LED H7 headlight bulbs upgrade - impressed (so far)

[Richard Mason]

LED H7 headlight bulbs upgrade - unimpressed (so far) ​

Ive put new led H7s in my 2007 Ducato. Good so far. The H7s are sidelight/dipped beams bu5 mine not had one yellow spot on them.
For whatever reason I bought H4s for the main beans but they didn’t fit bit had 2 yellow spots on them
I went to Halfords and got basic halogen brighter bulbs but they didn’t light at all.
i dont know if they work did before but the lights were so bad I thought at 9ne point the6 were off!
I changed the fuses for the dipped main beams and the main beams. But still nothing.
I then saw mention of an optional fuse box by the right cent4al post with a side light fuse in it
I don’t have one of those

I’m not mechanically minded but I’m also not stupid. Can anyone please shed some light on what could be wrong ?
in the photo B is the H7 and C just doesn’t light up.
Ive not tried with the engine on as I’m parked up……..
please helpThanks.

Ive not found a way from preview back to changing mistakes sorry.

 

[63720]

Bumping this thread again.
I would like better illumination from the projector headlamps on my car. A garage has recommended Osram Nightbreakers(?) but I've read conflicting reviews, has anyone upgraded to these and what is your opinion please? Tia.

 

[XxAnthxX]

A garage has recommended Osram Nightbreakers(?) but I've read conflicting reviews, has anyone upgraded to these and what is your opinion please?

I had them in a car with projector headlights…..All I will say is they’re brighter but don’t expect miracles from them, or you’ll be disappointed.

Their life expectancy is a lot shorter too….but I never experienced a failure while I still owned it.

 

[poppycamper]

I fitted Phillips Racing Vision and yes a lot better than standard. Not sure if I got projector lights or not

 

[Lenny HB]

I use to sell the original Nightbrakers they were good latest ones are a lot better. For a car if you are doing a lot of night driving the downside is their life is fairly short. Be repaired to replace them every 6 months to a year.

LED's work well in projector lamps I'd go for them.

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[Jake Royd]

I have fitted nightbreakers but don't do much motorhome driving at night.
I fitted them after getting off the ferry in Portsmouth at about 10:30pm and heading for the car park near Port Solent.
Despite cleaning as much salt spray off as I could I thought the lights dangerously dim.

We shall see how we get on this Autumn.

 

[RustyRuss]

After realising that I hadn’t driven our MoHo more that 3 times in the dark for any significant distance I decided to spend the ££ on other things like steadying legs and safefill gas bottles & so on. Long story short, we are now grandparents to Pippa, Mum & Mum live in Sheffield, we in Runcorn. We went over to Sheffield last Friday in the middle of storm Babette and I was quite literally terrified when we got into the Peak District hills n dales, there were rivers and huge puddles of brown water on all of the roads, all the same colour as the roads, so really difficult to spot until you were up to your axles in them. As we’re likely to be going over to Sheffield much more regularly than before I thought I’d better get my act together, stop prevaricating, & get the useless headlights sorted out. Remembering Drew, the OP and with a big nod to him, I’ve bought a set of H7’s & H1’s for a total of £52 delivered by an Amazonian tomorrow.

I’ll report back on how easy or not they are to fit and how well they work.

Drew I hope you’re doing well with your headlights and didn’t take all the negativity from certain “Funsters” to heart!!

Cheers!

Russ

 

[Orion]

Having used them before on a road registered quad, and been very impressed with the throw and pattern, I bought a set of H7 Beamtech LEDs for the MoHo. Bit of a cliche but the difference is night and day and the pattern is good, no scatter and the cutoff the same as the OE bulbs. No CANBus error either.

Just need to find decent LED W21/5W LED replacements for the DRL/Sidelights that don’t throw an error up

 

[Al n Val]

I posted about fitting led head/side lights a few years ago, the difference made was fantastic tbh

 

[royandsharont]

This will be interesting RustyRuss

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[RustyRuss]

After realising that I hadn’t driven our MoHo more that 3 times in the dark for any significant distance I decided to spend the ££ on other things like steadying legs and safefill gas bottles & so on. Long story short, we are now grandparents to Pippa, Mum & Mum live in Sheffield, we in Runcorn. We went over to Sheffield last Friday in the middle of storm Babette and I was quite literally terrified when we got into the Peak District hills n dales, there were rivers and huge puddles of brown water on all of the roads, all the same colour as the roads, so really difficult to spot until you were up to your axles in them. As we’re likely to be going over to Sheffield much more regularly than before I thought I’d better get my act together, stop prevaricating, & get the useless headlights sorted out. Remembering Drew, the OP and with a big nod to him, I’ve bought a set of H7’s & H1’s for a total of £52 delivered by an Amazonian tomorrow.

