LED Headlight swap

Looking to find my way in the dark I would like to do a direct replacement from OE halogen H7 bulbs to LED H7s? We have a '14 JSW TDI and a '15 Passat SE TDI (and a '96 Passat TDI wagon ((I must be eaten up with this disease)) )that I would like to make the switch in the newer cars. The aftermarket H7 LED's have a "pigtail" wire with a two lead plug. When removed I found that the OE halogen's don't. They seem to be powered by some small "blades" that slide into slots in the housing when installed. Does anyone know of a "go around" for this. Given the design of the headlight assembly, is this even a desirable thing to do? The "stealership" has nothing to offer but a complete change out of the headlight system for big $$$$'s.

Thanks,

Ken

You'll find plenty of info if you do an advanced search. There's no quick answer.

Read through this thread: it has your answers.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=3843923#post3843923

VeeDubTDI said:

Read through this thread: it has your answers.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=3843923#post3843923

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yup, that was a great thread- but I cant stand the bulb out light lit up on the dash, so sticking with LED's in my older rigs only such as my 2009 Hybrid highlander, swapping the brake lights out to LED saved me 60w of wasted power instantly, gas engine doesn't fire up nearly as often in traffic!

Thanks much for the response and the thread. Being totally ignorant of the latest technology in headlights (halogen, HID, LED) I assume that the steps for HID conversion must be the same for LED's. Looks like I will stay with the OE halogens as they do reasonably well but I was just hoping to improve on them.

Several months ago I did change our '96 Passat TDI to LED's and it was a simple switch out of the bulbs. Low beam was a big improvement but high beam was not so much. High beams don't light up an area of the roadway but are more like a "shotgun" pattern of light on everything in front including up in the trees. I suppose the reflector and lens combo was just not designed for this type of bulb.

kandyman4 said:

Thanks much for the response and the thread. Being totally ignorant of the latest technology in headlights (halogen, HID, LED) I assume that the steps for HID conversion must be the same for LED's. Looks like I will stay with the OE halogens as they do reasonably well but I was just hoping to improve on them.

Several months ago I did change our '96 Passat TDI to LED's and it was a simple switch out of the bulbs. Low beam was a big improvement but high beam was not so much. High beams don't light up an area of the roadway but are more like a "shotgun" pattern of light on everything in front including up in the trees. I suppose the reflector and lens combo was just not designed for this type of bulb.

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The steps for installing LEDs will be very similar to installing HIDs, particularly the steps related to tapping into the power source. The way compu_85 did it preserves the vehicle's wiring integrity and provides a true plug-and-play installation.

kandyman4 said:

Several months ago I did change our '96 Passat TDI to LED's and it was a simple switch out of the bulbs. Low beam was a big improvement but high beam was not so much. High beams don't light up an area of the roadway but are more like a "shotgun" pattern of light on everything in front including up in the trees. I suppose the reflector and lens combo was just not designed for this type of bulb.

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For that car, you might be better off obtaining a set of genuine european lights. Pretty much plug and play and you get the benefit of much better light patterns. IIRC the bulbs were different than the US/CA version but that's easy to solve.