Bulb Replacement - Which are best?

Jerry*

Active Member
Aug 12, 2009
99
0
Leeds
My LCR seems to have Xenon bulbs fitted in the main headlamps, which are great most of the time and offer much brightness and give off a nice icy blue light.

These were on the car when I bought it last month and I'm pretty sure that there hasn't been a full on headlamp conversion done because the sidelights are just the normal yellowy halogen colour.

Anyway, the main reason for the post is that whilst the Xenon bulbs are pretty cool, they seem to go on and off alot when I'm driving, especially when I go over bumps in the road. In order to get them working again I have to quickly turn the headlamps off and on again and they are ok.

Is this a normal trait of Xenon bulbs with the standard wiring set up or are my bulbs on the blink?

Or are the bulbs fine but I seem to have bought a car with a wiring fault on the headlamps?

What sort of bulbs does the LCR take for the headlamps/sidelights? Are they normal H7 bulbs or are they another fitment, like H4 or H1?

Can the standard wiring loom cope 100% with Xenon bulbs or am I risking melting/fire?

Can anyone recommend a decent set of Xenon (or equally bright) aftermarket bulbs for my LCR that will just replace the current bulbs with the OE wiring set up and that won't cost the earth? I've seen loads on eBay, but I'm not sure which are worthwhile.

Any help would be much appreciated :D

J:)
 

Muttley

Catch that diesel!
Mar 17, 2006
4,987
31
North Kent
I'm probably flogging a dead horse here, but by Xenon doesn't mean HID. A Xenon bulb can be white, blue, or indeed any other colour you care to paint it.

Xenon is a gas, one of the unreactive "noble gases", and is often used to fill tungsten-halogen filament bulbs. So just saying "Xenon" isn't as helpful as you might think.

If you have ordinary filament bulbs in place and they look blue then they are probably painted blue to give a "pretend-HID" effect. This is only cosmetic, and actually reduces the light output. The bulb might well be filled with argon or nitrogen.

If you have a HID conversion, there will be extra electronics boxes stuck in the engine bay, the ballasts and striking circuits for the HID bulbs, and the bulbs will have no filament in them. The wiring for the HID bulbs will be additional to the standard loom.

The best filament bulbs are reckoned to be Osram Nightbreakers or Philps X-treme Power. Stay with 55 watt bulbs and you'll have no trouble with wiring or fuses. Higher wattage bulbs are illegal, and will tend to blow the fuses, but the wiring should be robust enough to cope.

Sidelights are always filament bulbs (no point in using HID). You can get blue-painted replacement bulbs.

On the Leon, the main beam bulbs are H1, dipped beam H7, fogs H3 and sidelights are 501 W5W.

As far as your inconsistent headlamps are concerned, is it just the main beams that are flickering? The only common factor is the light switch, so I'd look for a bad contact there. There is no relay in the lighting circuit.
 

Jerry*

Active Member
Aug 12, 2009
99
0
Leeds
Yes, thanks for that.

The point I'm making is that to the layman its hard to tell if my car has had a full HID type headlamp conversion done or if someone has just fitted super bright ice blue Xenon style bulbs to it.

Yes, I am well aware of the noble gases (I did science lessons at school too) but the reference to Xenon is purely to do with how many cars are available with a 'Xenon headlamp' fitment or with normal Halogen bulbs. I wasn't aware that the LCR was available with one from the factory that's all.

I am interested in your comments about 'extra electronics boxes stuck in the engine bay' because there does seem to be a small cigarette packet sized silver metal box tucked down the side of the battery that is loose and I haven't a clue what it is. I've not checked exactly where it is wired into so I can't be sure at this moment in time if it is even anything to do with the lights.

I think I will have a look around at some 55w bulbs from the manufacturers you describe.

I think as far as the bulbs going off are concerned (they don't flicker - they actually go out every now and then when you go over a bump in the road), then I'm still struggling. The lights are absolutely fine but periodically I go over a bump in the road and the passenger side light goes out completely. To cure the problem I just turn the lights off and on again and they come back on as normal.

I've tried checking the connections on the back of the bulbs and there is nothing loose and so maybe it is a problem with the switch itself. It seems strange though that if I turn them off and then on again they come back on fine?! :shrug:

Anyone else any ideas?

J:)
 

LEE69

Stage 2 Revo'd
Dec 10, 2004
21,262
74
C\UK\Devon\Torquay
I am interested in your comments about 'extra electronics boxes stuck in the engine bay' because there does seem to be a small cigarette packet sized silver metal box tucked down the side of the battery that is loose and I haven't a clue what it is. I've not checked exactly where it is wired into so I can't be sure at this moment in time if it is even anything to do with the lights.

Sounds like the ballast for HIDs.
Do the wires go into the headlamp casing?
 
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