thank you very much I was thinking of doing shaving the edge that was being blocked but was not sure. The pictures help a lot on what part I need to shave. Thank you.

 

Hi Bill, I have a 2016 GLE 400 that has the halogens. The links in this post to the Hikari and anti-flicker devices are broken. For clarity, can you provide the exact name of what you bought so I can replicate? My big concern is that the Hikari Ultras are supposedly rated at 18,000 lumens output, which compares to 1,600 for a typical H7 bulb, then 3,200 for an D1/D2 HID setup, and 3,000 lumens for the Lasfit H7 LED and 6,000 lumens for the Hella H7 LED--18,000 lumens means way more heat, and seems too good to be true. Thanks.

Hunter

 

Just a note of caution....I bought the Hikari Ultras and the anti-flicker devices. Installed and was never thrilled with them. I ultimately took it all out and reverted back to the stock Halogens, which, in my opinion, are better than the Hikari Ultras. I have the anti-flicker devices, the deeper plastic covers and the Hiaki Ultras and will not use them so all this is available for a modest cost. I know I spent $110 for the bulbs and anti-flicker. I would sell all of this for $50 plus shipping.

 

I feel your pain. I've been doing headlamp upgrades since my first new car, a 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI. Back then it was easy: Hella H4 hi/lo beam headlamps, plus Hella 500 fog lamps (the GTI had a black space on the center console; I bought the Euro fog lamp switch and wired it up like it was factory). I'm a mechanical engineer, so I'm no stranger to digging into the guts of a car's wiring and getting things to work. Then an E30 325i (Hella H4 low beam, H1 high beam) then a Mercedes W124. This is when it got weird. Spent a good amount of dough on Euro-spec headlamp assemblies (H4 plus fog lamp) but had to rewire connectors and fabricate brackets for the headlamp wipers. Got it all to work only to find: by the mid 1990s, EU and DOT headlamps were converging. I wrote a piece for the BMWCCA Roundel magazine to that effect, concluding that Euro headlamps weren't worth the money. Got a call from the president of Hella NA: "Come down to see me sometime and I'll set you straight".

Visited Atlanta and he hooked me up with E36 GTP (Daytona) prototype headlamps, HID low and high beams. Signed a waiver, not street legal, etc. etc. Installed them in my E36 M3 sedan, with a fuse box of my own design, and the issue was that the bulbs weren't designed for the US free form reflectors. Despite Hella USA's best efforts--this is Hella we're talking about!--the beam pattern was splotchy and, frankly, unusable, despite vastly superior light output and color. Took them out, sold them, and installed EU spec poly-ellipsoid (PES) halogens. Much better.

Since then I've had a few Mercs with HID lamps (worked for DaimlerChrysler in Germany), my 944 Turbo with Euro H4s plus EU driving/fog lamps, a Jeep Grand Cherokee (more later), 986 Boxster with HIDs, then Land Rover LR3 and Range Rover Sport. Now, I have the 2016 GLE400 with halogen lights in PES reflectors.

So here's what I know: (1) through the mid-2010s (build date), the PES system with HID bi-xenon light source performed fabulously in the 2006 LR3 and the 2017 Range Rover Sport despite having halogen high beams. (2) Reflector systems are highly sensitive to the location of the light source; parabolic or elliptical reflectors require the filament to be ABSOLUTELY at the focus of the curve. (3) The BMW 325is FF/HID lamps prototyped by Hella had a beam pattern so compromised that they were nearly useless despite vastly superior light output (color and luminance). (4) The Bosch Automotive Handbook notes that with PES systems, a Litronic (HID xenon) bulb will produce far more light than a halogen bulb, producing an area of light distribution of 1 lux or more (on the road surface) over 400% greater than a halogen H1 bulb. And the 1 lux range is 152 m with the H1 bulb and 176 m with the D1 lamp, 16% more range. At 60 m distance and 0.4 lux, the width of the H1 beam is 39 m and 68 m (74% greater) with a D1 lamp. Simply upgrading from halogen to Xenon will provide a large improvement in illumination.

Let's briefly recap how these reflector systems work. The H4 low/high beam uses a parabolic reflector (with a fresnel lens to move light left and right). Put a light source at the focus, and the beams shoot straight out (high beam). Move the source up a notch, and the beam shoots down a bit (low beam). Add a shield under the filament, and the light coming off the filament towards the bottom won't hit the bottom half of the reflector, and won't go above horizontal. Hence, the sharp gradient you know and love from Euro headlamps is created (there's a 15 degree kicker off to the right to illuminate roadside signs--in Europe, overhead signs have their own lights, so no light is above horizontal).

The poly-ellipsoid system uses a 3D ellipsoid design--with an ellipse, light comes from the focus (filament location) and then is reflected onto a hemispherical lens which straightens everything out going forward = high beam. In the horizontal plane, the beam pattern is super wide; in the vertical plane it's fairly narrow (hence, "poly", or multiple, ellipse. To create the light/dark gradient for low beam, a shield is placed just ahead of the lens. A bi-xenon system mechanically drops this shield allowing light to shoot upwards, and adds a halogen high beam (this is what the LR3 and Range Rover Sport uses, to excellent effect).

