H4 headlamps with LED bulbs
- Thread starter Jonathan Gleeson
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- bulb h4 bulbs h4 headlamp led bulb
Thank you for the reply, I will check them out.
I was absolutely of that opinion before I fitted these, but we've had a good comparison of them and a couple of mates cars, both stood in front of them in the car park and driving together and the unanimous opinion was that the LED lights in the A6 were horribly dazzling in oncoming traffic while the Volvo, my van and a C Class Merc all looked about the same. Despite being reflector headlights, the VW H4s don't seem to direct light in the areas that would dazzle oncoming drivers (obvious really when you think about it). Of course they're not as good as LED headlights but importantly, it makes the van useable and safe at night for minimal cost. I can't speak for any other aftermarket replacement lamp as I haven't tried them and if the LED sits in a different place the results could be very different, but I'm happy to keep using these and wish I'd put them in last winter when I actually bought them!
As has been stated on many 'replace H4's with LED' threads on here, such bulb only replacement is illegal, an MOT failure and will very likely void insurance should you have an accident... as well as potentially being inconsiderate to other road users...
On balance, personally, I decided to stick with high performamce (Phillips/Osram) direct replacements rather than run the risk of driving around illegally and, now, having to swap out at MOT time.
On balance, personally, I decided to stick with high performamce (Phillips/Osram) direct replacements rather than run the risk of driving around illegally and, now, having to swap out at MOT time.
I bought them in Dec 18 and the ebay link in my purchase history has expired, but the description was "TECHMAX Mini H4 LED Headlight bulbs" and they were £32.85
Edit: nothing comes up on ebay now, they seem to constantly evolve to better things. Check the Headlight Revolution channel on Youtube for more recent reviews
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Absolutely correct, I was one that argued against them, they are illegal in any headlight not made for them, the H4s, H7s and various chinese H1s, but I switched sides on this and have decided the risks are outweighed by the advantages. I've done the Nightbreaker/Phillps 150 before and they don't make a sufficient difference but everyone makes their own choices on this and that's fine.
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Yep we all make our choices and have every right to but I would never entertain driving without insurance for both my protection and that of others. We all occasionally do illegal things whilst on the road, intentionally or otherwise, but knowingly putting myself in the position where every second of time spent on the road is illegal is not something I could consider.
Apart from anything else given the cost of my van I could not possibly afford a replacement if someone with no insurance wrote it off and my insurers decided to void my cover... That said I would love better lights too
As thread title but reading between the lines on the various LED lookalike H4 alternatives it's starting to sound like unless you stick LED lamps in these projector type lights and run dip and main beam together you're not actually getting much more light on the road in front of you.
Don't get me wrong I've got so close to pulling the trigger on these bad boys with their sequential flashiness but the thought of putting a dreary halogen or 20 watt LED lamp in the housing, which is what most of these Luminon and Twenty20 lamps are and expecting the lumen output to be better than a 50 watt halogen lamp is a tad optimistic.
I appreciate the colour rendition from an LED lamp will be closer to daylight but I use a 20 watt LED spotlight at work at times and while it's great at lighting up a corner of a loft I wouldn't want to drive at night behind two of them.
To this end has anyone put LED H4 lamps in their H4 headlights and taken a night time picture along the lines of the those in the various existing threads, I just can't help thinking that the higher colour temperature of LED lamps is being confused with the duller warm white rendition from halogen lamps... as it happens I do prefer that crisp white colour too.
Don't get me wrong I've got so close to pulling the trigger on these bad boys with their sequential flashiness but the thought of putting a dreary halogen or 20 watt LED lamp in the housing, which is what most of these Luminon and Twenty20 lamps are and expecting the lumen output to be better than a 50 watt halogen lamp is a tad optimistic.
I appreciate the colour rendition from an LED lamp will be closer to daylight but I use a 20 watt LED spotlight at work at times and while it's great at lighting up a corner of a loft I wouldn't want to drive at night behind two of them.
To this end has anyone put LED H4 lamps in their H4 headlights and taken a night time picture along the lines of the those in the various existing threads, I just can't help thinking that the higher colour temperature of LED lamps is being confused with the duller warm white rendition from halogen lamps... as it happens I do prefer that crisp white colour too.
On the Lotus Seven club forum (Caterhams) there have been many discussions on headlights / bulbs as they use a light unit first around in the 60/70’s. The two best upgrades seem to be Wipac freeform headlamp units where the reflector focuses the beam rather than the lens (T6’s have the reflector focus arrangement). The second upgrade is LED H4 bulbs from Classic Car LEDs.
I think I’m going to try a pair of these.
Ian
I think I’m going to try a pair of these.
