[tflarsen]

Has anyone tried this LED in their P1 with normal halogen lights yet? It's street legal in a number of Volvos, unfortunately not so in the P1, yet, perhaps never will be. I think the only cars I see on the list, including other brands are reflectors and not projectors like the P1.

I just find it annoying that the old Amazon can have better lights than the P1s (although it probably has with the Halogens already).

 

[hq_]

As mentioned several times before, LED bulbs in projector headlights designed for halogen (and HID) bulbs aren't a good idea. A lot of light is lost in the bulb light radiation angles and the efficiency is poor. A Finnish tech magazine tested this rather extensively some years ago and while the better LED substitute bulbs performed very well in reflector applications, they totally sucked in projectors. As it happens, one of the testbeds they used for measurements was the P1 headlight.

I was in the process of upgrading the headlights at the time. I bought a bunch of LED substitute bulbs (Philips Ultinon, Osram Night Breaker and others) and compared them myself to make sure. They weren't any brighter than regular halogens as measured with Mastech MS8229 so I went with SKBOWE and Retrofitlab D2S 4300K E46-R bixenon modules, which made a massive difference, improving actual light output approximately fourfold compared to brand new H7:s in meticulously cleaned OEM halogen modules. Installation is a straight bolt-in to OEM headlights.

IMO the only way to go to improve the stock halogen headlights to a meaningful degree. There are also compatible bi-LED modules available nowadays; the point is upgrading the whole module, not just the bulb.

 

[404590]

The SKBOWE HID kit for P1 cars has SOLD OUT SKBOWE HID for Volvo C30, S40, V50, C70 - SKBOWE PWM filter which was only a one-time production run.

Can anyone else recommend a suitable HID kit ?

I upgraded my stock low beams H7 halogen bulbs to Philips X-treme Vision Pro150 H7 55W halogen bulbs
I also cleaned the haze off from inside the projector & adjusted the headlight height level to optimum level.

This made a good improvement over the stock bulbs, but it DID NOT reach the level of performance I was looking for.

I have used the "Philips Extreme Vision" halogen bulbs on numerous other car brands and was very pleased with the outcome with a significant improvement.
But when I used these bulbs in a Volvo V50 (Whilst they were a good improvement) they did not reach the same level of improvement that I achieved in other cars.

 

[hq_]

Can anyone else recommend a suitable HID kit ?

There were a number of batches of SKBOWEs, IIRC mine came from #4. They're not available as a PnP-solution anymore but there's are instructions to roll your own: Design - SKBOWE PWM filter . It couldn't be much simpler, you just need five 8.4mF capacitors and a few other components.

And you NEED a pair to run HIDs on a halogen, PWM P1 or you'll risk frying electronics.

On top of that, you'll need an actual retrofit kit. This is what I used and they work great, considerably brighter than OEM HID:s with a sharp cutoff: Volvo V50 Headlight repair & upgrade kits HID xenon LED .

 

[tflarsen]

Upgrading the lights to something the car wasn't delivered with is an instant MOT fail here in Denmark and if you are stopped by the police, you will both get a ticket and the car will be called in for a new MOT. The law is rather strict here, but it's fine that all the new EVs have LED lights that dazzle both oncoming traffic and those unfortunate ones that drive in front of them.

I could probably get away with upgrading to OEM HIDs, but would need autolevelling and such stuff to work along with it and that just makes it far too expensive and tedious. I guess I'll just drop in some Night Breaker +150 halogens over winter and swap back to Ultra Life coming spring, like I did last year. The difference isn't great, but it does help a little.

 

[hq_]

Upgrading the lights to something the car wasn't delivered with is an instant MOT fail here in Denmark and if you are stopped by the police, you will both get a ticket and the car will be called in for a new MOT.

Not much different from how it is here in Finland, but there's an EU-wide catch: the light source only has to match what the headlight E-markings specify. The P1 headlight housings are the same for halogen and HID hence they have both HCR (halogen) and DCR (HID) markings and won't cause you problems even if you're stopped on the road. If the cops check the markings on headlights they match what's inside and that's that.

The lack of automatic leveling can obviously be an issue in MOT. European market halogen P1:s have manual leveling as well as headlight washers and mine has passed several very strict MOT:s without the inspection engineers even noticing that it's missing automatic function. So confidently that I haven't even looked into retrofitting automatic leveling sensors and associated software updates with VIDA. If you want to be 100% legal on paper this will be required, of course.

