Hella headlights

forthpilot

forthpilot

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Does anyone know of a compatible upgrade to original 120 mm headlights as fitted to Hymer etc. about 2000.
The originals are OK on full, but dire on dipped. I have been told there are limits to bulb upgrades due to heat
generated.
 
forthpilot

I’m pretty sure that all the round 120mm-diameter Hella headlamp units used by Hymer for their A-class motorhome 4-headlamp systems had a single filament halogen bulb, but I think the bulb type (H1, H3, H7 etc.) varied.

The standard ‘legal’ maximum wattage of this type of bulb is 55W, but higher wattage variants are available (link to Hella listing follows)

http://www.myhellalights.com/index.php/products/bulbs/halogen/high-wattage/

You will note that such bulbs are stated as being "For off-road use only”. Fitting bulbs with a higher-than-standard wattage (illegal for road use) should provide a noticeable higher light output. But (as you’ve touched on) the bulb will produce more heat that might well damage the headlamp unit, and require more 12V power that may overstretch the vehicle’s original cabling/fuses.

Your safest option would be to choose replacement upgrade bulbs that retain the original 55W wattage (so will not get any hotter) but are designed to produce a higher light output. This website provides a list of upgrade bulbs by ‘bulb size'

https://www.hids4u.co.uk/upgrade-bulbs/

and you’d need to identify which bulb(s) your headlamp units have (which might involve removing the bulbs to check) to establish what is available.

Unfortunately, even if an upgrade bulb offers (say) 150+% more light than the standard bulb, if the headlamp unit itself is the culprit (and Hymer dipped-beam Hella units have received plenty of historical criticism) do not expect miracles. Also be aware that the lifespan of upgrade bulbs (even ones with a top quality brand name) may be shorter than that of the standard bulb. However, replacing your dipped-beam unit bulbs with 55W upgrades should help...

It is possible to obtain LED versions of many halogen bulbs (example advert here)

https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/led-headlight-bulbs/

but retrofitting these is of dubious legality in the UK and - because they are generally a lot bulkier than the original halogen equivalents - there might be insatallation problems. In principle retrofitting to an around-Year-2000 motorhome should be technically OK, but there might be difficulties with later vehicles that have CANBus electrics.
 
The problem with fitting higher wattage , or led or hid bulbs to older design units is that they were never designed for that type of bulb , and because of physical limitations the later type bulbs do not have the filament/emitter in the correct focal point , so you get a lot of scatter , old saying power is no good without control . It may well be that poor performance can be improved by a new unit , where the reflector is in better condition .
 
If you find they are a standard Halogen bulb like H7's you can upgrade to something like an Osram Night Breaker that are still 55W but much brighter than standard.
Worth the small cost involved.
K ;)
 
andyjanet said:
I’m looking at buying from this company in a few months they have a wide range of led units

View attachment 53787
Click to expand...

You might want to read the ‘legality’ and ‘MOT test’ advice about LED bulbs on this website

https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/blog/are-led-headlights-legal-in-the-uk/

My understanding is that Truck-Lite.com is a USA website and that the headlamp units it markets do not meet European standards (eg. no E-marking).

(I have replaced UK VW Golf round headlamps in the distant past using USA VW Rabbit parts intended for sealed-beam units. This was very successful, but the work involved was challenging.
 
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Many thanks for the very helpful advice. The bulbs fitted are H7, and as the headlight panel has to come off to service and repair the eberspacher engine heater, I thought I would take the opportunity todo something about the lights.
 
I replaced the bulbs in mine with HID bulbs about nine years ago. Still excellent!
 
forthpilot said:
Many thanks for the very helpful advice. The bulbs fitted are H7, and as the headlight panel has to come off to service and repair the eberspacher engine heater, I thought I would take the opportunity todo something about the lights.
Click to expand...

