bshrode

...looks like I'll be returning them

I plugged them in, they looked great as in the attached photo, but perhaps a bit more blue than the DRLs. Took car on a test ride, came home and noticed one was off completely and the other was flickering. They were canbus error free, and the car didn't give any warnings.

Upon further investigation, after removing them I noticed both were very hot. I turned them on and off a few times, and both would come on at first, but then one would go out and the other would start flickering. I guess that's what I get for $8 Chinese LEDs from eBay. I'll be ordering some AZN Optics to replace them.

But, I will say, however brief it was, the improvement from removing the stock dingy parking bulbs and replacing them with LEDs was pretty dramatic (in a good way), perhaps even more dramatic than replacing the low-beams.

Nuxi

Dude, you drive a beautiful Benz!! Don't disrespect it with cheap fleabay products!! lol

mikengo

+1

andrusha

azn are better. I have them and have no problems at all.

bshrode

I was going to get the 5000K ones, but they're all sold out, so I ordered the 8000K ones

http://aznoptics.com/index.php?main_...&products_id=9

Hopefully they won't be too blue. I'm thinking about replacing the turn signals as well with these.

http://aznoptics.com/index.php?main_...products_id=51

Did you replace yours with LEDs?

jctevere

I have 8000k and 5000k. The 8000k are definitely blue. I also have the turn signals installed, which are 5000k to compare the color to them. Here is a quick video review I had done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwpD5...2eAUAAAAAAAAAA

bshrode

Nice! Thanks for the vid

Igor1080

Quick question. How do you know which bulbs to purchase for which replacement?

bshrode

It's in the manual in the lighting section. Headlights are H7, parking lights are W5W

bshrode

AZN optics parking lights came today, Merry Christmas to me

Funny thing though, there was a note in the package:

Well, looks like this might very well explain what happened with the first set. Perhaps that's what was written in Mandarin all over the box. Anyway, the AZN optics parking lights look great and I'm loving the way the car looks at night now

bhvrdr

Hello,
I went with the azn optics parking lights also and have had great results. I was considering the turn signals but wasnt sure if the ones in the link you posted will fit in the housing. Have you decided to replace them yet? Has anyone you know of? I'd like to have LED turn signals as well. Thanks.

Cheers! Mike

bshrode

yeah, I'm not sure those are the right ones. I'm going to do some research on it as I definitely will be replacing those next. I'll keep you posted.

Bryan

andrusha

Looks good.

jctevere

Yeah, the LED's are open circuitry, so sometimes when you install them, the resistor plate can come into contact with the casing, causing excess heat, which make the LED's eventually color shift and fail over time.

To prevent this from happening, I plug them all the way in, then pull them out a tad (the resistor plates are the silver sideways / or long ways, can't remember, flat plates). Just visually check to make sure that they aren't in contact with the plugs. Or a tip I can give is that when you plug them in, turn on the lights after to verify they work (as LED's only have one polarity, pos and negative, and won't light up if its reversed as opposed to halogens that do.

So when you have it in correctly and they light up, touch the leds after like 30 seconds, if it is "hot" and you can't hold it, the resistor plates are contacting the connectors. If it is not hot to touch, but warm, and you can easily hold it in your hand without the heat being unbearable, you should be good to go.

As far as the turn signals, the ones AZNOptics has are for the pre-facelift w204. But check your manual for bulb types, I would assume that they are the same (at least the rear ones anyway, not sure about fronts). But the bi-xenon package comes with LED's in front anyway for turn signals and DRL.

Igor1080

I need to replace the headlight bulbs with something brighter. I don't know much about the color/temperature ratings on these bulbs. I just know that without projectors these headlights are dim as hell and make it hard to see the road.

Can you recommend anything for me?

jctevere

Color temps/kelvin ratings won't do much as it just changes the color. The most visible light is right at 4300k (giving you best visibility). Stock halogens are pretty close to that. The only way to get better visibility is to get high wattage light bulbs (which I DO NOT recommend, as it could melt housings, throw errors, etc). OR get a HID kit (which I also don't recommend in a reflector based housing as you could probably attract too much attention from the law and get pulled over, as well as blind oncoming traffic). Those would have to be 35w digital ballast HID kit with error cancelers, but will be significantly better light output.

Your last option is to get a good set of halogen bulbs. The previous w204 was H7 bulb type. I assume that the 2012 have the same, but I could be wrong. People have great reviews on philips diamond vision or ultra or whatever they are called.

These bulbs are right at the most visible light kelvin rating (4300-5000k), so even though they are still 55w bulbs, you get the most visible light output, shining the road better, a PURE white. It looks pretty good too, and you could have the parking lights match with a set of Polarg M4's in them (or close enough match than the current yellow).

That is probably the most practical solution, and your best bet. If that isn't good enough there isn't much else you can do besides HIDs, which again, I don't approve of in reflector housings. For this reason I opted to go with the lighting package on my c250 coupe.

Jav_A

are you happy with the 8000k or would you have gone with 5000k if they were available?

Igor1080

Okay so as far as I can discern, there are more than a few types of bulbs in the headlight assembly. Low beams, parking lights, turning signal lamps. I'm not entirely familiar with how to remove or replace bulbs. I had bi-xenon projectors in my Infiniti. So I'd appreciate if anyone can clarify please.

-As for the main lights that illuminate the road I think those would be the Low beams, correct? If so, you recommended phillips diamondvision? 5000k, but at what power output?

-As far as the parking lights go, those I can get from AZNoptics? W5W is the name of the bulb. I may go with 5000k as 8000 might look too blue.

