lobs84

Active Member
Jul 20, 2010
126
0
Coventry
Hi all,

I'm just wondering if all H7 bulbs are the same? I have just installed some white LED sidelight bulbs and they seem to put my Night breakers to shame. What i'm asking is, I have saw some LED H7 bulbs but they say that they are for fog lights. Would they be too bright for my dipped beam?

Regards

Will.
 
55W 4300k HIDS fitted

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LED bulbs are unsuitable for headlamps for three reasons:

You can't get them bright enough (yet).

The individual LED's are very directional, emitting over a fairly narrow cone.

They take the form of a cluster of LED sources, so the light source is the wrong shape for the reflector. The beam pattern would be completely up the spout.

If and when a single LED is made that will put out the same light power as a 55W filament bulb it will need a completely different headlight design, probably some form of projector with a lens in front to widen and shape the beam.

The "bulbs" you linked to claim 450 lumens output. The chart here

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/bulb_types/bulb_types.html

shows that most car headlight bulbs fall in the 1000 - 1600 lumens area. 450 lumens will be impossibly dim.

They would work in foglights because -

a: Foglights produce an unfocussed, diffuse output, low and wide, not a focussed beam, so beam pattern is not important.

b: Foglights don't require high power, they are for finding the edges of the road/white lines when the fog is so dense that headlights produce a white wall of backscatter. 20mph weather. At best.
 
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you all know that putting hids in a car that is not designed to use them ( as in came out of the factory with them fitted ) will be illegal come next april and will automatically be an mot failure.