After one of my HID bulbs burned out I tried these HID-to-LED conversion bulbs from Amazon (no affiliation). Our size went out of stock, 2014-2017 F-Types need the D3S version which used to be a choice at this link:
Aside from being brighter, the color rendering is better as shown by the bricks.







They come with an HV to 12V converter box that plugs into the OEM bulb harness then into the new bulb. It is small enough to tuck inside the headlight housing making them easy plug and play. One thing is to rotate the round rubber headlight opening covers so the anti-moisture bags that Jag glued on don't block the fan exits. 10 outta 10 so far.

Hopefully the diagram below adds clarity about what is going on. These bulbs use Conversion Method 1. Note that Method 2 requires routing the tapped 12V wires into the headlight housing.

 

Cheers, how does it look from the outside when the lights are off?

 

You can't tell any bulb difference when looking into the projectors if thats what you mean, Bruce.

They are 6000 degree color temperature LEDs, so they match the color of the J-Blade running lights perfectly when they are on. It makes the light output that much more impressive since 6000 degree light is usually less effective at the same lumens than 4300.

They say they are 5,000 lumens per bulb. The OEM HIDs are 3,200/bulb. But in actual driving because of the higher color temperature and the relative difficulty LEDs have at long ranges, I would say they are maybe 30% brighter on low beams and roughly the same on high beams. I also find LEDs produce more glare.

 

will these work with the moving headlights? how about from outside, will you blind everyone thats driving towards you?

 

These are bulb replacements for the stock projector housings, so the normal cutoff line is still there. They won't blind oncoming traffic.

The stock Xenon HIDs use a stepped cutoff plate that is a little higher on the passenger side for low beam projection. You can see that in the photos. When you select high beams, the cutoff plate electromagnetically flips out of the way so the full brightness of the bulb is allowed to pass through.

If the moving headlights also use a D3S bulb then these will work as long as you make sure the voltage converter box is stashed out of the way. There is enough room inside the headlight housing.

 

im pretty sure if they work with the standard housing i don't see why they wouldn't work in the AFS headlights. we have some headlight experts that frequent the forums, hoping to hear what they think. Good find and good post!

 

Nice! I'm interested in seeing/hearing more, but take the plunge regardless. The Amazon link like stated doesn't have the current D3S size though - I emailed the seller to see if there is any new stock coming soon. Hopefully hear back and post their reply.

 

It is slightly 'off topic' , but did anybody ever converted Xenon to the real LED headlights, complete units ?? I would love that for my F-Pace.. ..now Xenon..

 

For the sake of clarity, these bulbs use Method1 in my attempted drawing below. Hopefully a picture is worth more words.

 

Nice picture (except for using bulbs that Thomas Edison would recognize, LOL)

 

In case you haven't changed F-Type headlight bulbs, a few tips go a long way.

• Locate the large circular rubber seal on the back of each headlamp unit and pull it off backward. There is a grab tab.
• Remove the two bolts holding the power steering reservior (left) and jump terminal box (right side) then zip tie them up and out of the way. Its worth wrapping them in towels first to prevent the edges from scratching the engine bay paint.
• If the headlamp electrical harness (attached at the rearmost point of the headlamp unit) limits your access, press the tab and wiggle it off for more working room.
• Locate the high voltage connector on the bottom side of the metal square base of the D3S HID bulbs. Use a long screwdriver to press the release tab in the center with one hand, while you pull the connector down with the other hand. A pair of 12 inch+ needlenose pliers can help grab the sides of the connector and pull it down if your hands are too big.
• Reach into the circular hole and feel around the metal square base of the D3S bulb. There is a metal tab at 4 oclock and 10 oclock. Place your thumb and fore finger on the 5 oclock side and the 11 oclock sides of the tabs, and firmly rotate counter clockwise in an unscrewing motion until you feel a definite click. The tabs will rotate to about 2 oclock and 8 oclock in the unlocked position. Now you can pull out the bulb.
• Plug the HID bulb harness into the converter box. I used 13 inch needle nose pliers to hold the HID wire harness while I plugged it into the converter box.
• Plug the LED bulb to converter box.
• Wiggle the bulb into the headlamp bulb socket and turn tabs clockwise to lock it in place.
• Tuck the converter box inside the headlamp housing and button up making sure the moisture absortion bag doesn't block the fan exhsaust on the bulbs.

