HiD in H7 guise (like LED) are illegal. Using them is at best inconsiderate and at worst dangerous.
Andy, the Osram Nightbreaker Unlimiteds are what I use in my 210. In my experience they give a significant improvement (and are legal).
In the past I tried an H7 HiD (before finding they were illegal) and didn't find them significantly better. They're somewhere in the shed now.
It isn’t just radiance sensitivity. Our eyes (well, our vision system including the visual cortex) is very strongly adapted to minute variations in the colour discrimination of blue light. 90% of the population can differentiate a 5nm shift in blue wavelength; 465nm being powder blue whereas 470nm is royal blue. 2-3% of the population can discriminate 2nm or below. It’s this ability that causes our attention to be drawn to the blue content of light even if it’s right at the edges of the beam pattern; that’s why people always check twice to see if that flash in the mirror was someone with HiD or The Fuzz.I thought it was more sensitive to yellow light but irritated by blue hence why phone displays reduce blue if they have eye comfort mode set.
Edit:
It appears that as the eye has two types of optical sensor (rods and cones) there are 2 sensitivity peaks. Cones (responsible for daylight vision) are most sensitive at 550nm wavelength (border of green/yellow) whereas rods (responsible for low light monochrome vision) are most sensitive at 510nm (green bordering blue). At 510nm the cones have only 20% sensitivity compared to at 550nm.
There are H7s and there are H7s. You want the lattercheers LK, i will look for some when i get back sure prices better in the uk.
There are H7s and there are H7s. You want the latter
Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited run to 1550lm now, the most powerful on the market.
No, they’re sealed units.OP, you mentioned checking the condition of the Lenses/reflectors....
In the projector types (that I have on the W164), can you actually get them apart to have a look for dirt build-up or any other rubbish that would affect light output?
I guess if they can't be checked, any potential improvement might be undone by the deposits...
That 250hr quoted is the minimum lifetime Osram are prepared to warrant. The reality can be far different, I’ve had the same set in my 215 now for 4 years and they’re still going strong, I had two pairs in my Audi that did 3 years and very many miles, including frequent trips to and from Narrrfuk with late evening returns. So, don’t worry too much about it. Besides H7s are cheap, £15 a pair so even if one gets a year or so out of a set, that’s still roughly the same cost over a decade as a set of HiD lamps.Looking at the Osram Nightbreaker unlimited, they offer a 250 hour life.
I do a 200km daily round trip to the salt mine... this means FOUR months life out if the globe.
Can anyone answer these questions
Question; Can an LED globe damage the mounting with more heat than halogen?
Question: Can an LED damage the reflector and headlamp protector with excess UV?
Question; Will the "blown globe" alarm work
Of all the lamps you’ve mentioned, EVERYTHING but the H7s are illegal. DOT approved or not; that simply means that those lamps have approval to be used in the design of vehicle lamps in the issuing country (not necessarily road vehicle either). It very specifically does NOT mean that they’re interchangeable with H7 in a car designed for H7.I noticed the hot spots too and believed this would not be the case with these bulbs, I was expecting a better graduation from what I had been able to google. As this was my first experience with LEDS, I have the halogen nightbreakers, the dot approved version of the same led bulb where the leds are not recessed in that square block and a 35w hid kit as well as new bulb holders. Seeing one higher than the other after rechecking the fit, the cars booked in for stint at a local MoT station so I can try the other leds or hid kit and get alignment sorted at the same time.
The light in dark was better than what I experienced with halogens but My HIDs have better graduation so may just end up with those in.
I’ll post up some more updates once the other leds n hid kit has been tried.
I’ve heard aftermarket leds will pass a mot at the moment but hids will not.
Ps I’ve run out of popcorn.
Safer for you to do your desired speed or safer for incoming traffic that has to deal with the glare from your illegal lights?...very good usable light making night time use far safer.
I've nothing to add to this conversation except to say that the hive knowledge re:headlights is dazzling. Many years ago I had an Austin Healey Sprite Mk IV and the headlights were useless. I had huge Cibie Quartz Halogen spotlights fitted and they were brilliant. I look back with some embarassment at the cosmetic effect on the car, but I loved the way I could light up the night.
I am entirely unaware of what kind of lights my SL is sporting, but they are the best I've ever owned.