Advice needed on led headlight bulbs

HI All
Update on these led bulbs!
Car failed MOT today on guess what?
Headlamp aim projection beam image is obviously incorrect nearside and offside.
Garage tried adjusting headlights but no joy.
These LED headlight bulbs are cheap for that reason!
Going to revert back to halogens to pass MOT and use for winter.
Then set up a white board in my garage and try again with another type of LED bulb.
Still really like the LED headlight bulb tech, with keeping headlamp cool=longer life, and a nice clear instant white light.
With technology improving all the time, driving costs of items down hopefully I'll find a set that fits the bill both for quality, legal(MOT pass) and cost effectiveness.
Will keep you guys posted.
Steve
 
A bit long winded but this youtube video explains the ins and outs of selecting LDE bulbs with a decent beam pattern


Cheers Spike
 
Forget LEDs for Main and Dipped. The design of the reflector is only optically correct for a genuine filament lamp, because the focal point is very small, as is the filament light source, not so an LED array. Upgrade to Osram Night Breaker or Phillips Race Vision. Pretty good (imo).
If you really want to be a bright spark, look at this:

Audi A2 - Xenon projector, xenon lamp, xenon bulb, ballast, LED bulb

Retrofitlab delivers top quality xenon and LED products for car and motorcycle. From xenon lamp to shrouds, from bi-xenon projector to ballast and the newest LED lighting technology. A passionate team will help!
www.retrofitlab.com www.retrofitlab.com

Not a recommendation, make up your own mind.

Mac.
 
Hi all.
I have bought phillips xtreme vision h7's to get car through MOT and winter months. They claim 130% more brightness. Don't want to be changing headlight bulbs every year and as stated want to keep the temperature down on my headlight lens.
Steve
 
If you stick with the same power, watts, as the OEM lamp, the heat generated will be (should be), the same. Maybe the brighter lamps (Night Breaker etc), are more efficient, so more light, and just maybe, less heat?
Mac.
 
PlasticMac said:
Forget LEDs for Main and Dipped. The design of the reflector is only optically correct for a genuine filament lamp, because the focal point is very small, as is the filament light source, not so an LED array. Upgrade to Osram Night Breaker or Phillips Race Vision. Pretty good (imo).
If you really want to be a bright spark, look at this:

Audi A2 - Xenon projector, xenon lamp, xenon bulb, ballast, LED bulb

Retrofitlab delivers top quality xenon and LED products for car and motorcycle. From xenon lamp to shrouds, from bi-xenon projector to ballast and the newest LED lighting technology. A passionate team will help!
www.retrofitlab.com www.retrofitlab.com

Not a recommendation, make up your own mind.

Mac.
Click to expand...

Despite the benefits and look, I would not go there simply because of the ballasts/bulbs. Whatever you choose it will not come close to the performance of the widely-used Hella ballasts or even Mitsubishi units. These brands utilise ASICs that take care of the power control delivery to the bulb in a way far more superior than digital units such as the aftermarkets. Having ventured in this myself a while back; you can read what the aftermarket ones do in this app note from microchip http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/AppNotes/01372B.pdf

Despite the digital power control being very good there is no match between the ASIC performance in controlling the bulb, i.e., resulting in excellent longevity and brightness. Now what microchip above suggests is pretty good but there is no guarantee that the aftermarket clones do a good job in replicating the app note.

I would try and maybe have a go at retrofitting the lens but use the ballasts/bulbs/igniters from hella; either coming from audi or elsewhere.
 
MOT rules on HID / LED headlight conversions

Found this extract in an overview on car bulb upgrades by Autobulbs Direct.

We know Testers vary in applying common sense but this wording makes it difficult to pass a car with such headlight upgrades even if the beam pattern, cut off and colour temperature are all acceptable

Cheers Spike

MOTbulbs.JPG
 
I was surprised when reading a trade magazine whilst waiting for The MOT to be done on our car that it is illegal to fit LED lights to units that were not designed for them!
 
Not just LED but HID also as @spike has already shown. So if you have fitted either replace them now with standard halogen bulbs. Also NOT a good idea to have LED brake lights. The brake circuit interacts with the ABS, traction control EDL and cruise control. The last thing you want is an LED bulb to cause issues with these systems.
Then you get the idiots that tint their light lenses and then need brighter bulbs to shine through, and then they complain they have failed the
MOT or stopped by the police. Tinted lenses are illegal to start with as the do not conform to the CoC certification held on that car.
If you must have LEDs then stick to indicators ( with modified flasher unit ) and front side lights (possibly front fogs), but for the rear as it would be impossible to see if it were tail lights or brake lights that were on best to avoid and to check the MOT requirements. I believe zenon bulbs are also going to be outlawed unless the whole light unit was designed to have them and OEM parts.
 
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audifan said:
Not just LED but HID also as @spike has already shown. So if you have fitted either replace them now with standard halogen bulbs. Also NOT a good idea to have LED brake lights. The brake circuit interacts with the ABS, traction control EDL and cruise control. The last thing you want is an LED bulb to cause issues with these systems.
Then you get the idiots that tint their light lenses and then need brighter bulbs to shine through, and then they complain they have failed the
MOT or stopped by the police. Tinted lenses are illegal to start with as the do not conform to the CoC certification held on that car.
If you must have LEDs then stick to indicators ( with modified flasher unit ) and front side lights (possibly front fogs), but for the rear as it would be impossible to see if it were tail lights or brake lights that were on best to avoid and to check the MOT requirements. I believe zenon bulbs are also going to be outlawed unless the whole light unit was designed to have them and OEM parts.
Click to expand...
I thought tinted lenses that aren’t too extreme are legal in the UK?
 
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