LED H7 recommendation

[wg53]

Hi does anyone have a recommendation for a H7 LED bulb for my C70 please. Not sure I want to go HIDs due to the frying issue.
Tried night breakers, not much of an increase in light output (I mean where does all that light go) and still have to use the force to drive at night.
Got some cheapish ones off ebay but there is no real increase in light, its just a bit whiter.

So any recommendations gratefully received.

Thanks Rich - with an abundance of C70s
2008 C70 D5
2005 C70 2.0
2004 XC90 D5
1999 C70 2.4

[lockstock]

Hi does anyone have a recommendation for a H7 LED bulb for my C70 please. Not sure I want to go HIDs due to the frying issue.
Tried night breakers, not much of an increase in light output (I mean where does all that light go) and still have to use the force to drive at night.
Got some cheapish ones off ebay but there is no real increase in light, its just a bit whiter.

So any recommendations gratefully received.

Thanks Rich - with an abundance of C70s
2008 C70 D5
2005 C70 2.0
2004 XC90 D5
1999 C70 2.4

assuming it doesn't fry your windscreen motor or give you errors, there are reviews on youtube covering basically every design of LED headlight. The basic rule was you need to choose one with good heat dissipation which means it likely needs a small fan, and the LED pattern and position needs to mimic the position and directionality of the filament in your halogen bulb. Otherwise it wont make good use of your reflector and lense design and you will get bad pattern/output.

[Cornish Expat]

Have you checked the reflective coating on the inside of your projectors? It becomes dull over time which reduces light output. You can put the brightest halogen bulbs you can find in there but most of the light wont reach the road.
Lots more detail here https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=263340

[LizardOfBodom]

Have you checked the reflective coating on the inside of your projectors? It becomes dull over time which reduces light output. You can put the brightest halogen bulbs you can find in there but most of the light wont reach the road.
Lots more detail here https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=263340

Indeed - 1st thing is to inspect your projectors - flaky coating is one thing, but also lens get dusty/milky over years and simply cleaning them makes huge difference. It require taking projectors out of the unit but its very simple.

[wg53]

Thanks, saw the links earlier and removed the dust off the lens, but they are still very dim. I'll check out the you tube videos.

Richard

[poiuytre111]

My own experience is that the metallised plastic reflectors are not up to the heat of halogen bulbs and eventually deteriorate (hence comment about bubbling up on surface) so a brighter bulb is unlikely to help and would generally be failed at your next mot anyway. I did follow up an earlier suggestion to investigate higher-spec bmw E46 units and, yes, they screw right in to the headlight and are metal however they are designed for HID bulbs which was a step too far for me.

[T5R92011]

My own experience is that the metallised plastic reflectors are not up to the heat of halogen bulbs and eventually deteriorate (hence comment about bubbling up on surface) so a brighter bulb is unlikely to help and would generally be failed at your next mot anyway. I did follow up an earlier suggestion to investigate higher-spec bmw E46 units and, yes, they screw right in to the headlight and are metal however they are designed for HID bulbs which was a step too far for me.

The E46 units are also sold with H7 bulb fitment as well as HID fitment, you just need to select H7 when ordering if you just want to use regular bulbs.

Those units sacrifice beam width, in exchange for focusing maximum brightness directly infront of you. Whenever I drive my S40 in the dark, I am amazed at how bright the headlights are...

Yes, the light is not so good at the sides, but directly infront of you they are amazing with Halogen bulbs.

https://66.media.tumblr.com/bec0e628bca3bf90d7eca5cc9fcdc3a9/tumblr_pktsjsFx5I1s2h83xo3_1280.jpg

https://66.media.tumblr.com/d40a635fd6d1298c68c8ee566790ed22/tumblr_pktsjsFx5I1s2h83xo1_1280.jpg

[Bendolfc]

Just stumbled on this thread and figured it was time I got round to fitting my new projectors that have been laying around since January. Not like I'll be using the car much now so I can take my time. Just ordered a power supply so i can set them up against the back wall.