Replacing VS30 fog lights?

sulkorp

Member
I highly doubt that the LEDs will put out anywhere near the amount of heat that halogens will.

Especially those halogens which are higher wattage. Halogen bulbs generate a TON of heat, which is why they are often used as heaters.

I'm happy this thread exists, as I was going to order higher wattage halogens due to not throwing a code. I've ordered a set of 45w, and will give some feedback if anyone wants it later.
 

Eric B

Well-known member
FWIW my Baja Designs LP9 put out a noticeable amount of heat from their big finned housings ... you can almost warm yourself by standing by them ... it is 9 led’s per unit though so ...

I was wondering about the built in fan on these leds you guys are getting - is there really room for that much air flow if everything is capped off by the big rubber cap on the back of the headlight unit ?

Not criticizing / just asking ...
 

Michlb

Active member
I drove yesterday for about 2 hours with lights on, and then stopped to make sure my van would not catch fire :) The housing was just warm, and it was barely noticeable through the rubber cap that goes over the bulb housing. I didn’t check out each individual part, only the electronics that are supposedly helping to adjust to the voltage of the car and avoid flicker. I guess they are effectively making the LEDs appear like halogens to the rest of the van electronics. These parts were warm, but not hot at all.

I just checked whether the LED housing really contains a fan and yes it does. You can clearly feel the slight vibration. I guess this will put a natural end of life to the LED system at some point. But I didn’t feel any noticeable air flow coming out or into the unit.

The overall design is of course absolutely horrible. Having to stuff the LED system, the round thing attached to it, and then this flicker preventer thing into the headlight assembly works, but is not exactly confidence inspiring. But so far, these babies are doing their jobs. Even if they would die on me in a year or less, I would use them again, the light is so much better.

Bear in mind that we are only talking about the low beam bulb though. I have not replaced the high beam, and things may look very different there. For starters, I think the housing of the high beam bulb is significantly smaller than the low beam bulb. Plus, the high beam bulb would likely put out significantly more energy, and hence produce more heat. I personally don‘t make searching for high beam LEDs a priority. My main issue with the halogens were the low beam visibility.

The only downside right now is with high beam, the low beam white LED light and the yellow halogen light of the high beam overlap each other. Definitely looks weird, but it is not a big deal.
 

sulkorp

Member
I've installed the 45w 6000k w/anti-flicker and it went without issues.

As it is still winter, and there is a lot of road salt and grime, I've kept the anti-flicker and heatsink inside the assembly. I'll probably move them out when the warmer weather comes around.

They are defintley waaaay brighter than stock. Very happy with them.
 

chriszep

Member
Anyone have luck with the fog lights/ high beams? I got the Low beams ( haven't had time to install them...) and would do all the lights if possible!
 

Michlb

Active member
FWIW ... something to consider for all of us replacing their halogens ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnD_sDWNjEw


There is no question that the Xenon Pro LEDs create a huge field of light instead of the directed pattern you get from the halogen. But

- the result is still brighter than halogens
- I have not had anybody flash their headlights at me, so I don’t think I’m blinding anybody
- they work with the VS30 electronics

I haven’t watched the whole video but I did hear that these LED cause any damage. I also did not notice anything such as excessive heat so far. By and large, they work ok.

If there is anything better, I would gladly replace them. But it needs to work out of the box. I would even spend some money on replacing my headlight assemblies altogether, and put the professional MB lights in. Only I don’t want to be the first one who tried this, and it’s also cost-prohibitive right now. Maybe we can eventually buy LED headlight assemblies on eBay for a fraction of the current original MB parts price from damaged vehicles.
 

Eric B

Well-known member
I noticed when I get behind someone they start waving at their inside rear view mirror
Combination of high 4x4 vs low car but the extra brightness of the led probably has something to do with it

As expected I did notice that there is a lot more light all over the place with the LEDs in

I can see the point in putting the LED right where the halogen filament would have been - that makes some sense to me

I’m willing to give the HR H7 bulbs a try and report back
 

Michlb

Active member
I’m willing to give the HR H7 bulbs a try and report back

Yes, I’ve got an RWD on stock wheels so possibly not as much of an issue.

Did the HR folks say that they have a LED bulb that works with the 2019? If so, would be great to try it out! I have found that the LED were the single most important thing that significantly improves my driving experience. I would have definitely waited for a van with LEDs if I had known. Now all we can do is look for the best LED bulb on the market.
 

Michlb

Active member
FYI I spoke with HR

They confirmed that the only LED H7 bulbs they have that officially work with CANBUS are their own brand HR V4

I've got a set inbound to test / compare with the stock halogens and the XenonDepot ones mentioned in this thread

Would be great if these would work! Two directions, made for the Halogen reflectors. Hopefully not too much ballast hanging off of these things.

Thanks for being the beta tester! Merc could make a fortune retrofitting their high performance LED package.

Not clear what the LEDs have to do with CANBUS though. I’m sure there is a signal on CANBUS that switches the lights on, but isn’t that upstream from the actual LED?
 

Eric B

Well-known member
The LEDs from XenonDepot came with separate anti-flick / warning cancellers as a separate add-on purchase.
Without these, LED bulbs won't work on our CANBUS VS30 Sprinters.

The HR V4 bulbs have the anti-flicker tech built-in from what I was told
The other brands of H7 type LEDs sold at HeadlightRevolution apparently do not - that's what they told me over the phone.

So TBD
 

Michlb

Active member
Hope that will work!! Less cables hanging around. The HR guys seem competent but you just find no reference about Sprinters on the Website. Glad you called.
 

Michlb

Active member
So no one has successfully replaced the H-11 fog lamp bulbs with LED?
I have ordered these to get a better,brighter,whiter light than the yellow bulbs the van came with. These should not show a fault in the can bus since they are still halogen bulbs.

Good point, still need to do this. Right now I have super bright white LED low beam and yellow OEM Halogen high beam. Looks ridiculous.

I had the Sylvania H7’s before I put in the LEDs, and it was already a big improvement. These are basically Osram’s so same vendor as OEM just bright and whiter light.

Not sure why nobody has yet come out with LES high beam but it’s probably more involved. Brighter, more LED emitters, more heat etc
 

sanomechanic

Well-known member
Good point, still need to do this. Right now I have super bright white LED low beam and yellow OEM Halogen high beam. Looks ridiculous.

I had the Sylvania H7’s before I put in the LEDs, and it was already a big improvement. These are basically Osram’s so same vendor as OEM just bright and whiter light.

Not sure why nobody has yet come out with LES high beam but it’s probably more involved. Brighter, more LED emitters, more heat etc
I used these Silver Star bulbs in a Lexus GX. They were a very huge improvement and kept the beam of light nice and tight like the OEM bulb. Most of these aftermarket " Chinese" LED replacement bulbs are indeed very bright and white , however the light emitted is scattered from not being refracted properly the headlamp assembly. This can be blinding to oncoming traffic
 

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