Am I In Trouble Then?

I was experiencing some poor lampage last weekend and even on high beam, no one flashed me if I didn't dip

I imagine the beams need set, but even though, they are a bit pants compared with more up to date cars such as Dacia's and Kia

So, I watched a video of some bloke fitting LED headlamp bulbs to his P38, it may even have been on here, I can't recall. He wanted around eighty quid with postage, but I found them on the certain bidding site for about 52 quid http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302139392201

I already meet with the self leveling side of things, and I plan to add extra pipework to the screen washers (can't be bothered to ask the permission from the cars built in over complicated computer) so I can wash the lights when I wash the screen. No biggy.

I plan to remove the headlamps to tighten up one of the bulb clips and wash them out, then while that's the case, do some other stuff required at the front such as fog lamp replacement left side and then attach the fog lamp guards.

I also received my replacement heated mirrors so I hope to get them done around the same time.

Of course, this all depends on my mate Ian and his garage workshop. Failing that, it'll be Ronnie's. He doesn't have a ramp, but I don't need that to do that lot.

I'll take pictures and keep you posted

So anyone on here done the LED conversion?

Just get some night breakers that is all you need. If your reflectors are knackered nothing will make the lamps better. Washing the lamps out could be fatal for them.

wammers said:

Just get some night breakers that is all you need. If your reflectors are knackered nothing will make the lamps better. Washing the lamps out could be fatal for them.

Click to expand...

The reflectors are actually mint! But there is a collection of dust and old spider houses, so if the air jet won't work, it'll be a gentle non aggressive soap mix and a gentle swirl, followed by some distilled water then a dry on the heater. I understand the silver reflector coating is a micron thick.

I quite fancy the LED's as they tend to be a cleaner light and up here, when traversing west & the rain is coming in sideways and you are trying to see a deer preparing to pounce, you need all the help you can get. I will be able to compare them with the second pair of main beams to see how much difference there is.

I have tried night breakers, but while they were OK, I wasn't overly impressed. That was on my Mercedes.

Doo said:

The reflectors are actually mint! But there is a collection of dust and old spider houses, so if the air jet won't work, it'll be a gentle non aggressive soap mix and a gentle swirl, followed by some distilled water then a dry on the heater. I understand the silver reflector coating is a micron thick.

I quite fancy the LED's as they tend to be a cleaner light and up here, when traversing west & the rain is coming in sideways and you are trying to see a deer preparing to pounce, you need all the help you can get. I will be able to compare them with the second pair of main beams to see how much difference there is.

I have tried night breakers, but while they were OK, I wasn't overly impressed. That was on my Mercedes.

Click to expand...

Night breakers on a P38 are awesome specially on high beam. .

You may end up getting bulb out messages with the leds

brianp38dse said:

You may end up getting bulb out messages with the leds

Click to expand...

Yes unless they have the resistor to make up to the same draw and then be careful where that heat is dumped!

I fitted fancy bulbs to my Disco 1 and they burnt out the dipswitch.
Do night breakers pull more current?

Grrrrrr said:

Yes unless they have the resistor to make up to the same draw and then be careful where that heat is dumped!

Click to expand...

I thought on that, but I could fit a festoon bulb across the terminals to equalise the resistance...

oakey said:

I fitted fancy bulbs to my Disco 1 and they burnt out the dipswitch.
Do night breakers pull more current?

Click to expand...

Anything that burns brighter is going to draw more current. My LED jobs are brighter, but draw less current. They do, however, cost more

Think I will leave mine well alone then

I just changed the bulbs in my lights for the 30% brighter ones from Aldi or Lidl when they had them on offer reckon they light the road at least 3/4 mile in front on main beam now, drove a friends honda crv couple weeks ago in the dark had to stop in first layby got to to check dip beam was on thought they were on dim dip, they are crap !

Doo said:

Anything that burns brighter is going to draw more current. My LED jobs are brighter, but draw less current. They do, however, cost more

Click to expand...

You reckon? If the guage of the wire is thinner won't it burn brighter but be more fragile and not last as long?

Grrrrrr said:

You reckon? If the guage of the wire is thinner won't it burn brighter but be more fragile and not last as long?

Click to expand...

I was meaning in general. Anything that draws a specific current will have a wire guage to suit it, with the fuse being the weak spot.

If yer mans dip/high beam switch burned out, it meant the contacts burned out due to the heavier draw, more heat, more resistance and so forth.

