I have Nighteye H7 60W 8000LM 6500K Led conversion kit on my lowbeams. Light output is actually surprisingly good and I have not had any problems with this set (no overheating for example). They give that burnt out bulb error though but I dont care about that since it can simply be hided with a press of a button.

Here is a link on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIGHTEYE-H7...t-60W-8000LM-White-/222514123624?hash=item33cee01368:g:rJUAAOSw44BYNV6C&vxp=mtr

In Europe we have h7 bulb on lowbeams but Im not sure if its h11 in America?

 

wouldnt mind these for the fog lights, i already have led in them but brighter might be fun.

 

I have installed LED headlights in my 2012 S60. They have fans in them. The lights are bright and I have no errors. If you are interested, I'll have to do a little digging to find the place. They are online.

 

There have been many threads on this,
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?212925-LED-Headlight-conversion
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?224870-New-LED-headlight-options
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?426769-Working-HID-LED-headlight-upgrade
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?199402-LED-headlights-a-safe-alternative-to-HID-s
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?411177-2005-S40-LED-Headlights

While you might see nice looking pictures, in terms of light output, beam pattern, and lumens down range LEDs are not an upgrade from halogen. The lumen rating from LED manufactures is grossly overrated, based on what the emitter rating rather than what it is actually being driven at. Heat is enemy #1 for LEDs and keeping them in an sealed enclosure with the heatsink so close to the back cover will wreck their lifespan if you keep your high beams on for any amount of time.

They do look nice, if that's what you are after. But HID - 50W and/or D1S conversion - is the only way to go for increased nighttime visibility.

BTW:


Different headlight monitoring circuit in the S60 CEM so this is not applicable to P1 S40 / V50 / C30 etc. See https://www.skbowe.com/a/issues/

 

+1 to above, you just simply cant get proper light output because of the optic of our projectors. I have followed every thread on people experimenting with LEDs and most of them - decided to revert back to halogens or do a proper HID conversion. HAve seen one or two LED outputs where very good and expensive bulbs were used and users spent some time with proper adjustment, but even then the light output was inferior to what you can get with HIDs. ANd unfortunately, in most cases you get something like this:

thats actual S40 with LED thrown in.
If you are interested in blinding people or just to have "cool looking" lights, LED is the way to go, but if you want an actual light output improvement - go HID/projector retrofit, check out theshadow27's skbowe website to learn more about WMM issue and counteracting it.

as for LEDs in high beam - because of its nature, you are welcome to experiment with it as you wont have issue with blinding anyone anyway. Have no clue if its sensible or not and how good.bad it may be. The light pattern on high beam is completely different and light allignment is somehing like this \ / . LED may provide more light output but will be surprised if light pattern is held at all.If you decide to try, please share experience.

ps - HID in long beams is not good either, I tried, cant recommend it at all unless you have super quick igniters and proper bulbs.

 

Well.. I have been using LED bulbs in my 2004.5 s40 for almost 2 years and I used to have 35w HID kit before that so I know what I am talking about. And every time I take my LEDs off my car (MOT for example) the stock halogen bulbs are a slight downgrade for light output. I have tested multiple different LED kits and some of those have had worse beam patterns and light outputs than others.

But for example that nighteye kit that I mentioned has very straight and linear beam pattern (almost identical to stock halogens) and if you adjust it correctly you wont be blinding anyone. If you really want to signifficantly improve your visuability I would still highly recommend you to invest in proper HID conversion. On the other hand LED conversion kits arent that expensive so maybe give them a try and decide yourself!

 

Out of curiosity, what made you go from HID to LED? As I have said, I have seen examples of proper LED installation so it can be done, but even best ones seem to be inferior to output of HID kit. Do you maybe have any comparison pics from your installation?

Edit - interesting what you said, "slight downgrade". For me, when changing from HID back to H7 (even very good Osram NB Ultimate) there is literally like 50% difference for me, feels like driving on 1 light only. Just btw.

