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I gave myself a headache researching HID conversions and then I came across what are supposedly H7 bulbs in LED, which are high beam only (doesn't W211 use a movable reflector to change to low beam?) and draw only 11 watts or so. They have them on feebay and claim that they are CREE LEDs and the bulbs just screw in as a factory replacement with no error codes or other issues.
Has anyone tried these, or something similar, and does it really work for our cars? On one hand it sounds too good to be true, on the other hand technology does advance so maybe it's true...
You have it backwards, the w211 factory bi-xenon headlights have a xenon low beam and uses a "movable reflector" to create the high-beam. There is also a halogen bulb in the bi-xenon high-beam housing that is used for "flashing" your high-beams. Anyway, what headlights do you have in your car...thinking probably factory halogen. You can guinea pig some led h7's, just make sure they're canbus and let us know how things turned out. If you want something that is pretty much guaranteed to be satisfactory, get a canbus 35watt H7 hid kit. Hidmasters.com has a good canbus kit for $100....many here have had good luck, or not, with ddm tuning's kit, morimoto etc.
Thanks for the reply. Not the first time I've had things backwards. Still seems like a confusing setup. I like the idea of LED but not if it screws up the car in some way... Maybe I will try HID for now. The factory low beams are painfully dim.
I have no doubt that current LEDs won't match the brightness of HIDs, but will they be better than the stock halogen bulbs? And my main concern is screwing up something in the car. If the latter is not an issue, I am happy to try them. They are supposedly CANBUS...
^ very good info/comparison with halogen and LED mate! just one question, the LED on your photo seems to have a big rear end, were you able to use the oem bulb clip with it? cheers!
The light output is the same, but these are an easier fit. I also changed the projector to a clear lens which helped. The visibility is slightly less than halogen but with better color. Definitely not as good as HID and unfortunately nowhere near as good as MB's new LED headlights.
Not ready for prime time in my opinion. It really needs a forward facing LED or a good reflector. I have CREE LED flashlights and bicycle headlights with better throw distance.
Wow, very nice write up! I am surprised I had not come across your threads in my search-but then again, I am new to this and not the most technologically advanced person out there... Sounds like I should hold off on LEDs til they get a little better. Maybe HID for now. Still somewhat confused: the factory HID lights from the outside look about the same as halogen. But as I understand, the interior of the head light housing is different?
Nice write up and comparison. This should clear it up better. I would like to be able to get the LED modules in either the MB or BMW headlights. The Retrofit Store sells the LED Fog Light module for the BMW X5.
There's a lot more inside the headlight on a factory HID system. They have curve illumination so the HID's turn a bit when turning the steering wheel. Cost of the factory headlamps are also way up there, about $700+ each. I would just stick to brighter halogen lamps, only drawback with the bright ones is that they don't last as long. There's also usually a big debate as to how good the aftermarket HID ones are vs the factory as the factory has to certify that they're roadworthy and the aftermarkets don't quite do that so they might not be legal for street use. The main problem with upgrading headlights is that you have to do the entire package to do it right, you can't just swap one type of bulb for another because the system/reflector has to be designed for it. It's partly why I took my time looking for a car that had the P2 package, cheapest way to get Bi-xenon is to buy a car that already has them and used car prices don't differ that much between halogen and bi-xenon.
I thought I'd share my LED conversion project as some of it may of use to others here. I got 4X H7 and 2X H11 (fog) LED bulbs from Ebay and 2X 5w5 LED for the running lights. They are all cheap LED bulbs, not canbus ready, just same size as H7 and no built in resistor or anything to fool the controller. Using these directly caused the blinking issue others have noted as the headlight controller senses there is not enough current (or too little resistance).
The fix that worked for me was to add a resistor in parallel to each bulb. The alternative is to buy “CANbus ready” bulbs. I choose not to do the latter because these are more expensive to replace and also produce extra heat inside the plastic headlight housing. On my 2009 W211 E320 Bluetec, the only thing needed to fool the CANbus controller is the parallel resistor, on for each bulb. I wanted to place the resistors outside the headlight housing, on a metal bracket such that they can dissipate heat freely. So I built a custom bracket out of cheap aluminum plate & aluminum elbow bought at local hardware store. I mounted this bracket directly to the aluminum bumper, just underneath the lights. I had the front bumper removed anyway (which is real easy to do) because I was fixing some scratches.
Wiring: there is no need to modify anything inside the headlight housing if you splice the wires in the cable that plugs into the housing instead. One of the leads is ground and there is one each for each bulb. So only one wire per bulb needs to be spliced. Resistors: I found that 10 ohm 25 watt resistor worked for the H7 bulbs as long as the battery voltage isn't low. For the W5W running light, 16 Ohm was OK and I used a ceramic there. For the fog lights, I needed a lower resistance (5 Ohm, 50 watts). If you decide to try this, you may want to just go with 5 Ohm 50 watt on all.
Spliced wires from cable that plugs into headlight housing. Only one wire needs to be spliced per bulb Spliced wires from cable that plugs into headlight housing. Aluminum resistor box/bracket Mount resistor box to front bumper, driver side, top view Mount resistor box to front bumper, driver side, bottom view All LED working (no blinking) All LED working (no blinking)
One other nice thing about this setup is going back to halogen is very easy: just disconnect the grounds from the resistors. Hope this helps someone.
I thought I'd share my LED conversion project as some of it may of use to others here. I got 4X H7 and 2X H11 (fog) LED bulbs from Ebay and 2X 5w5 LED for the running lights. They are all cheap LED bulbs, not canbus ready, just same size as H7 and no built in resistor or anything to fool the controller. Using these directly caused the blinking issue others have noted as the headlight controller senses there is not enough current (or too little resistance).
