring loom with relay down the inner wings, tap into the sidelight circuit and add an isolater switch to the steering column cowl.

The idea is I can either:

A: Run the Micro Cruise Lights as daylight running lights by turning on the sidelights

B: Leave them on at night to give the better dip beam spread & reach and even better main beam performance

C: Turn off the Micro Cruise Lights completely using my isolater switch for situations where I don't want to use them, say parking at night with my low current draw LED sidelights left on so my battery is not drained

Only time will tell but I believe the above will give the best of all worlds TVR Chimaera headlights

I'll keep you all posted

Edited by ChimpOnGas on Wednesday 28th October 10:22

[ChimpOnGas]

Bassfiend229hp said:

bobfather said:

I'm refurbishing my headlamps this winter and have been watching this thread with interest, a great knowledge base offered by ChimpOnGas My problem is that most of my night time driving is in towns or in traffic so having lamps that work best at full beam but compromised at low beam doesn't fit for me. My plan is to have my reflectors re-chromed and fit new heavy gauge wire. I'm coming to the conclusion that Philips Xtreme Vision H4's will be the better option for me

You *CAN* have a really fantastic dipped beam on the LED H4's - it's just that when you do the main beam is too high and illuminates the trees as much as the road ...

I found exactly the same when we used them in my mates MX5 as a test.

TBH I'll probably happily choose to take that trade-off and fit my H4 LEDs into the chim (when she's back) and then do what Dave is going to do and add a set of LED driving lamps to fill in the bottom of the high beam pattern...

Phil

Absolutely spot on Phil, bobfather shouldn't discount these LED H4s on the grounds he needs improved dip beam.

When I put my first set in with no adjustment whatsoever they did a good job of illuminating the trees above my head on main beam, but on dip beam they were amazingly good.

I just chose to re-adjust mine so I had great main beam which simply means the dip beams are currently a little lower than I'd like. I haven't fitted my Micro Drive Lights yet but I've just got in from a 185 mile drive the last part of which was very dark indeed, and I had no problems on dip even on country lanes.

With the Micro Drive Lights it should be absolutely awesome!

[ChimpOnGas]

OutlawFlat4 said:

@Chimpongas - I followed your thread from the start, bought the reflectors from Russ (which he kindly drilled for me), bought the LEDs and ended up with 2 new lenses too as the (TVR Specialist) said they spontaneously exploded over night in their garage whilst fitting !

The output is amazing, I'm really please but am getting flashed by everyone so need to adjust them and wanted your guidance on how to do it, please.

I'm not fussed about main beam as where I drive I mostly need dipped so need to lower them.

I think I need to do it from the rear but can it be done with wheels on? Are the 2 adjusting wing nuts easy to get at and which way do I tweak then to drop the beam? Did you do it on a garage door or a proper alignment unit?

Although not rocket science is rather do the job quickly and once than waste hours trying to work it all out so any tips would be great. Thanks!!

Hi there OutlawFlat4, I would recommend talking with your local MoT centre who will have a proper professional beam setter.

Ideally the adjustment needs to be done with the wheels off as this gives greater access, but if you do things this way two trolly jacks are are a great help as you'll need to fine adjust the height to mimic your current ride height with the wheels on.

Inside each wheel arche you'll find a small circular fiberglass inspection panel held in with three self tappers and TVRs usual heavy handed application of sealant. Remove the panels and make sure the car is at the right height, now the fun really begins

What you'll likely find is a set of very corroded adjusting screws, this corrosion is probably why the garage that fitted your new reflectors didn't adjust them properly although I'd be surprised if they didn't replace them.

Assuming the adjusters are corrosion free and not seized solid you simply wind the wing nuts in and out by hand until the beam setter shows the correct cut off.

I've come to the conclusion that for these LED bulbs to work perfectly and without some small compromises you really need to fit dedicated LED headlights that have projector lenses in them, these LED bulbs do work well in reflector bowls buy it's not really their natural home.

Of course the option of fitting dedicated LED projector headlight units is only an option for those of us using the traditionally sizes 7" headlight units because the ones on the market are made for Jeeps & Land Rovers that both use 7" headlights, And that means it's only an option for those of us with Mk3 faired headlights.