If I was to put brighter bulbs, I would expect them to be rated at about 100w, so I would then insert a relay between the high beam feed so it took the heat rather than the built in relay and the dip switch.

However, yes, there is credence in what you say, but then they would not last quite as long, especially in off road conditions with loads of clattering and bouncing through holes giving thermal shock conditions (like when the police can tell if the vehicle in a crash was displaying lights, the filament being lit will be more fragile and during the impact will stretch or bend, so they can say whether or not it was lit during impact).

What was the question again

Doo said:

I was experiencing some poor lampage last weekend and even on high beam, no one flashed me if I didn't dip

I imagine the beams need set, but even though, they are a bit pants compared with more up to date cars such as Dacia's and Kia

So, I watched a video of some bloke fitting LED headlamp bulbs to his P38, it may even have been on here, I can't recall. He wanted around eighty quid with postage, but I found them on the certain bidding site for about 52 quid http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302139392201

I already meet with the self leveling side of things, and I plan to add extra pipework to the screen washers (can't be bothered to ask the permission from the cars built in over complicated computer) so I can wash the lights when I wash the screen. No biggy.

I plan to remove the headlamps to tighten up one of the bulb clips and wash them out, then while that's the case, do some other stuff required at the front such as fog lamp replacement left side and then attach the fog lamp guards.

I also received my replacement heated mirrors so I hope to get them done around the same time.

Of course, this all depends on my mate Ian and his garage workshop. Failing that, it'll be Ronnie's. He doesn't have a ramp, but I don't need that to do that lot.

I'll take pictures and keep you posted

So anyone on here done the LED conversion?

Click to expand...

I assume this is a p38?

If so, then the dip beams are H4 halogen, so will work as well as any other 55w halogen pretty much.

Mainbeam however should be very good. The H4 bulb has a mainbeam as per a Defender, but the p38 also has another lens with a H1 bulb in it, which comes on with mainbeam, so you effectively have built in spot lights as stock.

If your mainbeam isn't very bright, then you have an issue that has nothing to do with the bulb type.

As for the LED lights. You need some that will produce the same beam profile as a halogen bulb. This will be trial and error, but you can look at some designs of these LED bulbs and make a good guess sometimes. When you fit them, you need to go and check the beam cutoff is still good, at the right level and the right shape. And that you haven't got excess spill or glare.

Legally I think it's still a grey area, as the lamp housings technically are not designed or approved for anything other than a halogen. However, to the strictest letter of the law, many of these high output halogen bulbs or higher wattage ones are probably illegal too, but you don't generally hear of people being prosecuted over them.


Above all -- employ common sense. If you lack this, then simply put, don't do such a mod.

BTW - I'd say those bulbs look a little pricey.

BTW - you might find this of interest:
http://budgetlightforum.com/node/50238

300bhp/ton said:

BTW - you might find this of interest:
http://budgetlightforum.com/node/50238

Click to expand...

I plan to completely remove the lamp units and blow out any dust/cobwebs. Then lubricate any moving parts so I can adjust them easily when they are fitted back on.

The LED's come with a grub screw & allen key so you can fine adjust them side to side to keep the "kick up" in the correct dip pattern (they are universal so can be fitted to an LHD vehicle if required.

I thought they'd be here today, but clearly even though they were dispatched Wednesday, I imagine they may be coming from abroad after all

If they are courier, then they will be taking the p!ss sending them up via a hedgehog or some such. I prefer Royal Mail

However, I have a friend who is an MOT tester so he will make sure they are spot on level wise, I will simply fit them and compare them to wife's car (I can set them on the garage door at a set distance and mark the kick up with a marker pen). Then pop over to my mate and ask if he can check & adjust. There is nothing worse on a wet night than getting dazzled after you flash the oncoming car to dip and discover he already is, so to prove this, the @rse gives you the hi beams and melts your retina's

Got the Night Breaker Plus bulbs on my P38. I never bothered checking if they really are 110%, but they are better, and a big improvement over standard bulbs.

Also no messing with extra resistors to fool the BECM failure detection that most LED bulbs require.

I think it was the Osram bulbs I fitted and were a direct exchange so they said

I have the Osram Nightbreakers in both our P38's, liked them so much they are in all the cars now, including the Classic. Living out in the sticks with no street lights they do light up the road significantly more than standard bulbs. the nightbreakers have been in the P38 for 4 years now, and in that time have no problems or bulb failures.

Ok maybe give them another try
Is there a relay in the P38 that isn't in the Disco 1?