[gururajrv]

Well this is a brilliant DIY and exploration of various methods and options from the open market.

I have few questions as below;

1) I’ve been told and indeed have experienced the glare these LED / HID’s produce in reflector setup (albeit mentioned in your post). What’s your personal take on this since you already have it installed in the reflector system?

2) Did you not consider the option of going in for a retrofit projector setup? Reason being, the cut off is well contained in a projector setup and is more focused on the road and less scatter issues to face like the one in reflector system shown in your pics.

PS:
lastly the fins spread of the LED’s look like some alien bug

[moralfibre]

Great stuff Vid. Finally you got what you wanted with a simple bulb upgrade!

Would the same kit fit directly on the 2017 Ecosport and the 2011 Swift? Both have H4 bulbs.

[PiyushD]

Hi Vid
Thanks for sharing. This thread comes at right time when I am looking to upgrade stock headlamps of my 2014 Ertiga Zxi which has a H4 headlamp setup. Looking forward to your experience on highways with these lamps.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Well this is a brilliant DIY and exploration of various methods and options from the open market.

I have few questions as below;

1) I’ve been told and indeed have experienced the glare these LED / HID’s produce in reflector setup (albeit mentioned in your post). What’s your personal take on this since you already have it installed in the reflector system?

That's the thing. It all depends on the combination of the reflector and LED bulb. As you can see the 1st pair of bulbs had glare but the Xenon Depot bulbs had no glare, a sharp cut off and performed much better.

2) Did you not consider the option of going in for a retrofit projector setup? Reason being, the cut off is well contained in a projector setup and is more focused on the road and less scatter issues to face like the one in reflector system shown in your pics.

Yes I did but this is not a DIY. It requires tools and a lot of work to make the projectors sit inside the reflector. Moreover there's headlight leveling and the wiring for low / high beam.

It's not at all plug n play. The cost of projectors + HID kit will be more than 2x what I paid for the LED bulbs.

Lastly, I didn't want to fiddle with the original headlight assembly as that's not reversible. Once you retrofit projectors that's what you have. So I decided to instead get projector fog light and HID's. Will be installing those over the weekend.

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Great stuff Vid. Finally you got what you wanted with a simple bulb upgrade!

Would the same kit fit directly on the 2017 Ecosport and the 2011 Swift? Both have H4 bulbs.

Thanks again Kiran for getting these down for me.

These would fit for the Ecosport 2017 but the Swift will require some work to get a clean fit. The reason is not wiring but the design of the dust cap. I will check out a colleague's swift in office and confirm this.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

These would fit for the Ecosport 2017 but the Swift will require some work to get a clean fit. The reason is not wiring but the design of the dust cap. I will check out a colleague's swift in office and confirm this.

Will certainly be tight in any of the Maruti that come with H4 set-up for the headlights. The dust cap are a tight fit, allowing no space inside whatsoever except for that hole where you pass the connector.

And since these caps are just fixed in place unlike a threaded mechanism or clips, they will come off easily if we try to accommodate anything behind them.

These are from WagonR and Ertiga and typically this will be same for any Marutis then. I had posted this pic couple of years before for some reason in another thread:





For sure it will need some jugaad to be able to house the holder of the LED bulbs you have.

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by Parth46

Good to know that the LEDs you've bought fit well in the low-beam housing, that was one of my concerns while considering the Ultinon LEDs. Will probably order from Powerbulbs shortly and see how they work out.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

The H11 or H4 wiring is truly plug n play even in mine. But as you can see the Lasfit has a huge cooling fan. How exactly did that cooling fan get accommodated through the retainer pin and what about the dust cap and wiring?

The H11 housing on the Honda City does not have any Retainer Clip or Dust Cap to close after fitting the Bulb. The Dust Cap is not required as well since the Base of the Bulb completely blocks the opening to the reflector. One just needs to lock the LED Base into the groove and then rotate it to lock the bulb. So it is completely Plug and Play. The LED Driver also is left outside the Bulb housing and I will need to find a way to secure it within the engine bay. As of now I have placed it where I found it convenient.Will try to post some pictures of this when I get time.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Also, I just saw the beam pattern on your thread. The light output has gone up significantly but as you can see the cut off isn't sharp at all vs the Osram night breaker halogen.This means total glare to oncoming and worse is it has more foreground light which means your eyes will not adjust to night time driving effectively.

Yes the light output has gone up very high and there is a lot of scattering. I agree there possibly could be glare for oncoming traffic. I am yet to evaluate that. From a driver's perspective from within the car I did not find any issues and the overall illumination levels are good. Given the current behavior, I suspect these are not a good choice for High Beams.

I took some more aerial shots yesterday to capture how the beam is illuminating the road and added to my ownership report here: URL

[jaguar.runs]

Nice install. Even I have noticed a slight spread for the beam with LED bulbs, most probably because of the width of the LED array compared to the halogen filament. And I beleive the additional silver surface on the bulb assembly also must be aiding the reflective spread in the beam.

I was surprised that you had to struggle with the retainer clip over the bulb base. Nowadays all the LED bulbs come with the removable base which you can twist it off for an easy install. The base can be fitted first, then set the retainer clip over the base and once the retainer clip is in place, you can install the bulb assembly into the base by inserting it to the groove and twisting it into the place. The only thing you have to worry is about the orientation on the bulb while fitting it as the groove on the base is opposite to each other.

