Convert standard headlights to LED or add additional lights?

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Geektastic

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#312643 3-May-2024 20:06

Our motorhome is based on a LWB Volkswagen Crafter chassis.

We drove back from Queenstown recently and it was dark for a couple of hours of the journey. The Crafter is lovely to drive. 180 horsepower twin turbo RWD so despite weighing about 5 tons it’s nice and easy to drive.

However the headlights are rubbish. It’s only 4 years old but doesn’t have LED lights, just conventional bulbs and the visibility compared to, say, my Subaru Outback with full LEDs is woeful.

I’ve seen drop in replacement LED units that simply go where the normal bulbs go. However I’ve no experience of them so not sure if that would be sensible or useful.

Alternatively I could have some sort of additional modern LED lights fitted and wired to the main beam switch I guess.

I won’t be doing it myself. I’m no electrician and mucking about with such things is above my pay grade so I’ll be finding a specialist to do the job.

Anyone have experience of doing something like this?

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#3226202 3-May-2024 20:19

The drop in LED "Bulbs" aren't legal in NZ. You need to replace the entire fixture with one designed for a LED source. (which is hard unless you happen to have a vehicle like a jeep wrangler with standard round luminaries)

You are allowed 2x additonal driving lights, but they must be wired so they only run when the high beams are on. Good solution if you want more high beam brightness, but obviously no help with dipped beams.

Rules here:

https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/general/lighting/headlamps

tweake

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#3226206 3-May-2024 20:23

drop in led's or aftermarket led conversion are not legal. they are a wof fail. legally all you can do is installed approved headlights, such as if they have top spec model which came with led's.

the reason for that is because the reflectors are not designed for led's. one not so legal way is to use aftermarket full replacement led only units (illegal because most are not approved). $$$ and hard to get for rht hand drive.

Scott3

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#3226207 3-May-2024 20:32

Just looked it up.

Depending on the year of your van, there are genuine LED headlights for vw crafters, for example below.

https://vwvanpartsdirect.co.uk/product/crafter-2nd-gen-2017-2020-lhs-led-headlight/

https://vwvanpartsdirect.co.uk/product/crafter-2nd-gen-2017-2020-rhs-led-headlight/

Obviously not a cheap solution, perhaps you could source them out of a wrecked van somewhere to save some coin.

Note the wiring is not nesseraclly a drop in replacement (on the Nissan leaf it is not)

Make sure they come from a market where they drive on the left as the beam patterns are different.

Other options are use high brightness incandescent bulbs (i.e. Philips X-tremeVision PRO150), or having a new wiring harness for the headlights made, triggered by a relay on the current circuits (with fatter wire, hence less voltage drop & more brightness).

Both of the above options will see you bulb life decrease, meaning more frequent replacements are needed.

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Just one more note, are the headlights correctly angled. My lexus when I brought it had the dip beams throw super short, and I had them adjusted to point higher as they were well below the legal max. On our other car (nissan leaf), the incandescent headlights are just dull, nothing wrong with the angle.

mudguard

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#3226211 3-May-2024 20:40

Scott3:

Just one more note, are the headlights correctly angled. My lexus when I brought it had the dip beams throw super short, and I had them adjusted to point higher as they were well below the legal max. On our other car (nissan leaf), the incandescent headlights are just dull, nothing wrong with the angle.

Yeah it would be worth getting checked. I have a Corolla of the same year and a Civic from the early nineties. I'm certain there's nothing actually wrong with the Civic headlights, but after modern cars I can't actually drive it at night unless on high beam! They are terrible by modern standards.

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#3226212 3-May-2024 20:42

Driving lights wired to the high beams are relatively cheap and easy in comparison to getting brighter low beams (I think NZ law requires them to be installed as a pair, so avoid the bar style lights).

Many options to pick from, very easy for an auto electrician to wire up, and commercial mounting bars are common to allow the lights to be mounted on vehicles without bullbars.

Repco Driving Light Bracket - RDLMB1

k1w1k1d

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#3226267 3-May-2024 23:50

As advised, retrofitting LED bulbs into standard headlights is illegal in NZ. You can fit approved LED headlight units if you can find them for your vehicle.

Fitting a pair of driving lights to work with the high beam headlights is possible, provided the vehicle only has a pair of headlights. Only allowed two pairs of lights on high beam.

That will fix the poor high beam lighting but won't help when you have to dip your lights.

Probably the best you can do is try better bulbs and possibly fit headlight relays.

We run a heap of Ford Rangers at work. All the guys complained about the crap headlights. We tried all sorts of bulbs, but with marginal improvement. Just poorly designed headlight reflectors.

