LED Headlight Bulbs

tomaboyd · Post by **tomaboyd** » Tue Oct 25, 2016 1:13 pm

Anyone ever tried replacing the stock bulbs with LED bulbs?

Any success or failures?

Just curious. I just got back from a 600 mile weekend trip and discovered the headlights of my new to me L300 are quite pathetic. I know I have an aiming issue to deal with, but they were still bad. Worst of any vehicle I have driven, and that list would include 6v VW's.

Thanks.

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:57 pm

An LED replacement bulb is unlikely to make your headlamps any better- the headlamp optics (both the projector and main beams) are designed to take the light from a filament at a precise location and turn it into a beam, while not blinding everyone else on the road. If you move the filament, or replace it with something that's a different shape or in the wrong place, the beam pattern will be wrong. Mr Daniel Stern has an article regarding HID conversions here: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... sions.html, and an LED conversion isn't a good idea for the same reasons.

I'd recommend just changing the bulbs first. Old bulbs get yellower and dimmer with age, and yours might be 25 years old by now. I like the Philips X-treme Vision bulbs- they put out a lot more light from the regular wattage, although they do have that stupid blue tint band around the top. Be careful about fitting higher-wattage bulbs to the projector lamp, I've seen the projector lens shatter from too much heat.

north54 · Post by **north54** » Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:23 pm

Tomaboyd I'm with you 100% my headlights are horrible. So Growlerbearnz I'm going to take your advice.... again and order some Philips Xtreme visions. My question is since I have the old rectangular headlights: Do I need a different type bulb for the hi and low? My outer low bulb is this:

oooohhhh GOLD!!!

actually Golden Platinum White to be exact.

I assume an H4U fitting of this bulb is the same as an H4 of the Phillips.

Cheers.

: photo (5).JPG (233.45 KiB) Viewed 10272 times

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:24 am

I'm not hugely familiar with the pre-facelift rectangular lamps. You'll probably need two different kinds of bulb. I believe the outer lamps do high and low beam (which would be H4) but the inner lamp only comes on for high beam (probably H1). I'd remove both sets of lamps and make sure.

H4 and H4U appear to be the same thing.

Captain America · Post by **Captain America** » Wed Oct 26, 2016 4:15 am

Hi,
Agree with growlerbearnz. Installing led bulbs in older housings results in scattered light. I know this because I put leds in the headlights of my 93' Land cruiser. I must admit though that I have never been flashed on the highway by other drivers and the white led's really make highway signs pop.

tomaboyd · Post by **tomaboyd** » Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:40 am

I did replace both low beam lights. Used std bulbs and they suck. I will try the extreme.

BTW, the low beam on my L300 (outside light) is an H3 style.

Tried adjusting the lights last night. What a nightmare. Ended up with both lights on my work bench so I can take apart, fix (hopefully) and grease all the gearing and put it back together.

And after that the adjusters still don't work that well.

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Wed Oct 26, 2016 2:26 pm

It's just occurred to me that your headlamps are probably aftermarket right-hand traffic units (Depo brand, if I had to guess)- so the optics may well suck. The Philips X-treme Vision bulbs really do put out a lot more light though, so they should be an improvement. (Osram Nightbreakers are pretty good too, but not as good as the Philips bulbs).

If they're still the original Japanese left-hand traffic units (Koito 37615, glass lenses) the light beam is the wrong shape for driving on the right- more suckage.

: Koito37615L.JPG (46.91 KiB) Viewed 10238 times

Just for reference: Factory LH-Traffic L300 Koito facelift headlamps use H1 on the high beam, H3 on the projector beam- it's imprinted in the glass. Only just noticed that this morning

tomaboyd · Post by **tomaboyd** » Thu Oct 27, 2016 8:18 am

Yes, mine were some E-13 Taiwanese brand. Soueast Daioku or something like that. Went to adjust it an all the adjusters were wasted. Took them apart and got 3 or 4 working very well.

Also tt a vendor in BC and am getting a set of used OE ones. Supposedly the quality is a lot better and they are adjustable for driving on the right side of the road.

I would love to get a set of Phillips Xtreme Vision's, but I can't find them in H3. So I have narrowed it down to the Osram ones, or Phillips Crystal Vision or Vision Plus. All available in H3.

