H4 headlamps with LED bulbs

We're seeing quite a bit of TV news coverage of the bush fires Bryn, not good, over here we've had to make do with Brexit and a rushed general election to take our mind off the rain and cold!

Still off topic and I've got a school mate who emigrated to New Zealand back in 1997 and just before his youngest lad returned home unexpectedly (instant family) he had worked his way up to a 2 bed bungalow with a 6 car garage in a couple of acres... man cave heaven!

Back OT and I can't help thinking there's got to be more potentially good LED lamps out there, unfortunately there's that trade off with how much cash do you risk on what is a case of making the best out of a bad job, cheers, Dave.
 
Hey Dave,

Yeah the fires don't seem to be letting up, it hit 41 degrees today, and everywhere seems to be heating up.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Boris in charge...

The workshop was damm hot, but i got the high pressure pipe end cap fitted to the rear lid, the dermel was handy for this. i tacked the fitting with the glue gun and then glued it front and back with Sikaflex.

I planned on plastic welding, but it was too hot to play with more heat.

IMG_0440.jpg IMG_0442.jpg

I fitted the driver and Canbus module with double sided tape and then used Sikaflex around it for more holding strength off road.

IMG_0443.jpg

Hopefully the lights turn up tomorrow, so i can refit it all. i'm itching to see if it sorts out my lighting issues.

This retrofit is a little on the higher $$ end of LED bulbs, but i though it might be worth a shot.
 
$199 for a pair of bulbs ? :eek: o_O :cautious: crikey charlie. I really want some and they've got great reviews but that just seems a bit steep. Maybe they're pricing them on the demand they're getting.
 
@Mat6 like I said my Novsights were £63.99 and apart from the mucking about fitting them which was exactly like an untidy version of Bryns pictures above and the ball ache of having to request and wait for the free of charge Novsight Canbus boxes due to the lamps flickering but the light output from these bad boys makes the Halogen H4 lamps hang their head in shame.

Obviously there's the alternative aftermarket projector style lamps at £500 ish ( which look smashing) but you do then still have to bung in probably another £200 worth of non Halogen lamps to make them scorch the road ahead or you could simply burn your way through £2.5k plus retro fitting OEM LED headlights, in my case I'm tightish and also don't need to drive my camper outside of holiday times so £63.99 for occasionally venturing out after dark and actually being able to see where I'm going makes financial sense... realistically if somebody had told me prior to buying into the T6 experience that I should have to factor in a further £2.5k onto the purchase price of my 2 yr old secondhand camper if I intended to drive it at night then I would probably have bought the used 5.0 GT Mustang after all, even if it looked daft with a pop top.:cautious:
 
Yes I had the THQ v2 lights, sent them back as they were no better. Will have to purchase some and do some field testing like you lot have done or wait for the GTR bulbs to maybe come down in price (and make their way over here so they can be bought in the UK). The novsight's I've seen are around 40 quid.
 
Stay Frosty said:
@Mat6 like I said my Novsights were £63.99 and apart from the mucking about fitting them which was exactly like an untidy version of Bryns pictures above and the ball ache of having to request and wait for the free of charge Novsight Canbus boxes due to the lamps flickering but the light output from these bad boys makes the Halogen H4 lamps hang their head in shame.

Obviously there's the alternative aftermarket projector style lamps at £500 ish ( which look smashing) but you do then still have to bung in probably another £200 worth of non Halogen lamps to make them scorch the road ahead or you could simply burn your way through £2.5k plus retro fitting OEM LED headlights, in my case I'm tightish and also don't need to drive my camper outside of holiday times so £63.99 for occasionally venturing out after dark and actually being able to see where I'm going makes financial sense... realistically if somebody had told me prior to buying into the T6 experience that I should have to factor in a further £2.5k onto the purchase price of my 2 yr old secondhand camper if I intended to drive it at night then I would probably have bought the used 5.0 GT Mustang after all, even if it looked daft with a pop top.:cautious:
Click to expand...
I've just picked up some H7s cheap so I'm going to slap some leds in them for comparison! Pics to follow once I've sorted them, will be interesting!
 
a bag of carrots a week might be easier gents!
and look at that poor blinded van in the background of @Bryn23 's pic.... eyes gouged out for your lighting pleasure!
:D
 
I tried eating more carrots, trust me it doesn't help:D

And yes they aren't cheap, but i'm the Guinea Pig, hopefully it ends up successful.