-The turning signal bulbs, nobody has replaced yet?

jctevere

Just got around to peaking into my brother's c250 coupe without lighting package. (I am picking mine up 1/1/2012 and thankfully I found one with the lighting package).

Here are the basics:
1) you open the hood and behind the headlights you will see two pretty large circle caps that simply unscrew and will show the lights.

2) The inner most caps (closest to the grille behind each headlight) houses the parking light which is bulb type w5w (but that is a halogen bulb type) in LED this is referred to as 194. If you go with LEDs you will have to be sure to get one that has resistors otherwise it will blink and/or through error codes. Azn Optics has resistors built in and uses very high quality LEDs, so I highly recommend them. I have both 5000k and 8000k on my 2009 w204 now, but I feel the 8000k is a bit too blue, so I would go 5000k, it is a perfect pure white with slight hint of blue, don't worry, they won't look like the crummy stock halogens, I promise you will be happy.

As mentioned above, be sure to use care when plugging them in to not plug them in too far, as this will cause the voltage plates to contact the resistors, causing excess heat leading to premature failure. The best way to check this is by looking visually, you will see two copper voltage plates inside the orange plastic bulb holder when you pull it out. The resistor plates on the LED are the silver sideways plates. Try to look to see that these aren't contacting those two copper plates inside the holder. If you can't see, don't worry, as the next step will double check this.

Since LED are polarity specific (as opposed to halogen bulbs which will light up no matter which sides they are plugged in on), they will only turn on if in correctly; so if they don't turn on, turn off the lights and flip it around. There really is no way to tell visually which is positive and negative, simply plug it in and turn on the lights and check to see if it is on. Wait 30 seconds after it is on and feel the LED, if it is HOT to touch, where you can't even hold it, the voltage plates are in contact with the resistors, so turn off the lights and when cool (about another 30 seconds to a minute) pull them out a little and re-test. They can be warm, but not HOT, don't worry, you will tell the difference, trust me.

3) The high beam bulb is a 55w H7 halogen that is behind the same cap as the parking light. Simply install like any other H7, it isn't hard to figure out...

4) The low beam is behind a separate cap which is the outer most cap (closest to the wheels, furthest from the grille). This also uses the same H7 55w halogen bulb, but has a different reflector pattern to point lower than the high-beam (as the names would suggest).

I wouldn't even really bother changing the high-beam bulb, just the low beam. These are the bulbs I am talking about, but just about any quality name brand 5000k H7 halogen bulb will do (I like silverstar or philips). Here is an auction for philips on eBay, but I am not sure if this is the cheapest/best place to buy them, so shop around:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Philips-H7-5...ht_1246wt_1131

But like I said, the high-beam and low beams use the same bulbs. DO NOT get more than 55w, and do not get less, ONLY 55w (unless getting HIDs, but I don't recommend due to reflector housing and no projector).

That's it, you have completed your light change. I have not yet discovered how to change the turn signal. Since it is so low, I can't really get a good view on where it is located from the hood area. Perhaps tomorrow I will try to look through the wheel well and take off the liner, maybe you have to get to it that way? I will keep you guys updated.

Also, when new sidemarkers come out, such as clear, they typically use the same w5w bulbs. You can also use the 194 LED (same goes for the front interior dome lights) and I also think the rear dome light, but I have to check on that as it has been redesigned from the pre-facelift which previously took a festoon bulb, but it doesn't appear to be the same.

Also, the footwell lights in the pre-facelift took these same w5w/194 bulbs, but I have to check on 2012.

So in essence, wait up on doing any other bulb mods, and stay tuned, as soon as I get mine monday I will be finding out for sure and getting accurate information (my brother isn't crazy about letting me tear his new car apart for research, lol).

Lastly, if you don't like LEDs, but want a whiter look, there are w5w halogen bulbs called Polarg M4's with blue tinted glass to give a whiter look. They are dirt cheap compared to LED, but don't have as good light output as LEDs. So I don't recommend using them in the parking lights, but would be fine for interior applications such as dome lights, vanity lights, etc. But like I said, hold off until I know for sure. I will be making a thread about ALL the bulb types in the car for our reference and how to change them (ideally with pictures) that hopefully will get stickied.

Igor1080

Thank you for the awesome write up. All is clarified now. I'm gonna go with Diamondvision h7's for the low beams and AZNoptics for the parking lights. I'll see later on whether I want to change my high beams.

CoupeDeta

+6

DameMD

OP, if you want really really bright H7 bulbs then I recommend Philips Blue Vision Ultra. They are uber bright, I had to adjust the low-beam leveling due to brightness. The Blue Vision Ultra are not sold in the U.S., I had ordered a set from Powerbulbs.com. They also came with a set of wedge bulbs to match.

acr2001

I've read that Philips Blue Vision bulbs are just too dim due to the amount of filtering going on (the blue glass). Philips Crystal Vision bulbs are brighter but less blue. They still eliminate the yellow of the stock H7s and have a hint of blue to mimic HIDs.

DameMD

Not true as I have both sets. I started with an HID 5000 kit and was yelled at by friends. Was recommended the Philips Crystal vision and I thought they were just ok. I then ordered the Blue Vision "Ultra" after seeing a member on here with them on his car and I quickly ordered. My low-beams are very bright almost to the point you think i have my high-beams on. If possible, since i have both sets, I can take a picture this weekend with both of the Philips H7 bulbs in my headlamps for a side by side comparison.

Igor1080

Well I just ordered a set of Diamond Vision h7's so we'll see how good the visibility is. Hopefully they'll do the trick.