 

[SpaceRay]

I'm in FL,USA and it's pretty lax here and there aren't any inspections at all anymore.

It's odd you mention issues with EVs. I haven't seen anything bothersome about the headlights. I have been blinded by the taillights of a Tesla though even in the daytime - like laser beams.

I've was blinded by a pickup truck that had high powered LEDs on both side mirrors aiming back - I'm like WTF. This idiot had them turned on while on the expressway.

Only real issue I've seen is when people remove the internal blocker plates (forget the technical name). It appears to provide more light but in reality it's mostly useless and blinds oncoming drivers.

 

[hq_]

Only real issue I've seen is when people remove the internal blocker plates (forget the technical name). It appears to provide more light but in reality it's mostly useless and blinds oncoming drivers.

It's the cutoff shade. It makes the difference between low beams and high beams. Without one you're driving on high beams all the time. The only difference is that the beam pattern is higher than it should be when there's oncoming traffic.

I have auxiliary lights in most of my cars, as they're regularly driven up north where there may not be any road lighting in 50+ miles at a time on some stretches of road and during the dead of winter there's a couple of hours of daylight in a day. My current favorite is this: SUPER CAPTAIN DUAL RAGE 600 - Optibeam , perfect for driving in the sticks and, occasionally, for reminding oncoming geniuses what candlepower means when they've tampered with their headlights causing glare. That's approximately 1300% brighter and far more intense than regular HID high beams.

 

[SpaceRay]

It's the cutoff shade. It makes the difference between low beams and high beams. Without one you're driving on high beams all the time. The only difference is that the beam pattern is higher than it should be when there's oncoming traffic.

I have auxiliary lights in most of my cars, as they're regularly driven up north where there may not be any road lighting in 50+ miles at a time on some stretches of road and during the dead of winter there's a couple of hours of daylight in a day. My current favorite is this: SUPER CAPTAIN DUAL RAGE 600 - Optibeam , perfect for driving in the sticks and, occasionally, for reminding oncoming geniuses what candlepower means when they've tampered with their headlights causing glare. That's approximately 1300% brighter and far more intense than regular HID high beams.

My son's S40 projectors have a fixed plate - its not used for the high beams in this case - serves the same purpose though.

Rage, a fitting name. I need two of those for both directions on my SUV.

 

[dbphillips]

As mentioned several times before, LED bulbs in projector headlights designed for halogen (and HID) bulbs aren't a good idea. A lot of light is lost in the bulb light radiation angles and the efficiency is poor. A Finnish tech magazine tested this rather extensively some years ago and while the better LED substitute bulbs performed very well in reflector applications, they totally sucked in projectors. As it happens, one of the testbeds they used for measurements was the P1 headlight.

I was in the process of upgrading the headlights at the time. I bought a bunch of LED substitute bulbs (Philips Ultinon, Osram Night Breaker and others) and compared them myself to make sure. They weren't any brighter than regular halogens as measured with Mastech MS8229 so I went with SKBOWE and Retrofitlab D2S 4300K E46-R bixenon modules, which made a massive difference, improving actual light output approximately fourfold compared to brand new H7:s in meticulously cleaned OEM halogen modules. Installation is a straight bolt-in to OEM headlights.

IMO the only way to go to improve the stock halogen headlights to a meaningful degree. There are also compatible bi-LED modules available nowadays; the point is upgrading the whole module, not just the bulb.

LEDs are empirically better than stock halogen, even crappy ones. Even better than upgrading to H9. Sure, not efficient, but I can see better, so better. The thing I hate about mine, and maybe part of the problem in those tests is that mine are not keyed. On the plus side, you can optimize the orientation (maybe the ones the Finns tested were keyed), but the downside is they move over time and have to be readjusted. I'll probably tack them with a dab of UV cured polymer...

 

[tflarsen]

It's odd you mention issues with EVs. I haven't seen anything bothersome about the headlights.

The Volkswagen ID4, I believe, have extremely powerful headlights. Also, I drove on a dark road last night when a newer Volvo Cross Country, not sure of the model though, came up behind me, it's headlights were so powerful that my car cast a very noticeable shadow in front of me, which shouldn't be possible with my own lights on. Quite possibly it had illegal aftermarket HIDS or LEDs as that was the worst I've experienced so far.

