Replace standard headlight bulbs with LEDs

I updated the high beams on my i3 and documented the process here:

http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1111

Thanks AndyW for the inspiration!

I like the process, but see that the lights are still halogens. I found these LED lamps online:
http://www.highperformancebulbs.com/h11-led-headlight-fog-light-bulbs-daytime-running-light-bulbs-bright-cree-led.html

They are expensive , and embody heatsinks and need space behind the bulb - which I've no idea is available on the i3 :?: .

But they would save power and are probably cheaper than getting such lights from BMW .

Question for everyone ... I'm not worried about Adaptive as in corner bending, what I want to know is do the LEDs provide more and better quality light than the Halogens? I used to have a 330ci with Xenons and going back to Halogens in my recent cars has been noticeably dimmer. Has anyone done a side by side test? I.e parked them up in a road and see how far the beams reach?

£700 is a lot of money for LEDs - but if the colour and reach gives my eyes a rest during night drives I'll be happy to pay the difference.

My hunch is that as it's targeted to be a city car they aren't really that fussed on getting the "out of town" lighting sorted. All the main beams adaptive boxing out cars and so on.

I still can't help feeling that they are charging a bit too much for a different lens unit and an array of LED bulbs that can have 1 or 2 switched off each end (maybe!).

Has anyone worked out if the unit focuses the light rather than steering it? Ie a sort of zoom lens. Would be hard to tell.. as you'd have to increase the speed and do it in an area like the highway scenes in the movie Matrix Reloaded where there are concrete walls all around. Yeah I know they were really plywood in the movie

Note - you don't need motors to focus a lens, you can apply current to a piezo type material which creates pressure to bend a membrane. Or use magnets. If I knew they'd done stuff like that, I'd find shelling out £710 a bit less painful.

The way to tell would be what are the connectors to the lamp units? Do they have extra wires for control signals? Or just the usual pin connectors. Then again - they could send a HF control signal over the top of the 12V DC power, so that might not be enough to tell.

My purely personal experience is that the adaptive LED dipped beams on the i3 give me more confidence at spotting pedestrians/cyclists/animals at the edge of unlit roads than my last car - a Lexus RX with motor driven units.

I'm not sure how they operate - but there's no obvious beam movement.

The main beams on the i3 are less powerful - but then it isn't a 120mph car.

The bulbs that he been replaced on here have been colour temperature changed halogens.

Has anyone tried LEDs in the main beam?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H8-H11-7-...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item41823b99be

Powerflex said:

Has anyone tried LEDs in the main beam?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H8-H11-7-...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item41823b99be

Click to expand...

Not sure they'd be a good idea:

"Perfect for for car interior lights, license plate lights, width light ,door lights,reading light ,and more!
H8 12SMD LED Car Vehicle Side Tail Lights Bulbs Signal Lamp"

Our i3 was ordered with the Adaptive LED lights option, but they are not quite as adaptive as BMW make out in their marketing.

1. The main beam is halogen and not intelligent - no high neam assist function
2. They don't seem to follow the car around corners as you would expect.

As yet I have not been able to determine if the beam pattern changes with oncoming traffic, but they doomseem to self-level.

I picked this matter up on the 48 hour demonstrator and rhe "genius" explained that the demo car was pre-production and on our car we would have these functions and an additional two buttons on the end of the indicator stalk.

Guess what... Our car is the same as the demonstrator. The handbook does not seem to cover the subject very well.

Anyone else have any comments about this? This light option seems to be similar to what Mercedes-Benz describes as "partial LED headlights" - LED dip and halogen main

Justin

I think there was along thread on this. Suffice it to say that my original order form described the relevant option code as adaptive LED but when I made an amend a couple of months later I noticed the description had changed to LED headlights.

I'm pretty sure now the i3 just has LED lamps... not active, well until I get mine to do some checking.

Just came across this demo on how the active LEDs work. The real world video is impressive.. the car in front is in shadow, whilst the high beams are still actually on and lighting up the road either side of it.

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=908795

Now I did think maybe the i3 has active matrix LEDs like the Audi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSbbf-by0J4

But again.. looking at what's on the front of the glass - there aren't the segments to do this.

The only way to find out is to get one at night and see what happens. But as the main beams are halogen anyway... it's a moot point So remind me, why is it £700 for a pair of LED projector dipped lamps? Is it not cheaper to just swap the halogens for a pair of LED H4s or whatever the fit i3 uses?

I see a Telsa moment coming where the week after I take delivery of the i3 it will come with active matrix laser headlights, and AWD I will demand a retrofit of course. (If you haven't been following Tesla forums just ignore me, LOL)

This could vary by country. Some of the fancy functionality of adaptive headlights that is available in Europe, is not legal in the USA (yet). The USA has always lagged behind the lighting technology of Europe, where there are more high-speed (legal) roads than here in the USA, and higher performance lighting takes on a bigger priority. When you're charging down that AutoBahn at excess of 100mph, you need better lights than the USA, where until somewhat recently, 65mph was the max legal speed anywhere. Sometimes, our laws take forever to change and adapt to more modern scenarios...take the US rules that make a sunroof on the i3 currently infeasible (US requires metal reinforcement around the sunroof - there is none in the i3 even if the CFRP is as strong).

There have been ongoing discussions about cross-country certification between Europe and the USA for cars...if that ever happens, if it's legal in one area, it would be in the other, and the car manufacturers would be free to sell exactly the same vehicle in both areas. This is likely to take a very long time, if ever, to get worked out, but it would be nice! Since Europe would likely demand vehicles with features common there, it might also press US manufacturers to improve in some areas, and vice-versa.