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:28 pm

OE Left-hand traffic lamps are not adjustable for driving on the right side of the road. You might be able to dismantle them and modify the low-beam projector shield, something like this: http://www.houseofthud.com/cartech/hids/. Doing so would be super illegal here, but you might get away with it. Check out Daniel's "aiming headlamps" page to see what your low-beam cutoff should end up looking like: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

I'd go for the Osram Nightbreaker H3s.

From memory, the Crystal Vision and Vision Plus are the same bulb (+60% output) but the crystal vision has a blue tint. The Osram Nightbreakers should have more output than either of the Philips H3 options.

It's weird, I could have sworn I had Philips Xtreme Vision bulbs in both lamps- maybe I'm misremembering, or maybe they used to sell H3s and don't any more.

Post by **FalcoColumbarius** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 2:38 pm

tomaboyd wrote:Yes, mine were some E-13 Taiwanese brand. Soueast Daioku or something like that. Went to adjust it an all the adjusters were wasted. Took them apart and got 3 or 4 working very well.

Also tt a vendor in BC and am getting a set of used OE ones. Supposedly the quality is a lot better and they are adjustable for driving on the right side of the road.

I would love to get a set of Phillips Xtreme Vision's, but I can't find them in H3. So I have narrowed it down to the Osram ones, or Phillips Crystal Vision or Vision Plus. All available in H3.

E-13 is Luxembourg. As a reference, check out the Delica FAQ Section/"Understanding E Codes".

Falco.

Matt&Kim · Post by **Matt&Kim** » Thu Nov 03, 2016 1:45 pm

Companies like Putco and Brightsource make led kits in the H3 and H1. The high end kits can put out 4000 lumens and last much longer than a standard bulb. They have a foil heatsink which should fit into the housing pretty well. I can't speak to the light pattern from our headlights but have heard good things about them in general.

ynwa · Post by **ynwa** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 11:08 am

Hey! Recharging this Zombie. I have scoured all the lightbulbs posts and I hear a lot of "oh, just chuck in these phillips extreme, yadda, yadda". I've replaced a lot of various bulbs in my life, but never have I seen any that look like this:

: 20170311_135619.jpg (109.6 KiB) Viewed 9951 times

: 20170311_135440.jpg (60.86 KiB) Viewed 9951 times

I don't see how the standard bulbs just stuff in here. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 4:14 pm

Those are the correct bulbs for projector-lens Delica headlamps. H3 is the shorter one and goes in your low beam projector lamp, H1 is the taller one and goes in the high beam lamp (it looks like you've got fingerprints on the glass though, which is naughty- clean that off before installing).

Which part of installation are you stuck on? It looks like you've managed to remove the headlamp units, now unscrew the two circular grey* covers from the back, unlatch the springy bit of wire which hooks under the metal collar to hold the bulb in, unplug the bulb. Installation is the reverse of disassembly

*they're grey on OEM headlamp units. Your mileage may vary. Feel free to share photos if your setup is so unusual that these instructions don't make sense.

ynwa · Post by **ynwa** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 4:37 pm

Oh hey, no issues with installation, those are the stockers. I want to replace the ones that I'm holding with a better product. TBH, I hadn't looked just yet. All the bulbs I see tossed around the board are the more modern 3-pronged, halogen type. The PO actually had a set, but after examining the bulbs, they are entirely dis-similar.

Any part numbers for decent replacements for the OEM's?

Thanks!

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 9:20 pm

Ah! Right. Delicas before 1990(ish) have rectangular semi-sealed beam headlamps which take the larger bulbs (and that's what they were talking about above, I think). If you've got the all-in-one curved headlamp with projector low beam (1990-ish and later) you'll need a pair of H1 and H3 bulbs instead.

I have Philips X-treme Vision H1s (https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X-Treme- ... B004G395NU) and Osram Nightbreaker H3s (https://www.amazon.com/OSRAM-Night-Brea ... B00FQ8AQI2).

Philips do a "Crystal Vision" H3 which is as bright as the X-treme Vision, but they have a blue tint which reduces light output and makes you look like a twat.