Led headlight recommendations

[slihp]

Looking to purchase a set for the truck, notice a varying price range from 50-350. Anyone got any reasonably priced ones the could recommend?

[western]

Have a look though this, similar questions asked before 

 

[Litch]

At £50-£350 you are only looking at part of the available options and there are a lot of very poor / unsuitable ones at the bottom of the scale.

I have had Nolden's fitted since 2013, expensive but ok.

Truck-Lite have a solid reputation. 

The Britpart LED units are said to be excellent. A chap I know had a (brand-new, last off the line) Defender fitted with Nolden's and a runaround fitted with BP LED's, he said the BP units had a better spread of light and were his preferred choice for night-time driving.

[Snagger]

Interesting and surprising information about the Britpart option.

Before you invest, consider the local practical requirements.  LED lamps run cool, so if you are in a location that gets significant frost, freezing fog or snow, then you will need units with heated lenses.

[Escape]

Have you considered just replacing the H4 bulbs with LEDs? That's what I have done on my P38, I got them from https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/ I'm considering doing the same on my Esprit, lots of light for sensible money and easy to undo if needed (MOT or such).

[missingsid]

8 minutes ago, Escape said:

Have you considered just replacing the H4 bulbs with LEDs? That's what I have done on my P38, I got them from https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/ I'm considering doing the same on my Esprit, lots of light for sensible money and easy to undo if needed (MOT or such).

Who cares about a few blinded motorists or accidents.

If you have to take them out to meet the MoT they shouldn't be in in the first place Duh.

[Mo Murphy]

2 hours ago, missingsid said:

Who cares about a few blinded motorists or accidents.

If you have to take them out to meet the MoT they shouldn't be in in the first place Duh.

Why would motorists be blinded by led bulbs ?

Mo

[jeremy996]

1 hour ago, Mo Murphy said:

Why would motorists be blinded by led bulbs ?

Mo

Beacause the light source will not be in the same place as the filaments, and the directions it is emmitted is different, so it does not match the refector and therefore the light patten will be altered. That is why they are now illegal in the UK, (always illegal in Germany and probably illegal in France). Either change the whole light assembly or stick to bulbs and reflectors; I am getting throughly fed up of being blinded by poorly adjusted lights or illegally installed ones. 

[Mo Murphy]

Mine are installed legally in my pre 1986 vehicle.

My lights are properly installed, adjusted and the bulbs are designed to be used with normal headlamps.

I don't get flashed in the 90 but I do in my new SEAT with headlamps on.

But what do I know, I've only got some actual experience of them rather than reading what somebody else wrote 😁

Mo

[Snagger]

I’m not up to speed on the legality issues.  I know there was some discussion about the earlier vehicles, but understood they are still illegal on any road vehicle.  
 

That aside, there are differing quality replacement LED “bulbs” out there, and the good brands may give a decent beam pattern, as they claim, that can be adjusted just like with filament bulbs.  If so, they should be allowed an E mark to be made legal, but the authorities can be reluctant to undo blanket bans.

[missingsid]

The comments fly in the face of the original statement, can be easily removed for the MoT.

This says it all.

 

As for being flashed in the Seat that is not a surprise, the cars with the most blinding lights right now are all VAG manufactured.

[jeremy996]

Things can be properly installed and adjusted and still be illegal. Unless you are involved in an accident that involved loss of life, it is unlikely that it will be picked up in the UK as the enforcement authorities are woefully under-resourced. LED bulbs cannot be used in reflectors that were not specifically designed for them and both need to E-marked to be compliant.

So far as I can find out there are no E-marked LED bulbs tested and approved with any reflectors, although there are lots of drop-in LED sealed beam units.  

[monkie]

Personally I find that I get dazzled by new SUV type vehicles either behind me or coming towards me on unlit roads on just dipped headlights. I think its a combination of many SUVs having lights that are mounted higher up, closer to eye level than on cars plus lights seem to me to be brighter and brighter on new cars. 

[missingsid]

2 minutes ago, monkie said:

Personally I find that I get dazzled by new SUV type vehicles either behind me or coming towards me on unlit roads on just dipped headlights. I think its a combination of many SUVs having lights that are mounted higher up, closer to eye level than on cars plus lights seem to me to be brighter and brighter on new cars. 

Also very true.

[Mo Murphy]

Hmm they're not illegal on a pre 1986 vehicle and do not need to be removed for the MOT.

Mo

[jeremy996]

Just now, monkie said:

Personally I find that I get dazzled by new SUV type vehicles either behind me or coming towards me on unlit roads on just dipped headlights. I think its a combination of many SUVs having lights that are mounted higher up, closer to eye level than on cars plus lights seem to me to be brighter and brighter on new cars. 

I have to agree; I got my eyes tested as it was becoming more of a pain and the optician said my eyes were fine, after she had previously expected me to have long sight issues, which usually gives blurring and more glare.

My tame car compliance engineer says that the lighting regulations have not really caught up with the massive reduction in power consumption and increase in light yield from modern LEDs and other tech.

[Mo Murphy]

27 minutes ago, missingsid said:

The comments fly in the face of the original statement, can be easily removed for the MoT.

This says it all

If this is aimed at me, I'm afraid I don't understand your point.

