240 General: H4 LEDs

[Jungle_Jim]

It's not just MOT that's the issue here - insurance is also a concern...

For instance if you had an accident at night, and the other motorist complained that they were dazzled by your lights - even if the accident was their fault - an accident investigator may see the LED headlights and know they aren't allowed on a car such as a 240. Obviously the worst case scenario could be that they tried to void the insurance.

Every automotive LED light I saw in a Halfords not long ago said 'not for road use' on the packet. An item bought from ebay from another country may not have this, as it might be legal in their country.

[morsing]

Originally Posted by classicswede

The downside is blinding on coming traffic

1) Why do you think that? I've had mine in for a decade and no-one ever complaining.

2) Have you ever had modern cars coming towards you at night? Blind fest galore, and they are perfectly legal because no government institution is brave enough to say anything.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

[morsing]

Originally Posted by Jungle_Jim

For instance if you had an accident at night, and the other motorist complained that they were dazzled by your lights - even if the accident was their fault [...]

If they were driving a modern car, their lights would also be dazzling.

[morsing]

Just to add to that,

- The ban on LED replacement bulbs is purely government laziness as they don't want to test/regulate the bulbs.

- I've been to three different MOT places with mine, surely they test the beam pattern and would be able to tell if it was blinding.

- Proper manufactures like Phillips would surely be able to make a bulb where the light output is in the same location as on a filament bulb. Can't possibly be that difficult.

- The beam is solely determined by the distance from the socket to the filament/LED which is what would place it in the parabola of the reflector. The reflector and lens determine 99% of the beam from that point.

P.S. I have told my insurer I have LED bulbs and they didn't seem to particularly mind. They increased the premium by £6 citing the LED "increased output" (incorrect, same output as standard filament bulbs) so I didn't argue it.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

[classicswede]

Originally Posted by morsing

1) Why do you think that? I've had mine in for a decade and no-one ever complaining.

2) Have you ever had modern cars coming towards you at night? Blind fest galore, and they are perfectly legal because no government institution is brave enough to say anything.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

1) I drive at night

2) yes happens all the time. Makes passing cars on narrow roads very tricky. Traditional lights are so much better. If you are driving a car with HID's distance vision is comprimised by the bright pool of light directly in front. The only thing they are good for is driving in town. Out on the open road they rubbish for driving with, for everyone else they are a hazard

It would be nice to be able to launch a projectile to take out HID/LED headlights as they are such a pain

[morsing]

Originally Posted by classicswede

It would be nice to be able to launch a projectile to take out HID/LED headlights as they are such a pain

HIDs are, yes, LEDs, no.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing