LED H7s?

M

mjennings23

Senior member
 North West
Hello!

Has anyone swapped their H7 halogen bulbs to LED? I'm considering changing mine over to keep a uniform light colour.

I should explain, I have xenon headlights and therefore the H7 bulbs are only used for "flash" functions, the xenon bulbs take care of dipped and constant main beam function so it's more aesthetic than anything.

With that in mind, I assume H7 fog light bulbs are suitable, as the light pattern and throw isn't really relevant. After all the point in flash to pass bulbs is that others can see them rather than them being functional for driving.
 
One word of caution, my cousin had to fail a car with LEDs fitted the other day because the beam pattern was not right and when they investigated it they found that the heat from the LED bulb had melted the bulb holder allowing the bulb to move in the headlight! :fuelfire:
 
Interesting! As I say the bulbs with Xenons are only used for "flash" function, so I expect they might see 60 seconds of use cumulatively over a couple of weeks driving!
 
Does it need to be LED? You can get some very white halogens with a high colour temperature. Should certainly meet your requirements for colour matching, as they are just for flash
 
Doesn't need to be, but looking at prices for "white" halogens Vs LED H7s isn't much difference. Plus if I went for say Halfords H7 leds they come with a 5 year warranty too. Obviously they're designed as fog light bulbs, but for flash purposes the light spread surely doesn't matter
 
i wanted to change my ordinary h7 headlight bulbs for led but found its physically not possible on my e85 as the fitting clip that goes on the back (rear ) of the bulb and holds it it in place wont allow for a bulb that has a fan on the back, did some of the z4's have a spring clip that holds the bulb in place instead of the fittling clip i have ?
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=BZ12-EUR-11-2005-E85-BMW-Z4_20i&diagId=63_0758
:headbang:
 
road warrior said:
i wanted to change my ordinary h7 headlight bulbs for led but found its physically not possible on my e85 as the fitting clip that goes on the back (rear ) of the bulb and holds it it in place wont allow for a bulb that has a fan on the back, did some of the z4's have a spring clip that holds the bulb in place instead of the fittling clip i have ?
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=BZ12-EUR-11-2005-E85-BMW-Z4_20i&diagId=63_0758
:headbang:
Click to expand...

LEDs designed for fog lights don't have the heatsink stuff on the back, as they're not designed for constant use unlike headlights. Thus the rear is basically the same as a normal Halogen.

Seen that Halfords do them now, £30 and a 5 year warranty seems pretty reasonable. I am however going to try and blag a trade card tonight due to working for a construction company, so we shall see if that brings the price down.
 
yea, i have seen one or two of those fog light bulbs, but unsuitable for headlight use as the beam would be awful and probably overheat too. dammit.. seems im stuck with ordinary bulbs for headlights.
 
Still trying to find an answer to fitting h7 led headlights, I tried an adapter off eBay but it seems the z4 adapter needs to be shallower than the global adapter flogged for other h7 fittings. Well done BMW for being awkward... :headbang: Any thoughts?
 
Had the same problem. Standard bmw clip doesnt work as the heatsink needs to pass through it.

Ebay z4 led headlight adapter or similar and youl find ones with bigger cut outs.

They are still a bit of a pain as they dont like to clip in to the back of the headlight to well and can spin loose on the heatside side.

One of mine went in fine, The other never had a resounding click but been a couple weeks now and no issues. Nobodys flashed me and was following a mate who said no issues.

Think my headlights beam is angled down to much. as although everything is brighter, Visibility itself is not much better than halogens and the bright spot is about 2m in front of the bumper. so thats next thing to have a look at.
 
thats the same for anything that isnt stock really, HID's, LED's etc will all have the same.

I use the ebay nighteye h7's for like £24, Seem to get the best overall reviews. I just cant say they brilliant yet as I think its my headlight alignment causing problems, From cheap bulbs, to expensive osram whatevers to LED's, The LED's are the brightest by far but still not seeing down the road that well. Beam pattern has remained the same with all of them. LED's just as sharp cut off.
 
