Bushman Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Ive decided that my headlights are rubbish, I drive everyday to work and back and look forward to each journey. I also need to look forward with my nose pressed against the windscreen just to see where I'm going. The wifes Honda is more illuminating. Has anybody out there in Caymanland upgraded their headlights with either LEDs, 100 watt bulbs or HID conversions?. mine is fitted with basic projector dip over std halogen mains. any advice gratefully received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpannerMan Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 I found just upgrading to better bulbs made a significant difference. I went with the Osram nightbreakers. I've not tried LED upgrades or HID conversions, although I did look into the latter and I think the retrofit kits have vastly improved over the last 12 months. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Square Images Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 How hard was it to change the lights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Just changing the lamps will make a huge difference, lamps that are in daily use will reduce in efficiency with the longer burning hours. I run Osram Nightbreakers in my daily car and find them pretty good, I did try a HID conversion kit, but without the correctly matched reflectors in the standard headlight units the light pattern and uniformity was pretty poor. Although they gave a nice white-ish light (6000k) the cooler output from the standard H7 lamps was far more useable. The LED kits are much the same as the HIDs, you can buy retro fit kits but most require the splitting of the headlight unit to install. I have done this in the past on an MX5 with good results, just make sure they are very well sealed otherwise the moisture ingress will be upsetting! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushman Posted December 20, 2016 Author Share Posted December 20, 2016 Ive ordered a pair of 9000 LM 35 watt led H7s from ebay. 6500K so probably very whitish blue. they have cooling fans and heat sinks built in but should fit inside the back cover on the headlight units. wont get them now till well into Jan next year. just before I'm going to swap them out, I will set up a couple of whiteboards in the workshop and map the existing light patterns on them. once swapped, I can compare the new leds and see if I get similar patterns. at least I will get an idea of what to expect before venturing out in the pitch black. if they produce harsh shadows and bad patterns, I'm prepared to swap back to halogens and get some 100 watt replacements. worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 8 hours ago, Bushman said: Ive ordered a pair of 9000 LM 35 watt led H7s from ebay. 6500K so probably very whitish blue. they have cooling fans and heat sinks built in but should fit inside the back cover on the headlight units. wont get them now till well into Jan next year. just before I'm going to swap them out, I will set up a couple of whiteboards in the workshop and map the existing light patterns on them. once swapped, I can compare the new leds and see if I get similar patterns. at least I will get an idea of what to expect before venturing out in the pitch black. if they produce harsh shadows and bad patterns, I'm prepared to swap back to halogens and get some 100 watt replacements. worth a try. Have you got a link for the ones that you bought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushman Posted December 20, 2016 Author Share Posted December 20, 2016 Hi Andy. there are hundreds on ebay, all probably made in the same factory or province in China, regardless of brandname. I went for Nighteye H7 led 70w from Neverland BGP. at £21.99. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Cool, be interested in how they perform. Hopefully the control gear will fit within the headlight unit too, otherwise you'll be heeding to cut holes in the back of the headlight cases. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushman Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 I hope so too Andy. the heat sink and fan on the back certainly makes them longer than a tungsten but there is no pin connectors or socket on the back, a flying lead comes out sideways with a connector plug at the end. a u tube video about doing something similar appeared to me to show plenty of space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushman Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 got my new LED H7 bulbs last week and got round to fitting them this afternoon. Headlamp units are really easy to pop out once Id watched a how to you tube clip and used the Porsche supplied box spanner. there was plenty of space inside the back cover for the extended heat sink and cooling fan. the difference, if you will excuse the phrase, was night and day. from a yellow candle coloured glow to a piercing super white arc with bluish tinges round the edges. pattern seems pretty good too, if I am being a bit critical, close up against my whiteboard, you could make out a vertical shadow line that exists because there are 2 back to back LED elements that form the bulb and there is not quite an overlap in light transmission. amazing difference when driving and nobody flashed me cos I dazzled them one problem though, the remaining main beams, sidelights and front fog lamps now look really yellow and dated, so I think I'm going to update all the front lights to white LED. Overall, In my opinion though, £22 well spent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Beanoir™ Posted January 8, 2017 Founder Share Posted January 8, 2017 nice work! Have you got a link to the ones you bought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushman Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371714456856?