Ian
Page 4 of this thread has some nighttime pictures of various bulbs and light brightness in a seven.
upgrade 7" headlights | Lotus Seven Club
upgrade 7" headlights | Lotus Seven Club
Cheers gents that image from the Lotus 7 forum gives an idea of what I think is most users perception of an improvement after trying LED lamps and it's the daylight colour rendition rather than an actual increase in Lumen output.
I've watched that YouTube channel quite a few times @Loz and was surprised how many US cars use H4 lamps, they don't rubbish these lamps like they would have say 18 months ago but unfortunately the favoured makes they promote don't seem to make it over here but then as with @andys you can take a punt on some £30 ones by way of an experiment, just a shame the adverts for the bargains fall into outlandish claims for lighting output as they try to attract the buyers attention.
I got my LED drls from Autobulb Direct online but not prepared to fork out £110 for 20 watt Philips Ultinons, I know these lamps are efficient but I also know that a 20 watt chip will produce slightly less than 2,000 lumen at 6500k and probably only 1500 lumen when blended to produce the sickly warm white colour of a tungsten halogen lamp, hardly searchlight material.
I've got some lamps bookmarked so I guess I had better put up or shut up at this point, there, that told me!
I've watched that YouTube channel quite a few times @Loz and was surprised how many US cars use H4 lamps, they don't rubbish these lamps like they would have say 18 months ago but unfortunately the favoured makes they promote don't seem to make it over here but then as with @andys you can take a punt on some £30 ones by way of an experiment, just a shame the adverts for the bargains fall into outlandish claims for lighting output as they try to attract the buyers attention.
I got my LED drls from Autobulb Direct online but not prepared to fork out £110 for 20 watt Philips Ultinons, I know these lamps are efficient but I also know that a 20 watt chip will produce slightly less than 2,000 lumen at 6500k and probably only 1500 lumen when blended to produce the sickly warm white colour of a tungsten halogen lamp, hardly searchlight material.
I've got some lamps bookmarked so I guess I had better put up or shut up at this point, there, that told me!
Well I've ordered some at £19.99 however her in drawers has ordered the new Lee Childs book at the same time to get free delivery (£20 and over) so mid week delivery at the earliest... won't be able to sleep in the meantime.
Anyway apparently these bad boys are 36 watt, 72 watt per pair, great... hang on do they mean each lamp consumes 36w with both beams lighted at the same time meaning dip alone would be 18 watts... that's even less than the £100 odd ones... 2 watts less, if only @Dellmassive would do all the hard work for me!
Anyway apparently these bad boys are 36 watt, 72 watt per pair, great... hang on do they mean each lamp consumes 36w with both beams lighted at the same time meaning dip alone would be 18 watts... that's even less than the £100 odd ones... 2 watts less, if only @Dellmassive would do all the hard work for me!
Not true, mine are a massive improvement over the halogens!
That's interesting, you're the only person I've ever heard of get decent light out of those headlights. What bulbs are they?
These What Have You Done To Your Van Today? Unfortunately you can’t buy them any more
I'm tending to side with @andys here as we've not actually seen a side by side comparison picture on the forum with the H4 T6 lights powered by decent LED lamps.
Projector lenses are a way of concentrating the light beam but realistically that's the same task that the big old reflector does in the H4 enclosure and unless the reflector is illuminating something outside the drivers field of vision ie. the tree tops where the heck is the light from the halogen going... I reckon the issue with H4 lights in the main is down to the yellowy halogen light produced versus the perceived improvement of a crisp white LED alternative.
I'm not knocking the factory LED lights as I have no experience of their performance but I can't help thinking that as with the Caravelle H7 units if you were to put halogen lamps in as the light source then you might be underwhelmed with the resulting performance and let's face it driving with the main and dipped beams on at the same time would improve even the standard H4 output but how many seconds can you drive anywhere on main beam these days?
One final thought and did anyone see the search lights at BusFest outside the main dance tents... they were reflector lights.
Projector lenses are a way of concentrating the light beam but realistically that's the same task that the big old reflector does in the H4 enclosure and unless the reflector is illuminating something outside the drivers field of vision ie. the tree tops where the heck is the light from the halogen going... I reckon the issue with H4 lights in the main is down to the yellowy halogen light produced versus the perceived improvement of a crisp white LED alternative.
I'm not knocking the factory LED lights as I have no experience of their performance but I can't help thinking that as with the Caravelle H7 units if you were to put halogen lamps in as the light source then you might be underwhelmed with the resulting performance and let's face it driving with the main and dipped beams on at the same time would improve even the standard H4 output but how many seconds can you drive anywhere on main beam these days?
One final thought and did anyone see the search lights at BusFest outside the main dance tents... they were reflector lights.
