# LED H7 headlight conversion



## djscoventry (Jul 15, 2017)

Hey guys

Does anyone have any experience with swapping over their standard dipped beams to LED lights? I've been told the difference is quite substantial.

Thanks!


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## David C (Apr 15, 2013)

H7 is the Main Beam.

Dip Beams are either H1 Halogen or D2S HID


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

Don't do it 

Re the high beams: the LED H7 bulb kits never get the light as concentrated in the centre of the high beam as the filament H7s do, so you find you're no longer able to throw light very far down the road for night driving.

The LED high beams certainly look good but that's because they're scattering most of their light around the periphery of the beam rather than creating the proper hotspot.

Low-beam LED conversions are even worse; you can NEVER get a good light pattern from LEDs fitted into a filament or HID projector. If you want to go this route, you can get decent LED projectors in 2.5 and 3 inch size from Aliexpress, but you'll need to mount them in the headlight - not really a straight-forward conversion, and LED projectors still don't approach the light output and width of a good HID projector (e.g. Morimoto D2S 4 or Hella G4) with a 55 watt ballast driving the lamp.

(I spent a fair bit of time and money researching the LED H7 bulbs and the LED cluster lights you can screw into the lens and despite higher light output claims, none have the right beam pattern - I have a box downstairs with three different kits - all were good, but not good enough.) 

/Al


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## TT Grant (Apr 24, 2018)

Agree totally with Alex above...
When you look at the LED light emitted from the headlight is "appears" bright.... which is due to the colour temperature.
BUT as Alex says, it simply does NOT have the penetrating power to see up the road any distance.

My lighting experience comes from developments & testing/evaluation with McLaren & Porsche in recent years.

All the quotes on the ebay adds saying 120 Watts power is TOTAL BULL SH*T, as the damned things draw so little power.
If you want lighting POWER, HiD is the only way to go, no options, no debates, no theory etc... it's the simple facts.

You cannot get "something" from "nothing"

However, I do use the LED's in my TT Fog-Lamps as day-lighters, simply to be seen & lessen idiots pulling out on me.

They are great for day-lighters or interior lights, & draw very little power.... but sod-all use for primary headlamp substitutions.


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## norv675 (Sep 17, 2011)

Is it not illegal to drive with fog lamps on when the weather is clear?


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## desertstorm (Apr 25, 2017)

Properly designed LED headlights as featured on a lot of new cars are great. As stated above fitting a H7 LED bulb doesn't work well. The same as people who fit HID light kits to reflector headlights . They put a lot more light out but the beam pattern is usually terrible with lots of stray light dazzling oncoming drivers.
I have been looking into improving the poor headlights on the TT and will hopefully be fitting some new HID projectors when they arrive from China in a few weeks. The OE projectors suffer from the reflectors silvering being burnt off and tarnished. So doesn't make any difference what bulb you put in that light it will never perform much better. 
I fitted some Sinolyn HID projectors to the halogen lights on my B8 A4 daily and they are very effective with a very defined sharp beam pattern and great light output. The ones I have ordered for the TT are Bi-xenon so work on the main beam as well and they use the existing D2S bulbs so you don't need any new bulbs or ballasts.
Hopefully they will be reasonably easy to fit. Will take some pictures when I fit them.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For-AL- ... 91575.html?


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## norv675 (Sep 17, 2011)

Please keep me updated on your new lamps, I am looking to recondition my headlamps. My headlamp glass is very misty on the inside so I am trying to get some new lens covers. There is a company that i have tried to contact just waiting for a reply. If I am able to do that, then I might as well upgrade my Xenon lamps.


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## David C (Apr 15, 2013)

desertstorm said:


> I fitted some Sinolyn HID projectors to the halogen lights on my B8 A4 daily and they are very effective with a very defined sharp beam pattern and great light output. The ones I have ordered for the TT are Bi-xenon so work on the main beam as well and they use the existing D2S bulbs so you don't need any new bulbs or ballasts.
> Hopefully they will be reasonably easy to fit. Will take some pictures when I fit them.
> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For-AL- ... 91575.html?


Keep us up to date on those.
Doesn't look like they will be a direct fit and may need to trim those to clear the level adjuster.
But if they do happen to go straight in, they will be a cheap and simple option.

I went with Morimoto Mini H1 projectors from EM Tuning complete with the RetroQuick adaptor bracket this year.
No worries about getting the alignment wrong and the beam is amazing.


