Replacing headlight bulbs - NZ price and LED conversions

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timmmay

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#195862 9-May-2016 10:27

A 35W light bulb for my 2003 Corolla costs about $27 in Repco. You can get a pair shipped for $3 from Ali Express, or about $10 from ebay. I assume the quality is lower, but heck buy ten and replace them regularly if needed. Changing them takes about 2 minutes. Any thoughts on this? Some can be higher current, 35W currently fitted, I wouldn't want to go a lot higher as it impacts the battery at least a little.

There are also LED bulbs and conversion kits, like this one and this one. They should last a lot longer than regular bulbs. Are there any downsides to getting them?

One thing I noticed with the LED bulbs is they're often bigger. With the Corolla the bulb is quite small, you just mount it to a fitting and the fitting goes in tightly. I wonder if the LED bulbs will actually fit in the space available.

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#1548566 9-May-2016 10:47

I would check the NZTA website before you swap to LED or HID, there are rules about what you can and can't do about changing the headlights on your car from the OEM spec. Generally you have to change the whole housing as the reflector is designed for a particular style of bulb i.e. halogen.

ubergeeknz

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#1548569 9-May-2016 10:55

ALmost certainly replacing your headlights with LED will be illegal and unsafe.

You may as well just import standard headlight bulbs, they are $3-4 on the likes of Aliexpress so even if they don't last as well as a $80 set of Narva bulbs you are well ahead. And I have done so and found them to be just fine.

Fitting a higher wattage bulb is also not a good idea. The housings, etc are carefully engineered for the specific type and wattage of bulb.

timmmay

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#1548576 9-May-2016 11:04

I think you're both right. On this NZTA page it says "If you want to improve the performance of your headlamps, you can replace the bulbs with high-efficiency bulbs. However, these replacement bulbs must be of a similar type and wattage as the original bulbs, eg don’t replace a standard bulb with one of higher wattage.". So no LED swaps, nothing more powerful, but higher efficiency is fine.

However I might get some of the AliExpress / ebay standard bulbs. If they blow much more often it wouldn't be worth it, but a bit more often would be fine.

ubergeeknz

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#1548582 9-May-2016 11:07

timmmay:

However I might get some of the AliExpress / ebay standard bulbs. If they blow much more often it wouldn't be worth it, but a bit more often would be fine.

They seem fine, at least the ones i have bought from Aliexpress (which were the cheapest I could find). Although be careful to clean them with meths as they may have been handled by the seller and any oils will cause halogen bulbs to fail in short order.

timmmay

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#1548589 9-May-2016 11:16

One thing a bit confusing is the mounting. The bulbs I get from Repco are just a simple bulb. I mount them onto the removable thingy in the Corolla, clip it back in, it works. AE listings like this one have those black plastic bits on the base. Are they removable? Or am I looking at the wrong them? Corolla needs HB4/9006 apparently.

ubergeeknz

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#1548603 9-May-2016 11:22

That looks like the wrong type of bulb then. Are you sure it's HB4 and not just H4 ? Have a look at the bulb itself usually the type is marked on the base. If it's got two prongs and the high beams and low beams are separate, it maybe an H7. If they are together in the one bulb/enclosure it's likely an H4.

timmmay

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#1548607 9-May-2016 11:27

Good call. H4 looks closer but not quite right. I'll double check against what I actually have this evening.

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Bung

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#1548629 9-May-2016 11:56

Some Corolla use 9006 hb4 some H7. Might be a RHD vs LHD thing.

Regardless it should be a 55w bulb. That is mainstream headlight and where better bulbs should be found.

timmmay

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#1548642 9-May-2016 12:19

Bung: Some Corolla use 9006 hb4 some H7. Might be a RHD vs LHD thing.

Regardless it should be a 55w bulb. That is mainstream headlight and where better bulbs should be found.

Yes it looks like an H7, thanks :)

chopsuwe

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#1551196 11-May-2016 21:50

I've just been looking into this for my scooter. The NZTA web site specifically mentions replacing incandescent with HID is illegal because the reflect/lens doesn't give the correct beam pattern when dipped. They must cut off below horizontal to the right and slightly above to the left. Some HIDs achieve dipping by physically moving the bulb. It helps but still isn't the correct pattern.

Although not specifically mentioned, leds suffer from the same problem with beam pattern and many of the led head lamps just dim instead of dipping.

Where they mention a high efficiency bulb I take that as meaning replacing a standard bulb with halogen, xenon, etc.

I've got a 35W led headlamp you can try if you want. #377042 from Deal Extreme. The heatsink assembly is too big for the scooter.

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#1551219 11-May-2016 22:53

Lucky you have a Corolla.

I had a Jazz for a few months once and you had to either remove the bumper or the wheel arch to change the light bulb.

Ruphus

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#1551236 12-May-2016 00:02

Swapping out LEDs for halogen bulbs is fine and not illegal. The LEDs are lower wattage and lower light output than the halogen equivalent and they can produce a lot of heat. The better quality LEDs come with a decent heatsink or sometimes a fan to cool the bulb. Some modern cars require an additional resister to be installed to produce the same load as the halogen bulbs or they may not work. Indicator bulbs suffer from hyper-blink without a resistor.

Aftermarket HID kits are illegal as they can potentially blind oncoming traffic if not installed in the appropriate housing i.e. non self leveling reflector housings.

For NZ conditions, especially in winter, stick with the good ole halogen bulb.

richms

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#1551238 12-May-2016 00:08

Voids the approval of the light to use a different lamp in it, so you are driving with non approved lighting if you swap LEDs out for incandesent lamps in your car.

Richard rich.ms

Ruphus

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#1551243 12-May-2016 01:08

Approved LED bulbs are available but are very expensive. Also the LED light source position will be different to the filament position of a halogen bulb which could affect the effectiveness of the housing and/or lens.

This article is relevant;

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/lifestyle-vehicles/78398925/study-illuminates-big-performance-gap-for-car-headlights

timmmay

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#1551252 12-May-2016 07:15

I'm just going to get cheaper standard bulbs from Ali Express. $5 the pair instead of $50 the pair, it's worth a try.

Interesting article about lights @Ruphus. I just purchased a 2015 Qashqui and noticed it has LED running lights but standard headlights, I guess that's why.

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