LED Headlight on W245?

[ALFAitalia]

LEDs in a halogen projector or reflector is an instant fail .... the beam pattern does not enter into it. They are also usually not E marked. Any tester worth his licence will notice straight away....very unlikely to pass the beam pattern test anyway.....headlights designed for halogens simply cannot focus the light from an LED bulb properly and light leaves the bulb in a very different pattern.
If he does pass it lets hope he makes a better job of testing your brakes safety! Being blinded by idiots with HID and LED conversions in halogen headlights is a personal hate of mine.

 

[markjay]

LEDs in a halogen projector or reflector is an instant fail .... the beam pattern does not enter into it. They are also usually not E marked. Any tester worth his licence will notice straight away....very unlikely to pass the beam pattern test anyway.....headlights designed for halogens simply cannot focus the light from an LED bulb properly and light leaves the bulb in a very different pattern.
If he does pass it lets hope he makes a better job of testing your brakes safety! Being blinded by idiots with HID and LED conversions in halogen headlights is a personal hate of mine.

'Usually'? I am not aware of any H7 Halogen to LED conversion kit that does carry the E-Mark - which for me, is enough of a reason for never installing one (as it technically renders the car unroadworthy, potentially leading to a can-of-worms with the insurer in the event of a significant claim).

But regarding MOT, there are members on here who had these conversations done and claim that it is possible to get the beam pattern right (though, perhaps they replaced the headlights, rather than just the bulbs?), and that MOT testers are not obliged to 'look under the skin' as long as the beam pattern is right.

 

[Gazwould]

It's nearly 2025 folks , of course there are LED bulbs that focus light properly and have the right beam pattern .

Not saying it's legal because it isn't , just giving the information .






This is usually achieved by the LED mimicking the position of the halogen filament .




Like anything there can be some poor products out there .


Nice article here

Are LED Headlight Bulbs the Brightest? (we show you the best)

Most LED headlight bulbs are very dangerous! Not only are they not as bright as the original bulb, they scatter light everywhere and blind other traffic.

www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk

 

[ALFAitalia]

Good info....but irrelevant....its still illegal to use them in 99 percent of cars. A good quality, high performance halogen bulb upgrade like an Osram night breaker will do the same job and still be legal.

Also a lot of the bright LED bulbs are brighter....but they go above the ideal 4.5k to 6k that's best for the eye....so they are brighter but you can see much more....like those nasty blue/ purple colour range super bright HID bulbs.

 

[Gazwould]

Not the same job at all hence Pops settled for LED after Nightbreakers , he tried two different performance bulbs in his old car .

Projectors aren't good at best with halogen , absolutely fine with stock Xenon HID.
He wanted to improve the lighting due to being of a certain age that dislikes nightime driving .

No flashes from oncoming and no beam pattern issues for four years afterwards till it was sold .

It's MOT is due within two weeks so we'll see if any bulb issues arise.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Kind of missing the point.....I speed sometimes (like everyone else)...its a risk I take.....but its still illegal and I admit that. The difference is that once I'm not speeding I'm doing nothing wrong. With LED bulbs fitted he's braking the law....MOT pass or not, lights on or not, and since he's driving with an undeclared illegal mod he's also potentially voiding his insurance. As long as you have made him aware of the risk and he accepts them...like me with speeding....then it's fine.
As a side note most LED bulbs give patterns nothing like the above pics....but have loads of dazzling light bleed above the cutoff line....like this.

 

[Gazwould]

He's all good now as his LCI F11 projector Xenons are fine .

 

[190]

While they are all clearly illegal, there are a few good LED replacements out there. First Philips and now Osram. Philips had high hopes and tried very hard to get their bulbs approved but failed. If they genuinely have a good light pattern then perhaps the authorities just don't want to open the flood gates to all the rubbish LED's out there which is understandable. Voiding insurance is not a trivial matter as US style lawyers may come after your private wealth in the event of an accident.

I thought about using one of these LEDs as a H4 replacement in my 45 year old motor cycle which needs improvement far more than anyone's car but in the end settled for one of the +50 type halogen bulbs which helped. What I may do and I don't think it's illegal is to use an LED as a daylight running lamp in place of of the weedy 5W parking lamp. I've already tried using a 10W halogen bulb which more then tripled the lumens but I'm looking for BA9s LED's with even more lumen output.

 

[ALFAitalia]

If you bike or car was reg before April 86, bizarrely, its not illegal to convert to LED....which is odd as Id have thought that they are even more likely yo have a bad beam pattern than a modern projector....but that's the law and it will pass an MOT with a good beam too!!

From the MOT manual.

Vehicles first used on or after April 1, 1986 cannot have their halogen headlamp units converted to use LED bulbs.

Clearly implying that before that its OK!!

 

[DSM10000]

Vehicles first used on or after April 1, 1986 cannot have their halogen headlamp units converted to use LED bulbs.

Interesting use of language.

It clearly states " cannot have their halogen headlamp units converted" It would be interesting to see how that is legally defined in this context.

Most LED lights are a direct replacement.

 

[ALFAitalia]

I'm pretty sure it just means swapping one type of bulb to the other.

 

[190]

From the MOT manual.

Vehicles first used on or after April 1, 1986 cannot have their halogen headlamp units converted to use LED bulbs.

Clearly implying that before that its OK!!

I've seen that date before when I was checking lighting regulations for my 1979 motorcycle.

It didn't talk about LEDs specifically but what the regulation said in essence was that prior to 1986 there was no requirement for a light unit to have an approval mark. Which presumably means the compliance of that light unit and it's bulb can't be checked during an MOT and that the regulation below doesn't apply.

This is the actual regulation from the 1989 lighting regs that says you must use an originally approved filament bulb.

Filament lamps​

14.—(1) Where a motor vehicle first used on or after 1st April 1986 or any trailer manufactured on or after 1st October 1985 is equipped with any lamp of a type that is required by any Schedule to these Regulations to be marked with an approval mark, no filament lamp other than a filament lamp referred to in the Designation of Approval Marks Regulations ......

shall be fitted to any such lamp.

 

[DSM10000]

I'm pretty sure it just means swapping one type of bulb to the other.

It's what the legal definition would be that's important I would imagine?