LED Road Lights

Tigi
Tigi Forum Participant Posts: 1,038
500 Comments
edited January 2016 in Towcars & Towing #1

Presumably the requirement/recommendation for the carriage of spare bulbs for cars is slipping by the wayside as more are fitted with LED Lights. The manual for my own car is quite clear that lights have to be changed by an approved workshop as special tools
are required (I feel a bill coming on) though LED lights are supposed to last the life of the car

Comments

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited January 2016 #2

    I once pulled along side an Aston Martin at the traffice lights after a little 'race' ...... I let him win Innocent I asked if he knew
    that half his rear led light cluster was out. He did, but as Aston had quoted him over £400 for a new one, he was leaving it a while! 

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,310 ✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #3

    makes you wonder if the cost of replacing zenon/LED lights is the reason you see so many cars with one headlight out

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited January 2016 #4

    makes you wonder if the cost of replacing zenon/LED lights is the reason you see so many cars with one headlight out

    My previous car had HIDs as satandard (which is more than my Merc has) The HID 'bulbs' in it when it was scrapped at around 15yr old were the originals

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited January 2016 #5

    I had a work colleague whose hi level brake light on her BMW was LED and a small mortgage was needed to replace it.

  • candy man
    candy man Forum Participant Posts: 1
    edited June 2016 #6

    Do you need headlight deflectors in France with Zenon lights

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited June 2016 #7

    Don't try to fit deflectors to HID/xenon headlights. If the beam is asymmetrical then there'll be a lever inside to flatten the beam, if symmetrical then you don't need to do anything. 

  • sirtom01
    sirtom01 Forum Participant Posts: 22
    edited June 2016 #8

    Ha, but if you have a Volvo ( mine is the XC 70) you have to completely remove the headlights to get at the lever, and then again on return.. Much simpler to fit beam deflectors which are pretty cheap

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited June 2016 #9

    Ha, but if you have a Volvo ( mine is the XC 70) you have to completely remove the headlights to get at the lever, and then again on return.. Much simpler to fit beam deflectors which are pretty cheap

    But you can't use beam deflectors on HIDs ... they just scatter the light and end up blinding Pierre & Herman anyway.

  • Whittakerr
    Whittakerr Club Member Posts: 3,472 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited June 2016 #10

    Ha, but if you have a Volvo ( mine is the XC 70) you have to completely remove the headlights to get at the lever, and then again on return.. Much simpler to fit beam deflectors which are pretty cheap

    How unhelpful of Volvo. My (German built) car has a setting in the electronic car systems menu for driving on the Right / Left of the road and adjusts the headlight accordingly. Damn clever them Germans.Wink

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited June 2016 #11

    Ha, but if you have a Volvo ( mine is the XC 70) you have to completely remove the headlights to get at the lever, and then again on return.. Much simpler to fit beam deflectors which are pretty cheap

    How unhelpful of Volvo. My (German built) car has a setting in the electronic car systems menu for driving on the Right / Left of the road and adjusts the headlight accordingly. Damn clever them Germans.Wink

    It seems that Volvo must have been looking at what others were doing http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=155725

    My German ... but USA built ... car has a simple lever in each headlight, though they can be adjusted in situ

  • Mitsi Fendt
    Mitsi Fendt Forum Participant Posts: 484
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    edited June 2016 #12

    I once pulled along side an Aston Martin at the traffice lights after a little 'race' ...... I let him win Innocent I asked if he knew
    that half his rear led light cluster was out. He did, but as Aston had quoted him over £400 for a new one, he was leaving it a while! 

    If he can afford an Aston Martin £400 is small change to him.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited June 2016 #13

    I understand that when some leds in clusters are out its an MOT failure

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited June 2016 #14

    I understand that when some leds in clusters are out its an MOT failure

    Surely just  an advisory .... Undecided

  • scoutman
    scoutman Club Member Posts: 441 ✭✭✭
    edited June 2016 #15

    All road lights fitted as standard, including LEDs must be fully working or else MOT failure. The only exception being high level brake lights as these are classed as additional stop lights.

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited June 2016 #16

    All road lights fitted as standard, including LEDs must be fully working or else MOT failure. The only exception being high level brake lights as these are classed as additional stop lights.

    I'm never too long from an MOT ...... I'll ask! 

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited June 2016 #17

    Looking at the rules for MOT

    All road lights fitted as standard, including LEDs must be fully working or else MOT failure. The only exception being high level brake lights as these are classed as additional stop lights.

    Looking at the
    rules for MOT     I'd say you were incorrect .... a much used phrase for a fail being

    b. inoperative or less than 50% of the light sources illuminating

    and single led wouldn't be 50%

  • madhouse4
    madhouse4 Forum Participant Posts: 129
    edited June 2016 #18

    Molly as a mot tester your definitely right, but high level lights are classed as just lights unless you can prove it is a brake light ie 7 out of 10 leds are out then it fails for more than 50% of light out, if it doesn't light at all its an advise cause
    we don't know it's a brake light! But it's a grey area like a lot of the mot!

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited June 2016 #19

     ...... But it's a grey area like a lot of the mot!

    It does seem like there are lots ..... I've discussed various aspects of MOT loop holes etc with my tame MOT tester over the many years I've been going Wink

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