Advice needed on led headlight bulbs

stevec

Member
Wales
Hi all.
Bought these
DSC_0732.JPG

Thinking that the slim line, no fan cooled, leds would fit better and give more room in back of unit for adjustment /cooling etc. But didn't forsee the clip retention problem(it won't fit) . Is there an adapter i need to buy to do away with spring clip to hold in bulb? Or should i have bought the split able h7 led type for the car(these are bigger).
Thanks Steve
 
Hi all.
Bought theseView attachment 66211
Thinking that the slim line, no fan cooled, leds would fit better and give more room in back of unit for adjustment /cooling etc. But didn't forsee the clip retention problem(it won't fit) . Is there an adapter i need to buy to do away with spring clip to hold in bulb? Or should i have bought the split able h7 led type for the car(these are bigger).
Thanks Steve

I went through a number of led bulbs my honest opinion is it’s not worth it I’m not sure of the £100+ kits but everything I tried was just rubbish. The leds need to be exactly where the coil in the normal bulb would be also otherwise the beam pattern will be off.


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Hi all.
Bought these
Thinking that the slim line, no fan cooled, leds would fit better and give more room in back of unit for adjustment /cooling etc. But didn't forsee the clip retention problem(it won't fit) . Is there an adapter i need to buy to do away with spring clip to hold in bulb? Or should i have bought the split able h7 led type for the car(these are bigger).
Thanks Steve

on many of the LED H7s, the retaining collar that the spring clips onto can be twisted and unlocked from the body of the lamp. You sit this in the normal locked position, lock the clip in place, and then insert the bulb from the back of the clip at an angle, then click it into position through the clip, not the way that a conventional H7 would be clipped in in one piece. Is the metal collar on yours fixed in place?
 
on many of the LED H7s, the retaining collar that the spring clips onto can be twisted and unlocked from the body of the lamp. You sit this in the normal locked position, lock the clip in place, and then insert the bulb from the back of the clip at an angle, then click it into position through the clip, not the way that a conventional H7 would be clipped in in one piece. Is the metal collar on yours fixed in place?
Yep led lamp all complete. Even if it could be unscrewed there's not enough room to get clip in.
 
Yep led lamp all complete. Even if it could be unscrewed there's not enough room to get clip in.
That's really unfortunate. Hope you have some better luck soon (or advice from someone who really knows what they're talking about instead of me ! :). I trialled some £10 ones a couple of years ago. They looked really smart when lit from the outside, but driving in the dark - in particular rainy conditions - the pool of light went nowhere forwards but did cause terrible glare in the air in front of my car as the driver. Replaced with enhanced halogen H7s fairly quickly.
 
I’ve got led’s in the dipped and main beams. Passed the mot quite happily, and I get a much better illumination at night. The led in the lamp is almost exactly where the filament in a halogen bulb is.
Unfortunately I can’t find any detail of the manufacturer. I did get them from Amazon, though.
 
That's really unfortunate. Hope you have some better luck soon (or advice from someone who really knows what they're talking about instead of me ! :). I trialled some £10 ones a couple of years ago. They looked really smart when lit from the outside, but driving in the dark - in particular rainy conditions - the pool of light went nowhere forwards but did cause terrible glare in the air in front of my car as the driver. Replaced with enhanced halogen H7s fairly quickly.
Thank you for the heads up on these bulbs. I really must learn to READ INSTRUCTIONS before i undertake work. These lamps do infact twist and pull apart. Very stiff though. I have just fitted them to the A2 and will post up pictures/review in next week.
Thanks Steve
 
They're obviously a fair bit more powerful and probably better than my ones were - the technology seems to be advancing in leaps and bounds annually at the moment. I had forgotten until thinking about it just now, the thing that really killed mine for me - apart from the lack of projection in murky conditions here in Scotland - was the constant loud hissing interference on AM radio - it made Radio 5 unlistenable, unfortunately. These are bound to be a lot better. I put wee Osram LEDs in the little sidelight tubes - they are still there and are a huge improvement on the faint yellow incandescent originals.
 
