Daytime running lights

[white exec]

I've wasted lots of time wading through Ali Express, looking for LEDs. Search tools abysmal.
Specs often really vague, or deliberately misleading, including quoting "50watt" for LEDs, when what they mean is 50W tungsten-equivalent, or worse, a pack of 2 at "25W" each!!
Output specs often relate to one colour-choice, without stating which one.

Although I've used them for a couple of orders, delivery can be really slow. If possible, I try to find the same item on Amazon UK (or ES, or FR or DE), where (a) payment/refund is safe, (b) delivery (often from the same Chinese factories/sellers) is better.

I also object to be 'instructed' only to give Five Stars by a Chinese seller. Presumably, there are executions or roll-calls of shame where Stars are dropped. Not something that could even be imagined in Spain . . .

Some little gems, though, like the wonderful range of DEOK and DROK modules, available through Amazon.

When shopping on Amazon, the same 'bold' product title can be block-copied and dropped into ANY of their sites (.com, .de, .fr, es . . .) in the Search box, in English, irrespective of the language the site is operating in. (Product descriptions are pretty constant across their territories, it seems.) This can often get over the problem of "This item cannot be delivered to.....", or an unreasonably high shipping charge. Prices for a given item vary between Amazon territories. Amazon.de excels on its range of tools, and low inside-Europe delivery charges. Amazon.uk excels on the number of suppliers NOT willing to post to anywhere except the UK.

All good fun.

[myglaren]

Have you looked at Mouser.
Tons of stuff there - you could easily spend a lifetime looking.

[GiveMeABreak]

I've wasted lots of time wading through Ali Express, looking for LEDs. Search tools abysmal.
Specs often really vague, or deliberately misleading, including quoting "50watt" for LEDs, when what they mean is 50W tungsten-equivalent, or worse, a pack of 2 at "25W" each!!

Exactly - just don't do your resistance calculations using their descriptions! I've found very few (mostly on the UK sites) that will provide the actual power of the LEDs - they all tend to big up their 'wattage equivalents' that are woeful to be honest. When I've found one - look to see what their 'equivalent' output is then use that as a guide for other LEDs - and so far I think that I will be after an 8 Ohm 50W resistor for the LEDs I'm after - which seem particularly typical for this application. It really will be hit and miss without being able to find out the exact specs of the LEDs. Another thing, I'll have to remember to use 13.8V for the calculations, as the car will be using this current when running and not the 12 V of the battery.

I also object to be 'instructed' only to give Five Stars by a Chinese seller. Presumably, there are executions or roll-calls of shame where Stars are dropped. Not something that could even be imagined in Spain . . .

I know - I often get offered certain items from the Far East to review - but MUST give a 5 star review! - They are quite shocked when I wish them well, but decline insisting that my reviews are not for sale and if they can't stand up to proper scrutiny, then they shouldn't be in business.

When shopping on Amazon, the same 'bold' product title can be block-copied and dropped into ANY of their sites (.com, .de, .fr, es . . .) in the Search box, in English, irrespective of the language the site is operating in. (Product descriptions are pretty constant across their territories, it seems.) This can often get over the problem of "This item cannot be delivered to.....", or an unreasonably high shipping charge. Prices for a given item vary between Amazon territories. Amazon.de excels on its range of tools, and low inside-Europe delivery charges. Amazon.uk excels on the number of suppliers NOT willing to post to anywhere except the UK.

I've often found that I have to order some things from the German site too - good examples are DVD or Blu-ray imports of box sets or particular series that are not licensed for the UK. You might get season 1, 2 and 3 of something here, but have to get season 4 from Germany because the rights are owned by somebody else and they can't distribute it over here - completely crazy and antiquated - like a lot of the copyright and licensing laws - that do nothing for the end user.

[GiveMeABreak]

Have you looked at Mouser.
Tons of stuff there - you could easily spend a lifetime looking.

A very interesting site Steve - Ta muchly for the heads up - now added to my bookmarks.

[xantia_v6]

I have used Ali express twice, once to get a lexia clone, which with shipping to nz was half the price of getting it from the UK. The other was for a replacement remote control for a Panasonic sound system. In both cases, the product arrived promptly and was exactly as described. I got a few spammy emails following the lexia purchase, but they stopped after s few months.

