Hi. Is legal to use led headlight for main beam and full beam in uk?

No it's not legal.

 

Those type of bulbs will give you an awful beam pattern  and will not pass an MOT. Although they will appear brighter than H7 filament bulbs, the actual amount of light thrown a distance down the road will be substantially less.

 

The only chance of any LED bulbs giving you a decent light output is if the LED is exactly the same size and place as the filament in a regular H7 bulb.

With light coming from the wrong place in the bulb, it will not be focused on the reflector, and so will just be dazzling for other road users.

 

 

Philips Ultinon bulbs are designed to mimic the light pattern of a regular H7 bulb, but even they are not road legal, as they are not ECE approved.

 

 

Don't bother with LED bulbs unless you want to have an accident because you can't see where you're going, your insurance will be invalidated as well.

Just not worth the trouble.

I've been using and testing several options of LEDs for my former car. The projector makes the difference. I compared the same lamps without lenses from Fabia with the standard enclosures from a 2019 Dacia Logan. The difference was huge. While the light beam from Skoda Fabia was spread like flies over a ****, the ones from the Dacia were actually doing one hell of a job. I'd say that LEDs would work well if fitted with lenses. Other than that, it's just a lot of heat, noise from the fans and actually as the other guys said, you can get easily into an accident. It's a no go. It's not the LEDs, it's actually the lamps which are 21 years old in design. 

I agree LED bulbs are not legal and could fail an MOT.

 

I disagree that all LED bulbs will give an awful beam pattern or will cause you to crash or have an accident as you cannot see where you are going.

 

Talking from experience I have tested the following:

 

Philips X-tremeUltinon gen2 LED H7

 

Philips Ultinon Essential LED H3 

 

I purchased 2 x new fabia headlights (reflector type) and the above led bulbs, I also purchased a light measuring meter.

 

I set the headlights up in my garage and measured the light output and scatter using the original halogen bulbs, a set of Hid bulbs (special HIDS for reflector headlights) and the LED bulbs, the outcome of this was the Philips LEDs were no worse for light scatter than the original halogen bulbs, the HIDs were slightly worse, the light output was of course much better from the LEDs and the HIDS than the halogen.

 

Having driven the car with new headlights and the HIDS fitted and the LEDs fitted the light output is far superior to halogen and white rather than yellow, I have tested out using another car if the HIDs and LED cause glare or blinding when in front and coming from the other direction, they did not (obviously headlight alignment was checked and correct).

 

I used the HIDS for a couple of years and the LEDs for one year without any complaints from other drivers (no flashing etc), I have followed work colleges and family and no one has ever commented about being blinded by the headlights.

 

For the MOT I changed out the HIDs for halogen as it was obvious they were HIDs due to the ballast boxes, the LEDs are all contained within the headlight unit and passed the last MOT with no comment from the tester (I did not know him or anyone at the garage I went to) .

 

So my personal conclusion is if you are prepared to take responsibility for using them and can afford to buy quality LED bulbs i.e. Philips (not £20 ebay specials) then yes LED bulbs are far superior to halogen and don't cause any hazard to other drivers or yourself.

Minefield......... Long and short! Projector lens, might get away with it and improve things...... Agree with originals comparing to candles 

I have these, had them for 2 years passed both mot's, light output is excellent, has a nice flat cutoff point (reflector housing) Just adjust headlight aim and you're good

2 hours ago, Gt4thomas said:

I have these, had them for 2 years passed both mot's, light output is excellent, has a nice flat cutoff point (reflector housing) Just adjust headlight aim and you're good

I have considered some for the main beam (admittedly) more for the quick flash and look....... But always thought they looked bulky to fit 

I do alot of night driving and wouldn't be without them. These particular units will fit in place of the factory bulb with any modification.

 

As easy as normal bulbs to fit, instant off/on. If you can here the tiny fans over an idling engine you've got some magical ears.

You may use LEDs in fog lights and signal lamps in the UK, at least there is no explicit MOT manual clause against them. You may not use LEDs nor HIDs in halogen headlamps, this is now instant MOT failure.

Here is a link to my earlier post on alternative ways to improve light amount (and not that expensive either).