I’ll report back on how easy or not they are to fit and how well they work.

Drew I hope you’re doing well with your headlights and didn’t take all the negativity from certain “Funsters” to heart!!

Cheers!

Russ

Ok an update on this..... I ordered new lamps from the Amazonians, specifically H7's & H1's, but only the H7's have turned up, the H1's have been lost in the system (or the delivery driver's van!) so I've ordered another set that should be with me by 10pm tomorrow night. I'll be playing with my grand-daughter by then! Unlikely to have enough time to fit them until next weekend now, heyho!!

Cheers!

Russ

 

[royandsharont]

I’m really looking forward to your report on how it all went RustyRuss

 

[Dolmen]

I use to sell the original Nightbrakers they were good latest ones are a lot better. For a car if you are doing a lot of night driving the downside is their life is fairly short. Be repaired to replace them every 6 months to a year.

LED's work well in projector lamps I'd go for them.

I put the latest version (+200 I think) in my car exactly 12 months ago, I do a lot of night driving and they are still going strong, so it may be that they have improved the life over time, or of course, I’ve just been lucky. I did read it’s best to change every year even if they have not failed, not sure, however, may let them run on after this years MOT.

 

[andysam]

Just need to find decent LED W21/5W LED replacements for the DRL/Sidelights that don’t throw an error up

I gave up on that. Error free on everything apart from PSA vans

 

[Peregrinator]

One big problem with LED, they are very bright to the observer coming towards you, not very bright for the driver at distance, out of all three, our car xenons proved to be the best, better control, better white light and better for distance.

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[The Wino]

One big problem with LED, they are very bright to the observer coming towards you, not very bright for the driver at distance, out of all three, our car xenons proved to be the best, better control, better white light and better for distance.

But as lot's have said different cars with the same type of light source can have totally different results. If you're saying that based on analysing thousands of headlights fair enough if it's based on having three cars with different types of headlights it could just be true for those three

 

[Guffy60]

One big problem with LED, they are very bright to the observer coming towards you, not very bright for the driver at distance, out of all three, our car xenons proved to be the best, better control, better white light and better for distance.

Having gone from a Merc GLc with adaptive lights including zeons, to darts Vader’s Hyundia Tucson with lots of LEDs, they are crap for distance, the lights on my Healey rally car offer better distance performance!

leds are getting better at not dazzling when put into old halogen headlamp shells as te length of the lamp is getting shorter and this more closely matching the focal length of a halogen bulb for which the reflectors were designed.

Headlights, we designed originally to be main beam, and dipped when a car approached. Who uses main in a built up area when no cars comming? I guess very few, perhaps if we did it would solve the issue!

 

[pappajohn]

Can LED Bulbs Still Pass An MOT?​

Regulations regarding lighting and MOT’s is a completely differentkettle of fish.

The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations states a bulb needs to be E marked, approved or have the correct wattage in order to be road legal. However this is not a requirement that is checked by an MOT testing station. This is probably due to it being an almost impossible (or at least insanely lengthy) task. If they have to check approval marks on bulbs, they would have to do this for every component on the car! That’s just not going to happen.

Instead the MOT stations adhere to the MOT Testing Guides.

What do the MOT Guides say about LED bulbs​

“Check HID and LED headlamps for mandatory levelling and cleaning devices” and the assessor needs to check the lighting for “Operation“, “Security” and “Condition” which essentially means that they need to make sure that they work and are fitted correctly.

That’s it. Nothing else is mentioned regarding the use of LED headlight bulbs.

Now you would be forgiven for thinking that aftermarket LED bulbs would therefore fail an MOT as you would not have a self-levelling or headlight cleaning system installed. However Section 4.1.5 of the MOT inspection manual states that not all vehicles are fitted with a levelling device so if your vehicle doesn’t have one, it would not be tested.

With no other mention of after-market LEDs in the MOT guidelines, all that is left is for them to check is that the beam patternis correct and the colour of the light is predominantly white, white with a blue tint or yellow. Any good quality after-market LED bulbs will meet this criteria.

As long as the beam pattern and the colour of the light is correct – then there is no reason an LED upgrade bulb will fail an MOT.

An old thread but....the vehicle MUST be tested AS PRESENTED.
No item must be removed, moved or altered in any way during the test.
If the bulbs can't be removed how can the tester see if they are CE compliant.

