[jcsalter9]

Does anybody know if this is accurate?

[dakine_surf]

What is your question? Which bulb?

If you have halogen lights then it is the h7 bulb, d1s is only for Xenon/HID

[jcsalter9]

So if I buy a h7 led bulb it should fit plug and play?

[unrulyteach]

Originally Posted by jcsalter9

So if I buy a h7 led bulb it should fit plug and play?

That's correct

[jcsalter9]

Originally Posted by unrulyteach

That's correct

Thank you

[Capty]

Is it safe to replace halogens to led? Not just the bulbs but the entire car lights

[dakine_surf]

Originally Posted by Capty

Is it safe to replace halogens to led? Not just the bulbs but the entire car lights

Originally Posted by jcsalter9

Thank you

No and please do not do this, a halogen reflector is only supposed to do that. Please don't put an led or HID in a halogen reflector... they are designed to preform with a certain bulb in mind, when you put an led or hid bulb in a halogen housing you get bad light.... it might look bright but all it is doing is making other drivers blind and putting the light in the wrong places. Do some research and find out why you can't just swap a bulb and get real performance...

[sirleeofroy]

Originally Posted by dakine_surf

No and please do not do this, a halogen reflector is only supposed to do that. Please don't put an led or HID in a halogen reflector... they are designed to preform with a certain bulb in mind, when you put an led or hid bulb in a halogen housing you get bad light.... it might look bright but all it is doing is making other drivers blind and putting the light in the wrong places. Do some research and find out why you can't just swap a bulb and get real performance...

I beg to differ, at least with the LED's......However, I'm totally with you on HID's....

Have a read through this thread - https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1438935

[Sartomat]

Hello, newbie here. What do people recommend for halogen lamps (bulbs). I recently bought my e90 and it has blue bulbs, is this legal ?

[dakine_surf]

Originally Posted by sirleeofroy

I beg to differ, at least with the LED's......However, I'm totally with you on HID's....

Have a read through this thread - https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1438935

So I read through it a bit but there are a bunch of things not being talked about...

Your beams look ok, but your picture is taken against a wall close up, there is no way to judge the actual useable beam pattern. I'd still be hesitant. Remember we need our lights while we are moving for objects in front, coming at us, not while parked 10ft from us.

If you can park about 60ft/80ft 20/30m from a wall and take the picture from above and behind the car, we can get a better understanding of the useable beam provided by the leds and those reflectors... not saying it isn't good but I'm still skeptical...

I also come from an led engineering background so I know the capabilities, but I also know what goes into the reflectors and projectors that make it actually useable and not wasted... you pics point out some huge hot spots (which could be camera shutter speed and aperture) but to me it looks like a lot of light in a lot of the wrong places. And since your headlights don't dip and move with the car, you are gonna send a lot of that light into the eyes of drivers as you bump along the road.

[sirleeofroy]

Originally Posted by dakine_surf

So I read through it a bit but there are a bunch of things not being talked about...

Your beams look ok, but your picture is taken against a wall close up, there is no way to judge the actual useable beam pattern. I'd still be hesitant. Remember we need our lights while we are moving for objects in front, coming at us, not while parked 10ft from us.

If you can park about 60ft/80ft 20/30m from a wall and take the picture from above and behind the car, we can get a better understanding of the useable beam provided by the leds and those reflectors... not saying it isn't good but I'm still skeptical...

I also come from an led engineering background so I know the capabilities, but I also know what goes into the reflectors and projectors that make it actually useable and not wasted... you pics point out some huge hot spots (which could be camera shutter speed and aperture) but to me it looks like a lot of light in a lot of the wrong places. And since your headlights don't dip and move with the car, you are gonna send a lot of that light into the eyes of drivers as you bump along the road.

In the UK we have a yearly test for our vehicles called an MOT, this is a legal requirement and part of that test incorporates testing the beam pattern, mostly this is to ensure that the dipped beam has the correct amount of cutoff and spread so that drivers in front are not blinded as you say.