Everyone else is stuck with the oddball sized Bosch units TVR chose with their highly corrosion prone and very expensive reflectors. I chose the Mk3 faired headlights partly to solve this issue once and for all and partly because I think the car looks much better that way.

The Mk3 headlight conversion is an expensive modification but one that ticks a lot of boxes.

[ChimpOnGas]

PJ57 said:

What a great thread, a credit to you for such a detailed review, and clearly the way forwards from the stock dim lighting.

I currently have a type R setup (as below), which after the re-spray will be converted to just the Cerb style twins with the indicators returning to the stock locations.



The dipped beam is pretty good with these, but the mains are awful. Seem to light everything apart from the road.
I have had the alignment checked, and all ok.

Do you think LED's would work well with these?

Thanks

The should work really well, bit I'd still be tempted to see if I could hunt down dedicated LED projectors of the right size.

[ChimpOnGas]

magpies said:

is it possible to run both dip and main at the same time while on main - would that not 'fill in' the area under the main beam pattern - or is there a distinct blank area between the two beam patterns?

This is exactly how they work already, the slight issue I've covered a number of times now is a function of the reflectors and how they work with the H4 LED bulb replacement units, the proper solution is to get proper dedicated LED`reflectors or better still dedicated LED projector units.

This isn't really an option on the original headlight units but as soon as you upgrade to Mk3 headlights you are working with the very common 7" round headlight unit which is fitted to everything from Morris Minors to the Jeeps to Land Rovers and a gazillion vehicles in between.

The 7" headlight is so common it's viable to manufacture units that are designed specifically to work with LED technology, and there are lots of manufacturers getting on the band wagon. But be careful, like all these things there are good and bad products out there so it can be a bit of a mine field.

Basically there are two different LED headlight unit technologies available:


1: The reflector type

This type is characterised by a split reflector that separates the dip & maim beam reflector, this solves the problem I've experienced when just fitting LED H4 replacement units in a standard reflector headlight, but they are still effectively using old school reflector technology.



Like I say there are good and bad, my research seems to indicate the LED split reflector type units to go for are from a company called TruckLite.

http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servle...



2. The projector type

These are a bit aesthetically challenging and may be a step too far for some (looks wise), but they are meant to be even better than the dedicated LED split reflector type as they offer even more precise beam control.



Again there are good and bad out there, my research indicates the ones to go for are from a US company called JW Speaker.

http://www.jwspeaker.com/products/categories/headl...


Another important consideration is we (as UK buyers) need both these options to be specified for left hand traffic, watch buying cheap Chinese alternatives as they'll almost certainly be designed for the far bigger markets where traffic drives on the right.

The other thing to consider is a set of the 7" LED TruckLite units will likely cost you at least £400 a set and if you want the even better performing JW Speaker (Model 8700 Evolution 2) units you will be looking at spending more like £600 a set!!!

And remember both these expensive choices are only options for those of us with Mk3 headlights, people with the bigger corrosion prone Mk1/2 Chimaera headlights need not apply.

If you do have the Mk3 faired headlights you are still in for a big bill if you really want to do this LED thing properly, but don't let all this put you off, sure there are compromises involved in simply sticking a set of these new super bright LED H4 bulb replacement units in your your current Mk1/2 or even the Mk3 headlight units, but they are still an excellent upgrade in my opinion.

So if you want to cheaply fill in the areas where the LEDs need help then you can simply and cheaply do so by fitting a set of inexpensive H3 driving lights.

As per my former posts I've gone for a set of super small Ring Micro Cruise Lites (BRL0370) which are available for just £25, I fully expect these lights to sort the reach & spread areas the LED dips aren't quite filling in perfectly when you adjust the headlights to give amazing LED main beam performance.

While we are waiting for the split reflector or projector LED units to come down in price (and they will), a set of these LED H4 bulb replacement units combined with a set of small H3 driving lights will give you brilliant Chimaera headlights.... at a very realistic price

Edited by ChimpOnGas on Monday 21st December 20:17

[ChimpOnGas]

billybradshaw said:

Dave, don't forget me.......any chance of that link to the bulbs please?

