LED headlamp bulbs...

Author
Discussion

shake n bake

Original Poster:

2,221 posts

206 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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So, what are these like? I'm talking aftermarket stuff, not factory spec on a new car order by the way.
Worth getting or not worth it?

Birky_41

4,276 posts

183 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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I've just bought these so will update on here in a few days


golfdsg

228 posts

126 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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Bought a set of "nighteye" led bulbs from eBay back in December for my van.

The light output is incredible, much more than any halogen bulb, infact it puts my osram nightbreakers look like candles.

Glare is slightly more than normal halogen bulbs, but nothing like a chavvy hid kit. I have never been flashed by oncoming cars.

Only issue is, one of my bulbs failed after 3 months of usage so I bought another set. Apart from that its been great.

Get decent led bulbs and you'll love them.

VGTICE

1,003 posts

86 months

Tuesday 25th April 2017
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golfdsg said:
Bought a set of "nighteye" led bulbs from eBay back in December for my van.

The light output is incredible, much more than any halogen bulb, infact it puts my osram nightbreakers look like candles.

Glare is slightly more than normal halogen bulbs, but nothing like a chavvy hid kit. I have never been flashed by oncoming cars.

Only issue is, one of my bulbs failed after 3 months of usage so I bought another set. Apart from that its been great.

Get decent led bulbs and you'll love them.
Post a pic, I'd love to see them in action.

Mound Dawg

1,915 posts

173 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I got given some samples of the cheap and cheerful H4 type by one of our suppliers like these-



We put them in the race car (1965 Alfa Gta) they're nice and bright, you can see the car from miles away and they draw less current so a tiny amount of extra power reaches the tyres.

Not sure on the beam pattern but that's not important, we're using them like Audi DRLs for the "out of the way peasants" effect to get us through lapped traffic.

ST270

663 posts

181 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I used a set which have cooling fans built on the rear of the bulb on my GTV. Brilliant piece of kit - they don't look aftermarket like a lot of HID kits do and there are no ballasts to wire in.

It does help that the GTV has projector style headlights though - the beam pattern is pretty much identical to halogen bulbs.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I fitted them to my wifes car, (The type with the fan on the back) The spread of light seems to be comparable to the previous halogen bulbs but the light output is amazing. Not as clear and focussed as the factory xenons on my car but I think that is more down tho the fact mine has projectors.

Definitely worth a go, Have a look on Aliexpress if you don't mind the wait.

SuperchargedVR6

3,138 posts

219 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Been thinking of giving these a whirl - http://www.morimotohid.com/led-lighting.html/

Shipping from America is crazy money these days though.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
Mound Dawg said:
I got given some samples of the cheap and cheerful H4 type by one of our suppliers like these-



We put them in the race car (1965 Alfa Gta) they're nice and bright, you can see the car from miles away and they draw less current so a tiny amount of extra power reaches the tyres.

Not sure on the beam pattern but that's not important, we're using them like Audi DRLs for the "out of the way peasants" effect to get us through lapped traffic.
So completely useless as a headlight bulb then, which frankly is pretty much the only thing the H4 fitment is for.

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Wednesday 26th April 12:39

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
shake n bake said:
So, what are these like? I'm talking aftermarket stuff, not factory spec on a new car order by the way.
Worth getting or not worth it?
Most of the bulbs are utter crap. And price is no indication of this.

Issues are, poor beam or totally illegal and useless beam.
Lots are low output too.
Poor or no heat management.
Poor CRI
Poor tint


There are some good ones out there. But you need to have a basic understanding of LEDs, how they work and headlights. And not all headlamp housings will be suitable, even if the bulbs are good.


Review of some LED H4's here to help point out some of the things to look for:

http://budgetlightforum.com/node/50238

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Wednesday 26th April 12:40

996TT02

3,308 posts

139 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
Mound Dawg said:
I got given some samples of the cheap and cheerful H4 type by one of our suppliers like these-



We put them in the race car (1965 Alfa Gta) they're nice and bright, you can see the car from miles away and they draw less current so a tiny amount of extra power reaches the tyres.

Not sure on the beam pattern but that's not important, we're using them like Audi DRLs for the "out of the way peasants" effect to get us through lapped traffic.
So completely useless as a headlight bulb then, which frankly is pretty much the only think the H4 fitment is for.
In fact they are (useless). Those are the type that ps off people, the type that put out an unfocussed beam that is all over the place. The simple reason is that a halogen bulb's filament is practically a single emitting point, and headlamps are designed to take that single focus point (in reverse) and throw out a sharply defined beam. The bulb pictured above does not have a single focus point emitting light - it emits light in all directions from every part of the LED chip. If that was not bad enough, no part of the chip is in the right place, either.