Many of us who have fitted these LED's have passed these tests without any advisories and I have been running these LED's for some time and not once have I been concerned with blinding anyone, unlike my brother who has a HID kit fitted on his 1 series

I understand your scepticism and to be honest, that was the entire point of me being the guinea pig for testing.... LED's in reflector housings had terrible results (similar to HID) before because of the size and placement of the actual LED. The key here was picking the units we did.

Regarding pics, to satisfy your curiosity I will grab a picture this week at some distance from a wall and post back here...

[dakine_surf]

Originally Posted by sirleeofroy

In the UK we have a yearly test for our vehicles called an MOT, this is a legal requirement and part of that test incorporates testing the beam pattern, mostly this is to ensure that the dipped beam has the correct amount of cutoff and spread so that drivers in front are not blinded as you say.

Many of us who have fitted these LED's have passed these tests without any advisories and I have been running these LED's for some time and not once have I been concerned with blinding anyone, unlike my brother who has a HID kit fitted on his 1 series

I understand your scepticism and to be honest, that was the entire point of me being the guinea pig for testing.... LED's in reflector housings had terrible results (similar to HID) before because of the size and placement of the actual LED. The key here was picking the units we did.

Regarding pics, to satisfy your curiosity I will grab a picture this week at some distance from a wall and post back here...

Yeah please post some pics, I would love to be proven wrong... but based on what I saw you and others post on this thread HERE I am still super skeptical... I like that you are looking for ways to upgrade your lighting, but you are going about it wrong and spewing some bad info that is actually dangerous...

Please don't take this as me being an asshole or douche, but since I haven't posted much on here, maybe I should give you a little background. I have spent the better part of 20 years now in the LED/photonics industry... I designed chip sets and reflectors for CREE for 8 years and now I work in the photonics industry designing, and testing lasers and chip sets for telecommunication, surveillance and exploration satellites. My Ph D. is in Computer and Electrical Engineering, and while my dissertation was on Monolithically Integrated Reconfigurable Filters for Microwave Photonic Links, I have a nominally more robust understanding of all forms of electromagnetic radiation than most people, visible light included.

First off I have been very familiar wit MOT, I lived in the UK and EU for a few years so I know how that goes... Maybe you don't actually understand the science of light transmittal and how light is captured and reflected on the road, but MOT is NOT A PERFORMANCE TEST... It does not prove your reflectors are any good at dispersing the light, only that they meet the, honestly low, standards of cutoff and aiming only... It has nothing to do with whether you can out drive the performance provided by you $50 bulbs in those reflectors.

Now that being said I could be proven wrong, and better pics can help, but here my $.02 based on what you posted on the previous thread.

Some of my skepticism could be based on your camera settings. Having you camera set to auto exposure will lie to us a little, making the light look whiter, and brighter. Also if the camera tries to compensate for the lack of light in the background and the headlights in the foreground, it can leave the shutter open which can cause the headlights to over expose.

But based on the photos you uploaded earlier, here are the problems I see...

1. We already talked about, backing up from the wall and getting more of a shot of the actual beam pattern in front of you on the road.

2. Your reflectors are leaking light in the wrong places, if you notice you have hot spots where there should be nice even light. Now all your light is focused right above where your stock cutoff should be, which is pretty much in peoples eyes after every bump, you might pass MOT but you are not going to be putting any more light on the road than your halogens.

3. Your cutoff is non existent... It just looks like clouds, which means all that light is being scattered instead of being focused on what is coming up the road.

I took a couple minutes to put you pictures side by side. You were a little further back from the wall in the halogen pic, but what I am talking about is still hugely evident.



Now all this being said, I can see how your LED throws lots of light, which you might perceive as brighter and better, but I assure you that is not what is actually happening. Based on the pictures you uploaded, that actually looks dangerous. If BMW could have thrown a $15 LED bulb in the 3 series and received a performance upgrade with the halogen reflectors they would have. But there is a reason that even the cheap toyota carolla has a decent projector to take advantage of the LED emitters that they have standard on a sub $20k car.

[dakine_surf]

Here is a quick shot showing a LED bulb in a HID projector, you can see the width is just not there with your halogen reflector nor is the clarity.

