SteveG Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 1. The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory. 2. Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some expensive estate cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam. Disclaimer - As I mentioned before, everybody can make their own interpretation of it personally and do what they wish. I'm not trying to preach. So given that, to me the above seems to be quite clear. The unit has to be complete; tested and approved by the manufacturer. No fitting of aftermarket bulbs into a housing, whether it was meant for HID's or not. Must have self levelling. The clue is in the 'self' ;) so manual adjustment won't do. So if you bought a complete HID unit and put in an air sprung RR with headlamp washers you'd be fine. Also if you bought a self levelling HID headlamp and fitted to a non air suspension LR you'd be fine. Anything else, no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 No need for a self-levelling headlamp in a coilled Rangie, they have a levelling unit in the rear for just this reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 I'm not sure how the new vehicles manage to do this T1g up mentioned the lights on his vw cycling when first started it is possible they use electronic gyroscopes to sense if the car is level then use that to set the head lights but this would be expensive for an aftermarket kit. i would be interested in the response from DOT matt Hi Matt, I think I may have fallen foul with the self leveling as my headlight adjustment is a 1-4 knob with a motor behind the bowl and as steve points out they need to be "self" but will let you know how I get on with the DoT letter. All this started when the factory fitted wipac units fogged up, I changed the bowls for a new set of hella ones and changed the bulbs for a set from Halfords this made a diffrence but then started to look into the whole HID thing and as I said thought I had ticked all the boxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven Hart Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Interestingly Manual adjustment is illegal in the ECC, European standards did not like the idea of a driver being able to adjust there own lights as they would be dangerous, My dad has a Volvo with manual adjustment. Also with regards to failure they could be end up in an incorrect position as can self Levelling mention in a meeting with the major manufacturer of HID's in Germany although this dates back to 1997 but I can not actually believe the ECC would u-turn on that even if there was a default mode it is possible for failure in an incorrect position and therefore more dangerous than the standard mechanic adjustment. Strangely I seem to recall the reason ECC only approve 50/60watt Halogen bulbs and not higher wattage was due to them being a safe brightness so how could any HID's system be legal as they are claimed to be 3 times brighter. Back to the original Question LED's The only advantage is you are likely to reduce the chance of some-one running into you as LED react faster then standard bulb LED something 10 thousandth of second to full brightness Bulb can take up to 0.5 seconds as it requires a filament of metal to go to white hot There is a saving in theory due to the lower power requirement IF my understanding of the Law is they are illegal even the ones the are fitted to the vehicle at manufacture due them not having a single source of light even though ECC homologation personnel have approved the various Jaguars, Land-Rovers, and Aston Martins I worked they will admit they don't comply with current rules. The rule for fitting bulbs to vehicle aren't as easy as it may seem as it depends on how old your vehicle is vehicle manufactured after 1983 can fit a non E' approve bulb to an E' approved lamp, Vehicle build after 1991 require both E' approved lamp and bulb. There are no regulations for vehicles manufactured before 1983 other than positions for lighting EG minimum distance headlight or side is from the side of the vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveG Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Hi Steve What's the point you are trying to make with this post?? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 All the local buses round here have LED arrays for brake lights and direction indicators, so they can't be that illegal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 almost all new buses & a lot of artic trailers have them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outdoor Ed Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 My LED bulbs are E-marked I think and I have also been through an MOT with them all in and working. Also many new vehicles have LED lights and bulbs fitted as standard, if they are illegal, then how are they able to sell them? There are quite a lot of aftermarket E-marked bulbs and Lights and conversions available nowdays, if illegal then they surely cannot get an E-marked satus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven Hart Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 The standards people are seeing the advantage and approving them as the understand the reason for them the law often catches up later. IT a bit along the line of it actually was something like ten year after the last manufacturer had stop making cars with arm type indicators that the law was changed to except the current flash indicator. Oh driving in this morning made me think of another reason for an advantage to LEDs Fog, LEDs tend to produce a few frequencies of light rather than the scattering you usually get with Tungsten or halogen (hence the reason the are whiteish) so you get less scattering of light (only in Red, Green or Blue) therefore in fog LEDs should penetrate the fog further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yedaiwi Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I now have LED bulbs in my indicators, tail/brake lights, side lights, reverse light, and rear fog. I have also replaced the interior light with an LED unit, which sits flush with the roof liner. they are called Ultra LED's I have the 1Watt side light bulbs, 4Watt indicator and tail/break lights and have the 6Watt bulbs in the reverse and foglight (VERY bright) Can you please list down the part numbers of each of the bulbs you bought from ULTRALEDS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big.Mike Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 We talked about LED replacements here: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=79091 They seemed quite good and I happened upon them in an old LRO this morning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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