LED headlight upgrade kit?

[fabiamk2SE]

Hey.

Seen reviews of similae things over on a motorbike forum im on, but not in a car headlight.

Has anybody tried anything similar to this?

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/brand-new-h7-50w-cree-led-headlight-foglight-kit-1800lm/?fullSite=1

Iv currently got hids in dipped beam and theyre brill, but im always on the search for better lights haha.

Also, if these were good and gave a good beam pattern, they look to be a good idea for a high beam upgrade, as HIDs just arent suitable for that.

Any feedback welcome! Im not sure im brave enough to take the plunge without feedback!

Cheers.

[Toxicvrs]

Might try them on my Fabia

[fabiamk2SE]

Might try them on my Fabia

Pop me a pm if you wanna discuss different options mate. Iv tried most things with upgrading lights, it all depends on the type of lens and bulb type youve got .

[LGM]

Interesting.... I've got CREE in my drl's and I love them.

[Toxicvrs]

Pop me a pm if you wanna discuss different options mate. Iv tried most things with upgrading lights, it all depends on the type of lens and bulb type youve got .

Alright mate will do in the morning probably, it will be a H7 with standard mk1 lights

[Phil-E]

I think they're about 1000 lumens less than an equivelant 35w 4300k HID kit... so not worth it!

 

Phil

[softscoop]

I think they're about 1000 lumens less than an equivelant 35w 4300k HID kit... so not worth it!

 

Phil

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

Although..it is below the 2000 lumen requirement to have washers and auto-levelers fitted so in the future this may be a more "legal" upgrade than HID kits.

[fabiamk2SE]

I think they're about 1000 lumens less than an equivelant 35w 4300k HID kit... so not worth it!

Phil

Cheers Phil. I wasnt sure what lumen output hids were. They arent that bright, certainly nowhere near as good as the audi OEM fit.

Any idea what lumen output a 55w nightbreaker bulb is? Roughly?

I imagine these led's will colour match the dipped beam better if i use them as high beam, but I'm not too bothered if it doesnt give noticeably more light output.

[Phil-E]

A quick google suggests about 1700 so actually they would be an upgrade for the full beam lights... plus the advantage of matching the HIDs and being instant on/off.

 

Does your fabia have a seperate bulbs for high beam or is it like the previous ones where it's the same bulb for both behind the projector?

 

Phil

[fabiamk2SE]

A quick google suggests about 1700 so actually they would be an upgrade for the full beam lights... plus the advantage of matching the HIDs and being instant on/off.

Does your fabia have a seperate bulbs for high beam or is it like the previous ones where it's the same bulb for both behind the projector?

Phil

Might be an idea then. I'll look into how easy they are to fit etc first. It was a pain in the backside when i had hids in high beam. Hiding the ballast wasnt easy, but they did turn night into day, until they blew because they dont like cycling between on/off. Also, the warm up time was a PITA.

Iv got seperate mate, as iv got a facelifted fabia with silver lights.

Iv got a dipped projector light with a reflector high beam next to it. Both h7 .

[Phil-E]

Ah yes. It's the new fabia with the "black pack" that gets just a single projector light for high and low beam... along with many people hating the light output of the lights!

 

I gather it's a bit of a pain changing bulbs in the fabia. The octavia is good as the hole light unit comes out with just one finger bolt and pulling a clip. Plus the balast for low beam fits inside... not sure about high beam though how much room etc there would be.

 

You may have to have the balast outside but also the bulbs are pretty big due to having a built in heat sink and fan.

 

Phil

[fabiamk2SE]

Ah yes. It's the new fabia with the "black pack" that gets just a single projector light for high and low beam... along with many people hating the light output of the lights!

I gather it's a bit of a pain changing bulbs in the fabia. The octavia is good as the hole light unit comes out with just one finger bolt and pulling a clip. Plus the balast for low beam fits inside... not sure about high beam though how much room etc there would be.

You may have to have the balast outside but also the bulbs are pretty big due to having a built in heat sink and fan.

Phil

Yeah thats the black pack lights mate . The silver ones are a much better setup IMO.

Thats a good idea! Unfortunately the fabia doesnt do that. I havent to find a space for it elsewhere. Iv got 2 sets of rubber boots though, one with a hole in the back and one without haha.

Hmm yeah. Dont look small do they. I wonder how big that ballast is, and also, the wires dont look very long!

I'll think about it for abit longer. Who knows, if theyre good, i might even fit em into the high beam of my bike too. Thats be cool!

