TransporterHQ (THQ) Aftermarket Headlights

[Ethan Andrews]

1) Tbe halogen bulbs are a circular base plate with a straight edge on one side. So you can only fit them
in their specific designed position. These ones however don’t seem to locate. And you have to visually place them in the correct position.

Otherwise the beam pattern is incorrect. And in one of my lights this showed a missing field of light. More like a shadow across the road.

2) Lamp warning - Yes unfortunately.

The other irritating thing is that the aftermarket connectors which are crimped spade connectors are a different size to VW meaning you have to replace one of the connectors before attempting installation.

 

[Ethan Andrews]

I have tried various h7 led bulbs including the latest gen2 philips ultinon lamp and got a lamp out warning they are they only produce half the light volume as the ones I’m now using which are :
jamieWIN 12000lm h7 with no lamp out.
I then used jamieWIN h1 on the full beam which give brilliant light output, but has lamp out warning. If fitting these bulbs make sure the lamp is perfect vertical or it produces a strange light pattern with some dark areas if not vertical.
I would recommend any led lamp that uses Philips zes chips( ideally 3-4 chips per side of lamp) as they are the ones I’ve had best outputs from in my real life tests

That’s really good knowledge and you are correct about the beam pattern.

Where did you buy the jamieWIN 12000lm h7 lamps from please?

 

[Smr72]

@Ethan Andrews i got bulbs from eBay

I found if I took the base off and fitted it first it was easier to locate the push bulb back through fitted base

 

[fezza68]

Has anybody fitted osram nightbreaker lazer h7 bulbs and their thoughts on them?,

 

[Ethan Andrews]

@Ethan Andrews i got bulbs from eBay

I found if I took the base off and fitted it first it was easier to locate the push lamp back through fitted base

Hi I found them. But they must be so bright as my ones are bright and only 4000 lumens. And yours are 15000 lumens!

 

[andys]

Hi I found them. But they must be so bright as my ones are bright and only 4000 lumens. And yours are 15000 lumens!

One thing I can guarantee you is that they're not 15000 lumens. Ebay sellers seem to look at what other people are claiming and then double or treble it

 

[Smr72]

I’ve found with led’s the lumens can be miss leading. LEDs may well be brighter but traditional bulbs have what I would call a better volume of light. It’s very much a case of trial and error to get one that suits

 

[dubber36]

Here's a strange old thing with my LEDs in these headlights. I've got Philips X-tremeUltinon bulbs, so didn't skimp. Unless it's pitch black, it's hard to see any light on the road. I was following a car the other night as it was getting dark. It was obvious to see the spread of yellow halogen light on the road in front of him, but it was hard to tell if my lights were on at all. As soon as it is properly dark, my lights are superb. A good even spread of crisp white light with a very sharp cut off. Just like all the pictures you see all over the internet.

This must be to do with the colour temperature. My bulbs are 5800k. OEM xenons are generally 4300k, I don't know what OEM LEDs are, but my guess would be much lower than most aftermarket ones. I'm considering trying a pair of halogen Osram Cool Blue Intense bulbs out of interest, as these are what I have in the main beams.

 

[fezza68]

Its funny you should say that cos mine do the same thing,unless its pitch black i have to look twice to see if they are on. Im gonna try osram nightbreaker lazer and see if they make a difference.

 

[nobbyq]

anyone got the van style loom fitted , which allows the dipped and main to stay on together ?

 

[dubber36]

It's not necessary as it's a simple box tick in VCDS.

 

[nobbyq]

I don’t have Vcds

 

[dubber36]

Perhaps someone local to you does?

The vans default setting is to run with twin headlights, the factory coding change for H4s is "forced dipped beam off with main beams" so it would be a shame to fit a bundle of extra wires to make the van do what it was supposed to do all along.

 

[nobbyq]

Ok I got a mate with vcds, what modules or so he looking for ???¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[dubber36]

My van is too new for my VCDS, so I can't go and check, but I'm pretty sure it's in Central Electrics.

 

[Mooncat]

It's not surprising the results people get using LEDs - the headlight units are designed for a light source being in an exact position. In the case of a standard bulb, this is the placement of the filament. On LEDs the body of the light unit is usually where the filament would be and then the actual LEDs are mounted on that so can be several mm out of position. You hear reports of dark areas using LEDs or having to rotate the LED unit to try and get a better light pattern due to this offset however this just proves that aftermarket LEDs in a headlight designed for halogen units are a compromise. In SMR's picture further up the thread you can see how the LED placement has created a concentration of light centrally (almost light a spot light) and then the rest of the pattern is significantly duller (it's still one of the better LED light spreads I've seen). A standard bulb or HID unit would have a better more even spread.

edit = for some reason when I type in b u l b it changes it to lamp??

 

[Sabre]

That's a great explanation @Mooncat thanks for that.
So, what would you consider as the best option for replacing the candle power of the H4's?
A good LED 'bulb' set, an original H7 unit or one of these LED units from THQ/travellinlite?

 

[dubber36]

My take on this having just gone from H7s to THQ lights with LED dipped beams is, the new set up offers a slight performance over the H7's, but not enough to justify the £600 they cost me. I can offset the value of my H7s against that if I were to sell them, but I don't want to before anyone else asks.

I bought them for vanity reasons, not the slight performance increase. Eitherway, both will offer noticeable improvements over H4s, providing you have all 4 lamps on with main beam.

 

[XZO]

My take on this having just gone from H7s to THQ lights with LED dipped beams is, the new set up offers a slight performance over the H7's, but not enough to justify the £600 they cost me. I can offset the value of my H7s against that if I were to sell them, but I don't want to before anyone else asks.

I bought them for vanity reasons, not the slight performance increase. Eitherway, both will offer noticeable improvements over H4s, providing you have all 4 lamps on with main beam.

Thanks for the above review, I have been considering replacing my Caravelle H7's with THQ, can't say I will now bearing in mind your post.

 

[Smr72]

@dubber36 if the leds you got with the lights were the Philips ultinon gen2 then these are the ones that I replaced with £30 h7 leds and got significantly better output and no bulb out