Maybe not a new thing but was looking at a review of an Autobeam kit replacing HID bulbs with an LED type. 
 

Have never really been happy with my HIDs in Mk2.5 Focus, tried several recommendations such as Osram Xenarc, Philips Cool Vision etc but low beam just stays too dim. While it’s the same HID for high beam it also uses a H7 bulb and is generally ok. 
 

LED versions do look a lot brighter but obviously there’s a bit more to it than that

Also any other supplier suggestions? While Autobeam have a website to take orders their support is all thru Facebook which is a bit annoying

Thanks

Changing your HID's to LED will mean the car will fail it's MOT each year unless you keep swapping them back for the test.

11 hours ago, unofix said:

Changing your HID's to LED will mean the car will fail it's MOT each year unless you keep swapping them back for the test.

On a previous car, I use to swap out my upgraded HIDs back to halogen for MOT. One year I forgot, nothing was said, so I never swapped them again LOL

Many Focus MK2/MK2.5 and MK3/MK3.5 vehicles (and other cars of this era) with HID lights suffer from corroded (dull) reflectors inside the projectors of the headlights. The corroded reflectors cause a drastically reduced light output.

So the first step will be checking the condition of the reflectors inside the projectors. If the reflectors are corroded/dull it needs to be solved first before even considering an LED conversion. 

The Autobeam D3S LED bulbs are well known within the Ford community for its light output and quality. However Autobeam is just a seller and not the manufacturer. The exact same D3S LED bulbs can be found on AliExpress from various sellers for about half the price of Autobeam.

HID to LED conversions are illegal in all European countries. European law prescribes that HID bulbs with H sockets and LED bulbs with H, D, B and T sockets are not allowed on public roads. In many countries however HID and LED conversions are fully tolerated and not assessed during the equivalent of the MOT.

 

On 10/9/2022 at 10:20 AM, JW1982 said:

Many Focus MK2/MK2.5 and MK3/MK3.5 vehicles (and other cars of this era) with HID lights suffer from corroded (dull) reflectors inside the projectors of the headlights. The corroded reflectors cause a drastically reduced light output.

So the first step will be checking the condition of the reflectors inside the projectors. If the reflectors are corroded/dull it needs to be solved first before even considering an LED conversion. 

 

Just to follow up on this I’ve done some more research and as above everything points to the reflectors having deteriorated over time so I’ve got a replacement set of headlamps to go in this weekend hopefully. Not the cheapest fix but plan A to get upgraded reflectors, cut open the housings etc wasn’t feasible while the car is my daily transport.
 

So the lights should work well with one of my sets of upgraded D1S lamps (boo-boo in the title of this post) but I’d expect the reflectors won’t last forever.  
 

Back to the subject of the LED kits, do these give off less heat than the equivalent HIDs so giving the reflectors an easier time?

The reflectors inside the projectors are usually affected by UV light from the HID bulb and not by heat.

HID bulbs produce a lot of UV light. To prevent the output of UV light to the outside world the projector lenses contain UV filters. The reflectors inside the projectors however are directly exposed to the UV light.

There are generally 2 types of white LED bulbs. There are LED bulbs that use RGB to generate white light and there are LED bulbs that use UV light to generate white light. Almost all of the automotive replacement LED bulbs with H or D socket are produced in China and use UV light to generate the bright white light that people want. During time these lights will also affect the reflectors inside the projectors.

Brilliant explanation JW1982 thanks 👍, I wasn’t aware of any of that. I’ll stick with the HIDs then - fitted the new lamps today and put my set of Osram Nightbeakers in them, left the Cool Visions in my old lamps in case I need to refit them in the future. Fitted the lamps individually so got to compare old to new and the projector lens looks a lot clearer, old one seemed cloudy in comparison. No idea what they were like when the car was new. 
 

With the life of the reflectors, I’m running the HIDs as daytime running lights - a mod for auto headlamp cars I picked up on years ago just needed couple of extra fuses, a relay and a wiring link across 2 of the GEM connectors. Wondering if I back that out now 😕