Team-BHP - Comprehensive guide to LED Headlight upgrades
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-   -   Comprehensive guide to LED Headlight upgrades (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifications-accessories/200214-comprehensive-guide-led-headlight-upgrades-51.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behemoth (Post 5704411)
It yours the pre-facelift Hector plus or the post facelift one? If it is the new version, you would need Matrix Projectors - Aes Matrix biled will be good. If it is the old one with circular projectors (like mine) then Osram CBI pro is good.

Mine is the pre-facelift Hector Plus. Just spoke with Mr Karan at Autobots and he suggested XP LED projectors from Xenon Planet (90W each). The XPLED 5.0 model with Bi-LED dual laser projectors would cost around Rs 38,000 including the fitment although he promised some discount. Does it look okay or should I go for OSRAM CBI Pro? Should I get my fog lights upgraded too?

My excitement hit a brick wall when I stumbled upon BoneCollector's thread about a "terrible experience" at Autobots Gurgaon. Now I'm having second thoughts about Autobots! Is there any other place that you would recommend?

Comprehensive guide to LED Headlight upgrades-whatsapp-image-20240122-17.44.18.jpeg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dashmax (Post 5704610)
Mine is the pre-facelift Hector Plus. Just spoke with Mr Karan at Autobots and he suggested XP LED projectors from Xenon Planet (90W each). The XPLED 5.0 model with Bi-LED dual laser projectors would cost around Rs 38,000 including the fitment although he promised some discount. Does it look okay or should I go for OSRAM CBI Pro? Should I get my fog lights upgraded too?

My excitement hit a brick wall when I stumbled upon BoneCollector's thread about a "terrible experience" at Autobots Gurgaon. Now I'm having second thoughts about Autobots! Is there any other place that you would recommend?

Attachment 2562782

Well I would recommend you go with Osram CBI pro - they are 45w in low beam and 57w in high beam. Anything higher than this you risk harming the wiring and the electricals of your car. The OE lights are actually 25w low beam and 35w high beam in the Hector Plus.

On Autobots, yes I had also gone through his thread and his experience had put me off. But Autobots is one of the most experienced installers in Gurgaon and I didn't see too many choices. Other options I know are in Noida and Greater Noida. So I took a calculated risk and went with Autobots. The installation in Hector Plus is easy though as it is a direct swap.
On the Xp micro option I would recommend not to go for it as Xp is overpriced and is basically Aes rebranded projectors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behemoth (Post 5704411)
Other options I know are in Noida and Greater Noida.

Duly noted. I shall go ahead with OSRAM CBI Pro. Noida and Greater Noida are much closer to my home but finding a truly skilled accessory fitment center feels like searching for a unicorn! :confused: Please suggest some options in these locations. I will be immensely grateful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dashmax (Post 5704674)
Duly noted. I shall go ahead with OSRAM CBI Pro. Noida and Greater Noida are much closer to my home but finding a truly skilled accessory fitment center feels like searching for a unicorn! :confused: Please suggest some options in these locations. I will be immensely grateful.

Sure I feel that will be the best choice and is proven. Osram is among the best lighting brands in the world (it is German and supplies to all global car companies).
In Noida you have World of service (you can search for the thread on team-bhp) and in Greater Noida you have Uglare (Uglare.com) both are good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happyrev (Post 5699664)
Bit the bullet yesterday, bought a AES FX3 from CarOxygen. I noted they charged 2K lower compared to other websites/sources.



While i am waiting for the lights to arrive, i am going through online resources to ensure the wiring work for these is as dependable as possible.
With these lights you get some additional wires that activate the laser beam up top, its loose wire ends.

The lights arrived a week back. Had them installed from one of the car accessory shops near Teen Petrol Pump Junction (Thane). The technician who installed the lights took some time to figure out how to light-up the twin laser s. Once that was figured out, it was an easy installation. Sorry, i'm not an expert on electricals, to guide you on the details of it.