Birky_41

4,276 posts

183 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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Well I fitted mine today and absolutely pleased as punch. No scatter, definitely brighter and easy to fit. Can adjust where you want the led to angle to.

When I fitted the first one



And then when I fitted the pair



I need to take the fairing off to do the centre one and will do the jumper mod so all 3 run which I'm told some of my model do as standard depending on where in the world you live but otherwise for £30 money well spent

J4CKO

41,286 posts

199 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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I read the aftermarket LEDs were best avoided, my thinking is that manufacturers dont fit them and spend loads developing bespoke solutions, not just sticking a LED bulb in a Halogen lamp.

paul.deitch

2,086 posts

256 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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If I understand correctly what I read in other forums after market LED lamps are totally illegal.
Should your LED headlights be a contributory factor to a serious accident you might have some issues to deal with.
As has been pointed out above their focus point is in the wrong place for a standard reflector and that is why only complete units can obtain regulatory approvals.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
quotequote all
paul.deitch said:
If I understand correctly what I read in other forums after market LED lamps are totally illegal.
Should your LED headlights be a contributory factor to a serious accident you might have some issues to deal with.
As has been pointed out above their focus point is in the wrong place for a standard reflector and that is why only complete units can obtain regulatory approvals.
Running 80watt halogen bulbs or doing 72mph is also illegal as are most sports exhausts. Doesn't mean those things don't happen. Not saying you should endorse them. But a headlight with the right beam profile regardless of the bulb type is hardly the worst thing in the world.

VGTICE

1,003 posts

86 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
quotequote all
paul.deitch said:
If I understand correctly what I read in other forums after market LED lamps are totally illegal.
Should your LED headlights be a contributory factor to a serious accident you might have some issues to deal with.
As has been pointed out above their focus point is in the wrong place for a standard reflector and that is why only complete units can obtain regulatory approvals.
They are cancer basically. Here's an example of what it looks like to be stuck in front of a car with LED bulbs.




This was dipped beam and as you can see the car behind him with standard halogen bulbs also on dipped beam looks fine.

paul.deitch

2,086 posts

256 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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300bhp/ton said:
paul.deitch said:
If I understand correctly what I read in other forums after market LED lamps are totally illegal.
Should your LED headlights be a contributory factor to a serious accident you might have some issues to deal with.
As has been pointed out above their focus point is in the wrong place for a standard reflector and that is why only complete units can obtain regulatory approvals.
Running 80watt halogen bulbs or doing 72mph is also illegal as are most sports exhausts. Doesn't mean those things don't happen. Not saying you should endorse them. But a headlight with the right beam profile regardless of the bulb type is hardly the worst thing in the world.
Understand what you are saying but they should be an MOT fail if the tester is on the ball.

codenamecueball

529 posts

88 months

Friday 28th April 2017
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300bhp/ton said:
Running 80watt halogen bulbs or doing 72mph is also illegal as are most sports exhausts. Doesn't mean those things don't happen. Not saying you should endorse them. But a headlight with the right beam profile regardless of the bulb type is hardly the worst thing in the world.
The issue is that by design these bulbs cannot output the same beam profile

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Friday 28th April 2017
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codenamecueball said:
The issue is that by design these bulbs cannot output the same beam profile
But they can. It depends highly on the actual bulbs and the reflectors.

What a responsible person needs to do, is fit them, then check the beam profile and even go and stand in front of the vehicle. If the beam profile is crap, remove them. If it's not, then you can have much better headlights.

Lamps that use scatter shields for instance will pre focus the light, before reflecting off of the main reflector and out the front of the lamp. So a change in light source can have a much smaller effect.

Indeed, not sure if I posted here or on another thread. But I have seen a better beam profile with a LED bulb over a regular H4.

Led on the left, note there is less glare than from the halogen on the right.




It's hard to see in the photos, but the LED has the sharper cut off and less glare. The halogen, which the photo doesn't show actually contains lots of shadows in the beam, which are very distracting while moving. The Led bulb got rid of almost all of the shadows in the beam.



Edited by 300bhp/ton on Friday 28th April 10:14

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

254 months

Friday 28th April 2017
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300bhp/ton said:
It's hard to see in the photos, but the LED has the sharper cut off and less glare.
And significantly less light output.