Cheers Phil.

[Phil-E]

I'm tempted myself as I find the colour of the full beam a little annoying.

 

Will do some more research and get some measurements etc.

 

Phil

[Soot1e]

Don't  they need specially designed headlamps reflectors to make these work correctly?

[dieselV6]

Also, if these were good and gave a good beam pattern, they look to be a good idea for a high beam upgrade, as HIDs just arent suitable for that.

 

 

Correct, in that HID has much larger light producing area and as a result dumps much more light close to the car, and comparable amount to halogen away from the car. Even if you put 100W HIDs in there, at a distance there will not be much more light, and you will be blinded by reflections from scattered light close by anyway. That's on top of low startup intensity for cold HIDs and a delay.  But LEDs will fare much worse than even HIDs, as the illuminated area is larger than HID arc area.

 

For high beam, if you wanted an even better long range lighting, you either need to put Nightbreakers or similar (for moderate upgrade), use high power bulbs (but you need extra thick wiring right into bulb holder, and you risk melting the housing), or use standard bulbs and increase voltage to the lamp using soft-starting voltage booster (basically a DC-DC upconverter). Increasing voltage works best because amount of light goes up very fast (to 3rd power of increase over stock voltage) and the current does not change much, so stock wiring is good for it. Power also changes slowly, at 16.5V (stock 11V voltage at lit bulb), we're talking 75W power, for over 3x stock light.

 

Voltage boost solution gives 3x - 3.5x more light with factory beam shape at the cost of limiting high beam bulb usability to around 20 hours, which on my cars works out to changing them once a year (the H7 glass visibly darkens so it is easy to see they need replacing). Superb has been converted 3 years ago, Roomster 2 years ago, never had any problem with either since despite several trips where I used high beams continuously for up to an hour at a time, lots more high beam range (70%-80% more range, so nearly double).

 

It's a DIY project, if you do it, make sure the booster is hooked up after any in-car bulb monitoring/BCM and isolated from stock wiring using high current Schottky diodes. Was easy on Roomster and Superb, as the high voltage starts at the high beam fuses. An extra resistor in line with blue high beam indication on dashboard is required as well, a separate switch to enable/disable high beam boost and return to stock voltages is also a good idea.

 

I added 5.5V to stock voltage using inexpensive £5 "boost charger" converters from Ebay on the Superb, and a bit more pricey but single unit isolated voltage converter on the Roomster. Soft starting (full voltage only after 1-2s) is crucial though, most bulbs will blow instantly if you treat them to straight battery+5.5v. Alternative to soft start is to run very low current to high beams whenever engine is on, low enough that you do not see them glowing yet.  I use this on Roomster as it was easier to hook up.  

 

For me, boosting the voltage works best for high beams, shame about reduced bulb durability, otherwise I'd use it for low beams as well. In current cars, I use HIDs as low beam is projector type in both cars, will have to figure out something else for next one as Skoda moved away from projectors on new models.

Edited 11 September, 2014 by dieselV6

[Phil-E]

I've just thought... I'm sure I've seen an option in VCDS somewhere for bulb voltages.

 

I wonder if that would increase the light output a bit.

 

Phil

[fabiamk2SE]

That takes some getting my head around!

Was that easy to do DieselV6? Sounds like it might be worth doing!

[fabiamk2SE]

Don't they need specially designed headlamps reflectors to make these work correctly?

Not sure. I can only go off Dieselv6's post now haha.

The LED lights in the new Leon have loads of little reflector lenses and loads of LEDs in them. But these look more like 2 High output Cree LEDs

[fabiamk2SE]

I sent a question to HIDs direct asking if these would be suitable for high beam, and explained my headlight design type.

This is the reply i got:

"A: Hi there <br/> <br/>I wouldn't recommend putting led's on your main headlights because they don't give off a true beam pattern. Also the led kits are really bright so they may be dazzling to other drivers."

I'm not sure theyve grasped what i mean by high beam? High beam dazzled anyway, its designed to..

anyway. Looking at the beam pattern comment, i dont fancy spending £90 on it.

[dieselV6]

That takes some getting my head around!

Was that easy to do DieselV6? Sounds like it might be worth doing!

 

Relatively easy to do if you DIY fairly basic electronics, If you are new to this, best find someone who plays with both electronics and cars.  For me the biggest pain was to find suitable efficient voltage converters, because of high currents involved and my desire to keep the mod in the cabin, with little heat produced.

