upgrade 7" headlights

[andydavy]

My Caterham has the large 7" headlights. Any ideas of what i can do to upgrade the "candle" like lights?

[Jonathan Kay]

Private Message sent.

Jonathan

[Stridey]

I had great success with new LED bulbs from Amazon. They have a fan cooler (very quiet) and fit in the bowls with no problem. Mine have been in over a year and been through MOT. They do give a bright white light. A massive upgrade and I know my local Herts group have had a number of others fit the same or very similar.

The bulbs I got have been updated to ones that I believe don’t need to be orientated correctly, or rather ,specifically, a bit simpler.

I hope someone who has the newer bulbs puts up a link. Look for H4 LED lights.

I know people have paid for perhaps higher quality bulbs from Classic Car LEDs, but as I say these have been great in my case.

[7 wonders of the world]

The problem is the old design of lens, so even if you upgrade the light source you still get the effect of an even brighter light shinning thro a colander with lots of dark patches,

 

[BigCol]

I’ve replaced all my bulbs (bar the number plate one) with LED bulbs from www.classiccarleds.co.uk...  good value, good quality (as above... you’ll undoubtedly find cheaper on eBay/Amazon...)

[andydavy]

can you get better lenses for the 7"?

[Wrightpayne]

Much in the archives - last I looked Wipac Freeform were recommended - Stafford Vehicle Components (SVC) sell them £60 a pair with sidelights.

I’d need to go back to 7” to use them so not bothered.

Ian

[Bricol]

Got my Wipac crystal from Paddock Land Rover for rather cheaper - 

https://www.paddockspares.com/pm935-wipac-crystal-halogen-headlamp-conversion-kit-pair-including-pilot-light-left-hand-dip-uk-and-australia.html

Still impressed after several years use.  They needed a good polish last year after being in for 5 or 6 yrs - now back to normal clear brilliance.   Using decent Piaa bulbs in them and they are great for night time back road blasts (ie my commute home on an evening), and for long, fast, drives on A-roads.

[Edzup Ezzer]

Changing the reflectors is important to get the best out of your LEDs.  Mini Spares do the Wipac Freeform units without bulbs (so you can fit your own choice from Classic Car LEDs) for £21 ea plus P&P.  

Ezzer

[Philip L Anderson]

Cubie Z180 from Daniel Stern with 100W Halogen bulb. Not cheep, but the Cubie lens is amazing. Best upgrade ever.

[Garth]

Just started thinking about sorting my lights out this winter - has anyone tried something like these LED lamps? Would they require changes to the wiring/Relays etc. Seem to have come down in price significantly and adverts suggest they are a straight swap? Would they fit into the standard headlight casing? 

Or these Xenon? Although I think they need to be self levelling and also have a lens cleaning system, so nit sure they would comply!

I presume the Wipac 'Crystal' or 'Freeform' are better then the standard Caterham ones as the reflectors (or lenses)  are 'profiled' to focus the beams better? Do they fit into the chrome bezel in the same way the standard Caterham reflectors do?

Should I think about it like this in terms of improvements:

- a brighter bulb would make a small improvement

- next best is something like a good LED bulb

- next step up is a new reflector with a better bulb (and even better with a LED bulb?)

- best improvement achieved with a full LED lamp like in the first paragraph?

Cheers

Garth

[Jonathan Kay]

Garth: Private Message sent.

Jonathan

[Garth]

Thanks Jonathan - have responded.

Any advice on which 'lens' replacements to consider? Have come across three in my searches this evening;

1 Wipac Freeform (looks as though the improvement is down to the front lens being shaped to focus the light?)

2. Wipac Quodoptic (looks as though the reflector is shaped to focus the light?)

3. Cibie units which I ran out of time to investigate further! They do seem more expensive though!

Any others?

 

[SM25T]

Powerful UK do a crystal clear lens and reflector unit .... it was only £29/pair for my 5.75" units.

[Edzup Ezzer]

Garth,

Not an expert so on slightly dodgy ground here, but I think it's the other way round.  I fitted the Freeform items which have polycarbonate lenses and (unspecified) plastic reflectors and beam 'shaping' is managed by the reflector, unlike the CC originals which use the glass as a lens (old technology).  From the Wipac website it appears that the Quadoptics also have glass lenses (which act as lenses like the CC units) and metal reflectors.  

Current industry practice is for polycarbonate 'lenses' with beam shaping achieved by plastic reflectors.  Have a look at almost any modern car and you will see that there is virtually no optical function designed into the 'lens'. 

Incidentally, fitting the Freeform unit was very straight forward, being like for like in terms of retention method.  Overall, swapping the light unit and fitting LED bulbs shouldn't trouble anyone and even fitting LED sidelights is not difficult, only requiring the addition of some in-line connectors for the flyleads on the LEDs that I used.

Ezzer

[nickh7]

I fitted the powerful UK 7” and the top of the tree H4 bulbs and they are a step up.

tried LED bulbs but the heat issue never went away  , there wasn’t room for the ones with the cooling fans . 

I d like to go full LED at some point but there are other things in front of that as far as upgrades are concerned 

[TomB]

Any options for 5.75 inch units?  I tried the PowerfulUK ones, but wasn't happy with their fit (the 'lens' protruded out of the lamp about 1.5cm), so sold them on.  

Edit - plenty of LED 5.7 units on eBay - has anyone any experience? 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1311.R1.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.X5.75%22+.TRS0&_nkw=5.75+led+headlight&_sacat=0

[Wrightpayne]

Tom,

I've considered going back to 7" for better upgrade options but sitting on the fence - the 5.75 do look much nicer. I dont do 'that' much night driving but that are quite poor on dipped.

Watching the thread with interest.

Ian

[nickh7]

Tom they seem very very cheap considering that the ones you see for LRs Caterham’s etc are hundreds of pounds . 

[TomB]

Nick, I take you've heard of C-A-T? It works a bit like VAT....

I quite agree, Ive bought cheap and regretted it previously on lights (see PowerfulUK) - probably why Im still on 'standard' SVC lights with better halogen bulbs.  Ive not bitten the bullet on LED bulbs yet.   

[Highside43]

I've put in the Halfords 150% brighter halogen bulbs (or whatever they are), standard 5.75 lights as on the car from 1998. They're OK for night use - no-where as good as the tin tops of modern age but for me they're fine. I'm also used to 2 wheel headlights so squinting into the abyss with a single bulb on dark Welsh roads - hence why I don't think mine are too bad. There was a noticeable difference from the standard bulbs to the updated Halfords ones though. As others have said, I don't do that much night driving in it, and if I do it's generally on roads I know, so not been a real issue. Having said that, I too am watching this thread with interest to see if I can get better lights....

[Mechanical Moz]

Last year I replaced a set of the Cibie H180 lenses with a set of cheapo ebay freeform reflector units I found in the loft.  Same Osram Nightbreaker bulbs.   Much prefer the freeform reflectors, although I suspect the beam pattern isn't great, as they better illuminate a wider area and subjectively seem brighter from the drivers seat.

[Garth]

Thanks Ezzer - You are quite right about how the reflectors work!

Leaning towards the Wipac Freeform at the moment unless someone else has a better idea!

[7 wonders of the world]

I run these,

 

https://furoreproducts.co.uk/headlight-3850-lumen-single

 

[Garth]

How did you choose them? - there seem to be several variants of them that all look much the same yet prices vary!

The lumens output is a little less than the Classic Car LED replacement bulb for the 7" lens so it should all be down to the beam spread/focus?