I'm interested to hear how you get on with these. It would be good to know much heat do they create after, say, a couple of hour's driving at night, and where does it go?

 

Interesting :yes: . If all the hype about led bulbs are true, they'd be low heat low power consumption.

 

Updated some bits at the end of the original post. Going well so far!

I'll try and remember to to a hand-test next time I get back from a journey. As far as my knowledge of LEDs dictates, it should stay cool?

 

I have a set of LEDs too
60W 6400LM H4/H7/H11/9005 Philips LED Headlight Car Conversion Bulb Beam 6000K.
Took them out for the MOT. Funny though I left my LED sidelights bulbs in and they failed on being too blue!

Not sure what colour Temp is OK. 6000k is probably too blue for MOT testers[emoji41]

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So if you need to remove them for mot then they are illegal

So why annoy other road users buy using them
I just don't get it

 

I removed the headlight bulbs as I didn't want to take a chance, the sidelights I thought would be okay but they weren't I don't know what colour temperature is okay for MOT testers it might be more yellow below 6000 K.
Anyone have any idea what is an okay temperature for LED headlights LEDs are legal. But have to have the correct colour temperature it seems like a secret as to what that is that is why I took my headlight bulbs out. I have never been flashed with my headlights on I just thought I wouldn't take the chance.

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Just found this…Myth - A bulb with a higher colour temperature (Kelvin rating) is brighter.
Truth - The colour temperature is just an indication of the colour of the light emitted, not the light brightness or intensity. Standard halogen bulbs are around 2500K which is a white light with a yellowish tint. Upgrade bulbs/HID kits can give up to around 8000K colour temperature. 4000K is a white light with still a slight yellow tint. 5000K is a pure white light. 6000K is white with a slight blue tint. 8000K is white with a strong blue tint. In practice around 4000-5000K HID bulbs will give the widest spread of light. Our eyes have naturally evolved to focus the best on sunlight which is around 5500K. For this reason the most comfortable lights to drive with are 5000K and 6000K bulbs. When you go to higher colour temperatures you start to lose the focus of the light and it then becomes harder to see objects.
From http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/blog/14/autobulbs-directs-list-of-common-myths/

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I may go for 5000k bulbs now.

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Yeah '6000k' is just the colour.

The lumens (in my case, 9600lm) is the brightness.

I still haven't been flashed, and my headlights are absolutely NO chance blue compared to some headlights I see out on the roads. Sometimes I double take thinking police need are en-route because they're so blue. Brand new mercedes come to mind.

I've got my MOT in a couple of weeks. If I fail on any of the headlight colours i'll let you know. I very much doubt it though?

I can't see at all how this upgrade would annoy anyone. It increases my visibility on the road, makes me more visible (needed in a small grey car, most would argue), doesn't blind anyone and makes the car look a lot better imho.

I'll keep you all posted

 

Would these work on a mk1??

I hate brand new cars. I have always been the guy to say not to fit HID lights to a car without projectors as I hate it when I get blinded by oncoming traffic. I remember when I fitted some to my car a few years ago there was a lot of talk about the legality of it all. What I don't understand is how brand new cars roll out of the factory with horribly blinding LED lights that are way too sensitive to the angle you look at them. I've had a few come towards me and due to the shift in colour and brightness as they go over uneven surfaces I genuinely can't tell if their indicator is going or not! I just can't see how they are any different to poorly installed HID's.

 

I may be wrong but I thought hid/led head lights only worked properly in conjunction with lenses specifically designed for them as they spread the light differently? Hence why most boy racers with cheap conversions blind everyone on the road? I'm sure there is someone out there who knows the technicalities better than I do.....

 

Would these work on a mk1??

I hate brand new cars. I have always been the guy to say not to fit HID lights to a car without projectors as I hate it when I get blinded by oncoming traffic. I remember when I fitted some to my car a few years ago there was a lot of talk about the legality of it all. What I don't understand is how brand new cars roll out of the factory with horribly blinding LED lights that are way too sensitive to the angle you look at them. I've had a few come towards me and due to the shift in colour and brightness as they go over uneven surfaces I genuinely can't tell if their indicator is going or not! I just can't see how they are any different to poorly installed HID's.

 

Totally agree. I was behind a brand new Audi today that was indicating. When his brake lights were in I could not see the indicators any more as they cancelled each other out....maybe they are better at night but I was surprised how bad they were....

 

Yeah exactly as I thought. HID must be professionally installed as far as I know because they're aimed/controlled differently? Could be wrong. Something about the lenses though.

Either way these are literally just a bulb replacement. The source of light, and the way the light is emitted is exactly the same as a normal halogen bulb (aside from the LEDs emitting outwards in 2 directions 180deg apart, rather than a halogen being a 360 degree sweep of light).

As you can see from my write-up i've been very wary of the 'aim' of them and have been careful. I've noticed the 'shape' is very much the same, albeit slightly higher. Therefore i've been using them aimed down mostly and haven't noticed anyone flashing me. And yes, even aimed down, it's much better than any nightbreakers!

