neilc Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 Whilst in the well known camping and mountain bike shop Halfords I noticed in their 2 ft square automotive department that they have H5 LED bulbs that will fit the headlights on the series 3 , these are the bulbs that have the little yellow squares on , are these compatible , I see you can get complete fitting upgrades online and also bulbs with built in fans to cool them. Is there an obvious reason these wont work, if Halfords are selling them in assuming that they have passed all the relevant safety tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
=jon= Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 They won't have been ECE certified, and the bowls you are putting them in won't have been certified with LED emitters, so technically they won't be road legal (and will fail a properly done MOT). What's more likely to stop you from fitting them is that without a projector type headlight assembly the light will be all over the place and blind everyone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordan_meakin Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 Agreed - get a proper kit for decent halogens from a reputable supplier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lo-fi Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 The Wipac H4 halogen kits are excellent, cost effective, E marked and legal. With Osram Nightbreakers fitted they're far better than the lights on my Audi using the same bulbs. https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/headlamp-wipac-rtc4615k-gdl003g-p-36438.html. Mine arrived in a Britpart box, but proper Wipac stuff inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 I have done a bit of reading up on these; mainly for my VW polo road car that appears to have candle lights in the headlights. From what I gather, the £20 ebay jobbies are best left alone, due to the above mentioned reasons. The more expensive ones, mainly the Philips £150 a set bulbs are much better; They are designed to work with the reflector, and apparently (from another forum) sail through the MOT with regards to there being a good pattern and a plenty of light. I have no experience with them passing an MOT myself though, so don't hold it against me if they don't. They are technically not road legal as in the car did not pass the vehicle approval test with them fitted. But passing an MOT will do for me. I would not fit them to my Land rover though, as dunking it bonnet deep wont probably do much good for the fan arrangement. Also, they are much longer bulbs with the fan, so will probably need the bezel cutting to make them fit to a land rover headlight, which would expose them to the front wheels and anything they throw up. On road cars, they usually fit inside the headlight unit, so will still be sealed and the fan will just circulate air inside the headlight unit, which appears to be enough. Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyoldgit Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 On 3/24/2019 at 10:29 AM, =jon= said: They won't have been ECE certified, and the bowls you are putting them in won't have been certified with LED emitters, so technically they won't be road legal (and will fail a properly done MOT). What's more likely to stop you from fitting them is that without a projector type headlight assembly the light will be all over the place and blind everyone... This^^^ You may well be able to get a vehicle through an MoT test with these bulbs fitted to standard bowls and get years of trouble free use. BUT, if you are unfortunate enough to have an RTA at night that involves police, insurance etc let alone injury to a third party you'd better pray the mishap isn't serious enough for them to instigate a thorough vehicle inspection. Not worth the hassle. Best bet is to fit tested and approved vehicle lighting units and make sure they are properly adjusted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantastic Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Having seen these bulbs in action I'm a bit on the fence. The ones I saw was a pair of Philips, about the £150 mark. These were installed in a set of wipac crystals. In dusk you can't really see the light being emitted. It's strange, you can see the road just fine but you can't identify the light being cast on the road. There's not yellow light thrown on the road. In the dark I found them very good. Things were very clear and the area ahead felt lit up and easy on the eyes. Why I'm on the fence is I'm not sure if they are better or not. I think the colour temperature is easier on the eyes in the dark. But I'm also so used to the warmer colour tones that I felt they weren't working in the dusk. They obviously were, I just wasn't used to see the light that way. These ones make the correct pattern and doesn't blind oncoming traffic. There are reports online that they will pass testing for what that is worth. I think Halogen is still king but the LED bulbs are getting better and these might be a good option for some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 What makes it tempting is the claimed life span of 12 years, double the light output and much lower current draw. Of course, real life experience may well be different. I cannot see much merit in HOGs comment, especially if it passes MOT. It would mean that the led bulb has caused a crash, which would be hard to prove if the MOT confirms compliance. But then this is a public forum and HOG has to make sure our great forum is not liable.... Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantastic Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 The life span is a major selling point for sure. Especially on a Puma where changing light bulb means the whole reflector has to come off and the unit has to be recalibrated after. I'm not so sure about the light output claim to be honest. If you already have a sound setup (boomslang loom or similar) then I'm not convinced the light is any stronger. If you have an older vehicle with candle lights then I imagine it's a massive improvement. I do find the light easy on the eyes in the dark. Your eyes don't feel as strained as they do from driving in the dark with regular bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyoldgit Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 On 3/26/2019 at 2:19 PM, Daan said: What makes it tempting is the claimed life span of 12 years, double the light output and much lower current draw. Of course, real life experience may well be different. I cannot see much merit in HOGs comment, especially if it passes MOT. It would mean that the led bulb has caused a crash, which would be hard to prove if the MOT confirms compliance. But then this is a public forum and HOG has to make sure our great forum is not liable.... Daan You miss my point. TBH I personally don't give a hoot what anyone fits or does to their vehicles, it's not as though LR4x4 is saying "these are a must fit regardless" lol. The MoT test does not inspect every component for compliance with this or that standard, it's far too general for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoSS Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 theres already a very long thread on this, somewhere down in the noise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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