LED lamps

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fixitflav

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I’ve recently bought a Hyundai i30 which has a number of LED bulbs. Never had these before, and I’m trying to find out a bit about them, partly for curiosity, partly as I want to take it abroad and need a spare bulb set to flash to the gendarmes.

The Hyundai data I have just says LED, but doesn’t give a reference, like eg H4 for halogens, and doesn’t give wattage. I found this site, which gives a bit more detail HYUNDAI i30 Bulbs. Prices quoted are a bit of a shock!

What I’d like to know is

1. Do LEDs have longer life than halogens?

2. Do they use less power for a given light output?

3. Are they replaceable in the usual way? Except that on the Hyundai headlamps, so hard of access probably need to remove the whole unit, so not a roadside job.

Grateful for any comments!
 
fixitflav said:
I’ve recently bought a Hyundai i30 which has a number of LED bulbs. Never had these before, and I’m trying to find out a bit about them, partly for curiosity, partly as I want to take it abroad and need a spare bulb set to flash to the gendarmes.
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As per the above reply. I wouldn't worry too much about carrying actual replacements, you extremely unlikely to need any. What I would do is just buy and carry a general purpose set of ordinary lamps, just to show the police should they ask to see them. It's become a stupid law, brought in back when lamps were accessible. Replacing lamps, especially LED lamps, is no longer a road side repair possibility.
 
fixitflav said:
I’ve recently bought a Hyundai i30 which has a number of LED bulbs. Never had these before, and I’m trying to find out a bit about them, partly for curiosity, partly as I want to take it abroad and need a spare bulb set to flash to the gendarmes.!
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I have never read or heard of this happening to anybody. As Harry says, just put a selection of different bulbs in a box as an alibi in case you become the 1 in 100 000

Do you know that French law requires you to have a valid (by date ) alco-test in your car ? The nonsense thing is that there is no sanction of any type if you don't have one.

You do need one hi-vis vest and one warning-triangle to meet minimum legal requirements. One other thing that could catch out foreign motorists could be the requirement that you have identical tyres on the same axle: pretty unlikely to be done for that, but garages have told me it happens.
 
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mointainwalker said:
I have never read or heard of this happening to anybody. As Harry says, just put a selection of different bulbs in a box as an alibi in case you become the 1 in 100 000

Do you know that French law requires you to have a valid (by date ) alco-test in your car ? The nonsense thing is that there is no sanction of any type if you don't have one.

You do need one hi-vis vest and one warning-triangle to meet minimum legal requirements. One other thing that could catch out foreign motorists could be the requirement that you have identical tyres on the same axle: pretty unlikely to be done for that, but garages have told me it happens.
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Those are very sensible items to always have in the car anyway, I always carry them all the time, no matter where I go. I also carry a couple pack of spare lamps, but only because my car is a mix of LED and tungsten whilst my caravan uses all tungsten. All of the important lamps on my car and any trailer it happens to be towing, are constantly monitored for failures and a warning would come up on the dash explaining which lamp had failed. Even so, I have not had a single lamp fail on any of my own vehicles for 20 years. My last last lamp failure was a brake light, on my company car, just in time for it's first MOT.
 
I vaguely recall a requirement to tape the beam as well, though I think a lot a of cars can do this from the dashboard. i.e. to avoid dazzling the oncoming car. and of course you need a GB sticker now.
 
I thought the change was down to the UK government.

In these days of inclusivity they were upset about leaving out part of the country - Northern Ireland.
 
Thanks everybody for the comments. Helpful and reassuring. As suggested, I’ll take a selection of spare bulbs to show le plod.

I used to go over quite regularly (in a previous car) before Covid. I believe you need a hi-vis for each occupant, which must be in the car, not the boot (the hi-vis, not the occupants).

I don’t bother with beam deflectors, I just wind the headlamps right down. I’ve chatted to HGV drivers while queuing at ports, and they don’t do anything. Breathalysers – in theory needed, but never enforced, so no need to carry them. Of course the ferry operators tell you you need breathalysers and everything else, which naturally are available in the on-board shop!

About the sticker – I suppose GB (with nothing about EU on it), as opposed to UK is acceptable, does anybody know?

Thanks again
 
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motorbiking said:
I vaguely recall a requirement to tape the beam as well, though I think a lot a of cars can do this from the dashboard. i.e. to avoid dazzling the oncoming car. and of course you need a GB sticker now.
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Some older headlights have/had markings within the moulding of the lens, to indicate what needed to be taped over to cut off the up kick on the nearside. Not all lights had the up kick. Other cars have a setting in the cabin, yet others you need to lift the bonnet and turn a lever on the back of the headlight unit.
 
fixitflav said:
Thanks everybody for the comments. Helpful and reassuring. As suggested, I’ll take a selection of spare bulbs to show le plod.

I believe you need a hi-vis for each occupant, which must be in the car, not the boot (the hi-vis, not the occupants).


About the sticker – I suppose GB (with nothing about EU on it), as opposed to UK is acceptable, does anybody know?

Thanks again
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Legal requirement is one vest only ( which is why I wrote what I did initially ) in the passenger compartment.
 
mointainwalker said:
Legal requirement is one vest only ( which is why I wrote what I did initially ) in the passenger compartment.
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In the link EFL posted it says "Reflective jackets (there must be one for each passenger and be kept within the cabin of the car)" Which is what I understood, and seems logical.
 
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