Author Topic: LED main beam  (Read 1434 times)

Offline doberman19

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LED main beam
« on: 14 December 2020, 16:48 »
Hi to all, I have just replaced my main beam bulbs with LED, and on my first drive out in daylight I was flashed by an oncoming driver, I'm not sure whether he was trying to tell me my lights were on or whether I was dazzling him. the DRL lights are lower voltage but still very bright and they reflect light obviously at the same level as the main beam lights. so I'm wondering if ay other members came across the same issue. I'm not the only one to make this mod so comments would be welcome. cheers.

Offline SRGTD

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Re: LED main beam
« Reply #1 on: 14 December 2020, 17:27 »
With reflector headlamps like those in the mk6 Golf that are designed to take halogen bulbs rather than LED’s, you may get a fair degree of light beam scatter if you replace the halogen bulbs with LED’s. I’d hazard a guess that the light beam scatter from your headlamps is dazzling oncoming traffic, hence why you were flashed by an oncoming driver.

You may also find that if your LED’s are scattering light rather than focusing on the road ahead, after dark visibility may not be improved over your previous halogen bulbs. I read a while back on another forum that others who’ve made this change actually experienced a reduction in night time visibility because the light emitted from the LED’s wasn’t being focused on the road ahead.
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Offline doberman19

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Re: LED main beam
« Reply #2 on: 14 December 2020, 20:26 »
Hi, thanks for the reply, light scatter is probably the best way to describe it but I'm more concerned that the DRL,s are dazzling drivers in daylight hours, they are a lower voltage but to look at there a very bright white light, they appear more like headlights than daytime running lights. I think the issue is the main beam reflectors are too high for these powerful LED,s.

Offline itavaltalainen

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Re: LED main beam
« Reply #3 on: 15 December 2020, 09:09 »
The DRL is meant to attract attention of oncoming cars.
In daylight they do appear bright but won't flood your eyes with light as your eyes are adjusted to bright light.
At night time that's a different story which is why DRLs turn off or dim to stop blinding people.
Your LEDs as dipped beam dazzle people from the scattering.
Bin them.
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