Thermaltake said:
thats the same for anything that isnt stock really, HID's, LED's etc will all have the same.

I use the ebay nighteye h7's for like £24, Seem to get the best overall reviews. I just cant say they brilliant yet as I think its my headlight alignment causing problems, From cheap bulbs, to expensive osram whatevers to LED's, The LED's are the brightest by far but still not seeing down the road that well. Beam pattern has remained the same with all of them. LED's just as sharp cut off.
Click to expand...
How on earth have you got led nighteyes to fit??? I bought adapter clips and they would not fit....
 
They were a bit of a pain from what i can remember.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-H7-LED-Headlight-Bulbs-Holder-Adapters-Retainer-For-BMW-5-Series-E60-E61-X5/222969803822?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

These were the adapters i used.

In theory these should pass over the heatsink in the rear and sit flush with the bottom of the led mounting like a standard halogen fits with the standard bmw clip.

From what i recall is they dont sit perfectly and even if they do when it comes to putting them in the headlight housing, You do the normal slide bulb in and the two bent pin things on the side rotate into the cutout on the back of the headlight housing like the normal bmw clip but in doing this the new adapter will free off from the bulb so the clips in but the bulb is out or the bulb is in and the clip is out if that makes sense.

They do fit, Mines been in a couple months now and no issues whatsoever. But i do remember my driver side went in fine in seconds, The passenger side was a pain in the arse and required some bending of the new adapter and locking it down tight on the LED mounting part at the bottom of the LED. So this is generally the sticking point, The adapter on the bottom of the led will try and twist free which means when you go to rotate the whole lot in the headlight they will try and separate.

Sorry I cant remember more details of how i got them in, But in essence, Look at how the standard clip going with a halogen bulb, The new adapter and LED bulb should go the same way but may require some in, out shaking all about before they lock in.

Try just clipping the new adapter into the back of the headlight housing, I.E just put the clip in and rotate it to lock it in the cutout. So you know what angle you need to put it in at and how much to turn it to lock it in. from there you can work backworks, You know how the adapter has to go in, mount the adapter on the bulb and try the same, Thats how it has to go but as i said, You will find when you go to turn the adapter to lock it in the LED may free itself from the adapter and pop loose or the adapter wont lock in because the bulb wont allow it to mean its 2 cut outs. If so you have to "manipulate" it abit.

May the odds forever be in your favour
 
Thermaltake said:
May the odds forever be in your favour
Click to expand...

I've got LED H7s and those same adaptors on the way. Now I wish I had it all while the car was apart and the headlights out haha.

Thermaltake said:
From cheap bulbs, to expensive osram whatevers to LED's, The LED's are the brightest by far but still not seeing down the road that well. Beam pattern has remained the same with all of them. LED's just as sharp cut off.
Click to expand...

So from that did you find the LED's the best (even if overall you're having distance issues)? I've got Osram Laser Nightbreakers atm which seem to be quite good for me - hoping the LED's are an improvement again but with a whiter beam (to match halos).
 
Ive always found upgrading to the expensive halogens a bit of a waste.

Maybe all my cars i have had had ok bulbs from when ive had them and upgrading hasnt made a huge difference. but osram/piaa etc bulbs have never wow'd me or made a big noticeable difference.

with the z4, The biggest change i probably noticed was sanding down and polishing the headlights. Headlights were a little cloudy but didnt appear that bad, But first night after spending an hour a light sanding and polishing was a huge difference.

When I put the LED's in everything was much brighter and whiter but as mentioned, The beam needs adjusting as it just means everything 5m is in front of the car is brighter but not much difference beyond that.

The LED's are much brighter than the osrams they replaced, You will tell straight away from looking at the projecters how much brighter they are.
 
Yeh when I went to the first Osram nightbreakers on my previous car, I actually felt like I lost some visibility over the standard bulbs I had lol.

Agree halogen upgrades have never blown me away (I think these Osram lasers are good... I think) - but I've never really had real issues with vis using halogens. Maybe I've just been lucky to have well lit streets everywhere I go!

Keen to get the LEDs in now!
 
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