 

[RustyRuss]

Back to lighting again….. I had a very busy few months at work….. Brought the MoHo back from storage on 21st December, kids stayed in it overnight on 22nd after family Christmas curried roast dinner - the lamb was AMAZING!! Out to fit the new lamps on the 23rd.…. The H7 fitted the main beams and seem to work very effectively. The H1’s ARE THE WRONG TYPE!! Blast! So I ordered Delumina H15’s, the H1’s are going back to Amazon. Fitted them yesterday and they seem to be super bright. Can’t road test them until tomorrow (Sunday 7th) as it’s my supposed to be surprise 60th birthday party tonight!! Will update you all assuming I do actually take the MoHo back to storage tomorrow.

Cheers! Russ

 

[Lenny HB]

Just need to find decent LED W21/5W LED replacements for the DRL/Sidelights that don’t throw an error up

Easy to overcome just fit ballast resistors, they will load the circuit so it thinks they are normal bulbs.
You may only need them on the sidelights, on the X250 the DLR's weren't on the bulb failure circuit not sure about the X290.

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[RustyRuss]

Removing the headlights was an absolute cinch by the way. We have a 2013 Ducato chassis.
Open the bonnet.
Above each headlight is a roughly triangular curved piece of plastic held in place by 2 PZ1 screws, remove these and gently lever the plastic component upwards, It’s held in place by two additional plastic poppers.
Below each headlight is a thin plastic trim held in place by one PZ1 screw, remove it and lever the trim outwards, it’s held at the back by two metal grab type tags.
The headlight is secured by 3 M6 hex headed bolts. Whip them out and you can turn the headlight over while it’s still connected to the wiring loom, the bulbs are accessed via two large rubber caps.
Replacement is the reversal of removal. If you break any of the tags that hold the top triangular plastic components in place you can source them at Halfrauds or go begging at a scrap yard.

Cheers!
Russ

 

[dally]

After reading this thread, I decided to upgrade to H7 LED's in our projector dipped beam and separate main beam headlights. I fitted them just before the MOT and it passed so no beam pattern problem.

However, our first chance to test them in the dark was when we returned from Portsmouth in the middle of December. I was so unimpressed. Really poor light projection to the degree that I could make out the light coming from the day light running lights.

so, what to do now? I will endeavor to clean the projector lenses but they don't seem to be that unclean. After that, look for a drop in alternative to the projector unit, if such a thing exists. I don't really want to go back to the old bulbs.

 

[Lenny HB]

After reading this thread, I decided to upgrade to H7 LED's in our projector dipped beam and separate main beam headlights. I fitted them just before the MOT and it passed so no beam pattern problem.

However, our first chance to test them in the dark was when we returned from Portsmouth in the middle of December. I was so unimpressed. Really poor light projection to the degree that I could make out the light coming from the day light running lights.

so, what to do now? I will endeavor to clean the projector lenses but they don't seem to be that unclean. After that, look for a drop in alternative to the projector unit, if such a thing exists. I don't really want to go back to the old bulbs.

I found them brilliant I can actually drive at night without having to put the fog lights on, impossible with the standard bulbs.

If the DLR's are so bright you can see with them with the headlights on something is wrong as the DLR's should be off or dim with the headlights on.

On my van with standard bulbs the LED DLR's are off with the headlamps on with the LED bulbs they dim. The LED headlamp bulbs although supposed to be CANBUS compliant they obviously don't load it as much as the standard bulb.

Which LED bulbs did you use?

 

[dally]

I found them brilliant I can actually drive at night without having to put the fog lights on, impossible with the standard bulbs.

If the DLR's are so bright you can see with them with the headlights on something is wrong as the DLR's should be off or dim with the headlights on.

On my van with standard bulbs the LED DLR's are off with the headlamps on with the LED bulbs they dim. The LED headlamp bulbs although supposed to be CANBUS compliant they obviously don't load it as much as the standard bulb.

Which LED bulbs did you use?

Hi Lenny,
I went with these, (if this link business works)

Pardon our interruption...

Good point about the DRLs dimming. They did dim with the standard bulbs, I've not checked after fitting the LED's. When I say I can see the light of the DRLs, I mean right in front of the vehicle, on the ground but without any distance.

 

[Lenny HB]

Hi Lenny,
I went with these, (if this link business works)

Pardon our interruption...

