[arjithin]

I recently purchased a pair of LED H4 headlight bulbs for my 1996 Maruti 800. Hopefully these points will help someone if you are planning to buy a similar one.

Requirement:

My car was running on an old pair of 60/55W bulbs. Output of these were very bad. Car already has wiring for 100/90W setup with relays, but I was reluctant to put highwer wattage bulbs considering the cars age, the additional load that will come to the alternator and the limited usage of the car and associated battery charging time. So the options were to get a set of LED aux lights or to get a LED headlight bulbs. After lot of search in Aliexpress.com and ebay.in, I finally decided to buy the below product.



Why I chose this product:
1. No fans and hence lower probability of failure
2. The seller claiming that he is the manufacturer
3. Lower cost. Didnt want to take a major risk
4. 30W per bulb. I wasn't looking at a lot of watts/light to be used inside the city.

Product Link : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Osla...08.0.53.0M0c3e

Purchase process:

I didn't want to give my credit card details directly to an abroad company where PIN verification is not there. So I created a virtual credit card using HDFC Netsafe portal with just enough money to cover the bulb cost and used that virtual card to buy @ AliExpress. Payment was accepted and order cleared for processing in less than a day.

Delivery:
Seller shipped the item in 4 days and I received the item via Kolkata hub in around 28 days. No Import tax paid. I was able to track the package till Bangalore hub @ Indiapost website and afterwards Indiapost tracking started showing tracking number not found.

Product come with a set of films to alter the color temperature, but I haven't applied them on the bulb. It also comes with a manual.

Bulbs came in a tight package with enough padding.

Installation:

I was expecting a straight forward installation, but turned out to be a 2 hour work. Old M800 comes with a press type H4 base it seems. See pic below.



So we had to fabricate a special lock to keep the new bulb on to the reflector. I took help of my neighbourhood auto electrician as my lower back don't allow me to bend and do these jugads anymore. Since the bulb is waterproof, we left it with simple black insulation tape. At the end, bulb is attached to the reflector pretty tight.



In this picture you can see that the original connector


For normal H4 connectors, this should be a direct plug and play. Make sure that your car bulb backside clearances are measured and checked against these type of bulbs before you order. Also note that the rubber covering seen behind the H4 bulb clips cannot be fixed once these type of bulbs are put in.

Output:
Light output is satisfactory at the most. There is an inherent design problem in the bulb I selected - It has LEDs only one side. This means that if the LEDs are pointing upwards ( as in my case) then only the top half of the reflector will have light to reflect. This means only half area of illumination in front. You can see from my pics that the area right in front of car is heavily illuminated, illumination at a bit forward (say 40-50 feet) is just enough.

So the ideal mounting position is to have the LEDs aligned in a vertical direction. Or buy a bulb which has LEDs on both sides.

Second problem is the weak highbeam. There are 3 LEDs on the bulb, each 10W. The two ones in a row are for low beam. They will be ON always. The third one will be lit only when highbeam is ON. What this means is that only 10W is used for lighting the road far ahead, which is not sufficient.( compare this to all 60W available for highbeam in traditional bulbs)
Since I plan to use this car only within city, that too on roads I know very well, I can manage with the problem. But I cannot take the car for high speed or highway driving with these bulbs. I plan to change the reflectors of my car shortly so that I can play around with the bulb mounting.

The below pics are taken with camera in -2 Exposure mode to show the beam pattern.

Low beam



High beam



Glare to oncoming traffic is similar or less than traditional bulbs. Focussing was pretty OK.

Low beam



High beam



Not much of heat is generated after 15 minutes of usage. The headlight glass was cool after a 15 minute drive.

The below photos are for Indicative purpose only and taken with a low end phone in manual mode. Please dont use the photos to judge the light intensity

Low beam


High beam


High beam against an oncoming vehicle



Low beam


High beam


High beam against an oncoming vehicle


Low beam


High beam



Closing thoughts:

This bulb was a trial for me to understand the pros and cons of LED headlights. They are certainly way brighter, but comes with some disadvantages. Will I buy this again - Most probably not the same model; but my next one will be double sided LED for sure. I also think LEDs are better suited for the single filament bulbs than double filament types (H4).
Long term reliability needs to be seen. Will keep this thread updated.

Thanks for reading.

[drsnt]

I have both Philips Ultitron in my brothers cruze and Chinese LED in my S-Cross

Philips Ultinon is way better in beam pattern - same as normal Halogen while giving light equal to 35W HID. Visibility is an issue during rains. Chinese one is almost twice as bright than Philips,rated at 80 watt

Visibility is never a issue but high beam is very weak, It has a fan at the back which causes radio interference and FM does not work when lights are on. But they have been going strong for the last 4 months and performing better than I expected at around 2000 INR. The beam pattern is very bad in high. It has a huge blind spot in main center, so Its only better for low beam.

I did a lot of research on LED bulbs before ordering Philips.

