HIDs on a Defender

Hi Mates,

I have installed many HIDs conversions to my BMWs and clients BMWs in Canada, over the last 12 years or so and honestly none has prematurely failed and they are really practical.
The good thing about the BMWs is that most models had the ellipsoids option from the get go, so all you had to do was to get the ballasts and the HID bulbs.

I was thinking of getting 7" BMW ellipsoids, the HiD kit for that and then install those on the Landy.

I did a search here about kits made for the Landy, but the threads are old and no one really spoke of a good brand or reported afterwards about longevity and quality.

It seems as though it's legal in the UK to do the conversion.
I have looked on eBay and there's a ton of sellers, I would like the lens to be made of glass and they must be ellipsoids.

Have any of you done the HID conversion and if so, elaborate on your views please, no pun intended.

Cheers.

HIDs in the UK is a bit of a grey area. It's not exactly illegal to convert to them, as there is no case law and no explicit regulation. However by definition, just because it isn't illegal, doesn't therefore make it legal.

The guidelines issued by the DfT promote the use of HIDs, however their expectation is, that any aftermarket fitment must meet the same standards as factory fitted ones. The main points being:

-Only used in an approved housing, i.e. the headlight housing must be E marked or similar
-Have headlight washers
-Have either self levelling rear suspension, or self levelling headlight units

The reality is, this makes it prohibitively costly and difficult. And technically this is only an "opinion" of the DfT and not a law. Hence the greyness.

So typically what happens in the UK is. People just buy HID kits off of ebay and fit them to some Halogen lamp housings.

Some work better than others.


Personally my only main beef are the numnuts who insist on running the blue coloured kits.

4300k is the best temp rating to go for, as they offer the best colour rendition and typically the highest lumen output. They also produce less dazzle than high K ratings.



All said and done however, in a Land Rover, I'd probably just opt for some quality halogen lenses and some Osram Nightbreaker bulbs. On dip they will be more than sufficient for any intended use. On high beam if you need more light, just fit some additional lights, such as the brilliant X-Eng X-Lite's.

Night breakers and crystal clear lenses. Loads better than standard without ****ing off other drivers.

Its not a grey area its quite a bright one actually , the outcome can be dealt with under existing regulations , " not to cause dazzle to other road users" less costly than needing a stated case judgement . How does Transport Canada regulate retrofitment ?

As said, construction & use regs require levelling and washers, otherwise they are illegal.
HID's ar obsolete technology, complete LED headlight assemblies are available that fit straight into a Defender for example and are legal.

tacr2man said:

How does Transport Canada regulate retrofitment ?

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Regulations for retrofiment is non existent

Our cars are only inspected when we sell and that's the buyers responsibility. Canada is one of the easiest places to live and get by and get some complain.

Datatek said:

As said, construction & use regs require levelling and washers, otherwise they are illegal.
HID's ar obsolete technology, complete LED headlight assemblies are available that fit straight into a Defender for example and are legal.

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True to both points, I wonder how the LEDs fair in comparison to HIDs with respect to brightness, beam pattern and clarity.

I know that car manufacturers will go to the deep end to ensure the LED lights does what's expected, but would have to look at what the aftermarket quality and efficiency is.

I will do some research on the LEDs

Cheers.

blue beasty said:

Night breakers and crystal clear lenses. Loads better than standard without ****ing off other drivers.

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Ironically, it's the other drivers here, in fact tons of them, who ****es the smaller population here, Barbados that is.

These idiots have no sense of headlight aiming and feel that the brighter they go and the more lights added, the greater it is for them.

Even the government inspectors at the local MOT do not look at head light aiming....however ANY fog lights, spot lights or led lights are illegal in Barbados.

The roads have poor to no lights but yet you must be happy with your light brown, stock 1820 lights. It's so backwards here I go nuts at times.

So everyone with cars or anything registered commercial who have auxiliary lights, LEDs , HIDs etc on the cars, but when it has to go for inspection, they remove them.

tacr2man said:

Its not a grey area its quite a bright one actually , the outcome can be dealt with under existing regulations , " not to cause dazzle to other road users" less costly than needing a stated case judgement . How does Transport Canada regulate retrofitment ?

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There is no such as to not cause dazzle. And you'd need a way of measuring it. Also a HID can easily be made not to dazzle. So yes it is a grey area. Unless you can maybe site some actual regulation and an example of someone being prosecuted in a court for dazzle.

Datatek said:

As said, construction & use regs require levelling and washers, otherwise they are illegal.
HID's ar obsolete technology, complete LED headlight assemblies are available that fit straight into a Defender for example and are legal.

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Few leds will match or even get close to the lumen output of a good hid. And CRI on most LED headlights is dreadful.

Road vehicle lighting regs use the word dazzle

300bhp/ton said:

And CRI on most LED headlights is dreadful.

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Agreed, that's why I was putting in lay and terms mentioning clarity, beam size etc.

Though CRI is more critical when it comes to colour identification and accuracy, lower CRI can still hinder driving visibility.

I am not saying that there might not be not good quality Landy led kits on the market, but while we don't want to get into the science of it, the technology in the auto industry is fairly modern and new but how practical it is compared to say eg., HIDs.

Of course we are talking aftermarket led kits here and not OEM ones which the auto manufactures spent millions on R and D to make sure it's right.

It's great that Dataek reminded me about the option of getting LEDs too.

For those who need a CRI intro and explanation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJgpORyaCxk

I think LED technology is great, but for headlights it doesn't really seem to have been utilised very well yet. And certainly not in the aftermarket offerings. They are also hideously expensive.

Honestly, I think you've got to go a long way to beat a good halogen lens and bulb. Which on a Landy can be done for £30-70 all in. And is a direct fit. Budget crappy LED headlights start at £250+ and you can easily spend £300-500 per unit. And likely only marginally better the halogen setup.

300bhp/ton said:

I think LED technology is great, but for headlights it doesn't really seem to have been utilised very well yet. And certainly not in the aftermarket offerings. They are also hideously expensive.

Honestly, I think you've got to go a long way to beat a good halogen lens and bulb. Which on a Landy can be done for £30-70 all in. And is a direct fit. Budget crappy LED headlights start at £250+ and you can easily spend £300-500 per unit. And likely only marginally better the halogen setup.

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Agreed, and for the most part, the LED head lamp suppliers do not give much specs.

I think I will look at doing the HIDs installation for sure.

Iirc theres quite a few cars that have hids fitted with no self levelling facility, one I can think of is the subaru, there is a way they got around it to do with limited numbers? Im sure some research will get you the answer.