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## desertstorm (Apr 25, 2017)

I looked at the EM tuning option as it came up when I was searching. Certainly does the job but I didn't fancy spending £250.
It was useful to see that the Morimoto H1 fits as I looked at the dimensions of it and compared it to the Sinolyn item.
On the EM tuning site there is an OE projector and a Morimoto pictured together, the Morimoto needs an adaptor plate as the fixing centres are a lot smaller than the OE item. The Sinolyn item is pretty much the same overall length as a Mormoto but the fixings centres look quite similar to the spacing on the adaptor plate.
http://emtuning.co.uk/shop/audi-tt-mk1-upgrade/
http://www.morimotohid.com/bi-xenon-min ... ctors.html 
Will need a piece removing from the one corner of the reflector I think looking at the OE item but that isn't going to be a problem.


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## djscoventry (Jul 15, 2017)

Okay will leave the LEDs alone.

These alternatives sound interesting but complicated to fit!


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## David C (Apr 15, 2013)

djscoventry said:


> These alternatives sound interesting but complicated to fit!


It is quite daunting when you start to "trim" down the internal frame of the headlight to clear the new projector, but the end result is truly staggering.

8)


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

@desertstorm - those Synolyn projectors are (I think) modelled on the Hella G4 projectors; mine are as well (I think they might even be the same projectors as yours if they're 3 inch like mine).

They fitted in the TT projector mounts with just a little trimming of the projector's mounting lug; the light output and beam width is a LOT better and they've worked flawlessly for the last two years.

I did, however, manage to cant the projectors off-level by about 5 degrees each side [smiley=bigcry.gif] [smiley=bomb.gif]

Good luck!

/Al


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

David C said:


> djscoventry said:
> 
> 
> > These alternatives sound interesting but complicated to fit!
> ...


Buy a second pair of headlights and perform surgery on those, not your primary pair  You can use halogen headlights if funds are tight, but you'll have to swap your ballast and internal wiring loom over when fitting, unless you're handy with a soldering iron and plan to fit new ballasts, e.g. 55w FastBrights.

/Al


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## David C (Apr 15, 2013)

alexgreyhead said:


> David C said:
> 
> 
> > djscoventry said:
> ...


My original plan was to buy another set and rebuild those, then simply swap.
However I ended up doing it with the original set...

Several months afterwards I finally have a spare set, for spares...

But I'd highly recommend doing the mods on a spare set, it will be less stressful...!!


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## silkman (Jul 29, 2004)

I have too seen the sinolyn hid kits but I'll wait until someone provides feedback on them.

I have read the TT hid projector is the same as in a 3-series E46 bmw's lights (the ones made by bosch not zkw)? These too suffer from the reflector losing silvering over the years. And I'm surprised no decent spares exist that will fit with no modifications... Making a plastic reflector with good PVD finish is a good idea to make money on a part that costs something like $2-5 and can sell for $50.


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## David C (Apr 15, 2013)

silkman said:


> I have read the TT hid projector is the same as in a 3-series E46 bmw's lights (the ones made by bosch not zkw)?


Yes, the E46 with single Xenon Dip Beam use the same 2.5" projector.
But the E46 with Bi-Xenon use different 3" projector.

I searched A LOT too to find something that would be a direct fit, but there isn't anything.

Simplest is the RetroQuick kit using Morimoto Mini H1 projectors.


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## djscoventry (Jul 15, 2017)

Gosh this is a lot more complex and expensive than I had imagined. Shame!


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

Honestly, it's not really chap - the two easiest routes in my humble opinion are either David C's approach to put the Morimoto H1 2.5" projectors in and use an adaptor cable to fit the new bulbs to your existing bulb connector, or buy a pair of the 3" bi-xenon projectors such as these £40 Sinolyns which I've had in Shed for the last year:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SINOLYN ... 5c67gcqz50

You only need to trim a tab on the projector with a hacksaw, not the headlight's plastic projector mounting frame, and since they take the D2S bulb, you don't need to change any wiring. If you want the bi-xenon high-beam (and I promise you you do) then you only need to solder in the two wires for the shutter into your high-beam wires, too.

(Go on, give it a go - you know you want to  ).

/Al


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## David C (Apr 15, 2013)

alexgreyhead said:


> You only need to trim a tab on the projector with a hacksaw, not the headlight's plastic projector mounting frame, and since they take the D2S bulb, you don't need to change any wiring. If you want the bi-xenon high-beam (and I promise you you do) then you only need to solder in the two wires for the shutter into your high-beam wires, too.
> 
> (Go on, give it a go - you know you want to  ).
> 
> /Al


But..... you have admitted that your beams are rotated slightly, so not completely level.


