LED replacements for H7 Globes

[Caver]

I blew a low beam globe last week and swapped one of the fog light globes across as I hardly ever use the fog lights.

 

So it got me thinking about some of the H7 globe replacements that are available these days with up to 120 surface mount LEDs.

 

Does anyone have any experience / comment about these?

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2x-120-SMD-H7-Car-Vehicle-LED-White-Fog-Light-Bulb-New-/280617809046?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item41561ff496#ht_4255wt_1161

 

[Aussie944S]

Mate,

Gotta be careful what you buy and put in the housings, I wouldn't buy eBay cap even if it appears to be legit.

My mate runs LED fog lights, running lights, park lights on his vw golf and it looks good. The displacement of the light is nice and very easy on the eye when faced on.

I would shop around online under automotive LED light bulbs and or the actual type, I.E BA15S1236LW

[Caver]

Cheers Joel....I'll think about it.  Got a plan to put a DRL into the small blanks in the headlights where the washers would normally go.  Might look a bit wanky though.  Perhaps they're better off without DRLs.

[Aussie944S]

All good buddy.

Not sure about the DRL, I will do some investigation and get back to you on my thoughts.

[Liamray]

On 17/06/2013 at 10:19, Caver said:

I blew a low beam globe last week and swapped one of the fog light globes across as I hardly ever use the fog lights.

 

So it got me thinking about some of the H7 globe replacements that are available these days with up to 120 surface mount LEDs.

 

Does anyone have any experience / comment about these?

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2x-120-SMD-H7-Car-Vehicle-LED-White-Fog-Light-Bulb-New-/280617809046?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item41561ff496#ht_4255wt_1161

 

I tried several different LED headlight bulbs, from cheap to expensive, and they all had the same problem ‘No Beam Penetration or direction’. Every time I turned them on all I got was people flashing their high beams at me because the ‘beam alignment’ on the LED is shit. I went back to ‘halogens’, better penetration and didn’t get ‘flashed’ as soon as I turned on my lights. Think about how many times you’ve seen someone in a car with LED lights fitted and how they virtually blind you, but like I said they light up the road for less than 50m.

[donR]

It's true the beam pattern of the LED bulb is often very different to the halogen bulb and you need to try to find one that matches as close as possible to work in the halogen reflector. 

I swapped out the fog lights in my E91 BMW with LEDs and they worked well. A mate of mine bought I think H4 LEDs from Supercheap and found them to work well in his Toyota but I do see it being a bit of a trial and error process for main lights. 

If you are having trouble with the LED bulbs it is worth considering an HID/xenon kit which has a traditional beam pattern. These days you can get 25W to 55W HID. 

[Liamray]

Yes I agree that if your considering a globe swap I’d be prone to go for HID / ZENON rather than LED.

I still think the ‘beam penetration’ is a big problem, for instance I recently bought an LED torch that was rated at a ridiculous number of lumens, and yet my old 3D cell maglite has better distance. A friend bought an LED torch that is pretty awesome, but it cost him $900! A lot of money for a torch.

[sydr]

this video might be useful

[LeeM]

On 11/08/2019 at 10:57, Liamray said:

 A friend bought an LED torch that is pretty awesome, but it cost him $900! A lot of money for a torch.

  $900? 😳 What on earth is it made of, titanium and gold? 

[firstone]

Maybe it's a Porsche torch. 😃

[StevepGT3]

I got some cheap HID lights that were crap compared to the expensive( but still relatively cheap) ones that I had in my 993 which were brilliant. Could be the same situation with LED that you get what you pay for, I have been looking into it a little and it seems that filament, or the LED diode  positioning is all important, which makes sense, have a look at this website.

http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/goffyWhyNotLEDs.htm

[AAAC]

I used a genuine Philips H7 HID kit from Autobarn in my 987 Cayman.  That was 8 years ago.  They work perfectly.  They are not blinding to oncoming vehicles and have nice sharp cutoffs, but it is worthwhile having your headlights professionally adjusted(even with the standard HID/halogen bulbs).  The Philips bulbs are not overly bright.  I placed Philips H8 LED bulbs in my fog lights, leaving the original internal shield in place.  They do not glare excessively but I cannot vouch for other LED bulbs/housings.  A mechanic used Durametric to change my car settings to HID, which enabled the fog lights as DRL lights.  People talk about the lack of headlight washers and auto-levelling when changing to HID bulbs but there are new vehicles on Australian roads that are standard with HID bulbs but no auto-levelling or washers.  I think the light output has to be less than 1800 or 2000 lumens.  In any case, have the headlights correctly adjusted.