W212 LED headlamp replacement, £1,100?!

[mioba]

Module as in the whole unit or the little box under the light. Indicator LED is still working as well as everything in the unit. Can the module be replaced?

Read the posts above buddy...

 

[FredaMerc]

Ive read the stream. I dont know what you are talking about

 

[Craiglxviii]

Yet the whole light unit now needs replacing. Thats good for the environment as its full of bulbs that work. I dont think!!

The materials used in the manufacture of LEDs and their control electronics are far less horrid than those used in incandescent lamp manufacture.

In the case of your lamp, it’s almost certain - actually it’s 100% certain- to be the “driver” (power supply) that has failed, and that is likely to have an IC that’s failed to cause the whole failure.

LED lamps are designed as a system. The “bulb” isn’t designed to be replaceable because- very long story short- if you make the lamp packaged to be replaceable, you do away with the many, many genuine benefits of having a properly designed and controlled electronic lighting source and you don’t get the benefits of having a cheap lighting source (filament based).

The Osram SMARTrix array that forms the core of your headlamp is around £200 on its own, wholesale to MB. The control module is another £50-80 odd, add in the housing/ lensing and moving magic black spot motors, controllers and integration and you’ll be looking at £450-500 COST price, to MB.

Remember, MB exist to make a profit, not to sell cars (that’s just one of their platforms to generate it). Replacing a profit centre (new lamps at service) with a non-profit centre (LED lamps) means that the margin has to go somewhere. Filament lamps fail within 2-3 years typically, regularly across all cars. LED headlamp units are designed to run for 40-50k hours with fewer than one in every 30k failing in its first 8 years (they’re achieving that btw). So, the margin has to go onto the sale of new replacement parts, which affect far fewer customers but to a much bigger degree than before.

 

[Craiglxviii]

The entire LED issue is legislation to protect the environment. Just like filament bulbs not on sale for the house they get rid of them in cars.
They generate too much heat.

The actual heat output isn’t dissimilar, LED lamps will produce maybe 30-40% of what filament lamps will. They just squirt the heat out of the back, not the front- which is why using form factor LED replacement “bulbs” in a reflector lamp is dumb- they kill themselves through heat death in pretty short order. And hence why LED lamps need their own specialised design.

 

[Blobcat]

The materials used in the manufacture of LEDs and their control electronics are far less horrid than those used in incandescent lamp manufacture.

Sounds like you’re believing the marketing department...

 

[FredaMerc]

Okay, bear with me. Im a GP and a woman. Sorry for the excuse. I drive a car. Lol The DT running light failed and MB want to change the whole unit at a cost of £970 plus vat plus fitting. Should I be saying thats not necessary. Thank you for your super detailed reply but it is way above my car knowledge

 

[Craiglxviii]

Sounds like you’re believing the marketing department...

No. I worked as the purchasing manager of an LED lighting business before moving into automotive design where amongst other things, I was responsible for whole-cycle engineering cost benchmarking of vehicle lighting for the world’s 5th biggest carmaker. It’s a topic I know really, really well.

 

[Craiglxviii]

Okay, bear with me. Im a GP and a woman. Sorry for the excuse. I drive a car. Lol The DT running light failed and MB want to change the whole unit at a cost of £970 plus vat plus fitting. Should I be saying thats not necessary. Thank you for your super detailed reply but it is way above my car knowledge

If your car has DRLs then they must be functioning in order to pass an MOT and for the car to be road legal. So, you either need a new lamp assembly, or get aftermarket stick-on DRL strips and have someone fit them. But that will look poo.

 

[FredaMerc]

If your car has DRLs then they must be functioning in order to pass an MOT and for the car to be road legal. So, you either need a new lamp assembly, or get aftermarket stick-on DRL strips and have someone fit them. But that will look poo.

I know that. However, the varied opinions I am getting of this forum isnt helping. I need a new light unit. I will buy it second hand and have it fitted. MB can jump for their new light

 

[Craiglxviii]

I know that. However, the varied opinions I am getting of this forum isnt helping. I need a new light unit. I will buy it second hand and have it fitted. MB can jump for their new light

Sure, you can do that, but you will have to have your new lamp coded to the car. They’re usually not just plug & play.