 

I originally did it as an experiment on the Mk1 Superb to complement new aux high beams in the lower grille (Hella Micro Xenons with 95W HID inserts for road side/forest lighting), but it worked great, so I repeated in on a Roomster (without aux high beams).

 

Both cars often drive through forests at night, and while my Superb is hard to beat there with 30000 high beam lumens on the road when boosted high beams and aux HIDs are on, the Roomster's 10000 lumens on the road are more than adequate after this mod. Stock high beams output 2600 lumens at best (1300lm each), barely enough in my opinion.

 

If you want to look into it further, on Roomster I used 102-1981-ND DC/DC fully isolated voltage converter (5V 40A 200W) from Digi-Key, allows setting voltage up to 5.5V and using it in series with car's voltage. At 40A rating it is a bit over the top, but I don't like fixing/replacing stuff once I install it. Also used several Schottky diodes, an extra fuse and an on/off switch. For "dark" current, i.e. soft start I used LSM2-T/16-D12-C DC/DC Converter from Farnell, (0.75-5V/16A), I do not remember what voltage it is set to, but definitely below 1.5V (note it still puts out several amps at this current, but power used is 5W-6W). The rest is just arranging Schottky diodes around the 2 converters so that current can flow either from stock wiring, or from stock wiring+ voltage booster /dark current).  

 

Both converters are over 95% efficient, so not much heat to deal with. LSM2-T/16-D12-C also runs high beam DRLs on my Mk1 Superb in daytime, ~3V loaded bulb voltage, in this use it has worked for over 7 years. Needs a small PCB though, test one will do.

Edited 11 September, 2014 by dieselV6

[silver1011]

I can't help thinking that if the each bulb needs it's own fan to stop it melting the headlight then the system is flawed.

 

The issue with being an 'early adopter' of new technology means you are often used as the guinea pig to iron out the issues. I remember the very early HID kits were pretty poor.

[fabiamk2SE]

I can't help thinking that if the each bulb needs it's own fan to stop it melting the headlight then the system is flawed.

The issue with being an 'early adopter' of new technology means you are often used as the guinea pig to iron out the issues. I remember the very early HID kits were pretty poor.

Why?

Iv got a few cree led torches. The heads on those get very hot after extended use, but the light output is like no other halogen torch.

Hmm i know what you mean there. I dont fancy being a guinea pig after paying £90.

Wouldnt mind a much higher quality hid kit tbh, i just dont know where to get a really good one. Everywhere seems to sell pretty similar kits.

[silver1011]

I'm guessing the LED headlight's in the Audi A8 and Seat Leon don't have fans to cool them down?

 

Having several smaller LED's seems to be the favoured approach, I'm guessing one big LED just isn't ideal for this type of application. 

 

I always thought high temepratures were one of the main reasons for reduced life in LED's?

 

Have you tried the London Colour HID kits? I have a 35W 4300K kit in my Superb and it is every bit as good as the OEM xenon's in the wife's Octavia.

 

I imagine there are still lots of poor quality HID kits out there...

[fabiamk2SE]

I'm guessing the LED headlight's in the Audi A8 and Seat Leon don't have fans to cool them down?

Having several smaller LED's seems to be the favoured approach, I'm guessing one big LED just isn't ideal for this type of application.

I always thought high temepratures were one of the main reasons for reduced life in LED's?

Have you tried the London Colour HID kits? I have a 35W 4300K kit in my Superb and it is every bit as good as the OEM xenon's in the wife's Octavia.

I imagine there are still lots of poor quality HID kits out there...

I think they use heat sinks on the back of each one to help dissipate the heat.

I think, from what i can gather, one LED is okay for brightness, its the beam pattern and scatter that makes it impractical. Its just doesnt seem possible to get a good pattern.

Yeah. Keep em cool from what iv read too.

Cheers for that recommendation. I havent heard of them before so I'll look into it now . Cheers.

[fabiamk2SE]

I'm guessing the LED headlight's in the Audi A8 and Seat Leon don't have fans to cool them down?

Having several smaller LED's seems to be the favoured approach, I'm guessing one big LED just isn't ideal for this type of application.

I always thought high temepratures were one of the main reasons for reduced life in LED's?

Have you tried the London Colour HID kits? I have a 35W 4300K kit in my Superb and it is every bit as good as the OEM xenon's in the wife's Octavia.

I imagine there are still lots of poor quality HID kits out there...

Have you got a link to the London colour hids? Would be much appreciated as i cant find them.

Cheers .