Led lamps for high/low beams

[jpmartell]

So, I've recently been looking at some low/high beam replacement bulbs. I'm using regular halogen bulbs on my 2000 zed. I happened to find some LED projector type headlamps in eBay. Seller says they consume 31 watts, 24 watts less than regular halogen bulbs. Has anyone had any experience with these bulbs? Are they safe to use on a regular halogen bulb system?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/221385323268?nav=WATCHING_ENDED

[BladeRunner919]

If you put bulbs designed for projector headlights into a 'normal' headlight, you get a lot of scatter and end up blinding cars coming in the other direction. No point having better visibility for yourself if the bloke on the other side of the road drives into you because he can't see where he's going!

[g8jka]

I don't think them ones are designed to go into headlights with projectors already fitted. It looks like the actual bulb has a projector already built around it to spread the light of the bulb so it work similar to a bulb fitted behind a projector in a standard headlight. It means it should be able to be fitted to most headlights.

[roadvoyager1]

In the e-bay listing the details show only 3 leds are behind the projector lens the rest area on the sides. My opinion is these are for projector headlamp units and not suitable as standard Z3 replacements. Anybody know better?

[Althulas]

Are these http://www.customled.co.uk/products/fog ... light-bulb the same item but HB4 flavour. It list these as fog light replacements though

[Ferdinand]

The headlights on a Z3 are only approved with HB3/ HB4/ H7 halogen bulbs. The headlights are not designed for LED- or xenonbulbs so it'll be a MOT failure and in case of an accident probably no money from your Insurance company... Stick to halogen and keep out of trouble.

[g8jka]

In the e-bay listing the details show only 3 leds are behind the projector lens the rest area on the sides.

A normal bulb also emits light from the sides, the 3 at the front of these are intensified by the protector fitted to the bulb, the same as it would with a bulb fitted to a car with projector headlights fitted. A projector in a headlight will focus the light more and provided a better cut off. Most cars with xenon lights fitted have the bulbs sitting behind a projector so that the light is not a dazzling to oncoming vehicles. Our headlights have the chrome surround fitted inside which will reflect the light onto the road.

Projectors are a more modern alternative to the older style reflectors fitted to headlights. If you were to fit a HID xenon kit then you should really use them behind a projector so they don't dazzle oncoming traffic as much as they would if fitted to a normal reflector headlight.

[Mike Fishwick]

Just buy Philips Exreme Vision bulbs and forget about LEDs - unless you prefer to dazzle everyone else! A headlamp and bulb are designed as a pair - that is why we have ECE37 approval etc, which should deter the fashionista from mixing things up.

If you di this, as stated, there will be a lot of dazzle directed at oncoming traffic, and that is wasted light. It's like people putting HID burners into normal headlights - they all rave about how white the light is, but do not seem to consider the effect of the inveitable stray light on others - and most of them never drive at night outside street light areas!

Out in rural France we do a lot of driving in absolute darkness, and my old technology Philips Blue Vision work fine. If the battery and alternator are in good condiiton, and the bulbs are being fed at near enough full battery voltage, modern halogen bulbs are fine - but a lot of people prefer to fit HID lights for the sake of being different, and neglect the real problem.

[BladeRunner919]

One of the most commonly ignored problems that causes weak light from headlights is that they're not clean. A thin film of grime has a huge effect on the light throughput.

[jpmartell]

I came to be interested in these lights because I used sylvania ultra white and it burnt the inside of my headlamp. Im thinking of replacing them soon, but with projector ones.

[roadvoyager1]

In the e-bay listing the details show only 3 leds are behind the projector lens the rest area on the sides.

A normal bulb also emits light from the sides,

Yes, quite agree a normal bulb does emit light from the sides, however, the source is not the glass but the filament which is very small when compared to the LED unit with multiple light sources. As indicated by later replies the original reflector is designed to work with a specific type of bulb. It will not function properly if the geometry of the non-standard bulb is different; which in the case of LED lamps it is very different.