On a properly setup projector you can also see how sharp the cutoff is and how the light is evenly distributed so no hot spots or dazzling oncoming drivers...



Honestly the whole thread of these LED bulbs is full of so much fail and dangerous/stupid information... I get wanting the "updated look" of clean white light. But do it properly, putting LED's in a halogen reflector is still not OK, You do not see a performance upgrade and you just end up looking like a poser.

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by dakine_surf

Honestly the whole thread of these LED bulbs is full of so much fail and dangerous/stupid information... I get wanting the "updated look" of clean white light. But do it properly, putting LED's in a halogen reflector is still not OK, You do not see a performance upgrade and you just end up looking like a poser.

I have had much better results by simply upgrading wiring harnesses to eliminate voltage drop, and using higher wattage bulbs.
they don't look cool, but I like useable headlights more than I like looking cool.

[dakine_surf]

Originally Posted by nsjames

I have had much better results by simply upgrading wiring harnesses to eliminate voltage drop, and using higher wattage bulbs.
they don't look cool, but I like useable headlights more than I like looking cool.

Exactly... which is actually cool

[vilord]

For my girlfriend's car (a maxima with halogen projectors), I went through 3 different LED bulbs before I found one that had the same cutoffs and beam pattern as the halogens they replaced. (With slightly better distribution, so she can actually see the ground at the sides of the road)

It is a pain, and you might have to go through a half dozen different LED bulbs to find one that matches well with the reflector, but it is doable.
Unfortunate that there aren't really any good reviews and tests that list off which cars work with which bulbs.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by nsjames

I have had much better results by simply upgrading wiring harnesses to eliminate voltage drop, and using higher wattage bulbs.
they don't look cool, but I like useable headlights more than I like looking cool.

This.

I haven't found LED replacement bulbs I've been happy with for headlights/fog lights. Either the beam pattern sucks, the light output sucks, or they cause radio interference.

I've also had better luck upgrading the harness and using brighter bulbs. Don't use Sylvania Silverstars either. They are bright but last about 3 months, definitely not worth the price. I have Phillips X-Treme Visions in my 328i, and Hella 130w/100w H4 bulbs in my Jeep Cherokee. Both were fairly cheap, decently bright, and have been lasting for a decent amount of time now.

[nsjames]

hella is the go to for high wattage halogens.

[dakine_surf]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

This.

I haven't found LED replacement bulbs I've been happy with for headlights/fog lights. Either the beam pattern sucks, the light output sucks, or they cause radio interference.

I've also had better luck upgrading the harness and using brighter bulbs. Don't use Sylvania Silverstars either. They are bright but last about 3 months, definitely not worth the price. I have Phillips X-Treme Visions in my 328i, and Hella 130w/100w H4 bulbs in my Jeep Cherokee. Both were fairly cheap, decently bright, and have been lasting for a decent amount of time now.

Yes exactly, and this is what I wanted to explain to sirleeofroy... those LED bulbs he put in look like shit based on the output shots he posted... definitly not putting the light where it needs to be and honestly its dangerous, most definitely a downgrade from his stock halogens... it might have the color temperature he wants, but the performance sucks.

Originally Posted by nsjames

hella is the go to for high wattage halogens.

Back when I had halogen lit cars, I also liked PIAA, but I haven't had a non HID or LED car since 2005, so I honestly couldn't tell you if their stuff is still quality.

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by dakine_surf

Yes exactly, and this is what I wanted to explain to sirleeofroy... those LED bulbs he put in look like shit based on the output shots he posted... definitly not putting the light where it needs to be and honestly its dangerous, most definitely a downgrade from his stock halogens... it might have the color temperature he wants, but the performance sucks.



Back when I had halogen lit cars, I also liked PIAA, but I haven't had a non HID or LED car since 2005, so I honestly couldn't tell you if their stuff is still quality.

my wife's volvo is still halogens.
but it's a quad bulb setup, so with some upgraded wires it's plenty bright enough to not need replacing.
volvo was still doing glass lenses in 04.
so at least I got that going for me.