Ta

Ian

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H4-H7-LED-Headlight-Kit-H13-9004-9007-H11-9005-9006-H1-H3-9008-6000K-White-Bulbs-/161671477022?var=&hash=item25a45ef71e:m:mQpq4dDablTUr6l-eXeeFrQ


eBay item number: 161671477022

[ChimpOnGas]

Transmitter Man said:

Dave,

JW Speaker 8700 Evolution 2

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/182-2716693...

Even with shipping, duty & VAT still half price $$$$.

Phil

The price in your link is for one light unit designed for right hand traffic, so you would be paying £358 plus postage plus importation tax for a pair. The total will likely come to over £500 and you'll be getting right hand traffic units (IE the wrong units)!

The JW Speaker part number for the black 8700 Evolution 2 designed for the UK (drive on the left) unit is 0550201, and the chrome one is 0550211. Nine times out of ten the units are sold individually because they can be used in Harley Davidsons and other motorcycles.

JW Speaker do have a UK distributor and I assure you this will be the best (and cheapest) way to get the right units.

https://www.mobilecentre.co.uk/index.php?main_page...

The total price for a pair of Model 8700 Evo 2 7" PAR 56 LED 2D1 headlight with Black internal bezel for driving on the left to suit UK market 9 - 32V DC.... Is £527.98 Inc VAT!!!!

By all accounts these units are amazingly good but at £527.98 to me they are way too expensive for a set of headlights, and remember they are only an option if you have Mk3 headlights that use a 7" unit.

If you really get Gooogling you can find what look exactly like (and are being sold as) JW Speaker 8700 Evolution 2 units for around £120 each, three things to know about these units:

1. They are Chinese fakes

2. They will likely perform very badly

3. They will be designed for right hand traffic so will be totally unsuitable for UK use anyway

JW Speaker are a reputable US company, their products are designed AND MANUFACTURED in the USA, JW Speaker have done a huge amount of research & development work to make these lights perform as they do.

If you see Chinese/Hon Kong based vendors on EBay ect selling JW Speaker 8700 Evolution 2 units for very tempting prices they will be fakes and for right hand traffic at that.

While we're waiting for these projector type units to come down in price I advise the following :

1. Buy a pair of eBay item number 161671477022 LED H4bulb replacement units from China

2. Adjust your headlights so the main beam is perfect

3. This will give you amazing main beam performance and very good dip beams, it's just the dips will be set a little low for best reach & spread. Setting up your headlights like this will ensure you dont dazzle oncoming traffic, this is very important as these new generation LED bulb replacement units are devastatingly bright

4. Fit some low mounted driving lights like the Ring Micro Cruise lights, these lights are designed to be fitted low, the industry term is "sub bumper". Because you fit them low (mine are set in the lower grill aperture either side of the number plate) you should get all the reach and spread you need without dazzling oncoming drivers

5. The Ring Micro Cruise lights use the common H3 halogen bulb, H3 bulbs are tiny but in my experience the lights that use this bulb are always very bright indeed. I used to fit H3 spot lights to night working fork lift trucks and a pair would always turn night into day!!!

6. Because the The Ring Micro Cruise lights use the common H3 bulb you can upgrade them one step further by fitting Osram night breaker unlimited bulbs for £16 a pair


COST OF UPGRADE

• H4 8,000 Lumen LED bulb replacement units £53... EBay item number: 161671477022

• Ring Micro Cruise lights: £22... EBay item number: 291628546568

• Osram night breaker unlimited bulbs £16... EBay item number: 111217383490

TOTAL... £91.00

So on the face of it you can bring your Chimaera headlights into the 21st century for less than £100, to me this is an excellent performance vs cost upgrade and represents excellent value for money


The only other thing I's say is if you have Mk1/2 headlights the reflectors will almost certainly be corroded, replacing the reflectors for new is expensive but essential for good headlight performance even if you're using these new super bright LED H4 bulb replacement units. The problem with these Bosch reflectors is that they are not only expensive they will also start become corrode again in 6-12 months, you can clear coat them with a decent 2k lacquer which will extend their life but there is a better solution....