This 2018 AutoExpress review covered H7 bulbs

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/97571/best-car-headlight-bulbs-group-test

As RV2MAX advised above, if poor dipped beam performance is due to deterioration of the headlamp unit, fitting a different bulb will not cure that. Nor will fitting a different H7 bulb magically improve the performance of the headlamp itself. I have higher light-output Philips H7 bulbs for main and dipped beam in my 2015 Ducato’s headlamps and the same bulb in my car’s ‘projector’ units. The Ducato’s dipped beam pattern and intensity is fine, but the car’s is poor (even with the higher output bulb) as a result of the headlamp unit’s design and operation.

Putting a ‘better’ H7 bulb into a Hymer’s small-diameter Hella 120mm dipped-beam headlamp unit should help (particularly if the present bulbs are old) but if the unit itself cannot produce an effective beam pattern, the lights will still not be wonderful. It’s a cheap enough option though, and afterwards, it would make sense to have the headlamps’ aim adhusted so that the ‘reach’ of the dipped beam units is as long as legally possible.

Regarding replacing H7 bulbs with HID (High Intensity Discharge) equivalents, Section 4.1.4 (Compliance with requirements) of the current MOT test regulations stipulates

Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with HID bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.
 
Mine has been not tested every year since then, by various testing stations. Never a problem. But then again, these lamps were also available with HID from new. So presumably they are type-approved for it. Or seem so enough to pass the MOT.
 
Are you referring to the round 120mm Hella headlamp units fitted by Hymer in the early-2000s? To the best of my knowledge these were only ever available with halogen bulbs.

(There’s no doubt that HID headlamps have been fitted as original equipment to cars and, consequently, will be fully legal in the UK and should present no problems at MOT-test time. It’s retrofitting a HID system to a headlamp that has a halogen-bulb as original equipment that falls foul of the MOT-test regulations.)
 
I always think I shouldn’t be driving at night, that’s what the big flat cushioned space is for in the back!!!!
Nor comfortable manoeuvring even onto drive at home or daughter’s, reverse lights are rubbish even with a camera!!!
 
UJ99 said:
Are you referring to the round 120mm Hella headlamp units fitted by Hymer in the early-2000s? To the best of my knowledge these were only ever available with halogen bulbs.

(There’s no doubt that HID headlamps have been fitted as original equipment to cars and, consequently, will be fully legal in the UK and should present no problems at MOT-test time. It’s retrofitting a HID system to a headlamp that has a halogen-bulb as original equipment that falls foul of the MOT-test regulations.)
Click to expand...
Possibly not. Mine are the little "glass eye" dipped headlamps. The main beam lamps have flat lenses and are fine with bulbs, but the dip ones were terrible.
 
Examples of the 120mm unit are as shown on this advert

https://tinyurl.com/rllkt8w

I think what you have are Hella 90mm-diameter headlamps, with the dipped-beam version being the projector type. An example is shown on this advert

https://tinyurl.com/ubc9fb6

The advert refers to the N+B Arto 69 model, but these Hella headlamps were fitted by plenty of other manufacturers of A-Class motorhomes. While the 120mm dipped-beam headlamps were sometimes criticised for poor performance, the 90mm ones were universally recognised as hopeless.

There are some extraordinarily inexpensive HID kits offered on-line, but some adverts warn that the potential for light ‘scatter’ makes them only suitable for retrofitting to projector headlamps. If I were in forthpilot’s shoes I’d swap the present halogen bulbs for 55W ‘uprated’ equivalents (which would be fully legal) and only go down the HID route if the replacement halogen bulbs still didn’t provide the anticipated improvement. A snag with Hymers (and with quite a few other A-Class motorhomes) is that a simple bulb change may require, at minimum, treble-jointed hands and a brain surgeon’s dexterity, or even significant dismantling of the motorhome’s front body parts to reach the rear of the headlamp. So halogen, LED or HID bulb changing is not a task to perform often.
 
Local coachwork closed until 13th April, but obviously that might be extended. I will go with the upgraded 55W. but I remember the job I had when I changed one about 6 years ago, so the professionals can have the hassle this time.
 
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