Good point about the DRLs dimming. They did dim with the standard bulbs, I've not checked after fitting the LED's. When I say I can see the light of the DRLs, I mean right in front of the vehicle, on the ground but without any distance.

Nearly all of us on this thread used Katur H7 LED bulbs, nearly everyone found them good.

See post #204, pics of my beam patterns.

​

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[Orion]

Just need to find decent LED W21/5W LED replacements for the DRL/Sidelights that don’t throw an error up

I gave up on that. Error free on everything apart from PSA vans

Easy to overcome just fit ballast resistors, they will load the circuit so it thinks they are normal bulbs.
You may only need them on the sidelights, on the X250 the DLR's weren't on the bulb failure circuit not sure about the X290.

Was aware of that but there’s very limited space available in that area of the standard Ducato light unit - the indicator lamp sits just above the DRL (that’s the one giving the bulb warning) under a common rear cover. Also the light unit is 100% plastic, so I’m a bit weary of the heat from the resistor damaging it as it would be on 100% of the time.

However, your post has prompted me to have another look for error free W21/5 LEDs, and I see that Amazon are now listing some from Katur with built in resistors, so I’ll give them a go and return them if no good.

KATUR 7443 T20 992 W21/5W LED Bulbs Super Bright 12pcs 3030 & 8pcs 3020 Chip Canbus Error Free Replace for Turn Signal Reverse Brake Tail Stop Parking RV Lights, Xenon White (Pack of 2) Amazon product ASIN B082HK22Z8

 

[Orion]

Just need to find decent LED W21/5W LED replacements for the DRL/Sidelights that don’t throw an error up

I gave up on that. Error free on everything apart from PSA vans

I see that Amazon are now listing some from Katur with built in resistors, so I’ll give them a go and return them if no good.

KATUR 7443 T20 992 W21/5W LED Bulbs Super Bright 12pcs 3030 & 8pcs 3020 Chip Canbus Error Free Replace for Turn Signal Reverse Brake Tail Stop Parking RV Lights, Xenon White (Pack of 2) Amazon product ASIN B082HK22Z8

Yay, they work! Put the Katur W21/5W LED replacements for the DRL/Parking lights in this afternoon and, after cycling once through the main beams to clear the warning on the dash display, they are working without throwing up an error message. They’re very bright as well.

KATUR 7443 T20 992 W21/5W LED Bulbs Super Bright 12pcs 3030 & 8pcs 3020 Chip Canbus Error Free Replace for Turn Signal Reverse Brake Tail Stop Parking RV Lights, Xenon White (Pack of 2) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B082HK22Z8/?tag=mhf04-21

 

[RustyRuss]

After reading this thread, I decided to upgrade to H7 LED's in our projector dipped beam and separate main beam headlights. I fitted them just before the MOT and it passed so no beam pattern problem.

However, our first chance to test them in the dark was when we returned from Portsmouth in the middle of December. I was so unimpressed. Really poor light projection to the degree that I could make out the light coming from the day light running lights.

so, what to do now? I will endeavor to clean the projector lenses but they don't seem to be that unclean. After that, look for a drop in alternative to the projector unit, if such a thing exists. I don't really want to go back to the old bulbs.

Have you got the lamp in the correct orientation? The “blade” needs to be vertical to get the lamp in the correct focal point for the headlight.

 

[andysam]

Yay, they work! Put the Katur W21/5W LED replacements for the DRL/Parking lights in this afternoon and, after cycling once through the main beams to clear the warning on the dash display, they are working without throwing up an error message. They’re very bright as well.

KATUR 7443 T20 992 W21/5W LED Bulbs Super Bright 12pcs 3030 & 8pcs 3020 Chip Canbus Error Free Replace for Turn Signal Reverse Brake Tail Stop Parking RV Lights, Xenon White (Pack of 2) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B082HK22Z8/?tag=mhf04-21

Looking at my Amazon returns, I tried these but they didn't work in my 2021 Boxer- threw an error code.

 

[andysam]

After reading this thread, I decided to upgrade to H7 LED's in our projector dipped beam and separate main beam headlights. I fitted them just before the MOT and it passed so no beam pattern problem.

However, our first chance to test them in the dark was when we returned from Portsmouth in the middle of December. I was so unimpressed. Really poor light projection to the degree that I could make out the light coming from the day light running lights.

so, what to do now? I will endeavor to clean the projector lenses but they don't seem to be that unclean. After that, look for a drop in alternative to the projector unit, if such a thing exists. I don't really want to go back to the old bulbs.

These are like laser beams! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07QXB6SW7/?tag=mhf04-21

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