[GiveMeABreak]

As it happens, I've just realised that I've had replacement cards through for the one I used on Aliexpress - so whilst on the phone advising the fraud department, I activated the replacements which have different security codes - so even better, that has now invalidated the old cards. I must say I feel a lot better now. After previously having some solar powered water pumps ordered on my account after staying in the Gambia and a bill for £6k when I got back (card details recorded from paying hotel bill), I tend to be a lot more paranoid than I was before!

I've just been browsing another site that had some similar LEDs (Gearbest.com) and that is another Chinese site that seems to have the same level of grief from disgruntled buyers - so this is rapidly putting me off transacting directly with any Chinese companies I am sorry to say. They are infiltrating Amazon now in a big way - there is just so much tat with fake pictures, you just don't know what you're getting these days.

[GiveMeABreak]

I've just managed to grab a screenshot from the history of that unfortunate session for you to see what I was on about - this is what they want you to upload before they will process the order! You'll have to click to read it.

[JohnD]

I bought a pair of these - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP24W-G4-13mm ... xyYSdS~Olk
but I haven't got around to fitting them yet.

[GiveMeABreak]

I bought a pair of those first time round John - but have since changed them for the brighter XB-D Cree version:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-HP24W-G4-CR ... 2548.l4275

[white exec]

I've been looking at several of types of that lamp, but with a T10/W5W-type base, and fitted a couple with Cree SMDs to the XM in the sidelights, with relay/dropper to give 'lights on' sidelight brightness.

Not really impressed with the brightness, which is stated as "25W" equivalent.
When looking at LED replacements, it's worth checking out the Lumens output of the LEDs against known tungsten/halogen equivalents. A standard 21W P21W tungsten bulb is 460 lm, for example.

If you look on either the Philips or Osram automotive lighting pages, you'll find the lumens output of all the standard lamps listed there.

[Paul-R]

I used Mouser to buy a special potentiometer that my brother needed to repair a MIG welder a couple of years ago. The service was good but, my-oh-my, the carriage charge was a kick in the nuts. I'm now on their emailing list and lots of interesting stuff appears there but I've had no need to buy anything more.

[GiveMeABreak]

So back onto the PH19W Angular lights, the reason I probably struggled (without wanting to break it) to get the bulb out was because I tried to separate the plastic 'collar' clamps and extract the bulb as shown. The grey collar came out, but there was something holding the pins in after a few mm. What I should of done was use a small blade screwdriver to extract the whole unit (also picture 1) from the holder as in the second picture. I put everything back together and it all worked until I get the replacements ordered.

As in the following picture, the whole bulb holder is such a non-standard fitting, the pin holes are quite thin and not too far apart. So a bit of soldering will no doubt be required to get sufficient pin length. The lugs have a specific size and position for securing to the headlamp, making any other type of bulb holder a non-starter. As for the PSA originals, it's not hard to see why an LED replacement should be a more cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing, fit & forget alternative looking at the current original replacement prices

HP24W DRL Bulb Only (1612860680) £21.70 Inc. VAT
HP24W DRL Bulb & Holder (6216 F6) £52.25 Inc. VAT
PH19W Angular Bulb & Holder (6216 F7) £44.47 Inc. VAT

[JohnD]

My bulb holders are quite different to yours Marc. Very difficult to extract them from the headlamp unit but no problem getting the bulb out.

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi John, apologies but this thread has been jumping between the DRLs ( the ones you are replacing) and the Angular cornering lights, which on the models with Bi-Xenons have a different bulb to the Halogen headlight models.

The reason it is mixed up is likely down to the similar LED replacements that will have to be used in both.

Yes, the holders are completely different and the HP24Ws are accessed from under the headlamp. I ended up using a dremel to drill a small hole on the holder and put a cable tie around to make a loop. I had the thread greased too to get them out easier and if I ever needed to change them again I can just use the loop to clasp it around my finger to stop it falling. I've already lost one last time when I changed them for the brighter ones (which I think you also might have done)

If you have the Halogen type headlights, then the cornering light takes a simple H7 - so plenty of options for replacing these easily enough. The one in my pictures is an obscure G4 fitting 19W bulb for the cornering lights on the B-Xenons.

[Xantippa]

Any idea why cornering light isn't H7 with xenon-headlights?