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940 headlights very dim with age

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Old Nov 17th, 2018, 11:16   #31
Laird Scooby
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Originally Posted by Laney760 View Post
Hi to All

Thread resurrection

My headlights are now so dim I must get around to buying a pair of LED lamps for fitting this autumn/winter

Most of the links in this thread no longer work

Can somebody link me to LED H4's to fit my 940 please?

Many thanks
Here you are Laney :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H4-LED-He...s/283245299598

Ignore the Land Rover bit, the bulb doesn't know what car it's being fited to.

Had them in one car about 4 years now (they were nearly twice the price then), had them in my 760 for about 2 years (halogens in it would barely have passed the MoT because the reflectors were tarnished so no beam pattern) and still have a great beam pattern and can see where i'm going still with no further tarnishing of the reflectors.
The Volvo has passed 3 MoT tests now with them in, the other car has passed 4 MoTs with no problems so they live a lot longer than filament bulbs which blacken and the output is reduced.

They're not cheap but when you consider the local police round my neck of the woods have to replace Nightbreakers every 2 months either because they fail or the light output is reduced, arguably they have lasted at least 24 times as long so think about the cost of 24 sets of Nightbreakers!

Tom, you can use the same bulbs in yours, check the reflectors still reflect, the connectors on the back of the headlamp bulbs and as long as the rest of your system basically works, these should make life a lot brighter as they only pull 40% of the power so won't heat contacts in switches and relays up so much.
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Old Nov 22nd, 2018, 08:08   #32
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I would be a bit careful with 100/90W headlamps, as I already think with the standard 50W ones the relay gets rather warm. As the heat is created by resistance in the relay contacts it might even be worse when the relays get older in time. If you take out the ashtray and you can check the temperature of the relay housing after the headlamps have been working for some time. It is the single relay with metal housing in the front.
I recently changed the H4 bulbs for LEDs and the improvement is dramatic! I also did the sidemarkers as their yellow stood out too much compared to the very white headlamps. Another bonus is the 25W power consumption versus the 50W of the H4 bulbs.
http://www.nssclighting.com/5s-9006-...-p00075p1.html
Straight fit, no issues. The braided cooling strips can be folded away nicely inside the headlamp unit.
Had 100/90W H4s and 100W H3s for spots and fogs in my 940 for 18 months without any overheating or relay melting situations. (Also has 21W (rather than 5W) “side” lights for good measure)
At full whack I could illuminate the moon.

Cheers
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Old Nov 22nd, 2018, 10:17   #33
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Had 100/90W H4s and 100W H3s for spots and fogs in my 940 for 18 months without any overheating or relay melting situations. (Also has 21W (rather than 5W) “side” lights for good measure)
At full whack I could illuminate the moon.

Cheers
The unseen effect of high power bulbs is that the reflectors tarnish - even if no evidence is there during the use of them in your custody, the damage will have started. Also sunlight doesn't help but it's the heat that does the damage.

As for illuminating the moon - not sure about that but i reckon they'd see you from space!
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Old Nov 22nd, 2018, 10:41   #34
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Originally Posted by Laird Scooby View Post
The unseen effect of high power bulbs is that the reflectors tarnish - even if no evidence is there during the use of them in your custody, the damage will have started. Also sunlight doesn't help but it's the heat that does the damage.

As for illuminating the moon - not sure about that but i reckon they'd see you from space!
Guy I sold it to ripped out the good stuff (B230FK + M90) and scrapped the rest so no worries!
(Lol yes, seen from space makes more sense!)

Love how much better our glass headlights fare than less-than-10-year-old plastic rubbish which look like skimmed milk

Cheers
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Old Nov 22nd, 2018, 10:54   #35
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Originally Posted by jonnyf90 View Post
Guy I sold it to ripped out the good stuff (B230FK + M90) and scrapped the rest so no worries!
(Lol yes, seen from space makes more sense!)

Love how much better our glass headlights fare than less-than-10-year-old plastic rubbish which look like skimmed milk

Cheers
I believe they call them cataracts on the plastic lenses when they go milky and dull the outputs. As far as i'm aware, it's the UV in the sunlight that does the damage although heat from within the lamp won't help either.

Silly idea using plastic for headlamp lenses, let's hop they don't suddenly decided to use plastic for windscreens as well!
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Old Nov 22nd, 2018, 10:58   #36
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Originally Posted by Laird Scooby View Post
I believe they call them cataracts on the plastic lenses when they go milky and dull the outputs. As far as i'm aware, it's the UV in the sunlight that does the damage although heat from within the lamp won't help either.

Silly idea using plastic for headlamp lenses, let's hop they don't suddenly decided to use plastic for windscreens as well!
You can see the mess that plastic makes in the rear windows of Megane convertibles!

Cheers
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Old Dec 15th, 2018, 14:12   #37
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Quick bump with my findings. I searched reviews on H4 bulbs recently, by motoring magazines etc, and the top performer seems to be the GE Megalight Ultra 130+.

Had them in for about 2 weeks now. They do seem to be a good improvement. Initially I wasn't sure, but I'm convinced they got brighter after a day or two.
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Old Nov 10th, 2019, 09:14   #38
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I finally found the time, energy and money to get these bulbs fitted and they are FANTASTIC even in my old units which no doubt have lost a lot of their reflective quality. They turned out to be Ł49 per pair, not each so I was dead chuffed! Cheers Dave!
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Old Nov 10th, 2019, 10:00   #39
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Glad you're pleased with them Ellie!
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Old Nov 11th, 2019, 13:20   #40
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I found the best way to clean light lenses is put them in the dish washer, but don't tell the wife.
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