W219 CLS - LED H7 Headlights Installd (Novsight)

[Botus]

How on earth do cars pass an mot with Van Helsing's coach candles and oxidised plastic headlight lenses ?

coz an MOT is more about the brakes work and nothings going to fall off, than safe motoring

 

[Gazwould]

FFS .

 

[LostKiwi]

You can complain and be sarcastic all you like. Still won't make dodgy conversions legal. It will soon be an MOT failure as well (some testers already fail illegal HiD conversions).
Just do the right thing and do it properly or don't do it at all.

 

[Richops]

Aside from them being illegal and too bright Do the hid kits throw up an error when installed then ?? Ta

 

[Botus]

there is no point...

if u wan to go illegal run LEDs, the good ones are much closer to a std bulb, so give other road users less issues
if you want legal you can waste £35 and get a pair 1/2% more glow wormness by fitting a set of night breaker plus H7s, get 4 or 5 sets you'll have used them before the end of the year

most throw errors, u fit a set of resistors that wastes the amount you saved by running a more efficient bulb and the car knows no better, some cars cope with can bus error free bulbs… others don't. I have no idea how fussy merc are (but I can believe they are one of the least tolerant).

I put a set of T10s Error free LED sidelight bulbs in my bike, when the battery was good they were ok. If I started when the battery was a bit low it threw the error, run for 1 min stop and restart they were OK again

 

[LostKiwi]

Aside from them being illegal and too bright Do the hid kits throw up an error when installed then ?? Ta

That should be enough reason not to fit them.

 

[Richops]

there is no point...

if u wan to go illegal run LEDs, the good ones are much closer to a std bulb, so give other road users less issues
if you want legal you can waste £35 and get a pair 1/2% more glow wormness by fitting a set of night breaker plus H7s, get 4 or 5 sets you'll have used them before the end of the year

most throw errors, u fit a set of resistors that wastes the amount you saved by running a more efficient bulb and the car knows no better, some cars cope with can bus error free bulbs… others don't. I have no idea how fussy merc are (but I can believe they are one of the least tolerant).

I put a set of T10s Error free LED sidelight bulbs in my bike, when the battery was good they were ok. If I started when the battery was a bit low it threw the error, run for 1 min stop and restart they were OK again

Thanks for replying
So your saying the osram nightbreakers do not last as long as normal bulbs too ? That correct ?
Just liked in my book and drl lights are also headlights too so don’t think I’ll bother lol was looking to swap h15 drl bulbs to led too but as there headlights too I probably won’t bother
Thanks.

 

[Botus]

all xenon gas upgraded halogen type bulbs last at best 1/3 of time you get from a quality OE bulb.

we will now have 100 posts saying they last forever and are brighter than the sun on a hot day... they are mistaken...

 

[LostKiwi]

they are mistaken

But they are legal.

 

[Richops]

But they are legal.

That’s good to know
Just been given a set so will see how they last will keep the old original ones tho just in case !

 

[Craiglxviii]

Thanks for replying
So your saying the osram nightbreakers do not last as long as normal bulbs too ? That correct ?
Just liked in my book and drl lights are also headlights too so don’t think I’ll bother lol was looking to swap h15 drl bulbs to led too but as there headlights too I probably won’t bother
Thanks.

Daytime Running Lamps are NOT headlamps. They are limited to 600 lumen by regulation and have a completely different beam pattern requirement to headlamps. Nonetheless if your car had some form of conventional lighting source for its DRLs and you replaced those with LED- they would still be illegal.

 

[Gazwould]

I would presume through type approval bowlacks that even halogen - led reversing lights are illegal ?

 

[LostKiwi]

I would presume through type approval bowlacks that even halogen - led reversing lights are illegal ?

Basically if the light unit is e-marked (and it will be) then the light source must have a corresponding E-mark.

All done for perfectly valid reasons.

 

[Gazwould]

My valid reason is halogen P21W are rubbish and 80W-100W equivalent Cree led are superb especially when there's only one silly reversing light .

 

[Blobcat]

My valid reason is halogen P21W are rubbish and 80W-100W equivalent Cree led are superb especially when there's only one silly reversing light .

Just fit some of Nordic lights in wide flood they make excellent rear work lights

 

[LostKiwi]

My valid reason is halogen P21W are rubbish and 80W-100W equivalent Cree led are superb especially when there's only one silly reversing light .

So when you're in town at night reversing to prepare to leave a parking spot where someone is parked in front of you, how much do you think you're inconveniencing cars coming up behind you with your super bright non directional reverse light?

Like I said, these rules are there for a reason.

 

[Gazwould]

Strange you say that a guy with a W203 behind got out and tapped on the window asking what and where from as impressed , lol .

 

[LostKiwi]

Strange you say that a guy with a W203 behind got out and tapped on the window asking what and where from as impressed , lol .

Clearly someone else who doesn't care about other road users then.

 

[DSK]

This was never intended to be a an aggressive thread but, rather one that lists information for anyone who may need it should they wish to go down a LED or HID route of their own choosing which, would enable them to ensure they have all they need to avoid issues and a lot of wasted time as I found out. Modifications can be done both poorly and well despite legalities. (Anyway, there have been some great points highlighted that were new to me).

I am now running the following LED setup in my dipped beam on the W219;

+ hole required in dust cap to feed decoder through
+ rubber gromit to plug the hole
+ enlarge the gap on the metal bulb holder (dremel tool)

Without the additional decoder, despite leaving the car running for 15 minutes to check that there is no flicker or other issues, nothing was noticed. One evening when I was returning home in the dark, after a few minutes I noticed the the LEDs would turn off/on randomly, only one at any time. If I put the fog lights on, the LEDs remained stable. So embarrasingly I drove home wih front fogs on to ensure the LEDs remained stable. This was embarrasing enough for me as I have never used front fogs in 20 years or so of driving and in my opinion they are only used by posers who can't drive for toffee.

The LED bulb itself fits without the need to modify the dust cap. However, as an additional decoder is required for this model, the dust cap, will need a hole drilling. I used a generic LED/HID rubber dust cap to seal up the hole in the plastic cap and feed the cable through the the rubber gromit to keep it tight.

SUMMARY

Had I known that the LEDs would turn out to be this much hassle on the W219, I would have just gone for a good quality 5000K HID H7 kit and be done with it.

I am not sure how long the Novsight LED bulbs will last but, I have the following GT Ultra Osram chip, 5700K kit sat in the garage now as well, and its what I would buy if I had I seen it beforehand. It looks well made and the decorder sounds top notch (may not need an additional one) and the colour temperature is closer to my preference of 5000K.

https://www.powerbulbs.com/product/gt-ultra-led-h7-twin

SIDE LIGHTS (not pictured)

If you decide to use T10 w5w side lights you will need the following decoder;

The cabling all still fits inside the side light housing and cap but it starts to get busy in there. Whilst I personally use Philips T10 LED w5w bulbs in my vehicles for side lights, in also tried canbus error free MTEC platinum T10 LEDs. Both needed the decorder to be flicker free.

After testing, I just thought f*ck it, I don't want extra cabling so threw in a set of normal Philips White Vision w5w bulbs, which are claimed to be 4200K in the ir updated guise. This gets rid of the urine yellow light provided by the original side light bulbs.

 

[LostKiwi]

The point I have been making all along is that this type of modification is illegal, whether done well or done poorly it is still illegal.
As such expect difficulties with MOTs and in the event of an accident (especially if the third party claim they were dazzled) invalidation of insurance.
In my view there are enough uninsured drivers on the road already. It is also irresponsible to knowingly modify your vehicle in a way that makes it unsafe (these kits are illegal because they cannot pass the necessary certification process that protects other road users from unsafe products). It also shows a total disregard for other road users.

It is my belief that this forum should in no way condone or support activities that are illegal, if for no other reason that there may be legal implications to the forum itself.