The finance guy in me says, try the least expensive first, then move up in cost. So, I've bought the Hikari UltraFocus H7 LED, but the installation into the MB headlamp socket appears fiddly, so I'm doing more research (= I haven't started trying to install yet). And with 18,000 lumens, will it run so hot that it melts the plastic reflector? The Hella H7 aftermarket kit says 6,000 lumens max. And what about the "clocking" to 9 and 3 o'clock? This means that the downrange effectiveness will be compromised--and isn't that half the battle?

I KNOW that Xenons, if the light source is where it's supposed to be, will produce the best beam pattern. And I KNOW that Hella couldn't get it right in 1996. The Bosch Handbooks says, 55 W H1 bulbs produce around 1,500 lumens, HID (35 W ballasts) around 3,200 lumens. Morimoto, apparently the front-runner in H7 HID retrofit kits, doesn't specify the luminous output of their kit--so I've asked them to clarify (02/04/2024). What's odd is that they say their kit is available in four different heat-colors: 3800 K (too low for real Xenon), 4000 K (ditto), 5000 K (too high), and 6000 K (way too high). So I don't understand what they're selling.

Then there's Bill who says "the Hikari's are the best out of all sets I tried. They were better than the Morimoto 35W HID's". Well, he certainly knows what's good since he's flabbergasted at his wife's C Class with LED headlamps. What's odd is the Hikari's he says he uses are 18,000 lumens--12x more light than halogens--which means a lot of heat. I've asked him for clarification, too.

If I were to design an H7 LED upgrade, I'd want to take those surface-mounted diodes (SMD) and put them in a 360 degree pattern all around the forward axis--look, one of the issues with HID is that the arc is HUGE compared to a H1 filament.

Now that I read my own writing, I also know, from my COVID projects, how to prototype things and have them built & shipped from China. Maybe that's the hot setup.

I'll let you all know how I make out.

Poly-ellipsoid headlamps with H1 vs D1 Xenon bulb. The PES system produces over 400% more light at 1 lux minimum.

 

Great work! However, you write: "See previous posts in this thread for links to H7 retainer adapter (with dimples) and CANBUS decoders (both will be needed)"

The retainers are no longer available on Amazon; do you have a spare pair to sell me? Or do you think other, similar retainers will get the job done?

I searched the Hikari site and can't find the same CAN bus decoders you show above. What did you use? Thanks!

 

As I said above I have the retainers, the canbus decoders, the Hikari Ultra H7 bulbs and even the deeper back covers and will sell all of that for $50 plus shipping.

 

Would love to hear more about this project, can you private message me? Thanks, Hunter

 

So, has anyone replaced their halogen high beams?

Regardless of the bulb replacement, I'm just curious how to actually do it if and when it burns out and I have to replace one of them.

Would appreciate any help.

 

Aloha,

It was actually pretty simply to replace the high beam bulbs.

There is an arm connected to the back of the bulb. You turn it a few degrees and the bulb releases from the light socket.

I tried the same LasFit MB2 LED bulbs that I have for the low beams but there was little room to get the long body with the fan inside the light box.

I tried the mini body LEDs from SinoParcell instead which was the same size and footprint as the original halogens.

They popped right in place. Bulbs worked with no flashing or error codes.

H7 SinoParcell bulbs at Amazon: https://a.co/d/a3LvLp8

 

Are they brighter than the stock bulbs?

 

Aloha thammel. Yes, they are most definitely brighter .... a lot brighter than the stock halogens. No comparison.

They now also match the LasFit white LEDs for the low beams.

 

Last call!!

I have the retainers, the canbus decoders, the Hikari Ultra H7 bulbs and even the deeper back covers and will sell all of that for $25 plus shipping!

Trying to clean house...
Tom

 

I'm in. Not sure how to DM on this platform but if no one else has jumped in...ctr@bmsfintech.com

 

any reason why you put in h11 in place of h7? H11 are usually less bright and objective was to have brighter lights. Please elaborate. Thank you

 

I recently bought a 2016 MB GLE350d and the halogen headlights are horrible. Has anyone replaced the halogens with Sylvania H7 LEDs? If so, how did you manage to "lock" the bulbs in place?

 

I have a 2018 and replaced mine with silver holder leds. Might be the same headlight unit? You need an h7 mounting bracket to lock in the bulbs. I think its specifically called L05 mounting brackets. I reached out to silver holder and they sent the mounting bracket with it. It is a bit tricky to install but its definitely easier to mount the bracket first and then lock in the bulb. Just have to make sure when you install the bracket first, you mount it the right way. I first installed it upside down and could not get it to sit properly. Once i flipped, went on like butter. Then the bulb is easy.