Have You tried any of the current H3 LED offerings,your results?

[goffoz]

I am so happy and amazed by my 37watt LED strips, I want to try some LED bulb replacements in my square high beams. has anyone found a good drop in unit for the inner square lamps.... with good output.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=652838&highlight=sa+light+bar

[Merian]

no, and no one ever will either

not until an LED is made that replicates the bulb filament itself in size, shape & position -- it has to match the reflector design to work

if you want LEDs you need to replace everything with a complete light unit made one of the 2 or 3 manfs. who make decent ones
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[goffoz]

[Corwyn]

I have a pair of these installed and am very happy with them. Bright at night, great for daytime running lights. They seem to work really well with my H4 housings.

http://www.piaa.com/store/p/808-H4-9003-High-Output-LED-Bulbs-6000k-Twin-Pack.aspx
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'90 White Westy ("The Longship")
FAS Gen V 2.0
The Annual Baja Rally
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604813&highlight=baja

"If anything's" gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there"
~ Captain Ron ~

[termuehlen]

[Steve M.]

[bluebus86]

[Merian]

[djkeev]

[bluebus86]

[goffoz]

[thatvwbusguy]

I have tested about 20 different H4, H3 and H1 drop in LEDs in various headlights and driving lights over the past few years. In every case, the drop in LEDs have produced more glare and don't project nearly as far down the road as a decent 55W +50 filament bulb. Based on my experience, the "6,000K True White" bulb is more likely to be a sterile, blueish white that is very unpleasant to the eye.

It's really sad to see that a once respected (well, somewhat respected in some circles) company like PIAA has decided that selling illegal LED conversion bulbs for ridiculous prices is a good business model.

Since the high beams are only going to be used when there is no other traffic present, the risk of endangering anyone else is fairly minimal. I won't go so far as to say that you shouldn't try them out, but I would definitely expect to be underwhelmed with the results.
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Jay Brown
'85 Zetec Westfalia
Newmarket, NH


If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

[bluebus86]

[thatvwbusguy]

A perfect example of the impact of filament placement can be found in any old school Maglite flashlight. The travel of the reflector fore and aft around the bulb takes the beam pattern from flood to spot within a fairly small amount of linear travel. With this in mind, it is easy to infer how changing the light source inside a reflector headlight designed for a filament bulb can have a massive effect on the resulting beam pattern.
_________________
Jay Brown
'85 Zetec Westfalia
Newmarket, NH


If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

[Merian]

lasers people, lasers...
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[goffoz]

[goffoz]

[goffoz]

[Merian]

[IdahoDoug]

On low beam, a traditional incandescent light bulb uses a small metal "mask" to prevent stray light going straight forward out of the lense. The remaining light output hits the reflector and is aimed out at the road to strike where the reflector designer intended. The designer modeled this after the single point in space where the incandescent filament is - a point known as the "focal point" upon which the entire light housing rests.

An LED emitter is a directional light emitter, and there is not enough room at this focal point to put enough of them to duplicate the output of an incandescent filament's intensity, or light output. So the LED makers put them all around the focal point and add up all the output of the individual emitters to claim that they are somehow equal. They are not. Many of the LEDs are so far from the focal point that their reflected output is just a vague blob down the road, but when you look into the lense of the light assembly, there is an impressive but blinding amount of glare.

A lamp that was designed from the beginning to house an LED light source is designed around the LED's particular needs as to angles, etc.

The two are completely different and putting the light source of an incandescent bulb into an LED lamp would produce similar poor results.

The LED's are getting better, but as replacement in headlamps for an incandescent lamp, there are physical challenges they cannot currently meet.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader