LED headlights

GiuG

GiuG

Well-known user
johng said:
I've got the white/amber switchbacks (with resistors in parallel) on the rear for indicators and reversing lamps and they work very well.
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This sound cool, but If the LED double colour works fine for the signals cause the electric input is already in place, for the retro is not going to works with my 1975, cause it has not the retro set in, I mean you need to create the trigger or "switch" based on the gear stick... right?!
 
CaptainK

CaptainK

CCCUK Member
A little update on this, I've been dissecting my car and found that it has been fitted with a H4 halogen / normal bulb conversion already. I assume this happened when I had it imported into the UK by my importer who sorted it out and MOT'd it etc. I knew the rear lights had been converted to LED as part of making it MOT compliant, and just assumed they put in RHD sealed beam units.

So as it has H4 bulbs in it already, I've got myself some H4 LED bulbs and some "pilot / side light" LED bulbs. LED sidelight bulbs in the post, but the H4s are here and I have played with one of them. It does fit, but you have to fit it in an odd way to get it in. Aka the bulb needs to go in from behind through the hole in the back of the headlight "bucket", then the lens onto it from the front. Its easy enough as thankfully these LED bulbs have thought of this as you put the H4 adapter into the lens and lock it down, then the bulb pushes into that and clicks into place.

No photos or anything yet as even the simplest of mechanical things takes me ages and it took me a while to get just the one headlight out and done. I still have to do its "pilot" sidelight bulb when they arrive too but they just pull out and push in. So I'll wait until its all done before photos.
 
johng

johng

CCCUK Member
GiuG said:
This sound cool, but If the LED double colour works fine for the signals cause the electric input is already in place, for the retro is not going to works with my 1975, cause it has not the retro set in, I mean you need to create the trigger or "switch" based on the gear stick... right?!
Click to expand...
If you mean that your 75 never had reversing lights, then yes you would need to find a way of providing 12volts when the car is put into reverse. My 78 came with reversing lights as standard.
 
GiuG

GiuG

Well-known user
johng said:
If you mean that your 75 never had reversing lights, then yes you would need to find a way of providing 12volts when the car is put into reverse. My 78 came with reversing lights as standard.
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No it has not, well not that I'm aware, and yes you're right, Is going to be tricky, I think I need to check the switch attached to the gear stick, or simply the help of car electrician that has a think out of the box attitude for that!! ... or I need to match a 78 wire hardness to have it :) I need to dig far more in this issue...

 
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CaptainK

CaptainK

CCCUK Member
I've fitted both sides H4 combined dipped/main bulbs in the outer lights. Tried them in the dark yesterday, with the Corvette sat in the garage facing out the door, engine off. Alas, the driveway in front slopes upwards from the garage and had my missus' car in front of the Vette too. That aside, the light that was getting around the wife's car and onwards into the distance was a good brightness.

I suspect that when driving at night, they'll be really good and bright - for starters the engine will be on, alternator gives us more power for the bulbs etc. Overall, I'm initially impressed. The side light bulbs turned up today, so I hope to fit them later. Once I've had chance to get the car out and driven in the dark, I'll see how good it is and eventually get the "inner" main beam lights done too.
 
CaptainK

CaptainK

CCCUK Member
Sidelights are in and look good as well. Not been able to drive the Vette at night yet as been busy and away over the weekend. I did try to take some photos of the lights on in the garage, but the photos just don't come out to well. I guess its the camera automatically adapting to the dark or the light etc (I'm not a photographer - I just click buttons).

Anyway, looking at the lights "for real", the LEDs definitely appear much brighter than the old lights, and when the main beams are on, the new H4 LEDs in the "outer" pods acting as main and dipped beams are very noticeably brighter than my original "sealed beam" halogen lights in the "inner" main beam only pods.

If anyone is interested, this is what I have fitted so far to my 1968 Corvette:
  • Headlight reflectors - note, I don't have these exact ones fitted as my car already had H4 reflectors retro-fitted - but they are the same as these:
  • H4 Main/dipped LEDs for "outer pods":
    • Pair of LED Headlights H4 Fully Integrated with colour options Hi/Lo B
    • I went with the "Cool White" option (heresy I know!) as it was cheaper and I thought I'd see what it was like. I like it, but they can come with 3000k "classic car" (yellow) white too.
    • Note there are slightly better brightness H4 bulbs available from this site, BUT they have an external box for the LED control and I didn't want the fuss of having to mount that inside our pop-up headlight buckets. If we had static lights, I probably would have got them just because, but the ones I do have solve the pop-up headlights issue as the "control" box is integrated in the bulb and seem very bright to me anyway.
  • Side light BA9S 233 989 bulbs. Cool white again for me, but they are available in different colours again :
 
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CaptainK

CaptainK

CCCUK Member
I still haven't taken the Corvette out for a night time drive yet. :ROFLMAO: I was thinking that I'd play with a couple of the cars on the driveway or go to a dark patch of layby to get some comparison photos to see how they compare. Just gotta find time at night to do that.
 
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