If like me you are fed up with the expensive, odd sized and corrosion prone truck headlight reflector & lens units used by TVR then I recommend biting the bullet and investing in a Mk3 faired headlight conversion. This is not a cheap solution but totally solves everything in one go because it uses the super common 7" round headlight. Using a 7" headlight unit opens up a world of possibilities and essentially future proofs your Chimaera headlights while improving the looks (in my opinion) of the car.

Finish off with a set of 8,000 lumen LED bulb replacement units and a pair of tiny sub bumper Ring Micro Cruise Lights and you'll have better headlights on both dip and main beams than most new cars on the road today...

no antisocial (read dangerous) blinding of oncoming drivers either...

[ChimpOnGas]

billybradshaw said:

Dave,

Looking at the drop down menus only the 6000LM bulbs are available in the H4 bulb fitment. The 4800LM bulbs are only available in H7 it would seem. Am I reading this wrong? Perhaps the 4800LM kits have sold out in H4 size.

So, I'll take a punt on the 6000LM bulbs and I'll report back after Christmas.

Thank you for your very informative thread and here's to safer night driving.

cheers

Ian

Ian, select these from the two drop down menus:

Bulb Socket: H4/9003 ETI 2S

Power & Lumen: 60W/8000LM /Kit, 2pcs bulbs

Once the above are selected the price should change to £50.99 plus £1.99 P&P to make a total of £52.98.

This buys you a pair of H4 bulb replacement units that when on main beam (dip & main beam LEDs all on together) give you the 8,000 raw lumen output they are quoting.

Other Chinese/Hong Kong vendors are selling these units, but they are definitely the best performing and fan free ones you want, do some more Googling yourself and you may find them cheaper.

To be honest I'd take the lumen figures with a pinch of salt, all you need to know is these LED replacement units are at least 40% brighter than the very best high performance incandescent H4 bulbs you can buy, they will also last longer and give an instant on and instant flash effect which is very nice indeed.

However!

Please read and understand my other comments on adjustment, reflector corrosion, dip beam performance and how to solve these problems.

[ChimpOnGas]

billybradshaw said:

Brilliant thanks Dave.

Order just placed.

I've just had my reflectors re-silvered and I've got a friendly garage lined up for the alignment checks so hopefully all will be well.

Thanks again

Ian

Ian, I strongly recommend clear coating your reflectors, this will not affect their reflective qualities but will extend their life from 12 months before corrosion starts again to a good few years.

You need to use a good quality 2k lacquer that will not peel or turn yellow over time, when I had Mk1/2 reflectors I used this stuff which worked really well.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HB-Body-Professional-2K-...

EBay item number: 191438336653

Instructions from me at the bottom of this page...

http://www.pistonheads.com/Gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Or just get a professional body shop to clear coat them for you, it will be money well spent.

PS: NEVER TOUCH THE REFLECTORS WITH YOUR BARE FINGERS, THE ACIDS IN YOUR SKIT WILL INSTANTLY WRECK THE SILVERING!!!

[ChimpOnGas]

Finally (and for fear of repeating myself) you may think adjusting your headlights with these LED replacement bulb units so the dip is perfect is the best solution to the adjustment challenges.

You may be justifying this strategy to yourself because you don't drive on main beam that much.

While adjusting the lights in this way will work for 90% of all driving situations the day you need maim beam is the day you'll regret adjusting your headlights in this way. All you'll get is a really good view of the trees way above your head and a set of soiled underpants as you try desperately to see whats ahead of you.

Invariably you will rapidly switch to dip again before you find the hedge and will wish you'd adjusted your new super duper LED lights to give devastating main beams and fitted a set of sub bumper lights to fill in the areas the LED dips don't quite reach out to.

These LED bulb replacement H4s are an excellent upgrade but they are by no means perfect in an old school reflector headlight unit, the truth is they can either be adjusted so you get amazing dip beams but then suffer main beams that are way too high, or you set them up so the main beams are spot on at which point the dips sit a little low.

