C70 LED/Bulb upgrades?

[Rocky2]

Love the lights on the front of mine,but not impressed that much by there output.. Has anybody upgraded there’s and if yes any recommendations??

[andy_d]

Originally Posted by Rocky2

Love the lights on the front of mine,but not impressed that much by there output.. Has anybody upgraded there’s and if yes any recommendations??

a few
IF they are the Same lights as the C30/S40/V50
easy and cheap LEGAL upgrade - change the projectors

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=239889
Start there

projector thread

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=263340


LED bulbs - illegal , end of story
Retrofitting HID units - illegal end of story
so dont bother with either of those
*hid kits will also fubar other electrics under the bonnet unless £££ spent on additional items, pointless as illegal

you Wont NEED a "hid" kit if you are going from volvo halogen projectors to the halogen projectors from that thread,

[T5R92011]

It is probably easier in the long run to just buy a new set of headlamps.

[andy_d]

Originally Posted by T5R92011

It is probably easier in the long run to just buy a new set of headlamps.

as long as they dont have tarnished or burnt off reflectors in the projectors If second hand
New price V price of the replacement projectors sits Firmly in favour of the projectors

[eagle58]

I bought these for my C70:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-577...1224146&sr=8-2

Haven't put them in yet yet but they are better supposedly.

[Willber G]

Originally Posted by eagle58

I bought these for my C70:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-577...1224146&sr=8-2

Haven't put them in yet yet but they are better supposedly.

I got the WhiteVision. A definite improvement.

[iainmd]

Originally Posted by Rocky2

Love the lights on the front of mine,but not impressed that much by there output.. Has anybody upgraded there’s and if yes any recommendations??

Cue the wrath of the masses but here I go....

On my previous S40 I changed the projector units for new coupled with Osram Nightbreaker Plus. It made a difference for sure.

On the facelift V50 I tried to access the appropriate bolts to remove the projectors and found it way harder so I went down the LED route. Yes, I know it's not legal but here's my experience.

I replaced the H7 halogen bulbs with ones specifically designed for Projector H7 housings link here.

The bulbs must be installed with the LEDs pointing downwards looking like this from the front ^

The bulbs come with no instructions which doesn't help but to install the mounting ring pulls off the H7 bulb and you mount that first to the projector. The LED bulb then pushes into the mounting ring at the rotation angle you choose. As mentioned the LEDs should point downwards.

I have switched the beam flattening lever usually used for driving abroad on both sides as all LED and Xenon systems I've encountered have a flat beam
___ ___
rather than the usual Halogen beam
\___ \___

There is no dazzling other drivers and the car passed an MOT without issue. The LEDs I bought were the only ones I could find that were both designed for projector units and compact enough to fit into the V50 lamp unit. The heat created seems to be low enough not to cause me concern and the built-in CANBUS error cancelling works well. The error cancelling developed a fault after 9 months but ABD happily swapped them under warranty.

Ultimately the V50 headlamps are now usable, probably better than the S40 with replacement projectors and upgrade halogen bulbs. They aren't quite as good as the OEM LED units on my previous 3 series but the huge advantage over any halogen solution is that I'm not replacing a bulb every 3-6 months. That's about all I used to get out of halogen bulbs given they were on all the time.

I resisted the lure of LEDs for a long time due to the legality issues and the poor quality of many earlier units. At £70 I've no regrets for solving the problem.

[andy_d]

Originally Posted by iainmd

Cue the wrath of the masses but here I go....

On my previous S40 I changed the projector units for new coupled with Osram Nightbreaker Plus. It made a difference for sure.

On the facelift V50 I tried to access the appropriate bolts to remove the projectors and found it way harder so I went down the LED route. Yes, I know it's not legal but here's my experience.

I replaced the H7 halogen bulbs with ones specifically designed for Projector H7 housings link here.

The bulbs must be installed with the LEDs pointing downwards looking like this from the front ^

The bulbs come with no instructions which doesn't help but to install the mounting ring pulls off the H7 bulb and you mount that first to the projector. The LED bulb then pushes into the mounting ring at the rotation angle you choose. As mentioned the LEDs should point downwards.

