superloaf

Arghhh, so I'm trying to find better lighting for my 951 and thought I would try some LED lamps. And, yes, i've read all the negative reviews and problems associated with them. Anyway, started with a 7" Chinese special from Amazon which had around ten smaller LED bulbs and lenses in each lamp. It was bright and I loved the color; bright white but without any tinting. However, there was no attempt at any control or cut off so it was just a bright blob of light which I'm sure probably wasn't too great for oncoming traffic, although no one flashed me. Then i put back in my old Hella H4 E code lamps with an LED H4 bulb. I did some research and picked an LED H4 which had better reviews when used in a halogen housing but this is a hit or miss proposition. In my Hella housings, these bulbs are bright and have good color but the sharp cut off which is a trademark of the E code lamps is nearly gone. There is still a cut off but it's not so sharp and where the Hellas have an angled upward to the right beam to light up signs and shoulder, with the LED's this is gone. The LED's just do weird things and although they aren't horrible, they aren't great either. They don't appear to blind oncoming traffic though so that's good.

Anyway, the question i have is if anyone else has experimented and found an LED bulb that works in the Hella housings? I don't understand lighting engineering but it is so strange that changing the bulb type would result in such different beams through the same housing. The LED's I have even mimic the shielding that halogen H4 bulbs have to control the low beam from the high beam but still to no avail.

Just trying for better sight at night and although i have halogen H4 80/100 bulbs, the warm color of the bulb makes it difficult to see the road edge when there is no edge stripe, especially into fall/winter where the grass is no longer green.

Thanks for any insight and enlightening (sic)....

snb13

I assume you have the Rennbay harness with tbe Hella buckets? I put those in my '83. Last year I put in these LED H4 lamps and I love them:
Cougar Motor LED Headlight Bulbs All-in-One Conversion Kit - H4 (9003 Hi/Low) -7,200Lm 6000K Cool White CREE - 3 Year Warranty

Van

I have a send of LED headlights for an offroad jeep - they're fantastic. And they use less power, so I don't have to worry about overheating the 30-year old harness.

Arominus

Unless its a pure LED 7", i wouldn't bother. The emitter on the H$ LED bulbs is in the wrong place for h4 housings. Get the Cibie H4's ad they have a better pattern than the Hellas IMO and your bulb of choice, a headlight relay harness is HIGHLY recommended for higher wattage bulbs.

superloaf

Thanks for the link, that's exactly what i was hoping for. So with the LED bulbs, the lights maintain the sharp cut off of the E code Hellas? Please let me know what housings you have, I'm assuming Hella but just making sure.

Van, do you have a link? I tried to buy the "angel eye" jeep lights but they sent me the ones with about 10 small LED/lenses per lamp instead of the ones with basically two large LED/lenses. I wasn't too sure of using the angel eyes but it was a warehouse deal so i wasn't too concerned. Unfortunately they sent me a completely different design which as I said, worked ok but there was absolutely no cut off or control of the beam.

Yes, but from what I've read, you can get lucky and find a specific brand which works with a particular housing. It's hit or miss, trial and error but it seems possible. That was the goal of this thread: to find out if someone has found a bulb that "works" in the Hella housing. Hopefully, snb13 above has found one.

superloaf

These are the ones they sent me, I guess it's 13 separate lenses:

superloaf

Oh, another problem I'm having is that I can't adjust the beams high enough. I have the adjusters cranked all the way up and it's still too low. Is there a 944 specific reason why this might be happening? Such as the maybe the headlights don't lift as much as they get older or something is interfering with the lifting? I see nothing of the sort but it seems strange that both lights are at their extreme and yet i can't see a normal distance at night.

Van

Here's what I have:

superloaf

Thanks. Those are like the ones I tried to buy except they had halo lights too. Is there a cut off for oncoming traffic? How is the beam pattern?

bureau13

Some folks on the 928 forum here did some extensive research into what LED bulbs work well with the 928 H4 Euro housings. I'm not sure how well that translates to the 7" Hella housings or not, but I have those 7" Hella E-code (with the standard bulb, not LED) on my 928 and I'm really happy with them. Just have to make sure you get them for LHD, which I did on Amazon. I'm probably going to get them for my 931 as well....

Van

There isn't a cutoff for oncoming traffic, and I do occasionally get flashed at. However, I'm quite happy with them and think they provide far better visibility than stock.

snb13

I do have the Hella housings. I got tired of replacing the incandescents every year. I looked around and found those I linked. They have overall great reviews and I liked the pics I saw. I'm not sure on the cut-off. Unfortunately my car is currently on jack stands. 😕 But I do really like how well they light the road.

SOB Racing

Those are just plug and play correct? No other adapters needed?

Van

Yep - just plug and play.

culture

www.dapperlighting.com. they have LED and HID 7" housings. I have the HID projectors and they are great.