H4 headlamps with LED bulbs

We are all in the same boat with h4s . The upgraded bulbs will help but they will never be fun to drive at night. Vw should help as they could Offer a upgrade at cost but then they would need to agree these are unsafe. It’s hard to see how they got through test driving at night when designing the van. I only use mine for work so winter driving is over for me as I now go and come home in the light until next year.
 
The Ham said:
read the threads but does anybody have any reviews on these?
View attachment 68162
Click to expand...
They do a review of the Osram on Youtube by Headlight Revolution from memory, also from memory these are a 20w led lamp so with the best will in the world not the brightest.

The limiting factors with tweaking the H4 headlight are the beam pattern produced by the reflector and the fact that the same single H4 lamp can only produce one light source at a time ie dip or main beam so you're not going to be able to drive around on main beam and dip.

The Novisight lamp shown in the thread pumps out enough light to show the limitations of VWs single reflector headlight compared to the neater beam pattern produced by their projector LED headlight and the THQ headlight however neither of those options come in as a sub £100 option and realistically if you're van isn't a daily driver that £500 upwards spend could put your kids through Uni, pay for Grandmas care home or, much more likely as it's not 1930, go towards a set of Judds.:thumbsup:
 
well that's my decision made........I'm staying in at night!!! Just to add, i've actually not been out at night yet to actually see(or not see) just how bad the headlights are on my van....
 
I know the team pattern isn't the greatest with the H4, but the difference in changing mine out to LED has been game changing,,, i can now drive at night.

I haven't been flashed by other drivers at all, the headlight alignment did help.

I grabbed a really cheap pair of h4's on gumtree (H7's are rare here second hand) i might look at fitting Moroimoto projectors into these unit
 
You should watch for some H7 light fittings on UK Gumtree/ UK ebay/ this forum if the postage isn't prohibitive Bryn... actually even brand new the H7 lights themselves from the various car parts suppliers aren't horrendously expensive, again though, no clue about postage to Australia.

A chap on the Forum had a pair of H4s fitted with the Morimoto Hid modules installed... looked a bit chunky, ironically the converter is about 10 mile East of here but I calmed down quickly when prices slightly North of £500 we're mentioned and this would vary upwards with the actual module used.

Overall the biggest and cheapest improvement has been fitting the higher output LED H4 lamps to the stock H4 light as we've done but the nearest copy of the factory LED lights output and beam pattern has been with the aftermarket projector style light units fitted with Hid lamps in the dipped projectors, factor in running the main beam and dip at the same time via an add on loom or coding of the BCM and you can nearly set fire to the back of the car in front!
 
Hey Stay Frosty,

i'll have to keep more of an eye out on eBay uk and see what comes up, but from what I've seen from when i originally looked before xmas, was expensive shipping, but thats to be expected, its not just over the ditch with a small parcel :rofl:

I've noticed the H7's going for $400 each when they do come up, i can get a set of aftermarket H7 for $1000. its just silly pricing over here for OEM secondhand.

i do have to admit, these bulbs i have are quite bright, but would have been better in a H7 projector.

Im just tempted to build my own morimoto projector light, it doesn't look that hard:whistle:.
 
Fitting HID projectors into a reflector housing is very straightforward, once you have split the lens from the headlight body. I did some with a mate for his Astra van. The issue with original H4 headlights will be the flashing of a HID main beam. Fine when dipped beam is already on, but with the warm up time that aftermarket HIDs have, you won't get full power when you flash in the daytime.

This wasn't as issue in the Astra as it has a separate main beam, like T6 H7s. We put LEDs in this to give an instant flash, then took a feed from the original main beam to power the HID projector shutter.
 
As you say Dubber not an issue when the headlights are already on dip as the lamp is running and the high beam flash is simply waving the shutter up and down.
Flashing your headlights these days can be as provocative as a blast on the horn with some drivers though so maybe a feeble bluey/white flicker would be less likely to get some dash cam road rage footage!
 
I'm not one to condone fitting LED or HIDs into reflector headlights, however the only way to tell is to try them. The T6 electrics are pretty sensitive to these sorts of things and bulb out warning lights can be a bit hit and miss. Having said that, bulb monitoring can be turned off using VCDS.

On another note to those that have fitted LEDs into H4s, has anyone coded dipped to stay on with main beam? I would have thought the heat of the bulbs wouldn't be an issue as it is with halogens.
 
dubber36 said:
I'm not one to condone fitting LED or HIDs into reflector headlights, however the only way to tell is to try them. The T6 electrics are pretty sensitive to these sorts of things and bulb out warning lights can be a bit hit and miss. Having said that, bulb monitoring can be turned off using VCDS.

On another note to those that have fitted LEDs into H4s, has anyone coded dipped to stay on with main beam? I would have thought the heat of the bulbs wouldn't be an issue as it is with halogens.
Click to expand...

The LEDs usually have a big heat sink on the back so expect they’ll get hot like halogens. I’ve never had a problem with main beam even on the H4s. I only struggle when there is oncoming traffic - it seems to drown out any light from the dipped H4s.

In the Caterham Seven world, people seem to be fitting Novsight LEDs which have a good beam cut off, though the lighting wiring on most cars is 1970s design ie pre canbus.

If you want to buy a set up thats known to work on the T6 then try Classic Car LEDs - they sell the bulbs and canbus cheats as a package. More expensive than ebay / amazon but removes the guesswork! They are a UK business and you can pick up the phone and speak to a person!

I’m hovering over the ‘go to checkout’ button!

Final point - LEDs normally require the rear cap/cover of the headlight to be modified so they fit.

Ian
 
The issue with both dipped and main beam on together with halogens is the proximity of the filaments to each other and the heat build up that causes the bulbs to blow. With the LEDs, having main and dipped beam on together is just a matter of powering another few diodes, which is no different to how the OEM LED headlights work.
 
I reckon the chipset would melt on my Novisight H4 lamps if it was possible to power both dip and main beam chips at the same time also you don't really need dip running alongside main anyway as there's enough light on main beam alone for basic nocturnal navigation.:geek:
 
I have been searching the web to find out if my 2016 T6 headlights need to have LED bulbs with fans in or not. I have installed LED DRL bulbs and side lights and kept halogen nightbreakers in the main light. I see DRL bulbs with fans on but not many. Im just wondering who has what installed before i do any damage. I bought the upgrade kit from classiccarleds.co.uk
 
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