I have switched the beam flattening lever usually used for driving abroad on both sides as all LED and Xenon systems I've encountered have a flat beam
___ ___
rather than the usual Halogen beam
\___ \___

There is no dazzling other drivers and the car passed an MOT without issue. The LEDs I bought were the only ones I could find that were both designed for projector units and compact enough to fit into the V50 lamp unit. The heat created seems to be low enough not to cause me concern and the built-in CANBUS error cancelling works well. The error cancelling developed a fault after 9 months but ABD happily swapped them under warranty.

Ultimately the V50 headlamps are now usable, probably better than the S40 with replacement projectors and upgrade halogen bulbs. They aren't quite as good as the OEM LED units on my previous 3 series but the huge advantage over any halogen solution is that I'm not replacing a bulb every 3-6 months. That's about all I used to get out of halogen bulbs given they were on all the time.

I resisted the lure of LEDs for a long time due to the legality issues and the poor quality of many earlier units. At £70 I've no regrets for solving the problem.

*tips hat
one of the Very few to take the faff and steps needed to make sure your not blinding/dazzling oncoming traffic and install "new tech" in as close a manner as practical to "what the car came with"
£70 is a lot less than brand new lights from volvo and on a par with Decent 2nd hand units,


main reason i put the "end of story" is the Vast % that dont install things anywhere Near properly/correctly even With instructions (and pictures for the sun/daily wail readers, dont think of other users and "FU i can see"
there always IS an exception, thank you for being That one who gives a hoot about oncoming traffic and not wanting to be "normal noman" who doesnt give a flying

[Tiggerbits]

Originally Posted by iainmd

Cue the wrath of the masses but here I go....

On my previous S40 I changed the projector units for new coupled with Osram Nightbreaker Plus. It made a difference for sure.

On the facelift V50 I tried to access the appropriate bolts to remove the projectors and found it way harder so I went down the LED route. Yes, I know it's not legal but here's my experience.

I replaced the H7 halogen bulbs with ones specifically designed for Projector H7 housings link here.

The bulbs must be installed with the LEDs pointing downwards looking like this from the front ^

The bulbs come with no instructions which doesn't help but to install the mounting ring pulls off the H7 bulb and you mount that first to the projector. The LED bulb then pushes into the mounting ring at the rotation angle you choose. As mentioned the LEDs should point downwards.

I have switched the beam flattening lever usually used for driving abroad on both sides as all LED and Xenon systems I've encountered have a flat beam
___ ___
rather than the usual Halogen beam
\___ \___

There is no dazzling other drivers and the car passed an MOT without issue. The LEDs I bought were the only ones I could find that were both designed for projector units and compact enough to fit into the V50 lamp unit. The heat created seems to be low enough not to cause me concern and the built-in CANBUS error cancelling works well. The error cancelling developed a fault after 9 months but ABD happily swapped them under warranty.

Ultimately the V50 headlamps are now usable, probably better than the S40 with replacement projectors and upgrade halogen bulbs. They aren't quite as good as the OEM LED units on my previous 3 series but the huge advantage over any halogen solution is that I'm not replacing a bulb every 3-6 months. That's about all I used to get out of halogen bulbs given they were on all the time.

I resisted the lure of LEDs for a long time due to the legality issues and the poor quality of many earlier units. At £70 I've no regrets for solving the problem.

Hey,

I think this has just answered a good few of my questions while looking for some LED bulbs.
As I do around 30k miles a year I am forever going through bulbs and want somehting bright and clear that will last.

Can I ask a couple questions before I buy a pair.
did you find them a tight fit with cabling in the headlight unit or was it not so bad?
And, how do they perform in wet/rainy conditions? I ask as I have had a few "white" bulbs that look nice from the front but do not aluminate anything!

Thanks

[iainmd]

Originally Posted by Tiggerbits

Hey,
did you find them a tight fit with cabling in the headlight unit or was it not so bad?
And, how do they perform in wet/rainy conditions? I ask as I have had a few "white" bulbs that look nice from the front but do not aluminate anything!

Cabling wise, there was sufficient room in the units as there's very little bulky cabling with these LEDs. The CANBUS unit in the connector cable is accommodated easily in the housing.

I'm very happy with the lights in wet and rainy conditions. I've driven the length of the UK in all sorts of conditions and they are certainly an improvement over the original halogens or upgrade halogen bulbs.