Headlight upgrade

[malcolml]

Want to upgrade my headlight bulbs i have five and three quarter head lights. Would like to go led bulbs. Believe someone on the forum has done this. Any information would be a great help thank you.

[Golf Juliet Tango]

Yes, it is a very tight squeeze but the Classic Car LED kit does go in.

[TomB]

Dave Gemzoe sells a pair for about £35, Im pleased with them, not that Ive driven it much in the dark in 2020!  

[Petethediesel]

Another vote for Gemzoe bulbs. I have had mine checked for MOT legality and they are fine (5 3/4" lights). Not always the case for some on the market.

[SM25T]

I fitted complete LED units into 5.75" bowls. Meant for Harley Davidson bikes. With halo sidelight which is great as a DRL. Flat top dip beam. About £55 each delivered ... on eBay.

[K7 VCT]

My vote with classiccarleds

4 years h4 led bulbs get lot of use 5 3/4 bowls.

Get the side lights done too for drl they are bright enough to drive in the dark...

...

[wavey66]

Another vote for classiccarleds. Duncan was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction. These are the ones I've fitted and I'm really pleased, they are so much brighter.

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/collections/headlight-led-bulbs/products/led-headlights-h4-fully-integrated-6000-lumen-hi-lo-beam-conversion-9-32v?variant=8299353243743

And the sidelights are:

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/products/bright-t10-car-bulb-led-bright-white-w5w-w10w-drl-501-side-light?_pos=4&_sid=00f04f8b9&_ss=r

[7_Malc]

I have fitted Gemzoe Motorsport's LED bulbs this year. They are a direct swap for the H4 bulbs, and very easy to do. Dave includes a step by step guide, and it takes less than 10 minutes to complete. 

[Curly]

Yet another vote for Classiccarleds - vast improvement and easy fit

[timb2117]

Hi Malcolml my only input would be avoid the cheap cheap ebay stuff, after one replacement pair then absolutely confoundingly the new set on dip beam showed high beam on high beam I had high and dip!

Tried everything bench testing etc and the manufacturer even advised put the left one in the right and vica versa, err really? Quite funny really went back to halogen reliability, instead of blinded other road users...

[Ricardo_ehq]

I've literally just bought the headlights, side lights, break, reverse and fog LEDs from classiccarleds... I know need to figure out how to fit then... well, the headlights at least as the rest I'm assuming are pretty simple.  Have you any tips on fitting the headlights?

[Knowlsey]

I purchased my LEDs from ClassicCarLEDs as detailed above.  5 mins to fit and already set up for Caterham 7 use.  MOT approx 1 month afterwards at Caterham Cars and no one mentioned anything and passed the MOT, so must be ok.  And much better illumination at night.    

[malcolml]

Thank you gents that gives me a better idea of what i need and where to look.

[gileshudson]

£23.99 here, but you don't get the sidelight bulbs thrown in as with one of the other deals on here:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOVSIGHT-50W-H4-10000LM-LED-Headlight-Bulb-Light-Hi-Lo-Beam-Conversion-Kit-UK/373226387488

[p.mole1]

Classic LED really great service. I haven't bothered with the Caterham headlights as I hardly ever drive it at night but a replaced the headlight bulbs on my VW T5 and the transformation was incredible. The headlight used to be useless.

[Mechanical Moz]

I picked up the Novsight ones on an Amazon Black Friday deal, going to try them on my MR2 and eventually transfer to the 7.  Will try and get some before/after pics.

They have come with a pair of white cotton gloves in the box just in case I need to urgently referee a snooker match, handle the Magna Carta or pretend to be the thumb up emoji. 

[wiltsathome]

Just got mine from Dave Gemzoe, excellent result and great service, ordered Wednesday in the car this eve. Fitted in less than 20mins and the sidelights are great for daytime running too

Top job

[Mechanical Moz]

Fitted to the MR2 this evening, it didn't have very good lights and I'm impressed with the difference.  Just been for a drive in the dark down some unlit lanes and I can actually see far enough down the road to maintain a decent speed.  Halogens that came out were Osram standard 60/55 H4.  Definitely £20 well spent.

[Ricardo_ehq]

I just installed the LED headlights and running lights and the change was transformative.  Simple to do too.

[John Vine]

Re #17 (wiltsathome):

Could you tell me more about the Gemzoe sidelights, please?  I fitted his headlight bulbs back in March, and use them as DRLs as well.  But if his sidelights do the job, I may well opt for those.

JV

[wiltsathome]

Hi John,

The sidelights simply plug into the existing sidelight holder, they are polarity sensitive and work one way but not the other, but don't suffer damage if you get it wrong. They are bright and light the headlight bowl very well in daylight, I'd say to similar levels of brightness to the Xenon DRL lights on my BM but without the silly styling effects manufactures build into stuff these days

cheers. Tony  

[John Vine]

Thanks, Tony.

JV

[Mechanical Moz]

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/updates

The MOT manual has been updated to indicate LED replacement bulbs in halogen units should be a fail. 

[Golf Juliet Tango]

Oh dear.

Maybe I'll need to swop back for the MOT

4.1.4 Headlamps - Compliance with requirements - Changed sentence from 'Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with HID bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.' to 'Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.'

Maybe using complete fittings will be the answer. SM25T chose this route.

[John Vine]

Thanks for the alert. 

I wonder what meaning DVSA attach to "converted"?  Do they mean a comprehensive modification or simply a bulb swap. If it was the latter, you'd think they'd say so.

Can someone explain why LED headlamp conversions are now a fail?  There's maybe a hint here, although the advice is presumably now out of date.  Is it simply down to E-marking?

JV