Aftermarket LED headlights

Hi all, I just purchased a 2013 Passat TDI and the low beams are extremely lacking. I found a company on ebay that claims the LED lights will not produce errors. I was hoping somebody had experience with this company in a VW. They are can be found here. https://www.ebay.com/itm/272893159343
thanks so much!
Keith

Even if they're as wonderful as they claim, I'm not buying that the promo photos are completely legit. But hey, go for it. Get me your street address after you waste your money on these things. I'll gladly help out other drivers that you are blinding and break them out. (Not really - you're too far away even if I could do such a thing.) Check the light patterns in their promo photos on the ebay ad, and you'll see that the horizontal cut off is no longer there.

But maybe they'll be that bright. Is there a guaranteed lifetime for these? There is ample evidence that aftermarket led lights of all kinds are limited in lifetime because they're overdriven and not sufficiently heatsinked to drive off the excess heat produced. This usually applies to internal lighting products, but here it should be obvious.

I think you'd be better served by adapting good factory HID lighting instead. But that's me. Do what you'd like to do, and please don't blind other drivers.

Cheers,

PH

And never mind the fact you are putting more lumen into an existing poorly designed reflector housing. Throwing more watts and output through the same poor focus and cutoff is only going to piss everyone else on the road off and not really help you, other than a placebo that the whiter color is somehow helping.

I second the recommendation to adapt a HID/LED housing. OEM (Chinese Passat?) or retrofit company are possibilities.

Jason

Keith,

I don't buy that ad for a couple reasons. Why do LED lights need ballasts? Also, the pictures and diagrams are just for show, really. The reviews seem fake/bought(rampant throughout most platforms right now, sadly). The output seems enormous for such small elements. My light bars produce this much output and they are sizable, produce more heat and have quite a few more LEDs per bar. I know my light bars can blind people, so that much output out of headlights without correct projectors installed in them is going to anger a few motorists and possibly police. They show pictures of headlights with regular reflector style housings and some pictures show an HID type projector cut off on the wall opposite the car. Also, that price tag, $100 is steep. There's other retailers that have actual HID kits for a portion of that price tag with a lifetime warranty.

I just replaced mine (2014 Passat) with LEDs from DEAuto.

Plug and play, direct replacement, no extra wires, no chips, no VAGCOM needed...wonderful change, I can see A LOT better now.

The seller posts at VWVortex, and this is what I got:

http://deautokey.com/product/drop-in-led-bulbs-or-the-passat-b7-with-reflector-h7-housings

At VWVortex they offer discounts every so often.

Here’s the before and after picture.

Kinda telling that there is no pictures of the product....

Presumably those are both low-beam photos. That they appear so bright taken from a viewpoint that is relatively high above the vehicle ... is an indication of high glare to oncoming drivers.

GoFaster said:

That they appear so bright taken from a viewpoint that is relatively high above the vehicle ... is an indication of high glare to oncoming drivers.

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I have the DeAutokey LED headlights as well. They are brighter and reach farther than OEM....but...BUT, to be usable you need to adjust the headlight housings down so as to not blind other drivers......bet you can guess where the high beams are now pointing .

I've been round and round with them about this....they kept telling me I was crazy because I was adjusting the low beam and not touching the high beams...……

To be honest, they do reach farther but the visual contrast is not as good as the halogens.....when I mix a bit of the "yellow" from the halogen high beams, the contrast or definition of objects and the terrain is more defined. IIRC, the human eye has difficulties with contrast above a certain Kelvin...I want to say above 3800-4000K or there about.

SilverGhost said:

Kinda telling that there is no pictures of the product....

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It’s just a lightbulb that is a replacement for the original H7 bulb. No wires, no adapters, nothing.

The only issue with those light bulbs is that, like all H7 for a B7 Passat, is a lot of trouble to replace due to lack of space, just like an original H7 halogen/incandescent bulb.

GoFaster said:

Presumably those are both low-beam photos. That they appear so bright taken from a viewpoint that is relatively high above the vehicle ... is an indication of high glare to oncoming drivers.

Click to expand...

They are low beams. Take into account that the car is in an incline.

Sure, they seem to illuminate a little higher, but so far, after 3 days of use, I got no complaints, and I drive about 1h in dark/darkish country roads with plenty of traffic.

What GoFaster said.. I’m glad I will probably never be on the same road as you, but unfortunately people around here also put aftermarket LED bulbs in their headlights.

Problem is there is no in-service criteria for headlight beam pattern, thus enforcement against dangerous lights is nonexistent.

thanks

Thanks for the input guys. While some remarks were a bit snarky..... Remember guys we are not all car guru's. Votblindub - thank you for the first well thought out non attacking response. I wasn't aware of some of the issues with the led's, so definitely giving me something to think about and the pics were great as well. I'll stick with what I have for now or just maybe a straight up replacement.

One other small thing to check given that the car is a few years old. Make sure your headlights are not yellowed/sandblasted too much! If they are, refinishing your headlights (check videos on youtube) can make a significant difference to how the headlights perform.

Keith919 said:

Thanks for the input guys. While some remarks were a bit snarky..... Remember guys we are not all car guru's. Votblindub - thank you for the first well thought out non attacking response. I wasn't aware of some of the issues with the led's, so definitely giving me something to think about and the pics were great as well. I'll stick with what I have for now or just maybe a straight up replacement.

Click to expand...

It's honestly REALLY hard to beat a set of HID lights with projectors. Ever since driving a friend's acura AGES ago, I've been a huge fan of that technology. I've fenagled several different sets into different headlights in different cars and have helped friends with the same. At one point I had Mercedes parts in a Mitsubishi. My Audi has OEM HID headlights and I've been insisting on my family and friends buying cars with that option or going aftermarket. Years later, people have admitted it helps. My dad's Audi has it and he likes the visibility and great contrast. I've gotta set up something in my mom's car, but it's still got a warranty, so I'm not allowed to touch it yet. My advice? Go with a DDM Tuning 4800K set for like $20 and forget those LED lights.

Working at the dealer I get to see the newer cars with LED headlamps - so far I will not get a Atlas, Passat, or Jetta with the reflector based LED. However the top Jetta has projectors, as does the top Tiguan and GTIs. So far driving with the projector LED had been great.

To add a little more I have a truck with 7" round LED Trucklites - great low beam, no throw on the high beam. A lot of guys in that community are actually going back to H4 with quality halogens. I may switch back to halogen or just get some HID driving lights to aid the high beams

Jason

SilverGhost said:

Working at the dealer I get to see the newer cars with LED headlamps - so far I will not get a Atlas, Passat, or Jetta with the reflector based LED. However the top Jetta has projectors, as does the top Tiguan and GTIs. So far driving with the projector LED had been great.

To add a little more I have a truck with 7" round LED Trucklites - great low beam, no throw on the high beam. A lot of guys in that community are actually going back to H4 with quality halogens. I may switch back to halogen or just get some HID driving lights to aid the high beams

Jason

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Projector optics make a BIG difference. I'm noticing some new Acuras/Hondas out there with LED lights for low beam/day time running lights and they have 4-6 smaller cube shaped projectors in the headlights. They produce a good white color with just a little bit of blue/purple tinge to them, so the temperature is dialed in well for visibility. Some newer cars have too much purple for my taste and it seems like they have a little less lumens.