Passat projector lens LED retrofit
- Thread starter kmax86
- Start date
Got a pair of these(clicky) for the GTI's static cornering lights and they are very bright, easily as bright as the HID's.
Legality of them for road use seems even more of a grey area than when HID retrofit kits first appeared, so the market consists pretty much entirely of non type approved Chinese knock off stuff.
If they were halfway legit then you'd have bulb companies like Philips, Osram etc. actually producing the bulbs themselves.
How about this https://www.powerbulbs.com/product/philips-x-treme-ultinon-led-headlamp-h7
Also appears from Philips AU website https://www.philips.com.au/c-p/12985BWX2/x-treme-ultinon-led-car-headlight-bulb
EDIT: Nevermind. Just saw the warning not suitable for public roads. But it seems Philips actually make headlights LED for H7 socket but not for public roads.
Also appears from Philips AU website https://www.philips.com.au/c-p/12985BWX2/x-treme-ultinon-led-car-headlight-bulb
EDIT: Nevermind. Just saw the warning not suitable for public roads. But it seems Philips actually make headlights LED for H7 socket but not for public roads.
All of these crappy websites selling this sort of thing are full of total ******** information. For example on the powerbulbs website they list the wattage as 1-2W...yeah, per individual LED maybe, but for the replacement lamp itself it's going to be ~15-17W.
Also notice how the Philips specification is MUCH more believable than the tosh from that other company: 1760lm (with the same size heat sink as the other crowd of bull**** merchants claiming 4000lm) As you also saw Philips highlight that these are not road legal.
As I said before I wouldn't touch a LED retrofit lamp for this application with a barge pole.
It's a grey area for LED too though. With HID you know the lumens stated will be pretty accurate. I had them in my civic ep3 and my friend has them in his Fiesta, both with halogen projectors and neither of us had any issue passing an mot test.
35w hid bulbs are about 3000lm iirc, so almost 2000 brighter than the 1000/1350lm of those Phillips at powerbulbs and about £100 cheaper.
Some pics of the NightEye
Box:
Contents:
LED 1:
LED 2:
LED 3: Tried to clearer shot but it could not get the tiny details within the yellow bit of the chip. It has fine lines within the center part of the yellow lines.
Cooling Fan:
Removable H7 Bracket:
Installation Manual for H7/H4:
Box:
Contents:
LED 1:
LED 2:
LED 3: Tried to clearer shot but it could not get the tiny details within the yellow bit of the chip. It has fine lines within the center part of the yellow lines.
Cooling Fan:
Removable H7 Bracket:
Installation Manual for H7/H4:
Thanks. I predict you'll like them and everyone driving towards you at night will hate you.
The fine lines you can see under the yellow part (that's the phosphor coating which converts blue light to "white" light) is probably the edges of the LED die themselves.
The fine lines you can see under the yellow part (that's the phosphor coating which converts blue light to "white" light) is probably the edges of the LED die themselves.
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no grey area at all https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/aftermarket-hid-headlamps
yes, you will pass MOT as they're not checked (assuming spread pattern is ok), but they're still illegal - which you should obviously know about when driving with such a mod.
I would guess similar statements will start to appear for aftermarket LED kits (if they don't already).
Whether the kits are "legal" or not, presumably a traffic officer could grip you for them not being e-marked anyway? That LED kit, linked by the OP, says "the design around E4 certificated (E-Mark) halogen bulbs" - so, to me, that says they're no actually e-marked themselves, just copied the design from one.
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actually, as of 2012 MOT changes, it looks like they could/should fail MOT, as the light's washers and self-leveling mechanism are meant to be checked http://www.ukmot.com/manual/1.7/Headlamps. Even if you have washers on the lights and a self-leveling mechanism then they're still not e-marked 
So, all depends how thorough the MOT tester is...
So, all depends how thorough the MOT tester is...
actually, as of 2012 MOT changes, it looks like they could/should fail MOT, as the light's washers and self-leveling mechanism are meant to be checked http://www.ukmot.com/manual/1.7/Headlamps. Even if you have washers on the lights and a self-leveling mechanism then they're still not e-marked
UKMOT.com said:
May be fitted, not MUST be fitted.
Many new cars with LED headlights don't have them either; mine doesn't.
Just as a comparison - my LED (stock) are passive, and are 'lifetime' for the car (i.e. at least 3 years).
Mine has a lot of LEDs as standard i just hope any units are easy to get into should any LEDs pop, can replace them with something a bit brighter then.