Funny how you all seem to think my headlights gonna melt, let's have a look at the bulbs,, which one has a fan to keep it cool ? The LED, so what happens if that goes kaput, hmmmm, think it might overheat. mine is a standard type bulb, in a metal holder, I've used these bulbs (100w) since the 80s and never had a problem.. in your home I can understand different wattage,as holders are different materials,, I've never seen a headlight with a max watt sticker !
The latest LEDS have heat sinks on the back- solid, no fans to fail.
Did you see my message on the LED thread re the spare bulb/ NRV I have for you BTW?
The gentle teasing about melting headlights was just that. I don't think anyone on here believes that glass lenses and reflectors are going to fail due to a 100w bulb. Sloth's point about the Mosfets/ relays/ power board was a valid one, but as yours are lasting then you're proving that the system can cope.
I wonder though, if there actually is a wattage limit on latest cars with plastic lenses, but as the days are long gone when I ever own a "latest" car I'm never likely to find out!
EDIT- cheesus, who'd have thought you can no longer buy new sidelight bulb holders for a P38?!
Aw bugger, really? Mine appear to both be knackered.
Powerful LEDs need heatsinks (with or without fans) on the back because the heat they produce as a byproduct needs to be extracted away from the diode itself to prevent it from burning up. The source of the heat is just a very small surface area, hence the heat sink to distribute it. The total power draw of these is only 25-30w per lamp too. Should one overheat, the failure mode is pretty unspectacular - the tiny connections inside the LED package break and the lamp goes dark.
But yeah... I wasn't saying its going to melt the housing :) But I would be more concerned about the wiring, given on a P38 there are as standard, 6 55w lamps up front, two of which are dual filament. The BECM also won't light up two of the full beam filaments when using the flash function (which does not disable the dipped beam) in what I can only assume is a measure to keep the total power draw below a maximum.
But if its coping alright, then it seems up to the job for now!
It used to be that the maximum wattage allowed was a total of 110W on dipped beam (which is why a standard bulb is 55W) but no limit on main beam so 100/55W bulbs are perfectly legal. I ran them for a while on one of my cars but found that when going from main to dipped, the difference meant that you may as well switch the lights off. The standard P38 lights are great on main beam as there's the extra bulbs in there but dip is where they could do with a bit more output.
For the IVA test (Individual Vehicle Approval, what has replaced the old SVA and is needed for kit cars and imports), there is no mention of wattage or output other than "Where vehicles are fitted with Gas Discharge or LED Headlamps there is no requirement for headlamp cleaning if the light output is below 2000 Lumens (evidence must be provided)". I did notice recently that my MoT testers beam checking machine has a light meter marked with the light output expected from 'Tungsten', 'Halogen' and 'Other' headlights although there's nothing in the testers manual to say a fail is if there is not enough or too much light other than:
An obligatory headlamp:
a. inoperative, excessively damaged or
deteriorated or has a product on the lens or
light source so that the light output is well
below that required to illuminate the road
ahead. (Reason for Rejection 1.7.5a)
So it seems that we are all legal no matter what bulbs we have fitted.......
I wonder if anyone's come up with a plug and play alternative to holder AND bulb? Ideally an LED (with holder that will fit the bayonet fixing in the reflector) that doesn't generate error codes, or bayonet/ screw in bulb (ditto on the holder)?
Never seen a reference but haven't researched too deeply yet.
gordonjcp wrote:
EDIT- cheesus, who'd have thought you can no longer buy new sidelight bulb holders for a P38?!
Aw bugger, really? Mine appear to both be knackered.
John Craddock lists the bulbholder and is the only supplier that doesn't say it is out of stock or obsolete. Maybe he's got a stash of them?
Well, I've asked them whether they have, although £12 is a bit of a wince!
Will publish their reply on here (once I've bought the last 2 in the world!)
Gilbertd wrote:
John Craddock lists the bulbholder and is the only supplier that doesn't say it is out of stock or obsolete. Maybe he's got a stash of them?
For alternative type lights, on P38's we are, if on air suspension and headlight washers are working
EDIT- actually cos HL washers only work via the wiper that has to work as well, or the water will just squirt across the bottom of the light!
- see VOSA guidance:
http://www.partinfo.co.uk/files/MOT%20Changes%20-%20Lighting.pdf
and, specifically relating to LEDs:
Headlamp washing and levelling systems are mandatory for all vehicles fitted with LED headlamp
systems, although these are not yet widely used and only tend to be optional fitment on some
executive marques. However, as LED systems improve and because they can be arranged in
almost any design configuration, they are sure to become more common.
