Hello, the LED option is quite costly (+ 1000€). Has anyone tried changing the headlight bulbs from Halogen to LED?

Depending on local laws it may not be legal to fit LED headlights to a car that has standard halogen bulbs from the factory, I notice you are in Belgium so best to check.

My Karoq has LED headlights however the rear indicators and reverse lights are bulbs and whilst it is possible to get (from chinese sellers) after market LED replacements I could not assertain whether these LED replacement were actually road legal in the UK, which could prove interesting in three years time when the MOT comes long or I have to make an insurance claim!

Hope this helps?

I would not know about the legality in Belgium but I don't think this is an issue here. Was more asking about the technical aspect of the thing. Don't know if the projectors are specific to LED headlights. Will ask the dealer next time I am there.

Thx.

I think that mating the reflector shape to the light source form is critical for a proper beam.

Would have thought that self levelling and auto beam adjust similar to that for Xenon bulbs would be a must. Most Original fit LEDs have special sealed headlight units/ reflectors as far as I know

hallo all,

i changed to led headlights yesterday,but when i tried them out,they did not work,had warning lights and engine managment light come on,so changed back to original halagen,switched lights on,and all ok.

eny one got any info,something i may have done wrong maybe.

Belgium will be covered by the same ECE regulations as here in the UK.

 

In short, if you want road legal LED headlights, you'll need to retrofit everything that would have been fitted in a factory install. That'll mean two new headlights, level sensor(s) and various AFS modules.

 

If you choose to use drop in halogen replacements, they will not be road legal and are likely to perform worse than the original halogens as the headlights aren't designed for them.

I've seen LED's fitted to halogen reflectors that have performed considerably better compared to the regular incandescent bulbs fitted from the factory, but this was in a Vauxhall Vivaro. I can't say what effect they were having on other road users though, but the driver insisted they are never flashed from oncoming drivers, not that that means they aren't being dazzled.

19 minutes ago, mantiss said:

hallo all,

i changed to led headlights yesterday,but when i tried them out,they did not work,had warning lights and engine managment light come on,so changed back to original halagen,switched lights on,and all ok.

eny one got any info,something i may have done wrong maybe.

 

Can you post a link of the LED bulbs you used?

 

If you're getting an on-dash error, then it is likely they aren't CANBUS-friendly i.e. don't have the blown bulb-warning cancellers built-in.

h7 led,s

Has anyone tried to retro fit and been successfully with new LED units?

 

I doubt it, it will likely be cost prohibitive.

1 minute ago, silver1011 said:

I doubt it, it will likely be cost prohibitive.

 

I'm not so sure, the units can be purchased for ~£600 which doesnt seem to bad

It's not just the cost of the headlights, it'll be a new bumper with the integrated headlight washers, the level sensors attached to the suspension and all the paraphernalia that goes with them.

 

You might also need a new electronic module, or at the very minimum some additional coding.

 

The biggest issue will be finding someone willing  and able to do it for you.

On 30/12/2018 at 19:47, mantiss said:

hallo all,

i changed to led headlights yesterday,but when i tried them out,they did not work,had warning lights and engine managment light come on,so changed back to original halagen,switched lights on,and all ok.

eny one got any info,something i may have done wrong maybe.

Hello! So you changet the headlight from hallogen to full led?? I want to do the same as you, but i think the control units must also be changed other than the headlight unit.

5 hours ago, Margen said:

Hello! So you changet the headlight from hallogen to full led?? I want to do the same as you, but i think the control units must also be changed other than the headlight unit.

And it's a MoT failure

 

Tom

1 hour ago, Sanqhar said:

And it's a MoT failure

 

Tom

And not road legal from when they're fitted so could invalidate your insurance.

Margen lives in Tirana, Albania so different rules may apply to him.

1 hour ago, Liger1956 said:

Margen lives in Tirana, Albania so different rules may apply to him.

Hadn't spotted that, but you're right. And not in the EU yet, so have their own rules.

 

Chris

Daft question but why would changing from halogens to LEDs be an MOT fail item?  I know changing from halogen to xenons would need light washing in place, but for LED lights?

 

This has a slight element of deja vu so I may have asked the same question previously. 

29 minutes ago, DSL said:

Daft question but why would changing from halogens to LEDs be an MOT fail item?  I know changing from halogen to xenons would need light washing in place, but for LED lights?

 

This has a slight element of deja vu so I may have asked the same question previously. 

 

 

Because  Section 4.1.4 of the current MOT Manual says so.

 

4.1.4. Compliance with requirements

Existing halogen headlamp units on vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1986 must not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp for light source and lamp not compatible.

 

Now if you ask if it does make sense, that is another story. For starters, either HID or LED in projectors work just fine, and the 2 sided thin plate narrow LED strip lamps  also work fine in reflectors, but if the MOT manual says fail, they will fail MOT check.

Much like not having a guy walking in front of your car with a red flag some years ago (The Locomotive Act 1865).

 

In the meantime, if you want to make your H7 headlamps light the road better, see my earlier post here. HTH

 

And how would a tester even know what was fitted on manufacture?  I regularly used to put my cars in where I’d changed complete halogen units for xenons, and never had any issues.  All of them had lights wash so that was never a problem but I doubt they had any access to info that they were originally halogens.  I can see if they clock “upgrade” bulbs then yes, fail.  

 

Personally not that bothered with fitting LEDs, it looks too much hassle TBH.  Keeping upgraded H7s in mind, pos for next winter.  

If you keep halogen housings and put LED's or HIDs in, tester will know because the housings are marked as halogen (ECE markings). If you change complete units, the next point tester looks at is auto levelling, so I guess if you picked a car with weak, under 2000lm xenons/LEDs and swapped whole units, you might get away with it.

 

But putting LED or HID bulbs into halogen lamps is now an MOT fail for stock headlamp low beams and high beams. You can still put LEDs in fog lights and signal lamps.

 

Even auxiliary high beams now have to be ECE rated, I struggle to explain this one by anything other than automotive lamp makers protecting the profits (typical at least 3x price difference between ECE and non ECE high beam LED).

 

Edited 24 March, 20215 yr by dieselV6