I'm always the first to tell friends and colleagues etc to "don't be that dick that blinds everyone" with botch job 'HID kits' and i've always avoided the idea (despite temptation) as being blinded by oncoming cars is not only annoying as hell, it's bloody dangerous for other road users and yourself!

The product i've linked does have different bulb types so maybe worth trying on the older mk1s. I'm not too up-to-scratch though on the bulb/fitting/lenses on the popups though so maybe wait for someone else to chime in

 

As long as you have projector headlights fitting HID's shouldn't be a problem.

I'm tempted to give these a go on my mk1!

 

Will be interesting to see how you get on with the MOT, but you may find this article of interest. A mk1 doesn't have a height adjuster, so worth noting the contents of the VOSA test manual re adjustment for LED lights.

http://greyhead.co.uk/are-aftermarket-hid-lights-legal-in-the-uk

Ignoring light outputs etc, one point you could fall foul of is the ignition process and flicker you mention, as it would be noticeable to the MOT tester if there is any delay in their startup. Finally as the article states, the possession of an MOT certificate does not necessarily mean you are road legal.

 

We're not talking about HIDs we're talking about LEDs, HIDs need to be self levelling and have washers installed. Plus will also only work properly in a projector as the beam does not give a good 'cutoff'. LEDs are legal depending on brightness and colour temp. They can give as good a cutoff as normal halogens. Which have a colour temp between 5-5500K.

You may get away with 6000K 9300LM may be too bright though. Closer to the equivalent of 100watts normally you are at 55/60watts.

Most of the time when I am does all this by someone body in a new Range Rover BMW or new Merc. With poorly adjusted factory HIDs

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We're not talking about HIDs we're talking about LEDs, HIDs need to be self levelling and have washers installed. Plus will also only work properly in a projector as the beam does not give a good 'cutoff'. LEDs are legal depending on brightness and colour temp. They can give as good a cutoff as normal halogens. Which have a colour temp between 5-5500K.

You may get away with 6000K 9300LM may be too bright though. Closer to the equivalent of 100watts normally you are at 55/60watts.

Most of the time when I am does all this by someone body in a new Range Rover BMW or new Merc. With poorly adjusted factory HIDs

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I don't know if you've read everything but I mentioned poorly installed HID's being just as bad as brand new cars with LED lights. It was just a side note!

 

Updated some bits at the end of the original post. Going well so far!

I'll try and remember to to a hand-test next time I get back from a journey. As far as my knowledge of LEDs dictates, it should stay cool?

Not really. 110W of LED is still 110W even if more output for that. Heat is more concentrated and then the heat sinks have to take it away and if they touch things they can melt them. These look high quality though and should be fine. Let us know how you go

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maybe slightly more important in a houshold situation but an element of lighting is never mentioned in "car" lights; CRI ...

colour rendering index

it's not because one has 500 lumens from a bulb that it makes it any better than a 400 or 600 lumens or that it's 3000K or 4000K

CRI is the capacity of a light source to replicate the full colour spectrum, like the sun. If the light shows off all the colour of an object than one sees things better.

This why sometimes you feel like everything is slightly green or blue etc. this is a known practice when lighting meat at the butchers or fruits ... give them a tint that makes you believe ther are really good ...

CRI will be close to a 100 for a halogen bulb, could go down to 80 for a Fluorescent, as for LED they are getting better and the better ones are now close to 95.

 

Hi all,

MOT update as promised.

The lights were absolutely no problem at all. I take it to a dedicated MOT only place.

As you can see below, nothing about my lights at all. I even have a small LED 501 in as sidelights too which are definitely creeping towards a more 'blue' colour, but no problem!

Will need to check out that rust mentioned. If I can figure out what he means! I had my outersills done at Total mx5 repair a few months back so it's not that! Hopefully when I get the back up to sort the pads i'll be able to see what he means. It's probably just surface rust needing a rubdown and kurust/waxoyl

Generally, the lights are great. Still super bright, nice looking and a pleasure to use I've even gotten used to the slight whirring from the cooling fans.

I've done about 900 miles with them across all sorts of roads (smooth Vs pothole-filled!) and no problems at all Still recommended!

Advisories as follows -

Nearside Rear Brake pad(s) wearing thin (3.5.1g)

Offside Rear Brake pad(s) wearing thin inner (3.5.1g)
inner sills / floor starting to corrode

 

Been looking for these. Didn't realise they were so cheap.

 

Update. Still going strong. No issues at all. No blinding/flashing, and they're still working great.

 

Anybody tried these in a mk1 yet?...

 

I fitted these. More expensive but come with driver boxes in the lead. Got them from Amazon. Fitted to a Mk1. Absolutely no flicker when starting and full 360 degree light from the headlight, so no grey or unlit areas on the road. Very bright and light the road much better than the Philips 130 H4 bulbs. Here is a photo of one light done and one to be done. Also notice I have changed the indicator position and swapped it for a 75w equivalent Cree LED bulb so as to have a bright DRL.