In my opinion it's much easier to solve the slightly low dips with a set of low mounted driving lights than it is to try and sort the problem of main beams pointing to the sky.

At the end of the day you can have the best of all worlds if you follow my set up, and all for under £100...

Plus new reflectors if needed or better still the expensive Mk3 faired headlight conversion if you can stretch to it

[ChimpOnGas]

Digitalize said:

I've been very close to ordering a set from HorizonLED, who stock the latest generation of CREE/Philips bulbs.

I started this post back in October 2014 promising everyone an honest review, fast forward to January 2016 and I've got a lot of testing and adjusting under my belt, I've also tried two different LED replacement units in two different Chimaera headlight setups (Mk1/2 and Mk3) so I feel it's been a pretty comprehensive evaluation too.

Following all this testing I've come to the conclusion reflector design is just as important if not more important than the LED bulb replacement unit itself and how the emitters are positioned on it.

While these do look interesting....

http://www.horizonleds.co.uk/cree-leds/headlamp-cr...

They are also an expensive experiment, so I'll let someone else try them out.

Personally I think to really get the best from this technology you need a sophisticated reflector that's been specifically and carefully designed in partnership with the LED emitter right from the outset. Simply dropping a set of these LED bulb replacement units in a reflector designed for a halogen incandescent bulb is definitely not a complete solution to better headlights on a Chimaera

Knowing what I know now it comes as no surprise to me that companies like JW Speaker and Truck-Lite have spent years developing their LED headlight units to work correctly and throw good usable light right where you need it, so I've also come to the conclusion if you really want great LED headlights you'll probably need to spend a fair chunk of money on one of their properly designed LED headlight products.

Take a look at my comments on page 17 of this post to see what I mean...

JW Speaker and Truck-Lite have spent a lot of time and money developing LED headlights that by all accounts really do work properly, the downside is you're looking at £390 minimum for a set of the cheaper option 7" round RHD Truck-Lite units!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400779856794

So like most things in life... "If you want to do it properly, you better get ready to pay".

Of course these properly designed 7" round LED headlight units are only going to fit Mk3 Chimaeras or those Chims that have benefited from a Mk3 conversion, anyone still with the corrosion prone Chim Mk1/2 Bosch two part (reflector and glass lens) headlight units need not apply.

I've enjoyed the whole experiment and there's no doubt these LED bulb replacement units are mega bright, but there's a lot more to great performing headlights than just brightness. They also need to give a beam pattern that illuminates the road ahead properly while not blinding oncoming drivers.

And the only two ways I've found to do this with these drop in LED bulb replacement units is to:

A: Adjust your headlights so you get good main beam performance at the cost of dips that are a little too low

B: Adjust your headlights for good dip beam performance at the cost of main beams that just light up the trees above your head

I chose option A, the idea being I could solve the overly low dip beam pattern with some cheap driving lights, this didn't work out well at all

I was trying to use ridiculously small driving lights so they didn't stand out or spoil the look of the car, but as we all know with lights... the truth is size counts

My little Ring Micro Cruiselites (BRL0370) seem feeble in their output giving little or no discernible improvement in light and worse still may have even caused some other as yet unexplained electrical maladies

As any rally driver will tell you, if you want good driving lights that genuinely put a proper amount of light down the road the rule is..."The Bigger The Better"! (and more is better too)

The problem on a Mk2 Chimaera like mine is there really isn't an awful lot of room to neatly mount driving lights in the split grill aperture which has lead me to looking at what motorcyclists are using these days, apparently there number of small powerful motorcycle driving light options that actually properly light up the road ahead while still not blinding oncoming road users.

Unfortunately the ones I've selected aren't exactly cheap so it'll be a while before you see them on 'Ol Gasbag', but I'm confident they'll do the trick... so watch this space

Oh, and I forgot to say these new driving lights I've earmarked are LED because I still firmly believe in the benefits of going LED, but I've learned a few things since all this started so I've chosen something with LED specific reflectors that have been properly designed to work with the LED emitter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXUGZZkJ02U

http://www.webbikeworld.com/lights/piaa-lp270-revi...