Cree type headlight bulbs

[nigel bickle]

My son's car has diabolical headlights, as I discovered last week.

 

I told him to get some Nightriders, or suchlike, and I would fit them for him.

 

He supplied these, today.

 

 

 

Wiring appears to be reversed, easily sorted on the plug, and they certainly light up when jerry wired to a battery, but will they work properly?

 

Is the beam likely to scatter, or suchlike?

 

I've used Cree fogs before ( brilliant) but I've never seen these and am a tad hesitant to fit...

 

Views, pleez?

[tooSavvy]

I'm all eyes.... Given a filament is a 'micro dot' source for the focal length of the reflector THIS seems a bit 'fluorescent tube'... If you see what I mean

 

TS

[scaryoldcortina]

They are quite likely to mess up the beam pattern - I often have to remove home fitted LED bulbs at MOT time and put proper H4/H7 halogens back in.

 

I think it's because of the way the reflector and prism arrangement works, if the light source isn't coming from exactly where it was designed to be you get a huge diffused blob instead of a proper cutoff. The same thing happens when someone gets a bulb in wonky or upside down.

[Supernaut]

Tell him he's a numpty and he's to go and get some proper bulbs, not that barry tat.

[Dead_E23]

...but tell him all is not lost - they would be fantastic as an interior light!

[cobblers]

They won't be as bright as stock bulbs, the beam pattern will be completely useless and they'll blow after a week. Best off binned.

[nigel bickle]

Weird though, aren't they?

 

I'll buy him m some proper Osram stuff, later, but I 'might' accidentally stick one on my car - just to see what it does!

[Noel Tidybeard]

a full and complete test is required obviously

[tooSavvy]

^^ dark carpark & mobbie photo @ 50foot - facing the car with the lights on.

 

TS

[strangeangel]

I have had some stop/tail light bulbs of that type, and for that application they make sense - you get a nice bright brake light even on a Honda 90. You wouldn't get any sort of sensible beam from those headlamp ones though.

[tooSavvy]

ToMM© has a central door operated light (the ones at the rv mirror are map lights) so a bright LED ugrade seems an idea.

 

Reversing light is n/a just now... Hopefully bulb not gbox end

A bright rev LED seems a 'bright' idea too! Toyyo doesn't have bulb-out sensor so low drain will not light up the dash like an Xmas tree lol.

 

TS

[rainagain]

I'm not sure about the ones mentioned performance, but I've fitted ones similar to these:

 

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cree-60W-H1-H3-H4-H7-H11-9005-9006-LED-Headlight-6500K-Car-Conversion-Bulbs-Kit-/302102374355?var=&hash=item4656b467d3%3Am%3AmuGxlVmTBzKlTH5OEf-jGSA&_trkparms=pageci%253Aa849f901-a76e-11e6-b17c-005056a02047%257Cparentrq%253A4f5ff7fc1580a5e0b88c6b79fffe9cbe%257Ciid%253A13

 

In the Volvo and they're great.

[willswitchengage]

Remember that Cree is just the LED manufacturer; there's no guarantee that the remainder of the bulb will be made to rigorous quality.

 

Test them against a wall first - I don't see them having the dual circuit like normal incandescent H4s so could just blind everything in front of you.

[lovejoy]

Weird though, aren't they?

 

I'll buy him m some proper Osram stuff, later, but I 'might' accidentally stick one on my car - just to see what it does!

Hi Nigel, there are more enjoyable ways of going blind !

[RoadworkUK]

From my limited experience LED headlamp bulbs are shite of the first order.

 

Also, extremely likely to trigger 'bulb out' warnings on the dashboard, if your car is so lavishly equipped.

 

Generally, pointless.

[colino]

I would test them against a wall.  Throw both really hard at a wall and when they break, put in proper bulbs.

​LEDs have many useful applications in energy saving, but affordable ones are useless at giving bright, reliable light where you need it. 

[alf892]

Dunno about headlamp bulbs but with torchesI have found the more of those yellow led bits the lower the output

 

So based on that those bulbs are going to be shit.....

[saucedoctor]

Slightly OT: Poundland have LED lightbulbs with proper British bayonet fittings for domestic use. I fitted a couple in the garage and they seem OK.

[Richard]

LEDs are great if the reflector and lens have been designed to work with them.

[Pillock]

Please get the beam pattern tested after fitting, if you even bother to fit them after reading all that!

 

Really annoying to be followed by someone with shitty beam pattern drilling a hole in your retina.

[Richard]

Please get the beam pattern tested after fitting, if you even bother to fit them after reading all that!

 

Really annoying to be followed by someone with shitty beam pattern drilling a hole in your retina.

 

So any 21st century car then?

[steveo3002]

what car is it ....older ones benefit from a relayed loom

[nigel bickle]

Dunno yet. They isnt going on Juniors jam jar, -too risky, so I can take my pic of what's floating about and easy to access.......

 

I've a yellow Mk1 twingo or a Tempra both with old rubbish bulbs. Mk1 Ibiza if pushed, but access is a little cramped.

 

I'll bung one in something, and report back. Cos they're cheap (allegedly)

[dieselassist]

they are pretty shit alright as headlamp bulbs, n t smaller tail'light indicator not very long lasting either; bits of the LED strip fail...

 

...Ive picked them off/otta some of the 'ex chav' scrapperz ive dragged back, n ive re'used them in trailor lights n trailer boards; they do seem to light up very well in comparsion to stocks bulbs which seem very very dimm' when fitted into trailor lamps; I spose its down to the thickness of the trailer lamp lenses...

[wuvvum]

Slightly OT: Poundland have LED lightbulbs with proper British bayonet fittings for domestic use. I fitted a couple in the garage and they seem OK.

Aye, I've got those in two of my three bedrooms, they're alright, although only just bright enough for the master bedroom - I think they're equivalent to an old skool 60w bulb or thereabouts.

[twosmoke300]

Slight topic detour but my ducato van has poor reversing lights and was considering getting some osram led 382 bulbs to replace the standard ones . Is it worth it ? Can't really see a tidy place to mount an additional lamp so would be nice if they did help .

[rainagain]

Here's a bad pic of mine from this morning, as you can see the beam cut off is quite sharp, no one has flashed me so far since I've fitted them. I think they are angled a bit low, but this probably because the previous owner fitted 225/45 tyres to the front rather than 225/50 which are fitted to rear, so the front of the car points down slightly. They do trigger the failed bulb warning inside the car, I've got resistors to add in parallel with them to cure this, but I've just not got round to fitting them. Other than that I would say they are excellent and are handy for Volvo owners like me who have to drive everywhere with their lights permanently on

[rainagain]

Slight topic detour but my ducato van has poor reversing lights and was considering getting some osram led 382 bulbs to replace the standard ones . Is it worth it ? Can't really see a tidy place to mount an additional lamp so would be nice if they did help

 

You might be better off with Chinese ones from eBay, as the Osrams will probably have been made to replicate the same amount of lumens output as a standard bulb, whilst the ebay ones will have the power output regulated to super mega turbo power, which in this case is what you want. I thought about getting some for the brake lights in my OH's car as she seems to get constantly tail gated for the crime of doing 30 in a 30 zone.

[Pillock]

So any 21st century car then?

No, if the dipped beam dips then they're fine. If it's trying to bring down aircraft, not fine.

[M'coli]

The beam pattern/reflector with conventional halogen bulbs is designed to work with a single point light source, ie the bulb filament, so these will ruin that utterly. I tried an LED H3 like this in the spotlight that's on the front of my pushbike, it would have been great if you wanted soft, shadow free lighting in every corner of a room but seeing up the road? No way!