Kindly check that on the Hikari, it should have the same removable base.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

The H11 housing on the Honda City does not have any Retainer Clip or Dust Cap to close after fitting the Bulb. The Dust Cap is not required as well since the Base of the Bulb completely blocks the opening to the reflector. One just needs to lock the LED Base into the groove and then rotate it to lock the bulb. So it is completely Plug and Play. The LED Driver also is left outside the Bulb housing and I will need to find a way to secure it within the engine bay. As of now I have placed it where I found it convenient.Will try to post some pictures of this when I get time.

Ah yes H11 bulbs don't have any such issues as the bulb adapter has a rubber seal and locks inside. Everything else is outside.

Yes the light output has gone up very high and there is a lot of scattering. I agree there possibly could be glare for oncoming traffic. I am yet to evaluate that. From a driver's perspective from within the car I did not find any issues and the overall illumination levels are good. Given the current behavior, I suspect these are not a good choice for High Beams.

Actually high beams are glaring lights and don't have an upper cut off. The more important ones is always low beam which is what we use 95% of the time.

I took some more aerial shots yesterday to capture how the beam is illuminating the road and added to my ownership report here: URL

wow. They are bright for sure. Also check for foreground illumination. Headlights are supposed to illuminate the farthest point and not the near one. So when you sit inside the car the nearest point should have lesser light vs the farthest.

For example a very bright light near your vision (for example a brightly lit instrument panel) will cause your pupils to constrict thereby reducing your distance vision. At night pupils need to dilate so as to allow more light into your eyes.

The Hikari LED's I used first were bright and had good throw but the foreground light was very bright. When driving at night I could clearly feel they were not working as expected.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Will certainly be tight in any of the Maruti that come with H4 set-up for the headlights. The dust cap are a tight fit, allowing no space inside whatsoever except for that hole where you pass the connector.

And since these caps are just fixed in place unlike a threaded mechanism or clips, they will come off easily if we try to accommodate anything behind them.

These are from WagonR and Ertiga and typically this will be same for any Marutis then. I had posted this pic couple of years before for some reason in another thread:

Attachment 1739096

Attachment 1739097

For sure it will need some jugaad to be able to house the holder of the LED bulbs you have.

Thanks Parag. This is same on S-cross Zeta as well. Actually I think this maybe possible. What we need to ensure is the heat. We might be able to get the dust cap over the bulb from the other side but need to see whether it comes in contact with any hot spots of the LED bulb. Actually I might try it on a colleagues Swift.

[ARAY]

Wonderfully explained . I have been using LEDs on my duster awd from 1st week of purchase. Reason the same as that you mentioned for your eco sports. Question is why are the OEs cutting serious corners for a vital element like reflectors. In my 90hp punto i had a simple 90/100 halogen and its still running after 7 years.

The only reason for LED was higher lumen with lower power consumption, thus a lower operating temperature.
I have spoken to and have been asked questions on LEDs in a reflector. The very concept of lumen , kelvin , watt is all messed up in most scenarios. Even most listings on e-commerce urls are all mixed up.

From the day I had installed LED in June 2016, a lot has improved and more options available now. The sockets that come along with LEDs now have options to fine tune the beam pattern.

But LEDs will show they are useless during
1. Sunrise and sunset on highways
2.Single lane roads
2.Newly tarred , constructed road
3.Wet roads

The conception that white light will fail during rains and fog is completely wrong, they do well , even better than halogens . If put right they have one of the best beam patterns.

Finally my led installations http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ml#post4094661

Have a safe drive with your EcoSport and LED setup.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

For sure it will need some jugaad to be able to house the holder of the LED bulbs you have.

Its a tight fit in Maruti cars. I did a small workaround to make some more space, which will be enough for fanless LEDs

Push the cap from inside out and install it. See the below 2 images for details (from my Nano install thread)

Originally Posted by arjithin

Step 3: Install LED bulb by inserting it through the baseplate and twisting it to position. I also installed the rubber cover in reverse way to make room.

Attachment 1618361
Attachment 1618362

[Samfromindia]

Extremely useful article for all Ecosport owners ! I don have any experience in headlight upgrade of car, but i have retrofitted halogen projectors on my bike and also a couple of led aux lights. From my experience, the led aux lamps have a much better illumination than the projectors. Whats your take on headlight upgrade vs aux light installation for cars ? I may be driving down to bangalore in next 6 months, will surely contact you if i also feel like doing a headlight upgrade

[Chillout]

The lights on Ecosport have always been a nightmare and opting for any change would void the warranty, however these changes shouldn't cause any harm as we are not cutting any wires. I am eagerly looking forward to the Auxbeam led lights as they don't have the problem of fans, however they look bigger and not sure if they would fit inside the dust cap. Please keep us posted.

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Actually high beams are glaring lights and don't have an upper cut off. The more important ones is always low beam which is what we use 95% of the time.

I have some more updates from my side - I did one more experiment with oEdRo LED bulbs and got a better result than last time
More details with pictures here: URL

[fuel_burner]

hi Vid6639,
I own a Ford Aspire and I feel that the illumination by the stock lights is not suitable for the Indian road conditions. Just wanted to ask about the reliability of these LED bulbs. Are these still going strong?

[gopa99]

Nice work and detailed analysis. Your note on how a poorly fitting Reflector LED combination could give a blast on oncoming vehicles is revealing. No wonder I find lots of such beastly lit cars on the road that makes a mockery of safe night driving! There is in fact a certification process on how the intensity and spread of high and low beam should be, but it ends with a certification for the luminary manufacturer at ARAI or ICAT; and no easy means IMO to check this on the road. One of my friend works in optics and design of reflectors and I gather from her the number of simulations a 3D reflector shape undergoes to reach an optimized reflector and source combination.