Where headlamp levelling or cleaning devices are missing or defective, but there is doubt as to
whether they are required, the benefit of the doubt should be given and an advisory notice issued
Gilbertd wrote:
So it seems that we are all legal no matter what bulbs we have fitted.......
Well yes, I did assume that we all have working EAS and headlamp wash/wipe. I'm trying to decide if it's worth £70 to cause my MoT tester to scratch his head and have to get his book out.
To avoid all of previous mentioned arguments and discussions with patrolmen I fitted these Philips H4.
Not spectacular but a serious improvement. The package says they are good for 400 hours compared to standard 700 hours of brightness, we'll see.
Also fitted them (H1) in the high beams.
I'll let you know how the LED Headlights + Nightlighter supplimentary mains compare with the Nightlighters/ KC Daylighter combo on my blue one. Main beam I'm not too fussed about but with my deteriorating night vision I'm hoping for great things from dipped LED lights
Gilbertd wrote:
I'm trying to decide if it's worth £70 to cause my MoT tester to scratch his head and have to get his book out.
Reply from John Craddock:
Unfortunately this part is no longer available!
(and no, I didn't buy the last 2 they had!)
Orangebean wrote:
Well, I've asked them whether they have, although £12 is a bit of a wince!
Will publish their reply on here (once I've bought the last 2 in the world!)Gilbertd wrote:
John Craddock lists the bulbholder and is the only supplier that doesn't say it is out of stock or obsolete. Maybe he's got a stash of them?
Orangebean wrote:
I'll let you know how the LED Headlights + Nightlighter supplimentary mains compare with the Nightlighters/ KC Daylighter combo on my blue one. Main beam I'm not too fussed about but with my deteriorating night vision I'm hoping for great things from dipped LED lights
Gilbertd wrote:
I'm trying to decide if it's worth £70 to cause my MoT tester to scratch his head and have to get his book out.
I don't know if this will affect you/your eyes but there is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to super bright dipped beams. I found with various sets of HIDs on a BMW that once you pass a certain point the amount of light coming back at you from the road starts to make it difficult to see anything beyond the area illuminated by the dipped beam.
Obviously this is going to vary case by case but it's not always true that brighter is better. If your eyesight changes are making it difficult for you to cope with contrast and dazzle you might find that this point is reached earlier than you would otherwise suspect.
The problem is that my Guide Dog is black, so is hard to spot when he's trotting in front of the car at night. Brighter Dips will lessen the chance of me flattening him. They take so long to train...
Seriously though Morat, the thought had occurred to me about diminishing returns, but I'll see how it goes with the LEDs and report back.
Thought of starting a new thread "W@nker of the Week" but I may as well continue in this thread.
Got top plenum off in record time (once you've done it once, it's a darn sight quicker the 2nd time), found some frayed nastiness in Bank A petrol injector loom which'll need further investigation. Found bottom coil pack bolts and thought I'd leave all HT leads on (which are numbered at both ends) if I could in case I'd blindly transposed a couple on the coil.
Took Bank A HT leads off plugs- front to back 1,3,5,7- got that side right. Bet you can guess what's coming next..
Went to take Bank B HT leads off plugs and, unless RR have adopted a new numbering sequence, front to back 2,6,4,8 whatever fool put the HT leads on the plugs did them completely wrong.
I feel like such a d!ck.
Haven't even got to coil packs yet, so I've probably "messed" those up as well. Wonder it even ran at all.
Doesn't address lack of lpg system but given my current talent failure it's probably something equally stupid.
Plonker.... Seems the headlights will be the only bright things in the area.
Correct Gilbertd!
As far as coil packs and connections go, I managed to do them correctly by feel
There was a crack in the RH coil which doesn't show in the pic. It's the original.
LHS one is Intermotor.
I feel better about replacing the coil packs now!
So, humiliated and hypothermic, I retire for the day and await the plaudits of my chums in the Pub. Guess the next round's on me...
Only defence is that it was incredibly hard to see past all the LPG stuff and plumbing. In pic, front of engine is at bottom:
Doing coil packs by feel with size 6 hands isn't too bad but how folk with bigger mitts manage I don't know. Pushing on probably not too bad but pulling off the one (OK, OK two) put in the wrong place might be a different matter. Cheapy borescope from Mr LiDL just the job for visual check once you get your head round which way is up on the screen.
Clive