LEDs and MOTs

[Allan T]

I've had my first MOT today since switching to LEDs last year, inside and out. I know a few people have held-back from changing because early LEDs produced some Test failures. The car breezed through. If you haven't done it already, I can't recommend it highly enough. Few things cost so little, and deliver such a huge difference. Duncan Rickards is your man - thanks Duncan - https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk

[Vic Butler]

I fitted LED sidelights, indicators, number plate light and stop/tail lights to my Land Rover a number of years ago together with clear lenses and never any trouble at MOT time. I didn't fit LED headlight bulbs though and the early ones did fail the MOT because of light scatter.
Did you fit LED headlights Allan?

[Allan T]

I did Vic.

The chips on the LED headlamp bulbs from Duncan follow the exact layout of the old tungsten/halogen ones, so although it's important you're starting with good headlamp reflectors and lenses, you get exactly the same beam pattern/light distribution, there's just more of it.

I think the early headlamp LEDs had the chips in all the wrong places, so the beam pattern was wrong, leading to MOT failures.

Less complicated, I think the early rear lamp bulbs only directed light backwards, they weren't visible from the side at all, and so failed MOTs. The current LEDs have the chips all-round, so they're visible from the side, just like old-tech tungstens.

Inside, it's like a new car. I can see my own instruments, not just those in the car alongside me at the lights. Swapping some of those was challenging though, and I'd recommend making friends with a highly-trained ferret.

[Charles Farran]

I have changed all the instrument dial lighting , the clock, cig lighter & heater & air controls to LED plus the head light main beam warning light & the rear number plate light as supplied by Duncan as per Allan. He was extremely knowledgeable about the spec for my car. He also provides different lengths of bulbs which are needed to ssve removing the existing (in my car's case) green filtes. He supplied me with warm white so the effect given was the same as the old bulbss , but much brighter. In the case of the main beam warning light i can now see it in broad daylight whereas before you would struggle to see it unless it was pitch black outside. Changing the main instrument bulbs is a pig & i found it necessary to remove the rev counter & speedo to deal with the fuel & temp guages. The oil pressure guage was impossible until i had the air vents & lower conslole out. The guages in the lower console & the cig lightter & curtesy kight require the removal of the lower console to gain access & it is a pig to get it back in place with the bulbs staying in place due to the wiring harness having very little slack in it. Obviously on older models this may not apply!
Despite the agro,definitely worth it,but you may want tp phase the changes to meet with any other repairs, modifications etc. to save having to repeat the frustrating exrcise of dismantling parts of the console.
Cheers, Charles

[Allan T]

Completely agree with Charles about the main-beam warning light's sudden new visibility, even in daylight. And the direction indicators are a lot harder to forget now, too. I didn't remove any instruments or the air vents, but in general the more access you can give yourself the better - I did spend a lot of time upside-down under the dashboard with a Maglite in my teeth!

I also agree about Duncan's warm whites. You'd think the lenses had been given an extra-good wash - everything is the same as before, but brighter, and it's not a gaudy brightness, it just feels right.

Outside, it's a simple case of unplugging the old tungsten bulbs and replacing them your new LEDs - except the headlights, where you need to find a home for a small i/c control box.

One wrinkle with LEDs is that if a lens is coloured, you need to match the bulb colour to it - it's not like tungstens, where you put clear/white bulbs everywhere.


Allan

[Vic Butler]

LED bulbs were in their infancy when I first fitted them but I changed them later for the up to date ones. I didn't fit headlight bulbs because the headlights and the bowls are plastic and it wasn't recommended because the heat sink needed a metal surface to soak into.

[Allan T]

Very good point about plastic headlights and bowls, Vic. They do run hot, and it would be worth checking with the lights and bowls manufacturers if they could take it.