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

Well, yes. What's your point?


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## McPikie (Jan 27, 2013)

alexgreyhead said:


> Honestly, it's not really chap - the two easiest routes in my humble opinion are either David C's approach to put the Morimoto H1 2.5" projectors in and use an adaptor cable to fit the new bulbs to your existing bulb connector, or buy a pair of the 3" bi-xenon projectors such as these £40 Sinolyns which I've had in Shed for the last year:
> 
> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SINOLYN ... 5c67gcqz50
> 
> ...


I'm liking the idea of this. I could do this whilst changing from grey inserts to black for my Avus.

So are you saying they literally swap from OEM, but the new projector needs a slight trim to make it fit?

Is there any way of testing how bad your OEM output is against these?


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

McPikie said:


> I'm liking the idea of this. I could do this whilst changing from grey inserts to black for my Avus.
> 
> So are you saying they literally swap from OEM, but the new projector needs a slight trim to make it fit?


Yup. As David C mentions above, you have to spend a bit of time getting them as level as possible and they might not be perfect (but a few degrees-worth of cant isn't going to cause problems for you or other road users).

One thing is you'll need a security Torx bit (I can't remember the exact size but I think it might be T25) - they're about a fiver from eBay and handy to keep around - to get the projector out.

I have one spare Sinolyn projector in the cupboard under the stairs, along with a pair of OEM TT HID projectors - happy to lend/give you them if you want to compare as I'm planning to build another pair of headlights for Shed using Morimoto D2S 4 projectors (same design but the optics are tweaked for a more-colourful cut-off), so the old projectors are going spare.



McPikie said:


> Is there any way of testing how bad your OEM output is against these?


Hmm. You could pick up a FastBright 55w ballast from Aliexpress and a new pair of Osram Xenarc bulbs, rig them up with the new projector, and wire it to a 12v bench power supply alongside your existing headlight to compare brightness. Not perfectly scientific but it would give you an idea of comparative brightnesses without taking the car apart.

The ballasts are cheap enough on Aliexpress (although there's a few crap copies out there so don't get the cheapest).

Avoid buying D2S bulbs on Aliexpress or eBay though as the market's flooded with fakes - make sure you get a decent set e.g. from Amazon. Most of the manufacturers are putting holograms on their bulb packaging now to combat the flood of fakes...

/Al


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## desertstorm (Apr 25, 2017)

My lights arrived yesterday, Just over a week to deliver, not bad for aliexpress. Might have a go at fitting them tomorrow. will take some piccies.


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## desertstorm (Apr 25, 2017)

Changed 1 of the new lights over today. Will do the other one tomorrow.
Works quite well, for £50 well worth it. For an easier fit the £250 option is always available.
https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9075421


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

desertstorm said:


> Changed 1 of the new lights over today. Will do the other one tomorrow.
> Works quite well, for £50 well worth it. For an easier fit the £250 option is always available.
> https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9075421


That looks brilliant, chap! I suspect you and I have the same Sinolyn projectors fitted now - 3" bi-xen Hella G4 replicas. They're excellent and the high-beams are stellar.

You'll definitely enjoy your hard work in the coming winter months 

/Al


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## thomp1983 (Nov 5, 2016)

I've read this thread and Karl's a few times, my lights output is terrible which I think is more the reflector has tarnished than the lense needs polishing. I've also one light that's damaged that needs replacing so Im interested in fitting the AliExpress units.

As I understand it they need a small amount of trimming as shown in Karl's thread which leaves the beam level slightly off horizontal, has anyone had any issues having them mot'd like this?

Cheers
Chris


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

thomp1983 said:


> they need a small amount of trimming as shown in Karl's thread which leaves the beam level slightly off horizontal


They _shouldn't_ need to be off-horizontal as long as you take your time, test-fit and adjust as necessary.

Mine are canted a couple of degrees anti-clockwise on the near-side, and clockwise on the o/s, so the beams are offset about half a foot at 25 feet - it's not particularly noticeable by the time you get to the less-bright edges of the beams and Shed's had no issues getting through the last two MOTs.

