Autobeam led headlights.

[Rumblestrip]

I took the plunge and bought some LED headlights for my Focus in the black Friday sale, 25% off. 

Ordering is easy, go to their website and click on vehicles, then click Ford, then Focus, then click MK3.5. The H7 LED headlight bulbs are there. Just for the MK3.5. 

Yet when it comes to fitting them, they don't fit. They aren't even made for a Ford Focus MK3.5. You see, the original light fitting has two little wires that clip the bulb holder into place. Im sure you've seen this...

 

Autobeam LEDs are much longer and don't have any fittings or wire frame to fix them in place. They're currently held in with the rubber cap from the headlight fitting but it isn't stable enough to hold them in place and the beam is all over the shop. 

So I've been in touch with 'Tom' from Autobeam support. Who tells me he has the same vehicle and has stuck his bulbs in place, which isn't ideal and advises me to go down the return and refund route. 

Makes you think why they would advertisr these as fitting a Focus when they don't. 

[ScorpionSX]

Autobeam (for low beams) is crap, return the ligths and get some Nightbreaker Lasers, or something similar. 

[Ryan_Tango]

Some of the Focus's have projector headlights looking at your profile picture you don't, so you shouldn't be using them anyway because on the Autobeam website they state they are for projector lenses only. Best option for you would be nightbreaker lasers had the in my Focus and when aligned properly they were great

[Rumblestrip]

3 hours ago, Ryan_Tango said:

Some of the Focus's have projector headlights looking at your profile picture you don't, so you shouldn't be using them anyway because on the Autobeam website they state they are for projector lenses only. Best option for you would be nightbreaker lasers had the in my Focus and when aligned properly they were great

I never noticed they were meant for projector lights. I've got Philips X-treme vision bulbs in, I've had Nightbreakers before and they don't last 5 minutes.  

[Wookie Monster]

I've had a yellow headlamp on the bike for a few years and it gives a much better light for night driving, particularly in the rain. Recently put some tinted H7 and H1 bulbs in my Focus and they work well, though not quite as yellow as the one on the bike. The total output is slightly reduced due to filtering, but the blue part that's filtered out is what causes the glare, and you're left with a better light to actually see by.

[Rumblestrip]

7 minutes ago, Wookie Monster said:

I've had a yellow headlamp on the bike for a few years and it gives a much better light for night driving, particularly in the rain. Recently put some tinted H7 and H1 bulbs in my Focus and they work well, though not quite as yellow as the one on the bike. The total output is slightly reduced due to filtering, but the blue part that's filtered out is what causes the glare, and you're left with a better light to actually see by.

Im after bulbs that throw out a further beam. I drive a lot on the A1 and it's always dark and would feel safer with a brighter longer light. 

[ScorpionSX]

Get these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Partol-H4-HB2-H7-H11-H8-H9-9003-Car-LED-Headlight-Bulbs-80W-9600LM-CREE-XHP50/32774450794.html

I tested them in both projector and reflector headlights, and they work very well and don't blind oncoming traffic. 

If you are unsure of the "Aliexpress brand", then notice that they are the same as these which are sold at extremely high price:

https://headlightrevolution.com/supernova-v-4-led-headlights-h7-bulbs/

[Rumblestrip]

58 minutes ago, ScorpionSX said:

Get these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Partol-H4-HB2-H7-H11-H8-H9-9003-Car-LED-Headlight-Bulbs-80W-9600LM-CREE-XHP50/32774450794.html

I tested them in both projector and reflector headlights, and they work very well and don't blind oncoming traffic. 

If you are unsure of the "Aliexpress brand", then notice that they are the same as these which are sold at extremely high price:

https://headlightrevolution.com/supernova-v-4-led-headlights-h7-bulbs/

But how do they lock in? That's the problem I had with the Autobeam ones, too big. 

[Abbadon]

Its a bit academic, only the Russian warehouse has stock right now, and they wont ship to the UK, only the spanish or chinese warehouses do.

You only find this out once you select a bulb variant, and china and spain grey out to select.

😞

[DJ_Andy_M]

LED in an reflector headlamp housing is going to be an instant MOT fail and earn you pulling points with which ever plod we have left in the country. The chips will not disperse the light in the same was a halogen bulb and never will. Just because people aren't flashing at you doesn't mean they are OK to use.

The output from aftermarket LEDs are going to be no where near that of a proper LED headlight setup out of the factory or a proper bulb.

[Wookie Monster]

On 11/29/2018 at 12:54 PM, Rumblestrip said:

Im after bulbs that throw out a further beam. I drive a lot on the A1 and it's always dark and would feel safer with a brighter longer light. 

That's more down to the headlamp itself than the bulb. It depends on the reflector geometry whether you end up with a narrow, long-range beam or a wider, shorter one. If the standard high beams aren't enough, you need to add a dedicated long-range spotlamp.

If you mean on dipped beam, there's very little you can do. The dipped beam pattern is regulated and well-defined, with a specified downward angle, so you can't extend their range. All brighter bulbs will do is make this same area brighter, which worsens your vision outside this area.

[ScorpionSX]

On 11/30/2018 at 8:42 AM, Rumblestrip said:

But how do they lock in? That's the problem I had with the Autobeam ones, too big. 

In my FF2 lights they lock just fine. The ring part is removable, so you can lock that in first and then just put the bulb in. But I didn't see them in any other lights, don't have another car with H7 bulbs to test them unfortunately.

