W219 CLS - LED H7 Headlights Installd (Novsight)

[star]

I’ve heard aftermarket leds will pass a mot at the moment but hids will not.
Ps I’ve run out of popcorn.

 

[ajlsl600]

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.

cheers LK, i will look for some when i get back sure prices better in the uk.

 

[Craiglxviii]

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.

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.

 

[Craiglxviii]

cheers 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.

 

[ajlsl600]

There are H7s and there are H7s. You want the latter

Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited run to 1550lm now, the most powerful on the market.

cheers. LK says same thing ,going to look for them on the weekend

 

[kid-jensen]

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...

 

[Craiglxviii]

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...

No, they’re sealed units.

 

[DSK]

I used the car locally on Saturday evening and managed to grab a couple of pictures.

Legalisties etc aside, the lights don't seem to aim high and scatter the light, give a strong light and are good enough to help you see where you are going in comparison to halogens. Looking the car in the retail car park windows whilst driving in/out, they didn't look glaring. To be able to say whether I prefer these or HIDs, I'd have to run a HID kit in the same car to comment but, initially, I'd say it is somewhat comparable to a 35w HID kit but not a patch on a 55w HID kit. For the £28/£30 I'm happy compared to what the halogen's offer.

 

[LostKiwi]

I'd say that beam pattern is pretty poor. Very uneven light spread with glaringly bright spots particularly in the second photo where there are 4 significantly brighter areas.
It also appears the headlight aiming is incorrect. The right beam appears to be aimed higher than left.
As for legalities they can't be just swept under the carpet. You have knowingly and willingly made your vehicle a hazard to others. The legal implications are quite nasty.

 

[DSK]

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.

 

[Ben Longden]

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

 

[Craiglxviii]

Beam pattern is crap. Sorry. It’s technically NG, there is an uneven central pattern area, the pavement dogleg has a fuzzy edge- actually it all has a fuzzy edge, and I can see what looks like colour variation across the pattern edges in the last image. Professionally those test results would be laughed out of a Design Review.

It pretty much exactly demonstrates what LK and I have explained so often on here. A non-homologated light source just won’t work. The reflector tolerances are pretty damn tight as design engineers are trying to shave every gram out of parts, so not to be unexpected, but still these pictures go to show it.

Also, just to say. It’s illegal and this modification invalidates your insurance. It is exactly of the same seriousness as removing the bumpers to make it look cool. It’s that dangerous.

 

[Craiglxviii]

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

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.

To answer your questions:

1. Quite possibly yes. It will certainly embrittlement the internal polymer mountings. Remember LED lamps produce their heat backwards not forwards, and non LED luminaries are designed to project heat forwards.
2. Probably less likely than with a normal lamp. Glare into the near UV will be worse though.
3. Don’t know but likely not.

 

[Craiglxviii]

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.

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.

 

[DSK]

I swapped out there original 'non approved' version of the Novsights;

Fitted the 'dot approved version'

Against the garden wall I could see no real difference other than sharper cut off and more even spread of light. On the road, there was a noticeable difference compared to the first set of LEDs. On these later LEDs the light was spread more evenly and I was comfortable driving this time in the dark.

If anyone is wanting to fit LEDs then even if the kit you buy has built in decoders, you WILL need an additional set of decoders to prevent the bulb going off/on at times on this model. I am happy with the performance of these for now.

However, for anyone wishing to go down the LED or HID route, I would say that a premium 35w HID kit is still your best option for improved lighting and overall fitment. The additional decoders needed for the LEDs make fitting of LEDs a pain in the rear as well as the modification to the bulb holder. For an LED kit, even though I have seen some good results on other cars with different LEDs I would advise getting something like the GT Ultra / Osram / Philips kits.

 

[Botus]

My father's projector lights on his w211 are brighter in the off position than when on dipped beam... the car should never have been homologated for Europe in this lethal state. We fitted Osram night breaker plus bulbs. They go from pathetic, to totally useless and the vehicle shouldn't be allowed on UK roads at night.

I often get to drive a focus with nighteye LEDs (which I believe are the original company of the ones the OP lists) it went from dangerous at night halogens, to very good usable light making night time use far safer. We have never had another vehicle flash us due to the lights in 2 years and 8k of night use. They remain working, which if you drive a focus you will know is a major plus as these car's pop headlight bulbs like American's do pain killers....

As for beam patterns (yes bulbs impact but so too does the light unit they fit to) and if you read reviews, Philips always get a better rating in tests as they have a far better and consistent (between bulb) pattern vs Osram. Philips are now on a second gen 5800k set of LED H7s out there with 12 years expected life, but they are big money

 

[McDonald]

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.

 

[star]

I’ve heard aftermarket leds will pass a mot at the moment but hids will not.
Ps I’ve run out of popcorn.

Got some more popcorn mow

 

[LostKiwi]

...very good usable light making night time use far safer.

Safer for you to do your desired speed or safer for incoming traffic that has to deal with the glare from your illegal lights?
I suspect the former which shows a pretty big disregard for other road users who have to deal with the dodgy lights coming their way.

OP. I would be careful recommending illegal lighting modifications.
If it's an H7 it's only legal if the replacement bulb is an E-marked H7. DOT is a US standard and not recognised in the UK.
I've said this many times before, you cannot have an E-marked H7 that uses any technology other than halogen. The E-mark defines the construction of the bulb and does not permit LED, HiD or anything other than halogen filaments.
That applies to all H series bulbs as well as ISO bulbs. Similarly a D series lighting unit only permits HiD.

Use of anything other than the correct legal lighting shows a disregard for the law, disrespect and disregard for other road users and invalidates insurance.

No matter how you dress it up with "it passes the MOT" (MOT tester should be taken to task for passing incorrect lights), "the beam pattern looks fine" or "it's safer" etc it's still illegal. End of.

 

[LostKiwi]

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.

Yours will be HiD in a projector lens for low beam and probably Halogen high beam.