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Headlight MOT fail same again or LEDs?


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Seems time and possibly puddles have caught up with my reflector bowl on my front head light and the Mot says not good enough.

£70 for a new one or time to join 2018 with flying cars  led ones ? My night time driving is limited but I do have a soft spot for DRLs in headlights.

Ladies and Gentlemen your opinions please.

I know there are other threads but LED seems pretty fast changing area.

My current thought is decent leds are £250 and I’m not quite ready to go there.

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£70 a lamp that's expensive you can pick up land rover 7" for about £15 a side I brought a set of clear wipac ones for my escort for £35 for the pair   I have a pair of those led ones on the defender paid £100 for the pair they work fine not as much depth as a good quality halogens or hids but still a good lamp better than the old sealed beam units

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Cheapest path for decent lights is Hellas.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hella-7-Halogen-Headlight-Headlamps-Land-Rover-90-110-Defender-Series-2-3/231881898211?hash=item35fd3cf8e3:g:BaEAAOSwxp9W7Asz

Good LEDs are quite pricey.  They are all very, very different from each other and you should do a lot of real research before buying.

 

Edited by Red90
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I've found that a set of halogens with decent bulbs (no need for 120%, 150% etc. - just a good quality bulb) and fed by a relay setup is more than adequate for the significant miles I do on very dark and fast country roads, circa 15,000 out of the 40,000/year. Mine are Quadoptic units, IIRC the standard fit, with I think GE bulbs. The loom runs off the alternator.

LEDs are very good for impressing the other school run mums but while I am sure they perform well I just don't see a benefit that justifies the much higher cost - while this has reduced in recent years you're still looking at £250 for a decent and legal set as above. I also find that at least 50% of the LED lights I see on other cars are blinding me, so either they're all poorly adjusted or they are just so bright that other road users are affected. I suppose one other benefit of LEDs that halogens cannot provide is water tightness - if you are dunking the front end regularly then this may be a factor.

The Boomslang loom is good, check the crimps are good before fitting. I had one come undone when feeding the wires through but I re-crimped it easily enough. It would arguably be better to make up your own loom which could be better designed in terms of layout and circuit redundancy etc.

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48 minutes ago, Retroanaconda said:

I suppose one other benefit of LEDs that halogens cannot provide is water tightness - if you are dunking the front end regularly then this may be a factor.

I have waterproof halogens.   In fact, I changed to them specifically for that reason.  They are DOT though.  I'm not sure if there are options for UK legal ones or not. They use 9007 bulbs which have an o-ring to seal the bulb to the housing with a goretex vent on the housing for it to breath.  They were OEM for H2 Hummers.  Really nice lights and you can play submariner safely.

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7 minutes ago, Snagger said:

Don't they ice up in winter, though, Red?  They're reputed to run so cool that they don't clear condensation, frost or snow from the lenses.

They do but some of them have a heater element in the cover to keep them clear of ice and snow.

Edited by Dave W
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1 hour ago, Snagger said:

Don't they ice up in winter, though, Red?  They're reputed to run so cool that they don't clear condensation, frost or snow from the lenses.

I have halogens, not LEDs.  They are not cold.  They are just waterproof halogens.

And, yes, truck-lite do a version with automatic defrosting lens heaters.

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