What Andy says in a post above is technically correct, but today you can get LED Bulbs with such good pattern, that they are fully functional as a halogen replacement, without blinding other drivers. I personally have tested these bulbs with my friend and I wasn't blinded by his (reflector) headlights even on a bumpy road. So this very much depends on a quality and mostly build of the LEDs. Do not throw them all in the same basket. Although it is true that they are a MOT failure basically everywhere, though you might not get stopped by police, since you have pretty modern car which often uses xenon lights and I doubt that every police officer will inspect the headlights on every car that passes them. (knock knock on wood)

[F0CUE]

3 hours ago, ScorpionSX said:

In my FF2 lights they lock just fine. The ring part is removable, so you can lock that in first and then just put the bulb in. But I didn't see them in any other lights, don't have another car with H7 bulbs to test them unfortunately.

What Andy says in a post above is technically correct, but today you can get LED bulbs with such good pattern, that they are fully functional as a halogen replacement, without blinding other drivers. I personally have tested these bulbs with my friend and I wasn't blinded by his (reflector) headlights even on a bumpy road. So this very much depends on a quality and mostly build of the LEDs. Do not throw them all in the same basket. Although it is true that they are a MOT failure basically everywhere, though you might not get stopped by police, since you have pretty modern car which often uses xenon lights and I doubt that every police officer will inspect the headlights on every car that passes them. (knock knock on wood)

Can you post a pic of what the beam is like on your car plz?

[ScorpionSX]

I currently don't have the reflector headlights on my car, I use projectors and there the beam looks like basically standard projector beam with the  " __/¯ " pattern - it would be opposite in UK. 

When I will have some time to swap the headlights again I can post the pic, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon...

[F0CUE]

1 hour ago, ScorpionSX said:

I currently don't have the reflector headlights on my car, I use projectors and there the beam looks like basically standard projector beam with the  " __/¯ " pattern - it would be opposite in UK. 

When I will have some time to swap the headlights again I can post the pic, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon...

Ah ok no probs.

[ScorpionSX]

22 hours ago, F0CUE said:

Ah ok no probs.

But you can check out these guys, they tested them in many reflector housings and the beam pattern is pretty much the same, only it's more "curved" as is the EU/UK style of the pattern:

- see at about 5:50 where are them on the wall...no glare, no messed up beam pattern...this was the same with FF2 pre-facelift reflectors... 😉

[F0CUE]

11 hours ago, ScorpionSX said:

But you can check out these guys, they tested them in many reflector housings and the beam pattern is pretty much the same, only it's more "curved" as is the EU/UK style of the pattern:

- see at about 5:50 where are them on the wall...no glare, no messed up beam pattern...this was the same with FF2 pre-facelift reflectors... 😉

Yeh looks weird the pattern may try some for the sake of it as they are cheap enough.

[madmole]

You can get new bulb holders on eBay that replace the original ford ones and give you some more fitting g space around the LED. My experience was though that on the PFL Mk3 the beam patter was rubbish even with LEDS that mimic normal bulbs

I've fitted new Chinese projector lamps with bi-xenon function and put LEDS in, much better, but I did have to rebuild the units as when they come from China the focus and patterns were crud and they were so high, that even the adjusters couldn't compensate. SO avoid the Chinese lamps if you not prepared to disassemble (they went back for repair originally and came back even worse!)

Love the white light and pattern and now have 4 bulbs running in full beam mode

[zain611]

Yeah I bought some switchback fogs from autobeam back in the black Friday deal. Was going for about £30 and recently when I checked its now gone up to £40 (£5 more than the original price). Best to get their stuff whilst it's on sale as they sometimes up the price. 

With the switchback fogs they sadly don't fit my car. The fan unit makes it longer than the original bulb that it's touching the AC pump. Might keep them as I got them for a good price. 

 

Heres the colours it can give out: pure white, yellow and a warm white. 

[ScorpionSX]

On 12/4/2018 at 9:10 AM, F0CUE said:

Ah ok no probs.

Sooo I got to it actually pretty soon...here are pics with 4300K LED, 6000K LED and standard halogen (I think GE Megalight Ultra 120). I created the collages for the pics, it would be too much to upload I think...

These are all in reflector headlights, OEM for Focus mk2 pre-FL.

[F0CUE]

25 minutes ago, ScorpionSX said:

Sooo I got to it actually pretty soon...here are pics with 4300K LED, 6000K LED and standard halogen (I think GE Megalight Ultra 120). I created the collages for the pics, it would be too much to upload I think...

These are all in reflector headlights, OEM for Focus mk2 pre-FL.

Wow that's bright and I see the box fits in there too did u not have to buy stay clips for the bulb into the unit?

[ScorpionSX]

Yep, fits straight out of box, no clips needed. You can twist off the ring that is held in place by the stock headlight bulb clip, fix the ring in the headlight and then just twist the LED bulb in it’s place. 

This is for the pre-facelift though, I don’t know how they would fit on facelift lights. 

If the bulb wouldn’t be visible = subject to easily be seen by the police during a check, I would hapilly use the 6000K version all the time. It’s very very usable for everyday driving. 

[Jonro2009]

As mentioned above, there are extension clips you can get to secure the bulbs properly, sticking them in is just ludicrous. Why an Autobeam employee would suggest that is pretty ridiculous. Using the rubber cap, as you said does not keep the bulb seated properly but more importantly would probably melt the cap quite quickly.

Any LED/HID aftermarket kit is going to be an MOT fail regardless of it being a reflector or projector lens, wether or not there will be any consistency with the testing is anyone’s guess though.

Those bulbs in the last pictures look bright, there is also visible light scatter in the picture. I find it hard to believe they don’t annoy oncoming drivers.

Best advice is to use Osram or Phillips, however I’m lead to believe that the Halfords +150% bulbs are actually pretty good and usually on a BOGOF offer


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[Brett78]

does any one know where to get two of the plug ends or the name of them or who manufactures them Both of mine broke and I desperately need two 

[Russell_ely]

You need these bulb holder adaptors https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/led-bulb-holder-for-specific-ford-fiat-and-landrover-models-pair-tk116.html