SteveRK Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 My experience with driving in the dark is the roads have never been better lit, it wasn't that long ago that sealed beam headlights were quite sufficient. Of course the problem now is dazzling oncoming headlights which is driving an 'arms race' to fit brighter lights on our own vehicles so that we can see where we are going. On an unlit road with no oncoming vehicles std' fitments lights are quite adequate surely??? My daily driver has std fitment HID lamps with auto levelling. They are only 45 watts and yes compared to new Audi A4s (the worst offenders for dazzle surely) they are dim but as above quite adequate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Thinking practically, any of the mentioned headlight upgrades, what happens if you dunk them into bonnet deep water, especially at night, when you need them? I personally like the normal Wipac sealed beam units, for this reason. Disadvantage is you need to cary a spare headlight instead of a spare bulb. But I suppose the LED headlights will have this problem as well. Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 No Daan. Led headligs are completly seald units. The Mobile Centre has one in a glass tank full of water on display at shows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 LED's don't heat up like normal headlights either, so there shouldn't be any shock cooling to the led headlight unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Thats good to know. Are they plastic or glass? I bashed a few glass ones in the past, but with plastic ones that wouldnt be such a problem. Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Sorry to open this up a year later but I missed it first time around. Daan, this is why I am interested, I still use sealed beam on my S1 which are getting difficult to find now. The ones I looked at were from our friends in Extreme xxxx which appear to be the same as the Amazon ones but more expensive (no surprise really). These are plastic and pollycarb IIRC. Pleased to see E marked units are legal? However I also agree about the headlight war it seems that now that the wattage is irrelevant as a control it is fair game to blind everyone as long as you are OK. Is this the final story on these or has things moved on? Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I haven't read the full posting ... but, from my research, there are a few manufacturers, and there are a few watch points (hope this helps). a) make sure you get RHD ones if you're in the UK (yes I see Berkshire). b) JW Speaker and Trucklite seem to be the manufactures I've found. Both seem to have their UK agents, and are listed on ebay + Amazon, but check the part numbers are actually for RHD vehicles. http://www.jwspeaker.com/ http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/GenericView?storeId=10001&langId=-1&pageName=/home.jsp The cost difference seems to vary quite a bit depending upon who you look at to buy them from. c) there is a comparison here which seems unbiased and I found useful on the LED headlights, but it relates to Harley's .... they do seem to use the same 7" headlights though and it gives you a good feel for the comparative spread of light https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CFwQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbogiesreviews.webs.com%2FReview%2520-%2520Phase%25207%2520LED%2520Headlights%2520%26%2520Passing%2520Lamps.pdf&ei=FvTPUrNylJOGB9v1gKgF&usg=AFQjCNGBHjCwX6Itk0YxRviEr2J35sHN3Q&sig2=SuZewViXbZB51hD2Wg5yog d) I got the below response from Trucklite regarding their product ref's. I found that if you search for the product number and "trucklite" if google, you can get them in the UK for about £199 / piece (but you may get better than that as that was a few months ago now) Rob, The 27270C is not setup for the left side of the road, and they are not E marked. We have just released our Left Hand ECE 7" LED Headlamp into New Zealand through TWL Gough Group Limited. You can contact them and ask for the 27291C. Here is the contact detail for TWL: http://goughtwl.co.nz/contact-us http://goughtwl.co.nz/ (03) 943 0058 Thanks, Karen Loizeaux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuko Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 This being an older thread, I've since bought and installed the Truck Lite 27270C LED headlights in my Hybrid. They've been installed for the more than a year and I can only praise this product. Here are some pictures. A few comparison pictures of the LED headlights vers the Philips VisionPlus H4 lights. LOW BEAM: HIGH BEAM: Another feature of these headlights that really impressed me is the spread of the visible light to the sides, they really do light up the ditch. Todd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJN Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Found the 27291C RHD lamps here: http://www.agmpartscomponents.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1095 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 TJN, that's great and thanks for the link, it's the same one I was looking at, and when I get to that point in my rebuild, I think I'll be using the Trucklite ones (RHD) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 These trucklite ones aren't a bad price. Are they e marked and all road legal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggie Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Tuko, the headlight beam on those LEDs looks mighty impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Thanks for the update, still confused on the Trucklite as this one implied ECE complience but it still does not say it? Also as mentioned earlier there is a lumens cut off for auto height adjust, what is that and are these lower than it? What is the driver for the high costs, supply demand and developement but surely LEDs are cheap the rest is just headlight as any? Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallfry Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 . Pleased to see E marked units are legal? However I also agree about the headlight war it seems that now that the wattage is irrelevant as a control it is fair game to blind everyone as long as you are OK. But ARE they legal ? There seems to some question about that, with those having a vested interest in selling them saying one thing, and the agency responsible for safety, contruction and use saying another...................... Its rather similar to the "ten year tyre rule", where same agency have no view on the subject, yet those with a vested interest in selling tyres (the manufacturers) say you MUST change them.........when legally you dont. I would like to see all this stuff banned anyway LED HiD whatever, not because I am anti progress and tech, but because I am sick and tired of being nearly blinded by these things and not being able to see for a couple of seconds. It seems to be the f**k you syndrome, and entirely unecessary, and banning them would have the very great benifit of slowing everyone down at night, which I personally think would be a good thing. Dont even get me started on those flashing bicycle lamps....................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Being "ECE", I took it that the headlights were Europe approved? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Forum_for_Harmonization_of_Vehicle_Regulations The UK is a signatory to the harmonization standards, so I would take it they are accepted. There is a little more to the headlights than just an LED + a reflector. From the day job, the problem with LED's is cooling. Yes they are efficient, and yes they consume less energy per lumen output, but all of the energy is converted to heat. The problem with LED's is maintaining their temperature as their life apparently become greatly shortened by inefficient or in effective cooling. One issue I have with replacing standard halogen headlights and reflectors with these LED ones (and I do want to do it) is that one the back of the headlight bowl on a 90/110 (def) at least... this will obviously serve several points in keeping the water away from the back of the reflector + any stones thrown up, the one the concerns me is the amount of cooling this may reduce too. If you see a QUALITY led lamp, you will normally see a nice aluminium fin heat exchanger (fin because it increases the surface area). Think that the trucklite ones look worth while (cost effective is a point of view), but the quality of the light looks good, and the parametric of how the light is spread looks good too (all of these are LED specific design elements). Hence I' buy them. Cost wise... well they are suppose to last 100,000 hours (also LED's don't mind being cycled, all other lamps prefer being left on, cycling them shortens their lifespan, and their output deteriorates with age) however comparing them to a £20/pair of halogen lamps with a life expectancy of 175 Hrs and a lumen output of 1650 Lumen (60/55W H4's) http://www.rallylights.com/h-412-hella-h4-9003-hb2-12volt-halogen-bulb.html maybe the economics don't quite stack up unless you're going to have the vehicle for many many years (or you transfer them). Please note, the 1650 lumen output for the halogen (60/50W H4) is the emission from the lamp (i.e light goes in all directions, near 360 deg), some of which is reflected forward, then the lens corrects to go where it's suppose to go... although the efficiency of the reflector will never be 100% (45% quoted in the presnetation below) so, a lot of the lamp output is lost. The LED's are a point source with a narrow beam, and the optics will direct the light where it needs to go, so the losses are likely to be much less by way of actual light transmission. A Load of info in here and comparisons if you need to decide / understand LED's in relation to HID's and Halogens: https://www.fh-muenster.de/fb1/downloads/personal/juestel/juestel/Automotive_Light_Sources_MalteWantjer_.pdf They should also be set up correctly too through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggie Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Forget LED.......you want laserlight 1,200 lumens enough for you ? http://m.t3.com/news/audi-flicks-the-switch-on-quattro-sport-laserlight-concept-at-ces Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 They'll do the blinding job properly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggie Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 They'll do the blinding job properly I know, that's what I thought ? The new Range Rovers are bad enough. Looks like we better up our game if we want to enter the arms race ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Haha, look good we'll never see whats coming towards us then and what side of the white line we're on .... maybe we should skip the whole headlight story and use infra-red / night vision with light discrimination to cut out glare. Kind of like TV's and their progression and the abbreviations and hype that goes with each new fad and how no one can understand why we ever bought the last one when the new one offers so much more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 We'll be driving around with welding helmets on before long ....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I'm confused by these truck lite headlamps. Anyone figured out if they are uk road legal or not? This ebay ad, which I think are the trucklite lamps suggests they are e13 marked? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-LANDROVER-DEFENDER-TD4-TD5-90-110-FULL-LED-7-HEADLAMPS-HEADLIGHTS-UPGRADE-/231098363804?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3ALand+Rover&hash=item35ce892f9c Plus I stupidly didn't realise the price earlier was for a single lamp, not a pair! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I'm confused by these truck lite headlamps. Anyone figured out if they are uk road legal or not? Ok. You probably all knew the answer, but i emailed AGM - the company linked to earlier in this thread - to ask about the legalities of these lights and this was their reply: Hi, Yes the Trucklite headlamps are fully E marked and approved. They are legal for the UK market. Beware of some of the USA sellers who are selling non EU approved versions that are not legal for the UK - you are wise to check first ! Regards Adrian So, it looks like these are still a pretty well priced (compared to other LED options) set of replacement lights for our vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Until they're £ 30 a pair, I'll pass Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Quite agree Mo. I'm personally not even sure LED units are better than decent halogens, but even if they are there's no way they're better by enough to justify that price tag. £50 would get you a set of crystal bowls and decent bulbs, so 1/10th the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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