Installation story
For the S-cross, the installation did not involve taking out the bumper entirely. He just took out the black colored bezel plastic that surrounds the fog lamps, it was a simple case of inserting a flat-head screwdriver in the gap and prying it open. I think he must have damaged a hook (?) or two while taking off the bezel. Taking out the stock projectors was fairly easy and screwing on the new projector was easy too, the AES projector came with brackets that easily align to current screw holes.

Now, the AES FX3 comes with an upper/dipper functionality (Solenoid shutter). I asked them to connect the shutter such that the upper beam would engage when i use upper on the main headlight. It was done. Same for the laser beams as the beams would be used whenever i need to see far.

Getting proper level on the fog-lights was such a pain. After struggling for 1.5 hrs, i managed to get them to my satisfaction. I was charged Rs. 900

Performance:
I have driven close to 100 kms within city after installing these. The cut-off is a sharp blue line (As the projector glass has a bluish ting itself), the light color is close to 5.5k. The lights illuminate the area ahead VERY WELL. As Behemoth pointed out, the spread is even, the illumination is consistent from the center of the beam and fades slightly towards the edges. Its a day-night difference compared to the stock headlights.
The projectors are fairly well built and i hope they last long. They are rated IP67 as per the box.

About the vendor, CarOxygen

Found them through a YouTube video. Rahsmi is the face of CarOxygen, you will see her making videos on YouTube. When i called them, it was Rashmi who answered always.
The way a product is narrated on the videos makes one doubt if the vendor knows much about the technicalities of the product. So, i was a bit skeptical about them, but they delivered the lights. As mentioned earlier, their charges are about 2K cheaper than other vendors.

https://caroxygen.com/collections/ca...jector-65-watt

I don't know how the aftersales service will be like. While the ordering process too my call wasn't answered a few times - that made me nervous. Fingers crossed, i hope i don't need to claim product warranty (1 year).

A big thanks to all, mainly Behemoth for answering our questions and keeping this thread alive and relevant.

Sorry, coulnd't post any pics as i didn't take any pictures while installation. Product demonstration videos are available in plenty across.
The one from 'Raghav Acoustics Naraingarh' is good.

Car: MS Dzire 2015
Problem: inadequate light brightness and reach on stock 55/60 watt halogens
Solution tried: Philips Extreme vision 12342 55/60 W halogens
Result: marginal improvements only
No competent FNG's nearby for going the led projector setup way, not confident for a DIY of this scale myself.

Heard good things about Osram 50 W 6000K LEDs & decided to take the plunge.
Was skeptical how the stock reflector would handle the LED's, pleased to report it's pretty close to the halogens in beam cutoff & serves the aforementioned two requirements well. Yay finally!
The pics are from about 15 feet from the garage, installation was pretty straightforward with no cutting of the dust caps required.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happyrev (Post 5705808)
The lights arrived a week back. Had them installed from one of the car accessory shops near Teen Petrol Pump Junction (Thane). The technician wh....

User experience
The car has run close to 2000 Kms post installation and i'm fairly certain that i have observed the light's performance across multiple situations to be able to comment on it.

Within City
I stay in Mumbai, you will rarely need lights this powerful within the city. Even If your stock headlights are not that powerful, i bet the stock lights will be good enough to be used in the city. You may hardly need to install a light this powerful.

Just outside city limits or highways
This is where the light really shines (pun intended :p). I recently drove from Mumbai to Indore. I had so much confidence in these lights that i planned to drive almost 6 hours post sundown, i reached Indore around 1 AM. The lights did not disappoint one bit. Especially, once you move a away from the city where there arent too many things along the roadside to reflect the lights back at you - you will appreciate the illumination.

For context, i was comfortably driving within 100 -120 KMPH range.
When we stopped over for dinner (50 kms after Dhule) i turned them off for some reason and forgot to turn them once we resumed. Almost for a kilometer i wasn't able to drive beyond 70-75 kmph as visibility was poor from the stock headlights. Soon i realized, turned on the fog projectors and i was back comfortably in the 100-120 KMPH zone.

I did not notice dimming by the time i reached my destination. That is about 6 hours of almost continuous run-time (with a 30 min dinner break).