I'm getting a little frustrated, as i was hoping to have it finished by now, The bushfires and xmas postal rush have delayed the rest of my lights, but it isn't the end of the world, hopefully i see them before Friday.

I decided to book my van into get the headlights professionally aligned on the beam setter on Monday, as while i can adjust them to a decent level, its just easier to get them done right.
 
Mat6 you've got to read all of the advertising bullshine on these lamp adverts.
By the time you get towards the bottom of your link it says 50 watts... immediately followed by 2 x 25 watts so you're expecting a 25 watt LED to out perform a 55 watt halogen lamp.
The LED chip is good but not brilliant, now if you see an advert for 2 x 50 watt LED then you're into halogen beating territory, the H4 lamp being a dual chip/filament lamp you have to hope they've not added all chips to give that optimistic/bullshit lumen output but again I'm happy with my ones and have posted that short video which gives an idea of the improvement over the gloomy halogens.
It's like everything in life and at some point you'll have to pull the trigger or in this case put up with mediocre halogen lighting.
 
Headlights got adjusted by the auto electrician today, so i brought the van home tonight for a bit of a drive instead of leaving it at the workshop.

First impressions, is that even though i'm driving around the city with a lot of lighting, it is an improvement, but then that wouldn't have been hard.

I parked up against an local industrial shed to see the light pattern, its not fully clean of artefacts

Low Beam

IMG_0447.jpg

High Beam

IMG_0448.jpg

I need to fine a better level surface, for a better photo and there was a bit of light from behind the van at the time.

I also need to go for a drive on some dark country roads to get a better idea of distance.

Is it worth the money, i'm not sure, but i've never been able to see this well in the van before, so thats a start

I'll have to test it some more over the xmas break.
 
Have you tried turning the lamps slightly to bring up the left side of each beam Bryn but otherwise they're not horrendous by any stretch.
I think generally most LEDs seem to account for themselves pretty well in these phone camera pictures but that can be deceptive, as you say when driving you swap between great and not so great on different parts of the same drive, the road being wet really sucks light output down compared to the same road surface when dry. Another good/bad aspect of the LEDs in an H4 headlight is the way reflective road signs can "pop" it's great that you can see them more easily than with halogen but you wonder if that's down to light scatter?
I have the other pair of Novsight LED H4s in our Daihatsu Materia and I have to say that with the wife following me in the T6 the other night you were aware of the harsh whiteness these lamps produce, not a splashy glare but definitely a glare, saying that it was raining... as usual!

Merry Christmas mate!
 
Cheers Dave, hope you also have a merry xmas.

I haven't even tried turning the bulb yet, i'll need to stay out at my workshop until dark and have a play around, i think i can get a better pattern, as these bulbs can be internally adjusted, getting to them won't be fun.

I have to agree, the phone camera pic's can be deceptive, the light increase is quite a difference, it is nice being able to see while driving, driving on the road is a lot smoother than the footpath :rofl:

All up, I wasn't expecting these to be better than the stock VW LED lights, but it is a huge improvement over the stock H4 with Phillips 130+ bulbs, so i'm happy with that aspect and even though the bulbs weren't cheap, it was a lot cheaper than importing some aftermarket H7 headunits.

I didn't get flashed by any of the 200-250 cars coming my way tonight for my short test drive, so there may be less glare than i though there would be, but that is without rain.

A bit more playing around with the lights and ill be happy, well until i order a new Crafter or Sprinter with factory LED lights
 
The amount of light scatter looks horrendous. This is a good reason why anything other than halogens in reflectors is a bad idea.
 
Its just the H4 reflectors they are shocking, I've tried leds in H7s and there's no scatter at all, I can't explain that at all mind!
 
