LED sidelights for facelifts B5 S4s

[rikrose]

All,

My car was winking suggestively to other cars, and so when replacing them I decided to take the plunge on LED sidelights. I don't use sidelights for illumination - I have HIDs for that. Effectively, my sidelights are just running lights.

I ordered a pair of UH6W1W+ H6W BAX9 LED sidelights, from ultraleds.co.uk, paying 11.50, including shipping.

They're a single Luxeon LED in a big-ass package, with a sodding enormous heat-sink surrounding them. This is important! The main problem LEDs have with longevity is temperature. If they get hot for extended periods of time, then their lifetime significantly degrades. The minimum recommended distance between these bulbs and an incandescent bulb is supposed to be about 3 inches. We're running at about an inch and a half away. So basically, time spent with high beam on is time spent killing these. D'oh.

Fitting was easy - just make sure to look at your sidelight bulb and grab for that one, rather than your high-beam bulb. It's an interference fit, meaning that it's just a push-in, and friction holds it in place. Unlike other writes that say "We assume you know how to remove your air intake", I didn't actualyl know, but it's simple enough that I figured it out - on the driver's side, you need to remove the two screws that hold the air intake in, then lift the rear section of air intake up, in order to get enough freedom to remove that pipe. This allows access to the headlight assembly on that side. Reverse those steps to replace.

They lights worked first time, but since I was clever enough to change them in daylight, I haven't seen what sort of light output they have. I'll post a picture later, if it's at all interesting.

The main reason I'm writing this report though, is because ultraleds have decided to phase out selling thier automotive bulbs. They're going to sell their existing stock, but not renew any of it, so if you're thinking about trying these out, now might be a good time to do so.

[s4woody]

i had a set of led's in my S4..ultraled's was the place i got mine..looked wicked but didnt give off to much lite..just complemented the xenon's...

[JohnRet.]

Thanks for that,

I just ordered a pair and I would be interested to see a picture if you have one

[SLC Detailing]

Echo what woody says the LED's he fitted look quality.

[Turbo Joe]

Awaiting the results mate. Post up pics as soon as!

[Turbo Joe]

The main complaint from folks is that these leds didn't give off that much light like woody said. Has this situation changed and improved?

[UKS4APR1]

I used these ones...........
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2pcs-168 ... QQtcZphoto
Note LED'S rated 1W are pretty bright and are made up of six individual LED's in one package

[JohnRet.]

Have you got any pictures then?!

[Virdee Autos]

I've heard people on the TT forum have alot of issues with those LED's from Ultraleds. One person lost both of his sidelights within a week!

Can anyone on here comment?

[rikrose]

Okay, they're Luxeons. Unfortunately, they're different bins - so they're different colours. I'll order 2 more, and make 2 maatched pairs, and put the other up for sale for cost, if anyone's interested.

Photo:
[img]modules/pnCPG/Coppermine/albums/userpics/16950/rs246_norm_led-sidelights-sm.jpg[/img]

[rikrose]

I've heard people on the TT forum have alot of issues with those LED's from Ultraleds. One person lost both of his sidelights within a week!

Can anyone on here comment?

If you get the 6 LED ones, without the massive heatsink, then yes, this is pretty much expected. The TT's main beam and sidelight are even closer together than ours, and they guy probably drove with full-beam on for the week.

This is why I posted that these are the ones to use. I did, in fact, do my research first...

[MarkB]

Okay, they're Luxeons. Unfortunately, they're different bins - so they're different colours. I'll order 2 more, and make 2 maatched pairs, and put the other up for sale for cost, if anyone's interested.

They look better than my LED's. have you anymore pictures?

pm me how much you want.

[JohnRet.]

Can you explain why they are different colours for me?

I've just ordered the same ones as you and I hope mine aren't like that!

[rikrose]

Can you explain why they are different colours for me?

I've just ordered the same ones as you and I hope mine aren't like that!

Okay - this is where I show that I'm a geek...

The process of making LEDs isn't quite as standardised as they'd love you to believe. There's colour variance, current draw variance, and all sorts, even across the neighouvring LEDs as they come off the line. So what they do is test every single LED, and rate it according to colour, current draw and a couple of other minor things. They group them together into big bins full of similar ones.

What I've got is one LED that's correct, and one that emits a slgihtly different colour (more green in this case) that has been mis-binned. It happens, every so often.

I have a couple of ways forward - firstly, I can return this green one for an exchange, but then I'll be without a sidelight for a couple of days. Or, I can order a new pair and pair up the best ones, or I can find out what they say tomorrow.

So, here's what I propose. I'll call ultraleds tomorrow and find out what they'd want to do. In the meantime, if JohnRet's show up and they're mismatch, we can see about swapping to get a matched pair.

MarkB: I'm not looking to make any money, just match a pair up and sell on at cost - they were 11.50 with shipping, and that's what I'd sell them on for.

[MarkB]

Sorry, I missed the beginning of the thread so didn't see.

I'm thinking I might go back to standard bulbs actually. All the LED's are a bit bling for me.