Initially, i had heard that a bad pothole or a bump can disturb the line/level of these aftermarket lights. So far, the light continues to be held at the same level.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dashmax (Post 5704610)
Mine is the pre-facelift Hector Plus. Just spoke with Mr Karan at Autobots and he suggested XP LED projectors from Xenon Planet (90W each). The XPLED 5.0 model with Bi-LED dual laser projectors would cost around Rs 38,000 including the fitment although he promised some discount. Does it look okay or should I go for OSRAM CBI Pro? Should I get my fog lights upgraded too?

My excitement hit a brick wall when I stumbled upon BoneCollector's thread about a "terrible experience" at Autobots Gurgaon. Now I'm having second thoughts about Autobots! Is there any other place that you would recommend?

Attachment 2562782

38k is outrageous pricing and xenon planet are just rebranded Chinese projectors with fat margins. You can go for AES/UPS brand bi led projectors which will give performance and more reliability. UX 2 and Ux3 are the current trending projectors. Im sure you will find them at karol bagh. I personally got HID projectors installed at karol bagh at mahi car accesories and the work was done good and its been 2 years and no issues. Ensure to add extra butyl sealent while closing the headlamps and check if the moisture absorbing packet is in good condition.

Regarding fog lamps if your car has 2 inch projectors than those can also be replaced with better led projectors.

I need to upgrade Skoda Rapid 2015 headlights and fog lights due to inadequate illumination. The current setup is stock halogens without projectors. I don't want to go for LEDs but only want to increase illumination by upgrading the halogen bulbs.

Please mention the type of bulbs in your valuable suggestions.

Hello ,
I have VW Vento 2016 Highline TDI DSG - am finding it hard to find a good pair of fog lamp upgrade to a good LED / any other options to increase the lighting with additional GTR 2" projector lights installed in the lower grill of Vento - looking for some options in and around Bangalore.

I am looking to upgrade the head lights of 2023 Scorpio N, as I am not satisfied with either the low beam or the high beam. From the manual I can see that my model carries a H7 55W LED on both low beam and high beam. I had the OSRAM H7 50W LED in mind to replace to.

But I was told by one of the popular car accessories shop in Bangalore that newer OEM headlights need full replacement of the unit, rather than a change the bulb. In fact he opened the hood and confirmed that as well.

Is that correct?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mk600 (Post 5729945)
I am looking to upgrade the head lights of 2023 Scorpio N, as I am not satisfied with either the low beam or the high beam.

Surprised that the dual barrel projectors on the ScorpioN are not sufficient, even through they use 55W LEDs. Have you tried aligning the headlamps? Also the fog lamps are LED projectors right? Not sure what kind of setup would improve on the existing projector LED combos + projector LED fog lamp combo of the ScorpioN.

If you need more lumens, then you will need to install aux lightbars. If the issue with driving during fog/rain then you might want to look at 3000k/4200K LEDs.

Regarding your question about changing the headlamp assembly, not sure why this is recommended. Is it because the projectors are poor quality? IMO this just feels like a push by accesories folks to increase revenues. Would be really interesting to see a before-after pic/video that highlights the difference between OEM vs replacement headlight performance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mk600 (Post 5729945)
.....that newer OEM headlights need full replacement of the unit, rather than a change the bulb. In fact he opened the hood and confirmed that as well.

Is that correct?

Yes, he is correct. The OE LED lamps provided today come as sealed units. The 'bulb' can't be changed standalone as they're not accessible unless one breaks it open.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashis89 (Post 5729958)
The 'bulb' can't be changed standalone as they're not accessible unless one breaks it open.

Wow, this is a new low for OEMs. Just ensures that you are dependent on the service centre for just about everything. Wonder what's the cost of replacing a fused/blown bulb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by procrj (Post 5730016)
Wow, this is a new low for OEMs. Just ensures that you are dependent on the service centre for just about everything. Wonder what's the cost of replacing a fused/blown bulb.

As far as I know you can't replace a bulb on your XL6 - neither headlight nor tailight. In case one LED goes bad, the whole unit would need replacement.


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