The fix that worked for me was to add a resistor in parallel to each bulb. The alternative is to buy “CANbus ready” bulbs. I choose not to do the latter because these are more expensive to replace and also produce extra heat inside the plastic headlight housing. On my 2009 W211 E320 Bluetec, the only thing needed to fool the CANbus controller is the parallel resistor, on for each bulb. I wanted to place the resistors outside the headlight housing, on a metal bracket such that they can dissipate heat freely. So I built a custom bracket out of cheap aluminum plate & aluminum elbow bought at local hardware store. I mounted this bracket directly to the aluminum bumper, just underneath the lights. I had the front bumper removed anyway (which is real easy to do) because I was fixing some scratches.
Wiring: there is no need to modify anything inside the headlight housing if you splice the wires in the cable that plugs into the housing instead. One of the leads is ground and there is one each for each bulb. So only one wire per bulb needs to be spliced. Resistors: I found that 10 ohm 25 watt resistor worked for the H7 bulbs as long as the battery voltage isn't low. For the W5W running light, 16 Ohm was OK and I used a ceramic there. For the fog lights, I needed a lower resistance (5 Ohm, 50 watts). If you decide to try this, you may want to just go with 5 Ohm 50 watt on all.
Spliced wires from cable that plugs into headlight housing. Only one wire needs to be spliced per bulb Spliced wires from cable that plugs into headlight housing. Aluminum resistor box/bracket Mount resistor box to front bumper, driver side, top view Mount resistor box to front bumper, driver side, bottom view All LED working (no blinking) All LED working (no blinking)
One other nice thing about this setup is going back to halogen is very easy: just disconnect the grounds from the resistors. Hope this helps someone.
Hi, Im interested in doing this conversion. Can you please list the exact parts, links to buy these parts. I dont know much about resistors...etc... but very good at following instruction and copy exactly others'. Thank you
Hi, Im interested in doing this conversion. Can you please list the exact parts, links to buy these parts. I dont know much about resistors...etc... but very good at following instruction and copy exactly others'. Thank you
Sure, here is the complete parts list + some pictures of the parts
BRACKETS/BOXES -------------------------- 1X 6”x18”x0.0025” sheet metal – aluminum – easily cut with metal shears & folded U shape 1X elbow, aluminum (need only 2 small pieces) 1 box of nuts + bolts some lock-washers
RESISTORS: ---------------- 2X 10 Watt 16R ceramic - for W5W LED 4X 25 Watt 10 Ohm – for H7 LED 2Xlow beam, 2X high beam * see note 2X 50 Watt 6 Ohm - for Fog H11 LED
* note you may wish to use all 6 Ohm 50W (so 6 total) for all H7+H11 instead of using 4 10 Ohm + 2 5 Ohm. The 10 Ohm 25 watt are barely enough to trick the CANbus controller and if the battery voltage is low, the current is right on the edge and may cause the light to blink.
LED BULBS ---------------- 4X H7 LED (NOT can-ready, cheap LED, fit directly) 2X H11 LED (NOT can-ready, cheap LED, fit directly) 2X W5W LED (these came in pack of 10. about $1 each. I had to cut a bit of plastic to fit)
Sure, here is the complete parts list + some pictures of the parts
BRACKETS/BOXES -------------------------- 1X 6”x18”x0.0025” sheet metal – aluminum – easily cut with metal shears & folded U shape 1X elbow, aluminum (need only 2 small pieces) 1 box of nuts + bolts some lock-washers
RESISTORS: ---------------- 2X 10 Watt 16R ceramic - for W5W LED 4X 25 Watt 10 Ohm – for H7 LED 2Xlow beam, 2X high beam * see note 2X 50 Watt 6 Ohm - for Fog H11 LED
* note you may wish to use all 6 Ohm 50W (so 6 total) for all H7+H11 instead of using 4 10 Ohm + 2 5 Ohm. The 10 Ohm 25 watt are barely enough to trick the CANbus controller and if the battery voltage is low, the current is right on the edge and may cause the light to blink.
LED BULBS ---------------- 4X H7 LED (NOT can-ready, cheap LED, fit directly) 2X H11 LED (NOT can-ready, cheap LED, fit directly) 2X W5W LED (these came in pack of 10. about $1 each. I had to cut a bit of plastic to fit)
BTW, do you know which wire (color) is for the W5W bulb? which one for Low beam?? thank you
I just tried the wires. I don't remember exactly but the yellow ones were the H7 main and high beam (I don't remember which yellow striped is each). The running light (W5W) is one of the grey striped, on driver side I think grey with red stripe. The other grey striped is the turn flasher. I ended up not using the turn signal one even though I spliced the wire, I left regular bulb in there but you could put an LED in there too. The thicker brown wire is ground but you don't need that one because you can just ground to the frame. You can also use an ohmmeter and see which wire has zero ohms to each of the bulbs inside the headlight with the cable plugged in. It easier just to try.
One last thing to keep in mind: make sure you mount the metal resistor box to the metal bumper frame like shown in the images. It will get very hot. The bottom of the box is intentionally open so that the resistors can cool. If the resistors run too hot they will not last very long. Its also a matter of resistor quality but at some point, plan to replace one or more of the resistors. The way I built the resistor box as shown, you can access it from inside the wheel-well and replace resistors if needed. Also, in rain condition, water can come in around the headlights. The boxes I made deflect any water from the top
Last edited by apr1; 01-24-2023 at 12:58 AM.
Reason: clarification
12-16-2014, 01:29 PM