Hi
Yes one of the reasons i went for the fanless type. I've heard the fan ones give bad radio interference. I have the Philips led bulbs and they have performed faultlessly. The led headlamp bulbs are audi dis compatible.
Steve
 
These are the ones i purchased
View attachment 66220

Oboy, 200W is a lot of power. Will this really work? The original bulb is 50W-ish, and a very big part of that is leaving the lamp unit by radiation ie not heating the lamp unit with its reflector etc, while the majority of the power developed in the LED lamp is stuck as heat in the LED body. That means that you are likely to get very hot lamp units. I would be worried that they would actually melt, when reading 200W.
Hope its just me being pessimistic though.
 
I’m not up on bulb technology at all! Are you better to just stick with good quality halogens? If so any particular recommendations? I would worry about my light fittings getting damaged by led.
 
Hi all.
Led lamps run a lot cooler than halogen lamps and take considerably less power. The 200w (claimed??) is in comparison to equivalent halogen lamps. And i believe is for the pair.
 
Hi all.
Led lamps run a lot cooler than halogen lamps and take considerably less power. The 200w (claimed??) is in comparison to equivalent halogen lamps. And i believe is for the pair.
Is this like household bulbs where it states something like 5-7w on the pack but is the equivalent of a 75w (or whatever?!) then?
 
Yep. I watched the novsight video on youtube. Very informative, i should have bought their product but couldn't find a mini h7 version as i don't want the fan types.
As said i will post up a review of these bulbs in a week or so. I also have a temperature probe so will use that to record temperature output from bulb in holder and at headlight.
If these bulbs are no good, according to the guarantee (50000 miles!) will purchase and try the novsight ones.
Steve
 
Hi
Yes one of the reasons i went for the fanless type. I've heard the fan ones give bad radio interference. I have the Philips led bulbs and they have performed faultlessly. The led headlamp bulbs are audi dis compatible.
Steve
Mine were fanless. Whenever you turned on the headlights, Radio 5 was obscured most of the time by a pronounced hissy white noise. Sometimes (with no warning) it abruptly disappeared, but there was no way of predicting it.

Re the wattage ratings - I did spend a few months reading about these - the biggest pitfall with these is that most (Ebay?) companies believe that bigger is better when it comes to anything involving numbers. First trick is always quoting notional wattage for a pair added together (as noted above), this wattage being based on a notional incandescent bulb and light output (in many randomly chosen standard unit equivalences) rather than actual power drawn. So in principle, a 200W bulb set as sold, is on paper equivalent to two 100W halogen bulbs, and in turn drawing a fair bit less than this. It may still be incredibly bright (lots of lumens / candelas / furlongs per fortnight), but as noted above unless the geometry of the bulb is perfect for the mirror housing it won't necessarily illuminate the road as well as hoped.

>I have the Philips led bulbs and they have performed faultlessly. The led headlamp bulbs are audi dis compatible.

Philips, Osram, Ring and GEC I would have a bit more faith in (there are a few of theirs that *are* legal retrofits on the road elsewhere in the world, just not here) than most other brands, provided they are genuine - both in terms of lack of interference and projection considerations.
 
Hi all.
Led lamps run a lot cooler than halogen lamps and take considerably less power. The 200w (claimed??) is in comparison to equivalent halogen lamps. And i believe is for the pair.
Would you have a link to those you bought?
 
Hi
Wouldn't want to recommend anything until i have fully tried/tested them out. If you want a very decent halogen bulb i can fully recommend these. Pictures of my old bulbs after 2years plus!
_20200623_202727.JPG
_20200623_202747.JPG
 
Hi
Yes one of the reasons i went for the fanless type. I've heard the fan ones give bad radio interference. I have the Philips led bulbs and they have performed faultlessly. The led headlamp bulbs are audi dis compatible.
Steve

Hello Steve,

what Philips LEDs exactly do you have?

Thanks,

Andre
 
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