7" LED Headlamps

[Billy.Whizz]

#49. I have factory fitted DRL  

(2021 model) and you still have to turn them on as your side lights.

[cobar]

I don't want to sidetrack this thread, but I'm considering several options, including converting the indicator to a combination sidelight/indicator with the DRL in the headlight. That will require modifying the loom, but I am already doing that for my non-standard dash. The simplest option is keeping that portion of the Caterham wiring stock and adding dedicated (and small) DRLs behind the grill that are wired with a relay to come on with the ignition and turn off when the sidelights are activated.  For that to work, it needs to look good (to me) and offer least as much brightness as the dipped beams. The kit won't be here for several months, so lots of time to figure this out.

-John

[ACFowles]

Package arrived from eBay today...

Packaging could not be more generic if they tried.

Light units present and correct.  No instructions, labels, documentation of any sort.

Side view shows they are reasonably slim.

Cost £31.97 the pair.  Will post more when I get to install and do some tests.

[K7 VCT]

Why not do micro led repeaters in the headlight bowls to save fitting to the wings.

I have ones from sevens and classics fitted.

I can see them easily from the drivers seat, so I don't forget to switch off

[Pasha]

My ones from the café racer place arrived on Friday. They're in a generic black box like yours but were £105 the pair. I'd say they're from the same source, but they're E marked. 

Not sure the E mark is earned, maybe it's just marked on the lamp glass because they could. Seems to be the only difference, unless yours are E-marked, in which case there's no difference except about £70!

[eric]

Why do not use the Caterham item if you like the look of Lead headlamp ?

 

The risk is to have more a kit car than a Caterham and then a value decreasing 

 

[Pasha]

Wayne, is that you ?

[L66TEY]

Here's my setup, featuring Amazon sourced headlights, plus I changed the indicators to clear and use as DRLs along with the line in the main headlight.  

For a video of them in "action" here's a link to my Instagram post;
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-AxSKOltrR/?utm_medium=copy_link

Chris 

[Pasha]

It's a fair point but the 7" headlamp lamp units are about 10 minutes a side to change back and I'm obviously keeping my old ones. So long term value retention isn't an issue I don't think. 

[Wrightpayne]

Unless you brush paint it with Dulux or fit a Lada engine, there isn't many modifications that will SIGNIFICANTLY devalue a seven.

Ivan Dutton has fitted a Coventry Climax engine in his S1 (or S2) Lotus Seven where it originally had an A series. I think its now more desirable! 

We all make changes to our cars to personalise and enhance the enjoyment. LED headlights are an inexpensive safety improvement IMHO and are the simplest modification to revert to standard. 
 

 

[eric]

Good !  it is an improvement 

[Jonathan Kay]

Please could we see some beam patterns in a way that that doesn't require registration with Instagram.

Thanks

Jonathan

[neil wattam]

Sorry, it's not a beam pattern - haven't got one to hand, but I'll try and take one later

Another pic of them in case it's of use!

[ACFowles]

Managed to get some comparative photos.

These are 7inch units purchased for about £33 but available from 101 resellers / drop shippers for up to £100 or thereabouts. First, comparison with the LED replacement bulbs I've had installed for a few years.

Dipped:

Main:

It seems that the LED bulbs have a stronger main beam and good cut-off when dipped.  The new eBay units have a much wider spread left and right.

Now, compared with an ordinary H4 lamp from a spares kit.  Nothing special and a bit old, but unused:

Dipped:

Main:

  

 

[Jonathan Kay]

Nice work. Thankyou.

How about labelling each image with what's fitted on each side?

Jonathan

[ACFowles]

I'll see what I can do :-)

In all photos the new all-in-one LED light fitting is on the right.  The replacement H4 LED and original halogen H4 is on the left of the photos.

Incidentally, I should make a few comments about the wiring.  These light units have a standard 3-pin plug that connects directly to the standard vehicle socket.  In addition it has 2 other spade connections.

Connect 12v to the red wire and the outer halo ring illuminates white.

Connect 12v to the green wire and the outer halo ring illuminates amber.

This gives a number of possibilities.

Wire the sidelights to the red wire and use the halo as the side light. Would this be legal?  Also, splice into the indicator wire and connect into the green wire for an additional indicator.

Replace the amber indicator lenses with clear and wire these as sidelights. Rewire the indicators into the green wire and run an addition switched-live to the red wire as DRLs.

 

[ACFowles]

Front view.  Prefer the traditional style, to be honest:

Happy birthday Jeep. 15 years young today 

[David_Stamp]

Going back to the originally posted question, has anyone used the 7" WIPAC S7097LED (black bezel) or S7096LED (chrome bezel)?

LR (Landrover Parts) seem to be the cheapest for these WIPAC headlamps at £390 for the pair including VAT. WIPAC are a well known quality brand. This is the chrome bezel RHD version that I am thinking about for my 7" chrome headlights:

https://www.lrparts.net/s7096led-wipac-defender-led-headlamp-with-halo-ring-rhd-pair-for-all-defender-lr-series-and-range-rover-classic.html

[David_Stamp]

No replies regarding anyone using the WiPAC 7" LED headlamps seems strange? I have no connection with WIPAC but they appear to be the only European recognised mainstream lighting supplier to be offering a definitely E marked LED 7" headlamp. Every other choice seems to be some type of unbranded or self-branded Chinese LED headlamp which may or may not have issues, legally acceptable dip beam patterns and similar. 

[Pasha]

Hi David,

I'm the original poster here. Two things came to light. The Wipac ones are Chinese anyway, and the ones I subsequently bought for £100 from www.theoriginalcaferacer.com are E-Marked for £105 the pair.

