Replacing old H7 bulbs with LED

Mr Bump

Mr Bump

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Anyone any general experience replacing H7 headlight bulbs with the new LED ones.
They seem to now do bulbs that have a decent beam pattern so are suitable for use on older cars like my 58 plate Citroen C3.
my car i think has canbus so I need a bulb with the gubbins in?

any recommendations?
 
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Didn't think aftermarket LED headlight convertions were road legal in UK?

edit - also ouch at those prices. I'd stick with something like Osram Nightbreaker Ultimates.
 
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neil_g said:
Didn't think aftermarket LED headlight convertions were road legal in UK?

edit - also ouch at those prices. I'd stick with something like Osram Nightbreaker Ultimates.
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reading between the lines its all about beam pattern rather than the converions itself I have just emailed my mechanic and asked him same, seems like pretty much everyone I know now has fitted them.
 
"Please note that it is solely your responsibility to confirm that the items purchased are appropriate for your vehicle make/model and that the use of such items conforms to all applicable laws in your Country of use. In the United Kingdom, fitting an aftermarket HID or LED kit is not 100% technically road legal as there are other factors which need to be considered first and such information varies between vehicle models. Therefore all our Xenon HID & LED Kits are sold as off-road use only."

http://www.horizonleds.co.uk/terms-and-conditions

seems to much grey area hassle to me.

edit - same site does seem to have canbus compatible kits though..

http://www.horizonleds.co.uk/cree-l...2-v2-cree-led-3500-lumens/h7-cree-led-gen2-v2
 
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As far as a I know the 2008 C3 has simple reflector headlights so you really should stick with regular halogens. As mentioned nightbrakers are a little bit brighter, but if you really struggle maybe the headlight needs cleaning or requires polishing? Please don't stick a HD in one of those as there is no need.

Projector headlights can be a real nuisance in some brands and frankly sticking a HID in is the only way to get close to 50% coverage of even the said C3. Passat B6 is probably the very worst example I've owned and seen. In contrast VW EOS has a far better and brighter projector based headlight. It is just strange and difficult to understand why they made Passat so terrible. Needless to say both B7 and B8 ship with reflector beams unless kitted out with HID from factory.
 
I don't know if it would be the same on your Citroen but I put LED bulbs in my 64 reg Mini and now the dashboard computer tells me I have a bulb blown.

Reading up on it tells me that it's because LEDS have a lower wattage rating and so the ECU throws that message/symbol up
 
I agree with Neil, Osram Nightbreakers are excellent bulbs, just use them.
 
Harriers9 said:
I don't know if it would be the same on your Citroen but I put LED bulbs in my 64 reg Mini and now the dashboard computer tells me I have a bulb blown.

Reading up on it tells me that it's because LEDS have a lower wattage rating and so the ECU throws that message/symbol up
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It’s the resistance, not the wattage [emoji846]
 
Modern cars have complex electrical systems that are monitored and controlled by ECUs, etc. and these have been instances such as a blown rear light bulb triggering non bulb-related fault warning indicators on the dashboard, etc. For that reason I wouldn't change anything electrical on a modern car if it was likely to result in a change to the current draw or resistance the original item had.
 
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Mr Badger said:
Modern cars have complex electrical systems that are monitored and controlled by ECUs, etc. and these have been instances such as a blown rear light bulb triggering non bulb-related fault warning indicators on the dashboard, etc. For that reason I wouldn't change anything electrical on a modern car if it was likely to result in a change to the current draw or resistance the original item had.
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I've stuck in HIDs in a decade old VWs. A few years ago the chinese ones were pure rubbish but now perfect. Some are still going strong 2 years 30K miles.

We've even replaced a blown factory HID block in a Jaguar with a £22 Chinese clone. All fine. You have to see how much the new whole OEM headlight costs to believe it.

LEDs would be a very special case. You need a special circuit to trick the ECU. Good ones will do it but it is a little early to invest in one.

The only way a blown bulb can trigger another warning light is they are both wired through the same fuse. It is quite unlikely I'd think.
 
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the problem with replacement LED bulbs for cars in general is when the regulations for bulbs in cars came into use LED bulbs for cars didn't exist meaning when LED bulbs became available all led replacement bulbs where deemed not fit for road use ( the regulations simply didn't include them )
the ones fitted to cars today are fitted at factory the LED's within the module are not a consumer replaceable part it's the whole light module that is replaced
Chinese companies may be making copy replacement modules for different makes of cars but it doesn't mean they are road legal to use, they just fit and hopefully work

unless things have changed in the last couple of years i don't think any replacement LED bulb is road legal ( factory fitted modules being the exception ) i think we would need the legislation governing bulbs for road use to be changed to include LED replacement bulbs for that to happen
 
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cosmicma said:
unless things have changed in the last couple of years i don't think any replacement LED bulb is road legal ( factory fitted modules being the exception ) i think we would need the legislation governing bulbs for road use to be changed to include LED replacement bulbs for that to happen
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Technically that is all correct but it is possible to take a more lenient common sense approach. Basically if it produces the right pattern and works within spec without throwing up a bunch of problems elsewhere then that's a very likely it will never be contested. This is very unlikely in reflector headlights, but projectors are more likely to work well. Just don't behave like a cock in other ways to get stopped and done for anything and everything under the sun. If only a few inner city drivers took that last piece of advise. I am not even surprised anymore when some idiot tries to crash by basically not looking around or ignoring road markings.
 
I put LED's in my Rav4 (2004) months ago and the change was amazing.

I put LED's in my Volvo V50 (2008) with projector lights, and they were absolutely rubbish and threw bulb failure messages every time even though they were meant to be canbus compatible. Replaced them with OSRAM Night breakers recently, and it's the best bulb I've had in the Volvo in 4 years of owning it. It's still got awful low beam headlights compared to the Rav4 though.
 
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