Replacing the Halogen H4 bulbs to LED's (info).
LED bulbs are decent for upgrading the poor dull headlight bulbs VW supply. (I've seen the installation).
LED bulbs in the headlight unit are quite easy to change... but not the main beam ones its a task and a half.
The DRL's and the sidelights are easy to change just a simple replace nothing is unusual.
The main beam H4's are not easy to replace and the ballast box (which is needed) has nowhere to go if your lucky
you can jam it into the unit and seal everything back up. To fully stop the ballast from rattling round
you will have to do micro surgery and stuff it into an impossible space drill holes, use silicone cable ties etc etc
to make sure the unit is sealed from the elements - or alternitavely some people with no brain cells just botch a big hole
into the big seal/cover and concede to having wet lights with the condensation because they cant stand the amount of brain
power it takes to come up with a viable solution.

Overall its a very stressful job that takes about a day you need 2 people.
If you've never done it before its just ridiculous how annoying it is.
Anybody who says its plug and play is a moron I'm a decent joiner and it was not fun in any way shape or form.
Wish i never decided to change em over for a pal but to get it done at a shop would cost about allot i imagine because of labour.

Haven't had a chance to properly see the effect they will have on his van but on first analysis the change is like night and day.
Perfection looked like turning on a nice HD screen or something like that nice full soft white light.
(The twenty 20 impact H4's) just fitted into headlight capsule by the skin of they're teeth during my friends install with a push.
with the ballast box issue having nowhere to sit as stated before. (box is really slim and short on 20 20's.) In reality they don't fit
but a few hours later and a missed meal got sorted in the end.

If your handy with tools and feel comfortable doing tricky and i mean tricky stressful jobs that you haven't ever done before
then go for it id say because the change is spot on by my eye and my friend had a few near misses in the dark before with the
poor standard of halogen bulb that came with van.

Bear in mind you have to hold the lights and could damage the paint on bumper etc etc also its not a fun game like they make out
on the adverts for all the upgraded parts online. Get a set of plastic trim tools as well save yourself some blood sweat and tears.

For anybody who is thinking about led's then don't go for anything else. LED's are very very substantial in my opinion......!
At the end of the day when your on those night time adventures in the forest/on the coast or wherever you find
yourself the van won't struggle and let you down once you've sorted the problem out so personally i think its worth it might do
it on my own van but don't want to think about dong it any time soon once is enough. Haha - really its not that bad but just an
honest review of the whole situation having just done a pair with a friend on his.

He used.
Twenty 20 impact H4's - Which have a little tiny slim ballast box with them.
382 Twenty20 Elegance Canbus LED Bulb - Daytime running lights.
501 Twenty20 C3 Canbus LED's (White) - sidelights.
I saw brighter options online but after seeing in person any brighter would definitely be too bright.

I'm not trying to promote this brand in any form to road users, i couldn't care less what other people choose
to buy or do with their own personal property and i am not responsible for it either.

Hope this helps explain the situation in best way possible and my personal advice also is if your doing it do em all
at once. The indicator isn't important to change in my opinion and the ones under the wing mirrors match so cant tell being
amber anyway.

Anyway good look to anyone reading this who plans on going ahead hopefully it helps to summon up some zen,
You will need it.
 
Pictures would help here as it sounds like you've found an even harder way of modifying the stock single H4 lamp headlight.
 
As you can see if you want to put the led's in you've got to fit everything into existing location. (EG the fan unit and there's a little can-bus error delete unit/box also) - that you cant see in pic that i got to sit under the fan just jammed it in and did a little fix to tie it down with the cable tie. Otherwise the box would rattle round inside.
I know the pics don't show the box but you can clearly see that the hard plastic cover thats held in tight with the clip needs to be sealed to stop condensation in the unit.
Hopefully now you can see how hard it is to properly do the Installation.
Loads of messing round mate. Not easy
Unless you don't even need the ballast box. But I'm sure you do.

Don't know any other way of doing it so its actually installed.
But you said I've done it the hard way?
 
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