 

My main point and what the VictorVDC was asking is: Yes you can go with LEDs and they are definitely not a downgrade from factory halogens. Myself, I dont see any point of doing the "proper" HID swap, basically due to the cost and the time and effort it takes to do properly. Of course if you have time, money, interest and skill to do that, definitely go that way! If you only want better looks and dont want to sacrifice the light output of the stock halogens, LEDs are the way to go.

But for me, high beams are much more important anyways. And the LED bar that theshadow27 mentioned above is a great option to extend your visuability in the dark winter nights.

 

In the winter, I would encourage you to grab a DSLR and a photometer and prove me wrong Until then, I'm tired of going in circles, so for the record I'll leave it at this...

My main point and what the VictorVDC was asking is: Yes you can go with LEDs and they are definitely not a downgrade from factory halogens.

I do not agree with this statement.

An LED H11/H7 conversion is a "downgrade" from the factory 55w halogens when evaluating the following criteria:

- ease of installation, replacement, and parts availability
- cost
- night time visibility / performance
- reliability
- legality

The criteria where an LED H11 or H7 replacement improves are:

+ higher color temperature (white/blue) looks nicer aka aesthetics
+ more lumens (but less down range)
+ lower power usage (-20W/side == +0.053 HP)

 

LED bulbs are not COOL

I received my LED lamps from Amazon. I bought two 8000 lm sets , one with fan and one fanless. After my testing they are being returned.

First installing them they appeared at least bright as my halogens with the same beam pattern. But after driving for a while (with one halogen and one LED) the LEDs were noticeably not as bright.

I picked up a light meter and did some testing and here is the interesting stuff.
(LX at about 7 feet when cold)
Stock H11 1350 LM --- 1800 lx
Belan H11 4000LM--- 2500 lx
Rover (fan) H11 4000Lm ---- 2600 lx

After a while heat builds up in the housing and this happens.
Stock H11 1350 LM --- 1800 lx (no change)
Belan H11 4000LM--- 1200 lx
Rover H11 4000Lm ---- 1800 lx

I am going back to my original H9 conversion
H9 2100 LM---- 2700 lx (hot or cold)
With that and the 9011 HIR high beam conversion I believe that is as good as I am going to get without major modifications.

Thanks for the feedback . I was going to put the fanless units in my fog lights since they are a bit brighter then the stock H11 (and I don't trust the housing with H9s) but there is not enough clearance for the fins.
I have some cheapo ($6 a pair ) 20 watt 2100 lm coming from Hong Kong which I may try in the fog lights but they may just end up in the trash.

 

I received my LED lamps from Amazon. I bought two 8000 lm sets , one with fan and one fanless. After my testing they are being returned.

First installing them they appeared at least bright as my halogens with the same beam pattern. But after driving for a while (with one halogen and one LED) the LEDs were noticeably not as bright.

....

Thanks for sharing! interesting stuff, sorry those didnt work for you but unfortunately just proved the point.
Just to clarify - is the Lm numbers (4000) stated by manufacturer or actually measured by your meter? Or you measured only lx output?
Interesting that heat buildup affect those LEDs so much, wouldnt think fan unit will cause problem.

 

H9 bulbs in the driving /fog lamps

Oh BTW had anyone ever done the H11 to H9 conversion on the fog lamps?
Can they take the extra heat?

(H9 Long Life bulbs are hard to find but Memotronics Electronics Supply has them for a good price.)

 

Honestly though, with the winters in Finland you are probably better off getting a set of HID auxiliary ("rally style") lights on a separate switch and putting whatever you want in the low beams. There was afactory accessory in the EUR markets that looks like this:

Also some folks here have done crazy things with LED light bars (which is the correct way to use LEDs - individual lens per emitter) that are VERY powerful.

I'm assuming this will fit the S40 as well, correct? I want one.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Look for p/no 30756729 Aux light kit.
Was considering it for a while myself (love the look + I drive a lot at night) but was cheaper to retrofit bixenon projectors, plus perspective of taking out the bumper&drilling&wiring made me abandon the idea.