Bi-xenon improvements

[mabnz]

Hi,

 

I'm growing increasingly dissatisfied with my headlights on my pre-FL O3 vRS. I've performed the ballast+45W HID mod, but they are still not as bright as I'd like.

 

Has anyone got any ideas, or retrofitted LED modules? @xpower perhaps? I hear the LED headlights on the FL are very good.

 

Mike

Edited 27 June, 2018 by mabnz

[ahenners]

What bulbs do you have in there currently?

[mabnz]

16 hours ago, ahenners said:

What bulbs do you have in there currently?

 

Morimoto's 5500k.

Edited 28 June, 2018 by mabnz

[xpower]

If you want LED, the simplest solution I could think of is to retrofit the bi-led projectors from a Nissan Qashqai.

They are a small projector with a nice smart cut off. Depending on the size you would have to totally modify the mountings so the ASF could 'swing' the projector around in the housing.

 

Had I kept the vRS, that's what I may have done.  I converted mine to D2S so I could run 50w ballasts, whilst I found the brightness ok, the cut off wasn't razor sharp like bi-LED.

 

If not the Qashqai bi-led's the the BMW mini bi-LEDs are very impressive with a blue hue across the whole cut-off.  Problem is they are more expensive.

[mabnz]

17 minutes ago, xpower said:

If you want LED, the simplest solution I could think of is to retrofit the bi-led projectors from a Nissan Qashqai.

They are a small projector with a nice smart cut off. Depending on the size you would have to totally modify the mountings so the ASF could 'swing' the projector around in the housing.

 

Had I kept the vRS, that's what I may have done.  I converted mine to D2S so I could run 50w ballasts, whilst I found the brightness ok, the cut off wasn't razor sharp like bi-LED.

 

If not the Qashqai bi-led's the the BMW mini bi-LEDs are very impressive with a blue hue across the whole cut-off.  Problem is they are more expensive.

 

What have you got now, if you got rid of the vRS?

 

Thanks for the suggestions. It all seems very difficult once you get past the ballast + morimoto bulbs..

Edited 28 June, 2018 by mabnz

[KevC_Derby]

The OHs previous Mini had bi-LEDs (64 plate) and I thought they were crap. Maybe because they are so low down but didn’t like the cutoff nor the hue. Pain in the arse to drive tbh.

LEDs in the 67 plate are better light distribution but the cutoff is still not that sharp.

Would any other LED options fit from another VAG model?

[mabnz]

@xpower What about these? http://www.morimotohid.com/d2h-d2s-morimoto-2stroke.html

 

You mentioned a D2s conversion. How would I go about it?

 

I note D2S has the notch in a different place to D3S.

Edited 28 June, 2018 by mabnz

[brettikivi]

the Philips LED bulbs seem to be getting good feedback where I've heard some. Decent light output and good colour.

 

 - Bret

[xpower]

12 hours ago, mabnz said:

@xpower What about these? http://www.morimotohid.com/d2h-d2s-morimoto-2stroke.html

 

You mentioned a D2s conversion. How would I go about it?

 

I note D2S has the notch in a different place to D3S.

 

The D2S bulbs are a direct fit for the D3S, the main issue is the connector on the back of the D2S bulb fowls the casing of the headlight when the AFS motors swing the projector full swing.

 

its doable though (I did it) but takes a little bit of fettling :-)

 

oh - I sold the vRS and brought a Golf R :-)

 

 

[mabnz]

1 hour ago, xpower said:

 

The D2S bulbs are a direct fit for the D3S, the main issue is the connector on the back of the D2S bulb fowls the casing of the headlight when the AFS motors swing the projector full swing.

 

its doable though (I did it) but takes a little bit of fettling :-)

 

oh - I sold the vRS and brought a Golf R :-)

 

What a traitor! :-)

 

So, how did you work around the rubbing? File down the bulb casing? 

 

How did you fit the LED driver inside the headlight enclosure with the AFS machinery, or was it external? Edit: I see now you used a HID ballast, so no LED.

 

Edited 28 June, 2018 by mabnz

[mabnz]

Also I see Morimoto offer a number of bulbs - which one did you use? 55W ballast + 50W bulb?

 

[mabnz]

So after some exhaustive research it looks like I have three options.

 

a) 50W Morimoto ballast + 35W or 55W Morimoto D2S bulbs. Difficulty: 5/10. Problems: How to get new ballast wires into + out of headlight assembly. Where to get input for new ballast. Whether to leave old ballast in place.