Not much different from how it is here in Finland, but there's an EU-wide catch: the light source only has to match what the headlight E-markings specify. The P1 headlight housings are the same for halogen and HID hence they have both HCR (halogen) and DCR (HID) markings and won't cause you problems even if you're stopped on the road. If the cops check the markings on headlights they match what's inside and that's that.

So, you're saying that I could legally install the non-ECE marked Bi-HID upgrade kit you're linking to? That's interesting although I'm not sure I want to keep my V50 long enough to justify the expense.

 

[gotart]

Off Topic: This has nothing to do with Halogen Light improvements but has something to do with visibility. The Cybertruck has a lip and an edge overhang over the lengthy light bar. When it snows, one has to occasionally (depending on how much snow and ice occuring) get out and manually clean off the light bar so one can see! Verified by a Colorado owner who is trying to sell his. I predict in 3 yrs. this idiot vehicle will go by way of the Old Gas Guzzling Hummer.

 

[dbphillips]

Off Topic: This has nothing to do with Halogen Light improvements but has something to do with visibility. The Cybertruck has a lip and an edge overhang over the lengthy light bar. When it snows, one has to occasionally (depending on how much snow and ice occuring) get out and manually clean off the light bar so one can see! Verified by a Colorado owner who is trying to sell his. I predict in 3 yrs. this idiot vehicle will go by way of the Old Gas Guzzling Hummer.

? No, they'll add a temperature sensitive heating element... 🙃

 

[hq_]

My son's S40 projectors have a fixed plate - its not used for the high beams in this case - serves the same purpose though.

OEM halogen modules are fixed low beams, I'm not sure about the HID:s. When I swapped the modules the obvious choice was bixenon, with the actuator hooked up to high beam wiring.

LEDs are empirically better than stock halogen, even crappy ones.

I don't deny that, opinions wary and just the high-ish color temperature may make them seem better to some. However, the beam pattern is quite a bit off and a lux meter reveals the cold, hard facts. It's optically impossible to get an even, uniform pattern out of P1-type projector modules with LED conversion bulbs. I've confirmed the findings published by the magazine by experimenting with the modules I pulled out of headlights, with approximately half a dozen brand-name LED conversion bulbs. None has been better overall than halogen bulbs the module has been designed for and, frankly, the halogens truly suck to start with. To add insult to injury, none of the LEDs has been even close to passing the run of the mill MOT beam pattern test.

The one experiment that HAS worked was a H7 HID conversion bulb. It has similar beam properties to halogen bulbs, much higher light output and when the base and mount are shimmed to perfection, the pattern is even and bright. I briefly thought about taking that route but when you'll need a SKBOWE anyway and swapping the module inside the headlight is relatively cheap and easy, I chose to upgrade. And as a plus, brand name D2S bulbs can be bought from any auto parts store, H7 HID bulbs are a bit of a gimmick.

 

[404590]

There were a number of batches of SKBOWEs, IIRC mine came from #4. They're not available as a PnP-solution anymore but there's are instructions to roll your own: Design - SKBOWE PWM filter . It couldn't be much simpler, you just need five 8.4mF capacitors and a few other components.

And you NEED a pair to run HIDs on a halogen, PWM P1 or you'll risk frying electronics.

On top of that, you'll need an actual retrofit kit. This is what I used and they work great, considerably brighter than OEM HID:s with a sharp cutoff: Volvo V50 Headlight repair & upgrade kits HID xenon LED .

The price seems very expensive at 300 euro ($500 AUD) Volvo V50 04-12 bi-xenon headlight upgrade kit for halogen projector h and about another 50 euro ($80AUD) to ship. Plus I would also need to build the SKBOWE filter at another say 30 euro ($50 AUD) and I'm looking at close to $700 AUD in total.

I just went ahead (right now) and bought some "Philips RacingVision GT200 H7" halogen bulbs Philips RacingVision GT200 H7 | Twin Car Headlight Bulbs | PowerBulbs AU for only $43 AUD delivered to my door (using a $5 discount code) apparently these are the brightest Halogen bulbs you can buy on the current market.
Funny thing is that these bulbs are $100 cheaper than any other place here in Aust which includes shipping from the UK
Whether these new Philips RacingVision GT200 H7 are going to be any better than my current Philips X-treme Vision Pro150 H7 is another question but for the cheap price of $43 its worth finding out.

 

[JA VOLVO]

Does anyone know if the halogen projector in the facelift C30 headlights is the same as the projector in the V50? Retrofitlabs has an LED projector conversion listed for the V50, but not for any other model.