Sorry

Mo

[monkie]

35 minutes ago, Mo Murphy said:

If this is aimed at me, I'm afraid I don't understand your point.

Sorry

Mo

I think its aimed at Escape's post near the top of the thread. 

[Naks]

I've been running Truck-Lite (gen1) since 2013/4, no issues whatsoever, highly recommend them.

[Escape]

On 12/29/2021 at 9:06 AM, missingsid said:

Who cares about a few blinded motorists or accidents.

If you have to take them out to meet the MoT they shouldn't be in in the first place Duh.

The LED bulbs I'm using are designed to be fitted in a standard headlight, with the LEDs arranged so as to mimic the output of a traditional bulb as closely as possible. I certainly don't get flashed running them. After installing I did check (and adjust) with the machine, which showed a clean pattern with a good cut off. Much in contrast to a mate that had replacement LED headlights fitted to his RRC. Admittedly, they were cheap ones, but he quickly took them out because the pattern was horrendous and would blind anyone.

As for the MOT comment, I was referring specifically to the belgian technical control. Over here pretty much any modification is illegal, complete LED headlamps certainly so. You'd probably even get a big argument if you replaced the standard candles on some older vehicles with a modern CiBie H4 or something. With better bulbs (either LED or the likes of Nightbreakers) you at least have a chance of passing the test as it still looks standard.

I also have to agree with Jeremy, most modern cars have pretty blinding headlights. BMW, Merc, VAG immediately come to mind, as do modern Range Rovers. But it's not just the high end ones, Renaults can be terrible as well.
These systems that automatically adjust the main beams but supposedly in a non-dazzling way are also often a problem IMHO. Especially when coming from behind and I'm in a Lotus.

Filip

[monkie]

My BMW has a supposedly automatic dip when the main beams are on. Its so terrible in terms of a delay that must lead to dazzling on coming drivers that I don't use it, I dip the beams manually. I have to say this BMW (company car) has been the most disappointing car I've ever had and I won't be going back. 

[Junglie]

On 12/31/2021 at 8:44 AM, monkie said:

My BMW has a supposedly automatic dip when the main beams are on. Its so terrible in terms of a delay that must lead to dazzling on coming drivers that I don't use it, I dip the beams manually. I have to say this BMW (company car) has been the most disappointing car I've ever had and I won't be going back. 

Interesting (and I appreciate slightly off-topic).

My previous BMW - a 2015 M5 - had adaptive LED lights that didn't just dip automatically but drew a little non-illuminated box around any other vehicle - head on or from behind - while still shining high beams all around them. It was so amazing that I'm still staggered by how good it was today. Really, really clever. And one of the reasons I got rid of the car - the lights are £1800 each and, like just about everything else in it, if something in them broke I couldn't fix it...

My wife's Mazda has them as well, and they're good...but nowhere near as clever and they still don't always dip fast enough.

[Bowie69]

Driving almost exclusively rural roads I wish all these automatic and LED headlamps would just die.

They do not work properly, dip too late, and have horrible point lights that cause dazzling even when 'dipped', and are so bright once you pass them you are blind for a few seconds.

Oh, and from behind they never seem to dip unless they are right on top of you.

</rant>

 

[Snagger]

It seems Germany has approved specific retrofit Philips LED “bulbs” for headlights, as per this article: https://lumileds.com/and-now-the-first-road-legal-h4-led-headlight-bulb-for-retrofitting-halogen/

Hopefully, if they are E marked, the rest of the EU and the UK will automatically approve them.

[elbekko]

On 1/1/2022 at 10:28 PM, Junglie said:

Interesting (and I appreciate slightly off-topic).

My previous BMW - a 2015 M5 - had adaptive LED lights that didn't just dip automatically but drew a little non-illuminated box around any other vehicle - head on or from behind - while still shining high beams all around them. It was so amazing that I'm still staggered by how good it was today. Really, really clever. And one of the reasons I got rid of the car - the lights are £1800 each and, like just about everything else in it, if something in them broke I couldn't fix it...

My wife's Mazda has them as well, and they're good...but nowhere near as clever and they still don't always dip fast enough.

I have them in my 2017 Mercedes E-class. Most of the time they're brilliant. But, I think due to some early production issues (mine is #5000 or so off the line), that they need to be recalibrated every once in a while - as mine do now, will get that sorted next service. My dad's, which is the same car but 6 months later, doesn't have the same issue of them going out of calibration. But when they work, they work very nicely, and I've been on the receiving end too and have not noticed any blinding at all, even though everything else around me was lit up.

There appears to be a huge difference between brands on how bothersome LED lights are. BMWs are pretty terrible, Mercedes are bright but not as bothersome, Peugeot is like a thousand suns.

The biggest issue with these LED headlights appears to be the very sharp cutoff, and everything under that cutoff is VERY lit up. Lovely for driving, not so lovely for traffic meeting you over a crest (have been flashed even though the adaptive headlights weren't even on...), or when you go over speedbumps/through dips in the road. And, sadly, cars sitting below that cutoff line will get blinded too, like a Lotus.

Another thing I've noticed from time to time, is that with the adaptive headlights off, more blinding goes on for low cars, as that section would be turned off with them on.