Are cheap Ebay light conversions worthwhile? Real world testing.

**M-R-P** · Saturday 9th February 2013, 22:57

Another thing I tried was these. Although they gave a perfectly white light (see pics) they weren't bright enough to be used as normal headlights and they triggered the bulb failure warning (I can deal with that tho)

I might try the 120 smd version... click or these... click before I go with another HID set.

Any opinions?

**Kingsford G** · Saturday 9th February 2013, 23:06

Whats wrong with HID`s?Stop wasting yr money

**Wobbly Dave** · Saturday 9th February 2013, 23:08

Originally Posted by V70 Graham

Nope fraid not, you must have headlight cleaning and self-levelling.....though it seems self-levelling suspension (Nivomats) will be ok !

1. The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory.
2. Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some expensive estate cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.
3. The headlamp must be maintained in good working order, kept clean, and aligned/adjusted correctly like any other headlamp.

This legislative junk is not what the MOT testers are working from. There is a massive discrepancy between the DoT stuff & what it states in the MoT rules.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-new...r-mot-failures

My car passed MoT without any issues & has HID(R) bulbs fitted. Only if fitted - so I don't have self leveling so it can't be tested for.

**M-R-P** · Saturday 9th February 2013, 23:08

Originally Posted by Kingsford G

Whats wrong with HID`s?Stop wasting yr money

I'm already testing a cheap HID kit

I want to see if there's an alternative

**Kingsford G** · Saturday 9th February 2013, 23:13

I used these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2906356045...84.m1439.l2649
They are good and bright.The round ones u bought how much blue r they mate?Slight blue ok but no more than that.I need some T11`s too,just fed up searching the best deal so gonna take a couple of days off.

**M-R-P** · Saturday 9th February 2013, 23:16

Originally Posted by Kingsford G

I used these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2906356045...84.m1439.l2649
They are good and bright.The round ones u bought how much blue r they mate?Slight blue ok but no more than that.I need some T11`s too,just fed up searching the best deal so gonna take a couple of days off.

The crappy camera on my phone makes them look a bit blue but I promise, they're very white and being CREE, much brighter than I expected.

**Kingsford G** · Sunday 10th February 2013, 09:53

Originally Posted by M-R-P

The crappy camera on my phone makes them look a bit blue but I promise, they're very white and being CREE, much brighter than I expected.

I mean these ones
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2210430428...84.m1439.l2649
are they bright and white and worth buying?

**M-R-P** · Monday 11th February 2013, 13:18

Not as good as the other ones mate. I'll send you a few if you like? I've got loads.

**rikcougar** · Monday 11th February 2013, 13:24

Originally Posted by Wobbly Dave

This legislative junk is not what the MOT testers are working from. There is a massive discrepancy between the DoT stuff & what it states in the MoT rules.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-new...r-mot-failures

My car passed MoT without any issues & has HID(R) bulbs fitted. Only if fitted - so I don't have self leveling so it can't be tested for.

That does seem quite definitive Dave, doesn`t need self levelling and headlamp washers to have HID`s but if they are fitted they must work properly

Irish seem to have got it wrong

**V70 Graham** · Monday 11th February 2013, 14:03

So what would the outcome be if your self levelling headlights did not work BUT you had self levelling suspension ?

Just seems a bit silly to me.

**Kingsford G** · Monday 11th February 2013, 18:37

Originally Posted by M-R-P

Not as good as the other ones mate. I'll send you a few if you like? I've got loads.

I bought some yesterday as u didn`t answer and they`ll be here in about 100 weeks lol all the way from China.

**M-R-P** · Monday 11th February 2013, 22:20

Originally Posted by Kingsford G

I bought some yesterday as u didn`t answer and they`ll be here in about 100 weeks lol all the way from China.

Sorry mate, I've not been online much, they took about 5 days to show up. They're not bad but the other ones are better.

**Kingsford G** · Monday 11th February 2013, 23:09

Originally Posted by M-R-P

Sorry mate, I've not been online much, they took about 5 days to show up. They're not bad but the other ones are better.

I should`ve looked at delivery time.Never mind.Have u been up to yr tricks again?

**M-R-P** · Monday 11th February 2013, 23:13

I'm working on some non Volvo related projects at the moment, so no new stuff to show you today. Although I have a couple of toys sat on a shelf, ready to fit

**Kingsford G** · Monday 11th February 2013, 23:33

Originally Posted by M-R-P

I'm working on some non Volvo related projects at the moment, so no new stuff to show you today. Although I have a couple of toys sat on a shelf, ready to fit

I something arrived too,just need some time to do it.Off to Belgium next week.

**M-R-P** · Monday 11th February 2013, 23:39

Originally Posted by Kingsford G

I something arrived too,just need some time to do it.Off to Belgium next week.

There's all of this week to go yet mate

I'll be doing mine tomorrow, weather permitting

**MattV70** · Friday 15th February 2013, 09:31

I've been following this thread closely and it gave me the push needed to buy these off ebay for my V50. First impressions are the kit looks cheap, although I suppose it was so I can't really complain as you get what you pay for. Straight out of the box 2 of the spade terminals have fallen off due to poor crimping, so first job tonight is to cut all of the existing spades off and re-do them to be sure.

I'll report back tomorrow when they are in the car to let you know how they turn out.

**M-R-P** · Friday 15th February 2013, 09:42

Wow! An extra 30 quid for canbus free? I bought normal hids and some 50w load resistors for a fiver in case I had a bulb warning - which I didn't need.

Keep us posted mate...

**cookie** · Friday 15th February 2013, 13:10

Nothing wrong with experimenting to see what cheap stuff is good, and what is not, and what is cost effective

I did cheap hids, after 3 years, had 1 bulb blow across 2 cars, I have also done cheap xennons on the S60 (90+ quid a side from Volvo, 12.95 inc P&P for pair from china) after nearly a year, still fine.

Did the Scantech ME7 from wheel bearings, got for 80 quid posted for pair, only one side had failed, replaced both, kept the decent spare, O/S failed withing 10k (trackdays was a good test) so fitted the decent spare I'd kept from the N/S) and was still fine when car was scraped 20k later, so if you plan to do 5k and get rid of car, and can do work yourself then cheap wheel bearing worth doing, otherwise Volvo genuine at about 150 quid for the part, is cheapest long term solution

Cheap JR CV joints, used on all sorts of cars, inc T5, and prev V40 and never had one fail.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/J-R-CV-JOIN...p2047675.l2563

**MattV70** · Friday 15th February 2013, 16:34

I couldn't be bothered messing round with resistors etc so I paid the extra for the CAN ones. Our work server crashed this afternoon so I had a spare hour and the HID's are now in. It only took around 30 minutes and most of that time was spent working out where to fit the ballasts. I'll have to wait another hour or so to see how they perform in the dark but so far so good.

I've read elsewhere that some kits need the DRL turning off, but these seem to work ok in both the 0 position with DRL on, or in the low beam position. I'll report back after a test in the dark