LED upgrade

[st87]

Hi guys,

 

I recently upgraded my low beams to LED. Just thought I might share my experience in case anyone else is sitting on the fence as I was. One of the major concerns I had was how much room I actually have in the housing, when considering the heat sinks that these things usually have attached to them.

I got the following one in my car:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NIGHTEYE-50W-H11-LED-Headlight-Kit-Bulbs-Pair-8000lm-6500K-White-Replacement-/282116460588?hash=item41af73902c:g:o80AAOSwIgNXwT1Y

It fits quite comfortably - just looking at the dimensions, around 4cm is sticking out, but I can still close the access panel of the housing. I wouldn't risk anything larger, but the slightly more powerful 36W model from the same brand *might* fit as well…. 

For 25W, it's actually quite good. It's only slightly dimmer than my 55W HIDs (I installed one to visually compare side-by-side). Of course, I can't help but wonder if the 36W model will be much better (it's actually $2 cheaper for some reason). 

One of the things I can now enjoy is to stick my headlights on auto. The reason why I never did this before was in case I came across a series of tunnels. It's okay for HIDs to turn on and off, but it's not good for HIDs to turn off and on. Something about the salt inside not crystallising before the arc strikes again apparently leading to a shorter lifespan.

Also, there seems to be a chronic problem with my car (not sure if it's like that on yours as well). There appears to be a great deal of "leakage" in the headlights. The issue is not specific to these LED bulbs; it'll happen no matter what bulb I put in. So if you look at the headlight housing with the low beams on, you see quite a bit of light coming out in the housing. This means that the light I'm seeing is not reflected forwards, which means the construction of the assembly makes the headlight reflector + projector system to be not as efficient as it could be. When driving next to other cars on the road, I constantly envy how bright their low beams are. Even going with a 55W HID, everyone else's lights just seems to completely flood mine. Anyone else noticing this problem?

 

Anyhow… tl;dr version: this bulb works and fits in our car.

 

 

 

[fzrashid]

Hi mate, thanks for the feedback. I'm on the fence about changing my halogen globes to LED. The item you linked to is cooled by fan. How loud are they? Also, would you be able to post some photos please.

Cheers

[plankton007]

http://www.vleds.com/h11-ultra-lmz.html

Anyone interested? I shop from vleds every now and then and their quality is top. I've got their T10s in my car for almost 3 years now.

These are newly released at 4500 lumens as well. Maybe we could save on shipping or even open up a group up.

[st87]

10 hours ago, plankton007 said:

http://www.vleds.com/h11-ultra-lmz.html

Anyone interested? I shop from vleds every now and then and their quality is top. I've got their T10s in my car for almost 3 years now.

These are newly released at 4500 lumens as well. Maybe we could save on shipping or even open up a group up.

Those are bloody expensive, mate! But I guess if they are of trusted quality to you, then it's worth every penny. I've only used mine for a few weeks; fingers crossed they won't break down.

Having said that, I just took a look at the measurements… 90.5mm - 34mm leaves you 56mm sticking out from where the fitting is… not sure if this is exactly something that will fit inside the housing. As I noted in the original post, 4cm was kind of close to pushing it already. If you do end up getting one, do post back the results as it will definitely be helpful to everyone.

I should also mention that mine doesn't have a ballast/controller, so there is no need for drilling the access panel (for those who haven't drilled already and want to keep it that way). As far as I've seen, that controller is purely circuitry to control the fan. I could be wrong.

As for T10s, that's something I've constantly been changing. I'm still looking for the "best one". Best as in a fair trade-off between lifespan and brightness. I've had the maximum of 7W/bulb before. They sure are bright, but they didn't last too long.

12 hours ago, fzrashid said:

Hi mate, thanks for the feedback. I'm on the fence about changing my halogen globes to LED. The item you linked to is cooled by fan. How loud are they? Also, would you be able to post some photos please.

Cheers

It's fan cooled? I didn't realise this. I looked at the posting again and there was no mention of any fan. It's definitely attached to a heatsink, with quite a number of slots to increase surface area for better dissipation. As far as I'm aware, the information on the listing does not list any fans… I also did not notice any sound at all coming from them.

I've seen some other ones that explicitly mention a fan in their detailed explanation on how they deal with heat.

Since you're changing from halogens, I might also point out that some of them come with an external ballast, and some don't. For someone like me, this isn't so critical, as I've already drilled a nasty hole on my access panel. But for you, since I'm guessing that you haven't drilled anything, I would point out that there is this difference in case it's important to you. 

The one I've listed does not have a ballast. Everything goes INSIDE the housing, and the panel closes completely.

I don't have any pictures of the installation itself, but I did stop to take one photo.

The attached photo shows a side-by-side comparison between the new LED and my existing 55W aftermarket HID after a minute of warm up time to reach the operating luminosity.

You can see that the flare on the 55W LED is a bit stronger than the LED, but hey, the LED is less than half the power. I also like how it just goes straight to the maximum brightness unlike HIDs.

I'd say take a look at the 36W LED model if you want that brightness, but again, I cannot guarantee that it will definitely fit.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[RotorRian]

Arrrgghhh welcome to my world!

I've had our own LED globes in for over two years I think now running them 'ON' everyday and they still won't die. Our test bench ones in R&D and last time I checked were at over 1000 days of continuous testing.

Ours are expensive at $200 AUD RRP a pair but with LED's you get what you pay for.

No dodgy china parts and we use the best LED's you can get the same we use for our aircraft (FAA) rated products.

If anyone wants a set let me know.

I can organise a group buy based on cost and current exchange rate which would be around $130-$150 depending on currency rate.

http://hidreplacements.com.au/led-replacement-globe-set-20w-hiled.html

We also have a 35W version but its way too crazy for the road.

Also if anyone is after a cheap set. I'd look into selling my current globes with full warranty

 

 

[plankton007]

The VLeds T10 flank bulbs at 5000k is what I have. I think I have a photo lying around somewhere but over the years they haven't decreased in intensity or colour.

 

I also have 360 bulbs for courtesy and interior dome lights and festoons for rear and trunk. They are quite bright at night time but if you're not directly looking at them it's not too bad.

[iinkz]

Do the LED bulbs replace the HID bulbs, and yet emit the same amount (give/take) of light output?

Or is this only for halogen headlights?

[RotorRian]

Halogen only. They are better than aftermarket hid but not as good the OEM HID as the projector isnt focused enough to be optimal.

I ran some IS250 tests.....

I can get the actual tests and data if anyone is interested.....

Results were:

Optimised OEM HID (N-88R D4S 5000K)

OEM HID (E-88 D4S) & Osram Xenarc

APP HID H11 6000K PRO CONV

HILED H11 25W (non fan cooled)

VLED PRO LED

MISC LEDKIT 35W

MISC 6000K (Actual 7340k) HID KIT EBAY

HILED H11 10W

Halogen OEM globe.

 

 

[st87]

On 20 September 2016 at 3:15 PM, RotorRian said:

Results were:

Optimised OEM HID (N-88R D4S 5000K)

OEM HID (E-88 D4S) & Osram Xenarc

APP HID H11 6000K PRO CONV

HILED H11 25W (non fan cooled)

VLED PRO LED

MISC LEDKIT 35W

MISC 6000K (Actual 7340k) HID KIT EBAY

HILED H11 10W

Halogen OEM globe.

 

 

Hi there, 

Not sure if I'm reading you correctly... What do the corresponding test results mean? Is this test result a descending order of lifespan?

[RotorRian]

Sorry I copied and pasted this off my phone.

Yes, Decending but based on Lux (Not lumen is lux / 1m2) so it looking at light directly in front at 1m vs. 1m at a spread.

We don't have a Lumen tester here in aussie at the moment.

[fzrashid]

Hi st87, thanks for the detail response. Yu are right, that particular model doesn't have fan. Installed it last week. Wasn't too impressed with the light output but it looks a lot better than the stock halogen. Will probably change the parking light to cool blue LED.

[st87]

No problem at all, fzrashid. Glad it helped. Yes, the light output isn't exactly the best as some others may have pointed out, but it's the only model that I risked in terms of it being able to fit =)