What resistor to use for converting halogen to LEDs
#1
Newbie
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2023
Posts: 8
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
W124 250TD OM602 1990 | W211 280 CDI 2008
What resistor to use for converting halogen to LEDs
I'm looking to convert my headlight bulbs from halogen ones to LEDs. I read on some forum that you needed a 50w 6 ohm resistor to stop errors from showing up, but I'm not sure if that's correct since that's the only place I could find mentioning the type of resistor you need to use. Do different types of bulbs (h7, h11) need different resistor types? Or would any resistor do the job? Also is there any suitable spot to place the resistors, or would leaving them hanging be better?
#2
Found also that 6 ohm/50W perference. Those resistors get mighty hot, even up to 230°C, so it's better to mount on to some metal part that acts as a heat sink. And preferably to place where it gets airflow to cool down.
What ever led bulbs you buy, don't get the crappy chinese one, get the good chinese one. Crappy ones are the bulbs that have multiple leds, in hopes that maybe one them hits the sweet spot on the reflector. Rest of them produce just glare to oncoming traffic.
I believe there are some bulbs that already have the needed components to prevent light failure messages showing up on the cluster.
What ever led bulbs you buy, don't get the crappy chinese one, get the good chinese one. Crappy ones are the bulbs that have multiple leds, in hopes that maybe one them hits the sweet spot on the reflector. Rest of them produce just glare to oncoming traffic.
I believe there are some bulbs that already have the needed components to prevent light failure messages showing up on the cluster.
#3
Newbie
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2023
Posts: 8
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
W124 250TD OM602 1990 | W211 280 CDI 2008
Thanks for the response! I found these beamtech leds that I found on another forum, and according to the youtube video they look pretty spot on at night. If they turn out bad I'll just use them for the high beams. I'm thinking of leaving the fog lights as they are, I read online yellow is better for looking through fog, and I think that's how the factory bi-xenon setup was.
#4
Super Member
Why would you go that route when you can just retrofit bi-xenons and have the car coded correctly and have everything working properly. Sticking LED bulbs in a halogen projector is going to yield subpar results... not to mention its the wrong bulb for the optics.
Plus you will get better performance that way. Unless you are going to be using nice led bulbs which I'm going to assume with all the LED bulb questions/posts they will come from Amazon, which means they will be garbage...
EDIT: Just searched for the beamtech leds... yes those are garbage. They are just rebranded with a different name. Join any of the FB led /head light groups and you'll see plenty of these. They don't perform as stated and will actually lose lumens as they get hotter/heat up.
You'd be better of using an h9 halogen bulb in the stock h11 projector compared to any of those led bulbs.
-Nigel
Plus you will get better performance that way. Unless you are going to be using nice led bulbs which I'm going to assume with all the LED bulb questions/posts they will come from Amazon, which means they will be garbage...
EDIT: Just searched for the beamtech leds... yes those are garbage. They are just rebranded with a different name. Join any of the FB led /head light groups and you'll see plenty of these. They don't perform as stated and will actually lose lumens as they get hotter/heat up.
You'd be better of using an h9 halogen bulb in the stock h11 projector compared to any of those led bulbs.
-Nigel
Last edited by NewShockerGuy; 04-24-2023 at 08:14 PM.
#5
Newbie
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2023
Posts: 8
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
W124 250TD OM602 1990 | W211 280 CDI 2008
Yeah sadly I know that the LEDs will look way worse than the factory xenons, probably even worse than the halogens, but I'm looking to retrofit the whole bi-xenon housing at a later time, when my budget is bigger.
Thanks for looking up the beamtech LEDs, in the guy's video the cut-off line looked almost perfect, so I thought they were good but apparently not. Pretty hard to find decent LEDs, they're all kinda the same garbage and going for expensive ones would be more expensive than retrofitting the bi-xenon setup.
I'll probably just stick to my halogens till I'm ready for the retrofit, thanks!
Thanks for looking up the beamtech LEDs, in the guy's video the cut-off line looked almost perfect, so I thought they were good but apparently not. Pretty hard to find decent LEDs, they're all kinda the same garbage and going for expensive ones would be more expensive than retrofitting the bi-xenon setup.
I'll probably just stick to my halogens till I'm ready for the retrofit, thanks!