I was surprised too. by the lack of Wipac comments, but the responses fell into 2 camps... the first was buy the ones Caterham use (but they're silly money and I don't think they have 7" ones), and folk who recommended the low cost ones as long as they're E-Marked. Mine are E marked and I would have tested them if I had the car, which is away being restored. I figured for £100 I would take a punt. My main aim is to be better than the candle-in-a-bottle original laps, and to pass the MoT without changing th ebulbs every time (back and forth from LED). I think these will be fine.

BR

Paul  

[David_Stamp]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for starting this thread. I agree that the WIPAC headlamps are almost certainly Chinese made also. Which exact Original Cafe Racer Headlamps have you bought? These I assume? https://www.originalcaferacer.com/product/land-rover-defender-7-led-headlights-x2-50w-e-marked-uk110-90-halo-indicator/

These are the ones from Original Cafe Racer which most closely match the look of the CC 5 3/4" LED option, plus the 5 3/4" Original Cafe Racer LED headlamps others in this thread have bought and commented on: https://www.originalcaferacer.com/product/land-rover-defender-led-headlight-7-drl-headlamp-x-2-lamps-lights-e-approved-eu-approved/

I am torn between a 7" Halo look (such as the first link in this post today), the 7" Horizontal DRL look (such as the second link in this post today), and finally the much more expensive WIPAC 7" which no one in this thread seems to have tried. https://www.lrparts.net/s7096led-wipac-defender-led-headlamp-with-halo-ring-rhd-pair-for-all-defender-lr-series-and-range-rover-classic.html The reason this last option is still in my mind is that these WIPAC ones look the closest to the original halogen headlights appearance when all lights are off. My Roadsport 150 SV is still in its 'original look' with 7" chrome headlamp bowls, no stripes, 14" Minilite style wheels etc - the classic Caterham look you could say.

My MOT is not until May so I don't have to rush, but I should just get on with it and make a final decision.

BR

David

 

[Roger Ford]

#64 I'd  say your LED bulbs look a lot better than the new LED units. Which bulbs are they?

It seems odd that your H4 bulbs are the bluest of all of them - unless I'm reading your pictures wrong. Are the bulbs blue-tinted?

[ACFowles]

#72  I agree, the LED bulbs seem to perform better that the LED units, and are certainly better that the old H4 halogen lamps (which I refitted just for the MOT).

Ro recap, the photos are:

1: Left of picture = LED bulb dipped, Right of picture = LED unit dipped

2: Left of picture = LED bulb main, Right of picture = LED unit main

3: Left of picture = halogen bulb dipped, Right of picture = LED unit dipped

4: Left of picture = halogen bulb main, Right of picture = LED unit main

So don't believe the LED units blue tinted, just the camera compensating for the yellow tint of the halogens.

Appreciate that they are not legal but that doesn't mean they are poor quality.  I purchased them just over 4 years ago, have been happy with the beam pattern etc, and they passed the last 4 MOTs until the recent legislation change prompted me to swap back to halogen just for the test.

They are unavailable but here is the link  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B073XJ9B6S

Personally I am happy to use LED bulbs that are constructed to give a good beam pattern.  I know I may be breaking the law but 'only in a specific and limited way' so should be fine 

 

[Pasha]

Hi David,

Sorry for the delayed response. We all have COVID here :-(

Yes, those are the lamps I have bought from Cafe Racer. The fact they're e-marked was my buying criteria. I seldom travel at night, but if I do, anything better than the original Caterham 7" lamps would be good. Also I want Daytime Running Lamps for safety, and the LED Halo lamps on the Cafe Racer £105 ones are excellent.

I did think (because you can) of wiring the yellow halo feed to the indicators and using a diode to ensure it didn't backfeed to the sidelamps, but the issue here is that, unless you have dimming control for the main headlamp, no one would ever see your blinker at night. So I'm just wiring the halo to the sidelamp feed.

I have bought the new Caterham official LED rear lamp kit, mainly because I am restoring my 1997 car and have had the wheel carrier removed, the holes TIG welded up and I want the clean look with no ugly exposed reverse lamp and fog lamp. So now my sidelights will be all LED and hence very low power consumption.

Someone in this thread commented that putting LED lamps in makes it look like a kit-car. My retort there is that they take about 10 minutes a side to change back, so it's hardly a life-changing modification.

I too love the 7" headlamp look. I'm not a huge fan of the SV with 5.75" headlamps. I love the S3 with 7" :-) Though originality isn't such an issue for me. I have a totally original, nut and bolt correct, concours Triumph Stag and, if it deviated from the day it was built, it would lose money. This doesn't apply to Caterhams, where modification seems th be the way of things, and buying a modified one generally means you have a better car. (All this is my opinion, so ignore if anyone doesn't agree).

Anyway, as the car is in bits, changing the headlamps seemed a good idea.

The previous owner of my car (Hi Colin, wherever you are) had fitted quite costly LED bulbs rto the exisiting headlamps. The light output was fabulous and, if it weren't for the fact that the MoT centre made me change them for H4 as the lamps aren't designed for LED, I probably wouldn't be in this thread. Changing the lamps every year, and then back to LED would be a pain... and of course, if I had a night time accident and the lamps had LEDs in when they were neither e-marked nor designed for them, my insurance would be invalid. This is an important point.

Best regards

Paul

[Pasha]

" I know I may be breaking the law but 'only in a specific and limited way' so should be fine"

Just be aware that if an night-time accident were investigated, you would have no insurance.

Paul