Good luck 

/Al


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## thomp1983 (Nov 5, 2016)

Thanks al think that's my black Friday purchase sorted


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## desertstorm (Apr 25, 2017)

The lights are not off horizontal The beam pattern is correct. The lights have a kick up on the near side to illuminate signs and pedestrians on the kerb.

https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk/th ... ment-24701


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

desertstorm said:


> The lights are not off horizontal


Just mine that are squiffy, then... [smiley=bigcry.gif]


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## thomp1983 (Nov 5, 2016)

I finally got around to fitting one of the sinolyn units today, it's a bit fiddly holding all the bits together whilst trying to drill the new holes but i got there in the end. before i started cutting the housing i marked it with a stanley knife across the level of the old metal piece that forms the beam pattern, using this mark i then had a reference point for leveling the sinolyn unit too.










as you can see the sinolyn unit on the left is considerably brighter and more defined than the oem unit on the right, tomorrow ill do the drivers light can't wait to test both lights together in full darkness


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

That's brilliant, and a really nice centre-weighted beam pattern without too much foreground.

Nice cut-off, too - that looks OEM!

I'm sure you'll enjoy your new night vision once they're done 8) 8)

/Al


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## Bouncypete (Feb 3, 2017)

Forgive me for asking the question but reading this thread it doesn't seem to be a big job to fit the Sinolyn units however reading this thread https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9075421#p9075421 it looks like there is quite a bit of work required including taking the lens off.

Is the conversion as per the link or is it simpler?

If so, how long would you estimate it takes to modify each light?


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## thomp1983 (Nov 5, 2016)

Hi, installation is as per desert storms thread but it really is alot simpler than it sounds. To remove the lenses I literally put them in the oven at 50 degrees for 10 minutes then gently prised them apart.

It probably took me 2 hours to cut down the housing and drill the new holes but I really was working slowly. I'd guess it'll take me an hour tomorrow to do the other side, it's not a difficult job to do just daunting at the start.


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## dannymcf33boiiii (May 11, 2018)

L.e.d's are awful on the tt... the light output is terrible, I tried it and lasted 3 weeks before putting normal bulbs back in. Managed to find an h.i.d kit in the end that fits perfectly.


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

dannymcf33boiiii said:


> L.e.d's are awful on the tt... the light output is terrible, I tried it and lasted 3 weeks before putting normal bulbs back in. Managed to find an h.i.d kit in the end that fits perfectly.


I'm confused now bud - who's mentioned LEDs? :-|

Edit: nevermind, I'm being daft; it's in the title.

I _think_ thomp1983 has just upgraded to better HID projectors, or he's fitted complete OEM-spec LED projector units like you get in the Toyota Prius etc.


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## thomp1983 (Nov 5, 2016)

I've fitted the same sinolyn lights as you and desert storm Alex, yes the title isn't appropriate but this thread wandered off onto the sinolyns so I thought it the best place to add to


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## Bouncypete (Feb 3, 2017)

thomp1983 said:


> Hi, installation is as per desert storms thread but it really is alot simpler than it sounds. To remove the lenses I literally put them in the oven at 50 degrees for 10 minutes then gently prised them apart.
> 
> It probably took me 2 hours to cut down the housing and drill the new holes but I really was working slowly. I'd guess it'll take me an hour tomorrow to do the other side, it's not a difficult job to do just daunting at the start.


I might just have a go at this, Thanks for the reply.


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

thomp1983 said:


> I've fitted the same sinolyn lights as you and desert storm Alex, yes the title isn't appropriate but this thread wandered off onto the sinolyns so I thought it the best place to add to


Ahh fair enough! Hope you enjoy them. I'm guessing they're bi-xenon, too?

/Al


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## thomp1983 (Nov 5, 2016)

Hi Alex, yes there bi xenon units so I've now 2 main beam lights, it's like daylight with them on


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## alexgreyhead (Oct 12, 2015)

I know - I love mine 

I've had to learn to say thankyou with the hazards when someone lets me out at night though so I don't blind anybody


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## desertstorm (Apr 25, 2017)

Good improvement Thomp, I really don't know why they didn't fit a Bi Xenon HID in the first place.


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## dannymcf33boiiii (May 11, 2018)

alexgreyhead said:


> dannymcf33boiiii said:
> 
> 
> > L.e.d's are awful on the tt... the light output is terrible, I tried it and lasted 3 weeks before putting normal bulbs back in. Managed to find an h.i.d kit in the end that fits perfectly.
> ...


Alex... I thought you was having me on then, until I finished reading it :L


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## McPikie (Jan 27, 2013)

I really want a set of these, but I'm about as mechanically minded as a caterpillar :lol:


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## thomp1983 (Nov 5, 2016)

that's both units fitted, the second picture is main beam


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## McPikie (Jan 27, 2013)

Lovely jubbly


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## David C (Apr 15, 2013)

thomp1983 said:


> that's both units fitted, the second picture is main beam


Remember you'll need to set the level and you should put them into adjustment mode with VCDS for that.


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