Convert standard headlights to LED or add additional lights?

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mudguard

2114 posts

Uber Geek

#3229296 12-May-2024 15:44

Bung:
BlakJak:

You should be actively using hi-beam when there is no reason not to (i.e. oncoming traffic or you're following someone) and with those other light inputs your dipped beams shouldn't be that bad... surely!

There's been a couple of cases where Police patrols have run into people lying or walking in the middle of country roads. The Coroners found fault with the drivers for not using high beam as dipped beam doesn't give enough warning if immediate reaction is needed to stop.

To be fair, that could be completely down to how good or bad the beams are. As I mentioned earlier, I could drive virtually all evening with my Corolla's headlights on low and they're brilliant. High beam is insane. My thirty year old Civic I have to drive everywhere on high beam as the lights are so bad in general.

Bung

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3229315 12-May-2024 16:35

Many people do drive everywhere on dip. The requirement is for dipped beam to illuminate at least out to 50m. Some sources say dip is good for 50 -75m At 100km/h the stopping distance is most often quoted as 75m including reaction time. So on the rare occasion that you have to stop dead as soon as something becomes visible there's little to no margin.

Wombat1

586 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#3232169 18-May-2024 17:20

Supercheap offers high-quality LED bulbs suitable for retrofitting in most cars. These bulbs are designed to fit standard automotive light sockets, making them an easy upgrade for improved lighting performance. I upgraded the parking lights on my daughter's Corolla to LED, but left the halogens alone.

tweake

2391 posts

Uber Geek

#3232171 18-May-2024 17:23

Wombat1:

Supercheap offers high-quality LED bulbs suitable for retrofitting in most cars. These bulbs are designed to fit standard automotive light sockets, making them an easy upgrade for improved lighting performance. I upgraded the parking lights on my daughter's Corolla to LED, and left the halogens alone.

notice the "For off road use only". not allowed the headlamp replacement ones for onroad use. parking lights etc are fine afaik.

Bung

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3232174 18-May-2024 17:30

It depends on the degree of pedantry at the testing station. Avoid VTNZ at Levin. There's at least one guy there that would try the not originally supplied line.

k1w1k1d

1519 posts

Uber Geek

#3232224 18-May-2024 17:52

Instead of banning LED bulbs, they should have trained the inspectors to properly use their fancy beam setters.

They would then be able to reject lights that have an incorrect light pattern due to being fitted with crappy Asian LED bulbs. They would also pick up all the HID and halogen lights that are out of adjustment.

"Nah, let's just ban LED bulbs".

tweake

2391 posts

Uber Geek

#3232234 18-May-2024 19:33

k1w1k1d:

Instead of banning LED bulbs, they should have trained the inspectors to properly use their fancy beam setters.

They would then be able to reject lights that have an incorrect light pattern due to being fitted with crappy Asian LED bulbs. They would also pick up all the HID and halogen lights that are out of adjustment.

"Nah, let's just ban LED bulbs".

led's are not banned. you can get approved ones. the catch is cost and most aftermarket are cheap ones that have never been tested/approved.

Tradepub

Free professional, reference and technical white papers (affiliate link).

Bung

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3232240 18-May-2024 20:25

This is from the WoF inspection manual

"LA high-intensity discharge (HID or Xenon HID) or LED conversion kit consists of an HID or LED bulb which fits into the original headlamp unit in place of the original bulb with no change to the headlamp lens, reflector or housing.

It is illegal to fit an HID or LED conversion kit to a vehicle as it brings the headlamp out of standards compliance by producing poor beam patterns and light that is often far too bright to be safe. The bulbs can also produce light that is noticeably blue and not the required substantially white or amber colour. Vehicle and headlamp manufacturers do not permit this modification, and these kits cannot be LVV certified.

It is permitted to replace a complete halogen headlamp unit with a complete HID or LED headlamp unit. If the vehicle is required to meet an approved safety standard for headlamps, only approved headlamps can be retrofitted (see Figure 4-1-1).

Mehrts

1063 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3232336 19-May-2024 11:18

Bung:

...The bulbs can also produce light that is noticeably blue and not the required substantially white or amber colour.

There are a lot of OEM lights on newer vehicles that produce horrible flickers of blue/red at the edge of their light beam to oncoming vehicles. They're quite dazzling in a bad way.

Wombat1

586 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#3232338 19-May-2024 11:31

Mehrts:

Bung:

...The bulbs can also produce light that is noticeably blue and not the required substantially white or amber colour.

There are a lot of OEM lights on newer vehicles that produce horrible flickers of blue/red at the edge of their light beam to oncoming vehicles. They're quite dazzling in a bad way.

LED headlights are dimmed using a method called pulse width modulation (PWM). This means they are turned on and off so quickly that it's usually not noticeable to the human eye. However, this can sometimes cause a flickering effect in your rearview mirror if the car behind you is using LED bulbs, seems to only be some cars or OEM bulbs maybe? It's not ideal, which is why I prefer halogens myself.

tweake

2391 posts

Uber Geek

#3232395 19-May-2024 12:51

i don't really notice the pwm effect. the flickering is often caused by having such a sharp edged dipped beam. that means normally the light doesn't go to you, unless they hit a bump. as its a sharp edge beam it flicks from nothing to full brightness and back again. if the car is oncoming it can even look like they are flashing their lights. cars with smooth edge you don't get that effect so much as its a gentle change in brightness.

Mehrts

1063 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3232412 19-May-2024 13:04

It's not the flickering of the lights that's noticeable, it's the edge of the light beam that gives off a prism-rainbow type effect which is annoying.

It's exactly as @tweake said. Worse when the car coming towards you is going over a rise or bumps in the road.

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