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT this link should work Nick even though they are a £1 more for some reason. good luck. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bushman Posted January 22, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 22, 2017 LATEST UPDATE, Over the last couple of weeks, I've spent some time experimenting with various IED bulb options. here are my conclusions. these , I emphasise are my own findings are these maybe different on other cars. the dip beams, (the first ones I changed) using the fan cooled 6500k 35w Nighteyes, are brilliant, ( if you will excuse the pun). almost too white, the flat top cut off shadow is very sharp and defined and identical to the old H7 halogens, so no dazzling. looks very modern too. I then changed the mains to LED H9 equivalents, only cheapies, no cooling fans or fins. result, nice white light but with no beam at all, completely diffused, couldn't see more than 25m with them. Comparing the two, the Cree elements are 5mm further forward than the tungsten so the reflected focus is all wrong. also these bulbs threw up canbus errors. they had to go. then changed the front round fog/ running lamps to H9 leds. same problem as the mains, no focus. in this case though it doesn't really matter as they work ok in fog and better as a running lamp. again the white light looks more modern and is defused enough not to dazzle. no canbus errors this time as the fogs are supposed to be H11, an identical fit to H9s but lower power changed the LED H9s on the mains to 100w Zenon blue coated H9s, perfect. 6000K so nearly as white as the dips. Sorted. tried putting LED replacements in the 6off rear lights but didn't like the pink sun faded look and the light distribution was not as good as standard bulbs so I went back to normal 21/5w 380 bulbs. Ive left the orange rear indicator bulbs as standard and at the moment am undecided about the LED or standard reversing light option. Pity about the Mains, probably cos I went cheap, lesson learnt. happy with the setup now though.. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Hi Bushman, I am probably over thinking this issue, but where did you secure the ballast box in the headlight unit? Cheers, Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushman Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 hi Graham. there is no ballast box. the fan driven LEDs are canbus error free and the mains were supposed to be error free and did not come with resistors. ballast boxes are part of an HID setup and work in a similar way to fluorescent tube transformers and starters. I ditched the main lEDs anyway and went back to 100w zenon tungstens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorscheGT4 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 I have just got the 150%+ new normal bulbs, ie the best on the market at 55W will report back after fitting this week end. the "Philips racing vision" the down side is 200 hours use only ! so if you drive with your lights on it's a no go. even at 2 hours a day that's only 3 months ! I did not know this when I got them but at £24 delivered it will see me though the rest of winter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 38 minutes ago, PorscheGT4 said: I have just got the 150%+ new normal bulbs, ie the best on the market at 55W will report back after fitting this week end. the "Philips racing vision" the down side is 200 hours use only ! so if you drive with your lights on it's a no go. even at 2 hours a day that's only 3 months ! I did not know this when I got them but at £24 delivered it will see me though the rest of winter. My Cayman uses the headlights as DRL - so no go on these. But thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorscheGT4 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 are you sure ? the 987.2 has the new style DRL and headlights don't light up in DRL mode, I have just checked my car. the rear lights come on and the new style LED DRL. No headlight beam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Tom Posted January 26, 2017 Administrators Share Posted January 26, 2017 57 minutes ago, PorscheGT4 said: are you sure ? the 987.2 has the new style DRL and headlights don't light up in DRL mode, I have just checked my car. the rear lights come on and the new style LED DRL. No headlight beam They do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 1 hour ago, PorscheGT4 said: are you sure ? the 987.2 has the new style DRL and headlights don't light up in DRL mode, I have just checked my car. the rear lights come on and the new style LED DRL. No headlight beam The DRL's are headlights if halogen or the LED side lights if bi-Xenon. I have not found anyone who knows if they could be switched to the LED sidelights as standard (even with Piwis). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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