These are great bulbs IMO I took out my hid kit from my car and put these in and gonna put them into my bikes as well PHILIPS H11 DIAMOND VISION 5000k H11 PHILIPS DIAMOND VISION UPGRADE CAR BULBS | eBay
My diiped beam is 2 x 25 watt LED at 5K colour temp and giving out 4,500LM each bulb. The LED headlights in my Golf are actually better than HID and are instant and low consumption. The LED bulb is normally a problem in most headlights designed for halogen bulbs but this type seem to have it solved and it has a lovely crisp pattern and in a different world to the old lights.
Just 55 watt halogen bulbs with a blue tint. Halogen has reached its development peak and all of them will only show you about 3% difference in lumen between the worst and the best these days. A proper HID will give you over twice the amount of lumen than a 55 watt halogen will.
Have you measured this 4,500 lumen or is that what the seller told you? I ask because a 25 watt LED gives out about 1500 lumens, google it if you don't believe me.
That's just what the manufacturers specs state as I don't have equipment to measure. The lighting is dramatically brighter that the standard halogens. One thing that surprises me is that these LED bulbs have integral cooling fins and fans. I always thought LEDs ran cool as they were so efficient. I will try and get some proper photos of the lights full depth and spread of light.
Out of interest then, can you tell us who the manufacturer is and where we can find their spec sheet. I ask because they seem to have a product that is three times more powerful than the rest of the industry. I have experimented with all types of bulbs and have always been a fan of LEDs, my house is full of them, and I was building LED rear lights for my bikes when I had to solder individual diodes and resistors onto boards to make them, but I have never found a bulb that fits into an existing headlight which is as good as a HID in a projector. Even the car and bike manufacturers who fit LED headlights do not just stick a bulb into an existing headlight.
I have these bulbs in my headlights on my golf and I still have a hid kit in the spot lights for the moment . I'll get a photo with them both on .
Actually found one , the spotlight is a hid kit 8000k the headlight on the left is the dipped beam Philips 5000k and on the right on the headlight is the high beam standard bulb .
I too spent a lot time with LEDs and resistors making up arrays for tail lights and similar. At that time LEDS by their nature were no good for headlights nor were they nearly bright enough. However things have moved on and with the advent of COB LEDs there are LED replacements for headlamp bulbs that work as well if not better than the bulbs they replace. These LEDs radiate light in all directions in a hemisphere. By placing two back-to-back at the focal point of the reflector they emulate the bulb very well. I fitted these to my MTS for the high beam and I was so impressed I have taken out the HID dip beams and fitted LED to them too. I haven't had it out on the road yet but they look good on the garage wall and I'm confident that they will be a success. If not, they weren't expensive (£22) and I can easily revert back to the HIDs.
They look nice, but yet again my first question would be why are no vehicle manufacturers fitting LED bulbs like this to their vehicles?
Vehicle manufactures are fitting complete headlights designed to operate with the LEDs that are built into them and will comply with all the E regulations that are they are required to meet. The LED "bulbs" above are designed as a retrofit to replace conventional bulbs. They may or may not be strictly legal. As long as they provide a good light output, light up the road where I need it and pass an MoT I don't care.
It will depend on how near to the the focal point of the reflector the LED is. At the prices the Chinese ones are selling on eBay it's worth a try. At least on the 749/999 both beams use the same bulbs so you can buy a pair for an HB3 fitting.
Ah yes, the light will be set up for the projector focal point being the halogen filament. The led equivalent is likely be quite a few mm closer to the projector lens unless provision has been made in the design to offset the light source to be centred in the fitting. Presumably this will apply to halogen as well though. Did you notice if this is the case??
The position of the light source (filament) is less important on a projector than it is on reflector type headlights. I reflector headlight has a focal point but a projector channels the light past the cut off shield and through the convex glass. If you want to go down that route then you should try one and see what you think, it will only take a few minute to change back if you don't like it. The LED will be a whiter light and might seem brighter due to that.
Some better photos - the LED dip is incredible and should really assist those in metal boxes seeing me in daylight! Probably needs adjusting down a tad. By comparison the main beam look dull and yellow. Dipped LED Main beam Halogen Nightbreaker Plus