 

[FredaMerc]

Apparently it only needs coded if its the dymanic model according to MB

 

[Craiglxviii]

Apparently it only needs coded if its the dymanic model according to MB

Ah apologies- yours isn’t?

 

[mioba]

Ive read the stream. I dont know what you are talking about

New
the poster clearly says the module was replaced in post 85
where are you based, any merc indys near you for a second opinion

 

[Blobcat]

No. I worked as the purchasing manager of an LED lighting business before moving into automotive design where amongst other things, I was responsible for whole-cycle engineering cost benchmarking of vehicle lighting for the world’s 5th biggest carmaker. It’s a topic I know really, really well.

Yet, you’re advocating that changing a whole lighting unit is better for the environment than one lamp...

LEDs are great and if made well last for a significantly long time. However if they’re sealed into a complete light unit which has to be replaced when one LED fails and that’s seen as a good engineering design then there is something seriously wrong.

 

[ajlsl600]

IF I replace lovelies a class it wont be with anything that has lights where bulbs of some sort cant be replaced by me.and without any visits for any coding. .

 

[Craiglxviii]

Yet, you’re advocating that changing a whole lighting unit is better for the environment than one lamp...

LEDs are great and if made well last for a significantly long time. However if they’re sealed into a complete light unit which has to be replaced when one LED fails and that’s seen as a good engineering design then there is something seriously wrong.

Yes I am. Caveat- a properly-designed lamp system. For the following reasons:

The LED element of the lamp uses much less per unit of far less noxious, horrid, heavy-metals-laced processes than compared to any form of metal filament or HiD lamp.
The LED element costs around the same as 25 halogen lamps, but the industry manufacturing them is:
a) supporting the global lighting industry (no fundamental difference between LEDs in cars and those in your house);
b) open-ended in development, not fast becoming a dead end, so;
c) contributing far less per vehicle in any form of pollution due to economies of scale.

Also, to point out that although the lighting engine costs are 1: 25 equivalent, the rest of the lamp unit is pretty much identical and so mostly recyclable. In addition, the failure rates are <1/30k within 8 years, versus 1/2k in 3 years for halogen lamps. So, for 100k cars per year, we see approx. 50 lamp failures for LED units, and 300 failures for halogen. Across an 8 year period that equates to 50 LED: 1200 halogen, which is astonishingly 1:24- funny eh.

Disposing of lamps containing heavy metals is a really non-trivial environmental hazard that few people appreciate.

 

[Bay Leaf]

until now one would never have thought to investigate these costs prior to purchase , i do since i first head about it near 2 yr ago. i aint having anything to do with such utter xollocks . but if someone can master fixing them,wot a market!!

China!

 

[ajlsl600]

Prob with china, u wont need anti seize on fastenings as light will likely not last long enough...

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Almost as bad as dressing up bumpers with plastic trim but that of course led to a healhy trade in s/h bumpers and is likely doing the same for headlights - just unfortunate if you have an early failure as the OP. I’m coming to the conclusion with the latest generation of cars >2017 it’s a good idea to extend the warranty by a couple of years if it hasn’t failed in 5 years it’s probably good for 10+

 

[barry jones]

I actually emailed Germany. The reply I got back was the LED should not fail and it was the reason they used them instead of standard bulbs for their longevity. Of course, that doesnt help when you are looking at the price of a new unit.

In the OP's case, it wasn't the actual LED that had failed, it was the controller. You sometimes find this with cheap Chinese LED fittings you buy for your house, when they stop working, it is more often than not, the actual driver (or controller) that fails. Fit a new driver and the LED unit will work again.

MB might say that the LED shouldn't fail, and they are probably right to say that, but I can guarantee they wouldn't give that same commitment for the electronics part (the driver/controller)

I had a 2010 W221 S Class written off back in June following a minor front corner bump when another car came out of a junction and hit me. The car was written off as uneconomical to repair. The biggest single cost was the headlight unit. Bi-Xenon but with night vision....