Now Chinese have much better options where design is copied from Philips and have Philips Lumiled LED. Where Ultinon are rated at 30 Watt, Chinese have option of 100watt. I believe that I will purchase those now if needed.

I have made a beam pattern graph for Chinese LED, will also try to take pics and post.

Cost wise Philips is very expensive, If Chinese LED are able to deliver the same beam pattern, They will be awesome.

@arjithin you need to cut the rear rubber cover from inside so that LED can fit. If you leave it without any cover dust will accumulate inside lights.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by drsnt

@arjithin you need to cut the rear rubber cover from inside so that LED can fit. If you leave it without any cover dust will accumulate inside lights.

My plan is to change the reflector itself to one supporting H4 base after some time. Right now the air gaps are sealed (hopefully) via black tape.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by arjithin

My plan is to change the reflector itself to one supporting H4 base after some time. Right now the air gaps are sealed (hopefully) via black tape.

Thanks for sharing. Your post is very useful and confirms many of the fears I had about such lights. Thank you for being a guinea pig for the community!

The bulb that you have, would it fit perfectly in newer cars such as the swift? (mine is 2008).

Please share your opinion about this bulb I researched recently, which improves upon the bulb you used:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1PCS-...571855080.html It has a fan and two LEDs.

I'm planning to get one atleast for my CBR, and if it works, for the swift.

Originally Posted by drsnt

Visibility is an issue during rains.

Thanks for the useful comparison. This visibility issue is there only for Chinese or philips or both?

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

The bulb that you have, would it fit perfectly in newer cars such as the swift? (mine is 2008).

My guess is it should fit based on what gaps I see in my Ertiga. But be aware that the rubber cap will have to be modified as this model has a big heatsink on the backside.

Please share your opinion about this bulb I researched recently, which improves upon the bulb you used:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1PCS-...571855080.html It has a fan and two LEDs.

This is a 20W/2000LM bulb, and there are no fans as far as I can see. Since the power consumption is low, it may not need a fan. I observed that fans are typically used in 40W+ bulbs in my research.

Since this one got only two 10W LEDs, you will have limited light in highbeam for sure (just like my case). Low beam may be sufficient for a bike, but not for a car.

My next purchase will be one with a strip like heat sink instead of the fan type.

[Mortis]

I have one suggestion for you. H4 bulb filaments also give off light in one direction only. If you look closely on the inside of the bulb is a tiny cup shaped reflector just behind the filament. So the cars reflectors are designed to best reflect the light from the filament when it is inserted in a certain 'stock' position.

Try fitting back the stock bulbs and see which direction the filament is giving off light in and try to match the position of the LEDs in the same direction. Im sure it will improve things to some extent but at the end of the day this is one of the problems with LED in reflector setups.

One other option is the newer type of LED bulbs that have the LEDs attached to the socket base and pointing forwards and it is encased in a plastic tube with a projector type lens in front. Its supposed to be a better design for LED retrofits in halogen reflectors

[Lord Lucan]

This looks to be the same product as https://www.auxbeam.com/headlight-bulbs/H4/88621857. Auxbeam version has version has numerous reviews/beam shots in Youtube & Amazon. F-16 series provides more lumens than NF-03 series.

I have beam also researching for H7 LEDs for Vista high-beams and pick one up in a months time. LEDs seem to have caught up with HIDs.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I have one suggestion for you. H4 bulb filaments also give off light in one direction only.

Good idea, will try this out when I change the reflector and try with H4 holders.

One other option is the newer type of LED bulbs that have the LEDs attached to the socket base and pointing forwards and it is encased in a plastic tube with a projector type lens in front. Its supposed to be a better design for LED retrofits in halogen reflectors

Not sure if these fill work with traditional reflectors where light is expected to hit the reflectors first.

Originally Posted by Lord Lucan

F-16 series provides more lumens than NF-03 series.

You are right, and in my discussion with the seller he claimed that he is the manufacturer. All most all the 'good' chines products can be found in different names and labels.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by arjithin

Good idea, will try this out when I change the reflector and try with H4 holders.



Not sure if these fill work with traditional reflectors where light is expected to hit the reflectors first.


You are right, and in my discussion with the seller he claimed that he is the manufacturer. All most all the 'good' chines products can be found in different names and labels.

I think the other LED type should work, in theory since it is like LEDs encased in a projector type tube so it focuses the light in a forwards direction, kind of bypassing the reflector. Ill see if i can find a link

[Holyghost]

Originally Posted by Lord Lucan

This looks to be the same product as https://www.auxbeam.com/headlight-bulbs/H4/88621857. Auxbeam version has version has numerous reviews/beam shots in Youtube & Amazon. F-16 series provides more lumens than NF-03 series.

I have beam also researching for H7 LEDs for Vista high-beams and pick one up in a months time. LEDs seem to have caught up with HIDs.

I contacted the auxbeam for RHD beam pattern headlight bulbs. They replied that they do not have LEDS for RHD vehicles.