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#3226268 3-May-2024 23:59

What year is the van?

Seems there is at least one aftermarket option available, roughly 1/4 the cost of vw genuine led headlights

https://vwt5-t6upgrades.co.uk/product/vw-crafter-man-tge-led-drl-headlights-with-sequential-indicators-chrome-2017-current/

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Bung

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#3226278 4-May-2024 07:23

k1w1k1d: As advised, retrofitting LED bulbs into standard headlights is illegal in NZ.

Probably not legal in most countries. There's usually some small print saying "For off road use only".

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#3226359 4-May-2024 10:57

k1w1k1d:

We run a heap of Ford Rangers at work. All the guys complained about the crap headlights. We tried all sorts of bulbs, but with marginal improvement. Just poorly designed headlight reflectors.

We have three vehicles, 2003, 2013, 2019 all from the same manufacturer. Guess which year has the best lights? You'd think things would get better with design and technological advancements, but No. The 2003 car has the best lights by far.

It mystifies me as to why such an important and basic item as the humble headlight can get progressively worse.

Some models of the 2019 car came with Adaptive LED Matrix headlamps which are reported to be absolutely amazing, so the manufacturers can get it right when it suits them. I've considered retro fitting them but, and it's a $4000 plus BUT, they are eye wateringly expensive and there's the unknown factor of what underlying sensors they may rely on that may or may not be equipped or enabled in the software.

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Geektastic

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#3226509 4-May-2024 18:26

Scott3:
What year is the van?

Seems there is at least one aftermarket option available, roughly 1/4 the cost of vw genuine led headlights

https://vwt5-t6upgrades.co.uk/product/vw-crafter-man-tge-led-drl-headlights-with-sequential-indicators-chrome-2017-current/

2020.

Scott3

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#3226610 5-May-2024 10:53

Next question is if it is the high beams or low beams that are the issue.

If it is high beams, ~ $500 would get you this style of setup with cheaper components:

Net 4x4 : VW Amarok Spotlight Mount

$230 for the lights

https://nz.adventurekings.com/9-lethal-led-spot-light.html?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwudexBhDKARIsAI-GWYWnLMS4bRdYOM1TH8CXmazpcMfzTqRMvzCy2Ynsqq96vzSi2IKy9acaAl06EALw_wcB

And the balance for a bracket and somebody to wire it.

-------------------

If it is low beams, you have the option of trying "+150%" style bulbs, which are fairly cheap, but need replaced more frequently, doing wiring mods to slightly boost the voltage, or swapping the whole fixture.

The after market luminaries I linked above appear to fit your date range (you would need to verify fit and legality in NZ)

Chrome:

https://vwt5-t6upgrades.co.uk/product/vw-crafter-man-tge-led-drl-headlights-with-sequential-indicators-chrome-2017-current/

Black:

https://vwt5-t6upgrades.co.uk/product/vw-crafter-man-tge-led-drl-headlights-with-sequential-indicators-black-2017-current-with-led-dip-and-main-beam-bulbs/

Should note these should also boost the main beam so you might not need the spot lights as well.

Obviously a more expensive option.

Should note that your old headlight's would have quite a bit of value on the used market. Not unusual for people to ask $200 - $400 for used headlight fixtures on trademe. Of course it can be a matter of waiting untill somebody in NZ smashed one and need to buy one.

Bung

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#3226615 5-May-2024 11:34

Scott3: If it is low beams, you have the option of trying "+150%" style bulbs, which are fairly cheap, but need replaced more frequently, doing wiring mods to slightly boost the voltage, or swapping the whole fixture.

The after market luminaries I linked above appear to fit your date range (you would need to verify fit and legality in NZ)

It must be low beams, you'd have to be insane trying to out drive high beam in a 5 tonne RV.

I'd start with checking that the lights were set at correct limit and any load adjuster was working properly. On our previous car the WOF tester kept turning the lights down to be under the x mm fall in x metres rather than checking that the dip angle matched what was on the light. The end result was it was dangerous on dip at 100. A second testing station confirmed that the lights should be lifted.

The halogens above +80 do have noticeably shorter lives. The % improvement is not overall but measured at the furthest reach.

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#3229109 11-May-2024 18:24

When I was looking into my (2015) Prius and its variant models I discovered that the more basic models have halogens and the higher-spec trims were available with LED lights.

I actually find my halogens excellent when compared to my previous car (2001).

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!

No signature to see here, move along...

Bung

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#3229142 11-May-2024 20:19

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.

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#3229190 12-May-2024 09:38

Yes that was the example I was looking for. Thanks.

No signature to see here, move along...

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