[e90yyc]

First off, I’m aware of the perils of dropping bulbs into housings that are not designed to accept them. I won’t do anything that will blind others or degrade the light distribution quality.

This relates to the H7 high beam reflector assembly only. (Glare is less of a concern given I use high beams only when appropriate.)

Has anyone installed LED H7 bulbs in a pre-LCI car without completely buggering the factory light distribution? Did you clock the bulbs at 9 and 3 or 12 and 6?

I finally found an H7 bulb that would fit in the headlight assembly, but the light distribution is terrible.

Wondering if the clocking is wrong or if these bulbs are just trash.

Photos:

1. Halogens (left side is one of those silly blue tinted bulbs; right is clear)
2. Cheap Amazon LED bulbs clocked at 9 & 3 (note significant difference in beam pattern compared to halogen)

I’m ready to just go back to halogens, but am curious if others have had success. My motivation is closer color match to xenons but without loss of lux (ideally increase in lux).

[Captain Buumer]

I just put some super powerful H7 leds inside. There is a hotspot + they scatter light all around the place so you can even see which kind of mushrooms are growing at the sides of treeline. Can see animals even on the fields running towards the road. Perhaps 3x the halogen output. + aftermarket bi-xenon projectors with narrower beam to have more usable light forward.

For high beams = perfect.

It was F5 labeled brand i bought about 4 years ago and they still work wonderful (bought 3 different weak sets that were cheap until i discovered it). My main goal was to increase light output with LED for night time driving.

Something like this product

They did cost about 55$ back then and matched with Osram CBI xenons. When i measured each actually consumed about 50w so they were no junk kit.

[e90yyc]

Originally Posted by Captain Buumer

I just put some super powerful H7 leds inside. There is a hotspot + they scatter light all around the place so you can even see which kind of mushrooms are growing at the sides of treeline. Can see animals even on the fields running towards the road. Perhaps 3x the halogen output. + aftermarket bi-xenon projectors with narrower beam to have more usable light forward.

For high beams = perfect.

It was F5 labeled brand i bought about 4 years ago and they still work wonderful (bought 3 different weak sets that were cheap until i discovered it). My main goal was to increase light output with LED for night time driving.

Something like this product

They did cost about 55$ back then and matched with Osram CBI xenons. When i measured each actually consumed about 50w so they were no junk kit.

Thanks!

Sounds like my experience with the light distribution is not unique then. Weak.

I’d be all for the higher output if so much of it didn't make it to areas that don’t need it. One of the things I like the most about the factory distribution of the H7 assemblies is that they perfectly complement the bi-xenon high beams. Where the bi-xenons do a good job of casting a wide swath of light, the H7 tightly focuses the full force of the bulbs, throwing the light as far as possible and helping supplement the bi-xenon’s relative lack of range.

With the H7 LEDs, the amount of light that makes its way to the sides of the road and onto the road surface in front of me is far too high and is distracting. Exacerbates precisely the issue that foreground limiters were made to solve.

Just my $0.02 of course. Was hoping it was just a clocking issue but seems not to be.

Really appreciate your input on this. Seems it’s back to the H7 halogens for me .

[e90yyc]

For posterity, here is a pic showing halogen and LED (clocked at 9 & 3) side by side.

I did try clocking the bulb at 12 and 6 but it didn’t improve the distribution.

Halogen is Sylvania 100w. LED is Hikari Wings “rated at” 50,000 lumens.

It’s pretty obvious, but the LED distribution is significantly larger with some odd artefacts that cast light onto the road quite close to the car.