LED Bulbs from Uncle Sam

davemercedes

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I have an alternative email address with mail.com and an article on there caught my attention today:

http://bgr.com/2018/01/31/led-headlight-conversion-kit-amazon-prime/

> $44 and 15 minutes is all it takes to convert any car’s headlights to LEDs


The article basically says the bulb kit is “plug and play” and the bulbs are CANBUS ready. The kit also includes a cooling fan for each bulb. The imageson the item show fairly remarkable spread of white light. I looked at Amazon USA and it says they offer 3xYears warranty and will ship to UK: -

https://www.amazon.com/CougarMotor-Headlight-Bulbs-All-Conversion/dp/B01H6NZ7D8?tag=b0c55-20

I did a text search on Amazon UK and came up with what looks like a “similar” kit at £19.99. This one offers 2 x years warranty but it does say some cars “may require may require load resistors to stop flickering or fix error messages” (which I think is what previous LED bulb kits required?) :-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Newest-Hea...LED+Headlight+Bulbs+All-in-One+Conversion+Kit

I have fancied having nice white lights (so long as they’re road legal?) but seeing the problems some people have had I’ve always steered clear of them

- So are there any experts able to give some clarification here please?
 

Craiglxviii

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There is one big problem doing this.

It doesn’t work.

If you have a car with halogen, this is illegal AND you’ll kill the LEDs through heat death.

If you have a car with HiD, it’s illegal.
 

LostKiwi

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If you don't already have LED headlights and aren't changing the entire headlight unit to an LED one then they're illegal.
 
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davemercedes

davemercedes

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Grr!

Story of my life... everything I like is illegal, improper or fattening!
 

Xtractorfan

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Everything is illegal, But there are guys out there who know about this stuff, and how it works. My only problem with it is the fan, if it gives up the ghost then all is lost.
Buttt,, its American, and most possibly made in Germany, as my X5 led upgrade DRL's were (day running lights)
So they will be up to speed, and do what it says on the tin..The Yanks don't hang about when something turns out to be not wot its supposed to be.
For $44 and some added vat wen you get it., Id deffo take a punt on it.
And just don't get it MoT'd anywhere near there is guy called Craig doing the testing :D
The other £19 99 Amazon ones as you will know Dave are less than useless.
Admittedly some of these 'whiter than white' lights do have a spread/scatter of light that does seem to be far from controlled, so those I would definitely ban.
 

C350Carl

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Please do not get LED Lamps unless you are putting them into a dedicated LED headlamp unit.

Regardless of what Xtractor has written above. ALL LED Lamps (including the astronomically expensive Phillips Ultinon) do not produce the light output that you get even from a decent halogen lamp like Osram Nightbreaker for example when placed into the wrong type of housing.

There was a test done recently (think it was autocar but will have to find it) in which they tested a number of these lamps, including the Philips ones. They concluded that although in the first 10m or so in front of the car they were a lot brighter. The distance projection was crap (even in projector style headlights) and had less light. I’ll try and find the link and post it up.

If you want to waste circa £50 once you take tax and shipping into account then let me know and I’ll pm you my bank details.
 
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davemercedes

davemercedes

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Too late now :(.
- I've renewed the Contract of Employment for the bloke who walks in front of me with a red flag.
- AND he tried to screw me for a salary increase!
 

C350Carl

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Be interesting to hear what you think of them once they arrive.
 

C350Carl

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Wabby

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I’ve had them in our lasses Qashqai for a few months now. One set in dipped and one set in main.

Brighter than the 35w hid kit they replaced and no issues thus far.
 

LostKiwi

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And the point still remains that they are illegal.

I find the whole "I'll go for the brightest lights I can get and never mind what effect they have on others" incomprehensible and incredibly selfish if not irresponsible.
 

C350Carl

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And the point still remains that they are illegal.

I find the whole "I'll go for the brightest lights I can get and never mind what effect they have on others" incomprehensible and incredibly selfish if not irresponsible.

Just general attitude of society these days it seems.
 

LostKiwi

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Just general attitude of society these days it seems.
Agreed.

No problems with folks fitting stuff like this to high beams but on low beam it's all well and good having 90 million candlepower headlights shining on the road but when that road gets wet most of that 90 million candlepower is bounced straight into the eyes of the cars coming the other way.
I've given up driving the Smart in winter for this very reason - it's bad enough with legal lights but some of the eyeball melters fitted are a step way too far.
Factory LEDs don't seem quite so bad (I'm guessing the brighter parts of the beam are directed in a way to minimise reflections off the road into oncoming vehicles) but certainly dodgy aftermarket stuff can be seriously bad (and it's often very obvious from colour which are the dodgy aftermarket ones).
 
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davemercedes

davemercedes

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Be interesting to hear what you think of them once they arrive.
Just general attitude of society these days it seems.

When I first saw the ad from USA, with the way they were described e.g.: 'plug and play', it seemed they were offering 'compliant' lighting but as soon as Craig and LK warned me off, I looked around and none of them on the Bay or Amazon claim to be UK-legal so I took it no further. - It's disappointing because a reasonable white light would be nice to have. However, I remember years ago how the tearaways used to stick in 'Bright Eyes' (I think that's what they were called?) - so a Mini was three times as bright as a fire-engine and totally blinding - and they used to get pinched for it. If the LEDs on offer dazzle etc then the driver deserves a ticket.

It would be interesting to see how they really measure up against Night Breakers, which are of course legal and they're on Amazon at £15.89 for two.
 

Xtractorfan

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Too late now :(.
- I've renewed the Contract of Employment for the bloke who walks in front of me with a red flag.
- AND he tried to screw me for a salary increase!
Can't you jut run him over?....
 

C350Carl

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When I first saw the ad from USA, with the way they were described e.g.: 'plug and play', it seemed they were offering 'compliant' lighting but as soon as Craig and LK warned me off, I looked around and none of them on the Bay or Amazon claim to be UK-legal so I took it no further. - It's disappointing because a reasonable white light would be nice to have. However, I remember years ago how the tearaways used to stick in 'Bright Eyes' (I think that's what they were called?) - so a Mini was three times as bright as a fire-engine and totally blinding - and they used to get pinched for it. If the LEDs on offer dazzle etc then the driver deserves a ticket.

It would be interesting to see how they really measure up against Night Breakers, which are of course legal and they're on Amazon at £15.89 for two.

The link I posted above says the Ultinon are about as bright as the Nightbreakers. So not great value at 10x the cost!
 

Craiglxviii

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The other amusing thing here is that American drivers in general are calling for a reduction in light output as they feel car headlights are too glaringly bright. That’s not the industry but general public attitude. The whole brighter/ more controllable beam thing is European. So anything coming from America will be in general at best equivalent and at worst way inferior to contemporary European headlights.

Which is pretty much what we see here really!!!
 

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