LED High Beam - delighted with results
 

My D2 came with halogens and yellows all round. So, separate projector lenses for dipped beam and reflectors for the high beam.

I fitted aftermarket HIDs a few years back for the dipped beam behind the projectors with a basic ballast and bulb kit from that 'well known internet auction site'. One of the standard 35W ballasts failed a while back and a friend donated me a pair of 55W ballasts. Was more than happy with the light output from them at 35W but properly delighted at 55W. Especially compared to the woeful D3 HIDs! Understand the shortened life expectancy of the 35W HID bulbs running at 55W but all good so far and, at the so-said 3,000 hours vs 5,000 hours, it seems like a compromise I'm willing to make.

If it's true that HIDs burn out and fade the light from the projectors over time then it would appear that halogens don't have the same detrimental effect as these projector lenses seem to be at perfect illuminating capability.

The yellowy main beam however has been a niggle ever since so I recently took a punt on these eBay H7 LEDs and am very, very impressed over stock. And now everything up front, except the fogs, is nice, white and bright. Did a bit of research and although the claimed 6,000 lumens is a bit dubious, the measurements seemed like they would fit in the housing okay and the fact that the main beam isn't ever on for any real length of time I concluded that for £20 the passive cooling instead of fan cooling ought to be okay. It all fits inside and the cover closes completely.

Main beam flashing is also instant and immediately bright which is a definite bonus. Especially if you like a bit of flashing of an evening :p

The attached pictures are the 35W HIDs on the 55W ballasts and then the LED high beams. About 30m in the distance pictures and 10m closer up. Just thought worth sharing if anyone is considering an upgrade on the main beams and unsure if worth the trouble. I certainly think it's been worthwhile.

Maybe worth mentioning that I did an outer lens refurb back in summer and, while that no doubt adds a bit, I think the main light output improvement is down to the 55W and the new LEDs. LEDs in the sidelights make up the white front-end package nicely.

No bulb-out warnings too, btw.

Cheers

Interesting post. Putting aftermarket HIDs on is an issue on PF or non HID cars as there is no auto leveling. Do the same rules apply with LEDs?

I think the LEDs here are only in the main beam (separate bulb/reflector) so not an issue specifically.
Though updating the original Halogen dip/main bulbs would be, and that's already been done - so what happens at MOT time there?

I'm also a bit confused about 35W vs 55W ballasts, surely that a capacity issue (mainly current?) as the bulbs are designed to run at a certain voltage and should work as intended with the matching ballast.
It suggests more that the original 35W ballasts were deficient in some way if the light output improved with 55W ones but still using 35W bulbs.

Looks to be a great improvement and, like you Gregor, I hate the yellow main beams when compared with the white dipped lights - its not a good look!
Do you have a link to the ones you bought? I cant find those particular ones.

It seems that the halogen projector lenses are exactly the same as the original HID projectors so in terms of beam pattern there isn't a problem. My spare headlights had factory HIDs and are the same. It's not like I'm sticking HIDs in a reflector lens which would just chuck light randomly all over the place. You can see that the pattern from the HIDs is nice and sharp and exactly where it needs to be.

Picture of actual headlights attached for clarity.

As for the auto levelling . . . . well I suppose it's an only an issue depending who's looking at it once a year.

The 55W ballasts onto 35W bulbs seems to be a fairly well practised thing around the globe. Definite increase in intensity at the expense of shortening the bulb's life.

The LEDs are indeed just in the high beam reflector lens and seeing as the high beam's job is simply to illuminate the whole world in front of you the LEDs perform the task rather nicely.

eBay link is here

Seems to be just some guy with some stock rather than a dedicated autobulb seller or the like. I also bought H11s for the D3's fogs and H8's for its cornering lights. Yet to fit them but will report back when I do.

However...

UK vehicle standards state that a car equipped with HID lighting must have headlamp washers and automatic beam levelling. The rules don't differentiate between reflector or projector housings - retrofits must also have both the extra features. DVSA were cracking down on this a while back, presumably to deal with reflector retrofits, but the same rules apply either way.