Mormoto 2 Stroke LED D2S. Difficulty: 7/10. Problems: Where to tap into 12V, and how to get driver output wiring into headlight assembly. Pros: 5000 lumens per bulb. Cons: Still uses ****ty OE projector.

c) Full Qashqai / BMW bi-LED projector retrofit. Difficulty: 9/10. Problems: Modification of mountings. 

 

@xpower What are your thoughts? How did you get the wiring into the headlight from your XB55's when you had them installed (assuming you located it outside due to space)?

 

 

Edited 29 June, 2018 by mabnz

[Jaco2k]

14 minutes ago, mabnz said:

So after some exhaustive research it looks like I have three options.

 

a) 50W Morimoto ballast + 35W or 55W Morimoto D2S bulbs. Difficulty: 5/10. Problems: How to get new ballast wires into + out of headlight assembly. Where to get input for new ballast. Whether to leave old ballast in place.

Mormoto 2 Stroke LED D2S. Difficulty: 7/10. Problems: Where to tap into 12V, and how to get driver output wiring into headlight assembly. Pros: 5000 lumens per bulb. Cons: Still uses ****ty OE projector.

c) Full Qashqai / BMW bi-LED projector retrofit. Difficulty: 9/10. Problems: Modification of mountings. 

 

@xpower What are your thoughts? How did you get the wiring into the headlight from your XB55's when you had them installed (assuming you located it outside due to space)?

 

 

 

You got a d) option - sell your car and buy a FL

...on my case, I got a Seat Leon with LED headlights and they look miles ahead of the Skoda Bi-xenons - real LED headlights will usually have a matrix of LEDs and that is something that is practically impossible to retrofit, since the beam is comprised of several sources of light that focus at one point as opposed to a projector.

[SC03OTT]

Are the headlights adjusted properly? Never found my pre-FL Xenons lacking tbh. 

[xpower]

I cut a hole in the headlight cap then purchased some grommets to bring the wiring through (so no risk of water leaks).

 

Morimoto D2S led wont work, I looked at it. There isn’t anywhere near enough space for the heat sink to swing around.

 

Getting a 12v feed isn’t an issue, that’s easily available within the headlight.

It’s a tough desicion, if I were to do it again I’d go with some bi-led projectors. The problem is when I was looking for Qashqai headlights on eBay they were still quite expensive.

it wouldn’t be an easy task but just think, you could have LED headlights without regretting you brought a FL (and having to look at it everyday) :-)

 

 

[mabnz]

12 hours ago, SC03OTT said:

Are the headlights adjusted properly? Never found my pre-FL Xenons lacking tbh. 

 

Pretty sure. Are you talking about horizontal adjustment?

 

5 hours ago, xpower said:

I cut a hole in the headlight cap then purchased some grommets to bring the wiring through (so no risk of water leaks).

 

Morimoto D2S led wont work, I looked at it. There isn’t anywhere near enough space for the heat sink to swing around.

 

Getting a 12v feed isn’t an issue, that’s easily available within the headlight.

It’s a tough desicion, if I were to do it again I’d go with some bi-led projectors. The problem is when I was looking for Qashqai headlights on eBay they were still quite expensive.

it wouldn’t be an easy task but just think, you could have LED headlights without regretting you brought a FL (and having to look at it everyday) :-)

 

 

 

Argh it's all very difficult!

 

I thought you might have cut a hole. I don't want to do that ideally as it will be obvious that I've modified it.

 

I guess I could disable AFS via VCDS so the bulb won't swing - may not need it if the projector allows for enough spread.

 

I was thinking the same thing - I actually drove a FL yesterday and strangely dislike a number of things about it - one of those things ain't the LED headlights! If I was to acquire some Qashqai projectors - implanting them in the O3 headlight enclosure, would I need to dissemble the front of the headlight to get the new projector in, or would it fit from the back? It feels like quite a big job.

 

I have ordered some stroke2 H11 bulbs for the fogs so I'll see how they go. They may settle my burning desire for more lumens (hopefully).

 

Edited 29 June, 2018 by mabnz

[Alfashark]

17 hours ago, SC03OTT said:

Are the headlights adjusted properly? Never found my pre-FL Xenons lacking tbh. 

 

I'll second this question, and also check that the lens itself hasn't suffered any weirdness as far as UV goes - We tend to fare the worst globally down here.