In reality though, it depends on the MoT tester. Quite a lot, when presented with a car giving an good accurate beam pattern, will just pass it even without washers and levelling. It takes a particular stickler to fail such a configuration.

My A6 has retrofitted genuine bixenon headlights, made to work with manual levelling control and no washers. That has confused a couple of testers in its time but as it all looks factory they always pass it anyway, assuming its just an oddity :D

Looks like an improvement Gregor. I've done a similar hid and led swap to the headlights on a B5 A4 a few years ago.

Originally it had halogen projectors for dipped and halogen reflectors for main beam.

The projectors became dull so I installed a new bi-xenon projector with 35w bulbs, as this was cheaper than new headlights at the time. The main beam halogen was also replaced for an H7 LED. I can't remember the lumen output, but they are very good, and the passive heat sink fits within the headlight housing. I then connected the solenoid on the projector to work / open on main beam giving the full output from the 35w xenon dipped bulb and the H7 LED.

The car does not have self leveling and has had 3 or 4 MOT's with the above setup and nothing has been mentioned, and to add have never been flashed as the dipped beam is properly aligned.

The automatic adjuster motor in my offside headlight on the D3 has failed. I've been meaning to fix but again years have passed and it's never been picked up on an MOT.

Why do the D3 even have level adjuster motor, it's got self levelling suspension

100% agree. Headlamp washers I have, automatic beam levelling . . . . ahem . . moving on :D

I reckon the MOT assumption is that our D2s pre-date the regulations for all the bells and whistles surrounding the at-the-time new-fangled Xenon bulbs. And, as you say, if it looks Factory on the outside and the beam pattern is good are they really that bothered?

Hopefully so long as the beam pattern doesn't dazzle any oncoming rozzers then no questions will ever be asked. And, if I'm responsible enough to manually adjust the aim depending on the load in the boot or the rear seats then no other road user ought to ever be offended either. At least now the beam is crisp and clear enough to see where it is actually landing on the road ahead.

Should have mentioned that if you were to upgrade to these main beam LEDs then I'd definitely recommend removing the headlights and fitting on the bench / dining room table. The bulbs need to manoeuvred in gently at a bit of an awkward angle. It's a bit of a fiddle but D2 headlights can be removed without dropping or removing the bumper. (see attached ELSA) There's an LED driver block of some sort which needs tucked away or stuck somewhere on the inside the housing and the new +ve/-ve connector blocks benefit from a bit of insulation wrap to cover visible copper. (Brown is -ve on loom and the new leads are helpfully clearly marked +ve/-ve) Reckon it would be do-able but very frustrating to do in-situ. Research proved that the two LEDs are best aligned East-West rather than at any other angle.

Be aware that Philips head screws (ELSA lower '3') will be horrendously rusty and will round at the mere sight of an approaching screwdriver. And the rivnuts into which upper bolts '3' go will likely spin. So, when I said that removing the headlights is easy . . . . bring your Dremel :mad:

Mmm - that's a concern as I'm about to open up the D3 headlights to replace the projector with Aharon EVOX-R 2.0 aftermarkets. Unlike the D2s, these are glued together so this is a bit of a 'fix everything in sight in one go' job. Can we even get adjustment motors for the D3 headlights? My whole D2 headlight refurb in summer stemmed from a dud range control motor needing replaced.

I think DVLA ended up backtracking on interpretation of the rules - not helped by some of the German manufacturers getting approvals for cars without self levelling from TUV (Porsche IIRC)

When I worked in vehicle standards legislation it was always the intention to effectively ban retrofit HIDs, which the legislation always did, but a lack of proper enforcement made it a challenge.

I stopped at retrofit LED marker lights on mine - they were much better and the light output is so minimal anyway it wasn't a big issue.

I don't have a big issue with it these days - the kits have got better, the headlamps seem less variable than BITD, but mainly I just do a lot less mileage so see less chavy Corsas with stupid blue lights scattering the beam all over the shop! A decent lamp and reflector in the first place does help - I seem to recall the focus point of a HID can never be in the right place for a projector lens not designed for it, but my memory is hazy!