The reason I say this, is I do a 50km drive through the middle of nowhere at 330am to get to work and I'd rate the O3 lights as some of the best I've driven behind and that's with stock bulbs...

 

My '06 Fabia however - Regular halogens - gets about 8 months between having the lenses attacked with a restoring kit.  There's no yellowing or visible clouding, but the beam pattern and spread drop right off to the point that it's plain scary to drive at night. A couple of hours spent - I'll be doing them tomorrow - And they're as good as new again, with clearly defined cutoff and spread.

 

Just some food for thought before you end up nuts-deep converting the enclosures

[mabnz]

48 minutes ago, Alfashark said:

 

I'll second this question, and also check that the lens itself hasn't suffered any weirdness as far as UV goes - We tend to fare the worst globally down here.

The reason I say this, is I do a 50km drive through the middle of nowhere at 330am to get to work and I'd rate the O3 lights as some of the best I've driven behind and that's with stock bulbs...

 

My '06 Fabia however - Regular halogens - gets about 8 months between having the lenses attacked with a restoring kit.  There's no yellowing or visible clouding, but the beam pattern and spread drop right off to the point that it's plain scary to drive at night. A couple of hours spent - I'll be doing them tomorrow - And they're as good as new again, with clearly defined cutoff and spread.

 

Just some food for thought before you end up nuts-deep converting the enclosures

 

The best you've ever driven? Woah. You should try the O3 FL with LEDs. They're pretty good  That's true about UV, I checked the lens briefly and it looked the same as other times I've looked at it (which isn't often to be fair).

 

However.. I have made a breakthrough. At the time I replaced my ballasts to 45W, I accidentally ordered three sets of bulbs - 2x Yeaky's (5500k, 6500k) and the Morimotos. 

 

I just bought a lux meter and compared the three sets of bulbs.

 

Existing Morimotos (ones I'm saying are too dim): 745 lux

Yeakys 5500k: 1320 lux

Yeakys 6500k: 1580 lux (?!?!)

 

So it appears I'm not going crazy and the Morimotos have dimmed! Which we know (@aki78 mentioned it in another thread), I just didn't anticipate it would be 50% within a year. I wonder if driving them @ 45W has decreased their lifetime that much more.

 

I've left the 6500k's in (which strangely settled at ~1350 lux the second time I measured them) and they are noticeably fuller and brighter.

 

Edited 30 June, 2018 by mabnz

[Alfashark]

That's progress! Quite plausible that winding the driver wattage up knocks a bit of life out of them too.

 

Now you've got the lux meter, just keep on checking them over a fixed time frame - Maybe once a month and get a feel for any deterioration rates.

[shyVRS245]

On ‎27‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 10:20, mabnz said:

Hi,

 

I'm growing increasingly dissatisfied with my headlights on my pre-FL O3 vRS. I've performed the ballast+45W HID mod, but they are still not as bright as I'd like.

 

Has anyone got any ideas, or retrofitted LED modules? @xpower perhaps? I hear the LED headlights on the FL are very good.

 

Mike

They are outstanding on the FL Octavia. Big thumbs up to LED headlights having had several cars with Bi xenons.

[mabnz]

Just an update here. I've been using the Yeaky's for a few days now and the difference is amazing - they are brilliant. I'd love to compare them side by side to LEDs in the FL.

 

45W ballast + 35W D3S Yeaky 6500K.

Edited 3 July, 2018 by mabnz

[kris-p]

On 03/07/2018 at 20:17, mabnz said:

Just an update here. I've been using the Yeaky's for a few days now and the difference is amazing - they are brilliant. I'd love to compare them side by side to LEDs in the FL.

 

45W ballast + 35W D3S Yeaky 6500K.

I know I am 3 years late, but I was just wondering why are you using 45W ballast? The original D3S bulbs have 35W built in.

I want to buy Yeaky’s bulbs so want to make sure I will buy correct ballast. Cheers

[Towelie]

I wouldn’t say the pre FL headlights are bad they just point too far down at standard. Yes they aren’t like an LED light on modern cars but these are going back to 2013 design now, that’s getting on a bit in the grand scheme of car lighting. 
 

I took mine to Skoda and asked them to adjust to suit the car being lowered and now I can see all the way down the road fully lit without need for a main beam. Fully light up road signs where they didn’t before, can see corners way off in the distance better than before where it seemed to be darkness about 70 yards out from the car. They’re bright, the set up of these is key to getting the best out of them.