 

these led based conversions unfortunately don't have the lumens output to fill the full width of a hid beam pattern - there's a reason oe led headlights use a multi led array to replicate the lumens and spread of a hid bulb

you can see it in the pics, the hot spot is heavily centered, so it will give you the illusion they are brighter

even my f80 m3 with full adaptive leds with all that current tech to shape the beam around vehicles in front, don't have the same beam width and penetration as my oe jag bi-xenons

the colour is much nicer though on the road

another thing you need to be mindful of is temps, leds run far hotter than halogen or hid bulbs, the heat sink/fan alone won't help when it's sitting inside a sealed headlight. oe led headlights often have built in fans, or place the heat sink outside of the headlight assembly - if anything, id leave the caps off the back of the headlight

 

The hotspot is an artifact of the cell phone camera's lack of dynamic range with a brighter side and a dimmer side.

Since we are installing LED bulbs as a pinpoint light source inside HID projectors, the beam pattern is set by the projector's optics and cutoff line. Since LED light disperses more with distance one of the downsides of LEDs inside HID optics is actually a lack of focus, or a center hot spot at far distance, especially on the bright setting.

As a rule of thumb, LEDs throw off about half the heat of Halogen or HIDs at the same lumen rating. The reason for the fan is to cool the electronics required to generate the light, not because of absolute temperature. So LEDs are the easiest bulbs on your projectors.

Although the bulbs and fans are waterproof for cars where the base of the bulbs stick out of the back of the projector housing, as opposed to being enclosed like ours, never run a projector housing open because the dirt and water that gets in will quickly ruin the headlight completely because they are not cleanable from the inside.

Here are a more photos with both LED bulbs installed. The limiting factor is the cell phone's little digital sensor, maybe some day I'll take the DSLR out.



The bottom photo is on low beam. There is no difference to the foreground road illumination on high beam, since the HID cutoff just flips out of the way to allow the above horizon part to pass through. You can play with where the low beam cutoff line falls to the limit of adjusting the projector housing. That's true for any type of bulb inside a Bi-Xenon projector. Bi-Xenon meaning, a solenoid engages to block the upper half of the bulb on low beams. Personally, I don't care for Bi-Xenon headlights because the lighting is almost always too dim above the cutoff, especially with brighter bulbs creating more contrast in the foreground for your eyes to cope with.

 

the beam pattern will be set by the position of the led on the actual bulb holder since led output is unidirectional - this is the main reason these chinese led conversion bulbs are so hit and miss. but yes a projector is more forgiving in this instance than a reflector basket

that mountain peak cut off isn't the most ideal either, and shows the position of the led is actually not correct, and emitting light above the cutoff shield inside the projector

would be great to see a non-phone pic of the beam pattern on the road in a side by side comparo

 

The diode placement depends on the design of the particular LED bulb. There are some LEDS that are one, two, or four sided.

One sided bulbs are ideal for use with an HID cutoff, IMO, because the diode faces up. The cutoff plate blocks the bottom half since the optics flip vertically like a reflector telescope. So one sided LED bulbs bias most of their light output toward the low beam setting.

As a total guess, I would estimate 75% of the total output of these bulbs comes through the low beam half and only 25% is added by removing the cutoff plate.

A 360 degree bulb would be exactly 50/50 making them dimmer on low beams and no brighter on high beams, the cutoff plate just blocks more light.

I'm not saying these LEDs are super bright because they're not, but they are a little better than the OEM 35W HIDs. I usually put 35W HIDs in my fog lights.

It would be great to have a 75W HID option, but that requires replacing the ballast and I don't know if there is a D3S format bulb that can take that wattage, or if our projectors would melt or sear the mirror finish inside. It's not worth the risk with our headlight units running a couple thousand bucks. The best bet is to hope for stronger and stronger LEDs over time.

 

the oe osram xenarc bulbs aren't the brightest bulbs on the market

did you try swapping them out with osram cbi, cbb or even night breakers?

i've personally tried them all, even the phillips line up

 

Very helpful! The Osram Xenarc Nightbreaker Lasers (D3S) appear to be the way to go.

 

that comparo is even more pertinent for us as fca use the same Valeo bi-xenon projector on these later model cars as jlr

the output of the new nightbreaker is insane

it’s a massive step up from any other d3s bulb

they are so powerful the output is full right to edges of the beam pattern, the light doesn’t diffuse at the edges like a normal hid bulb

i have swapped them out when I’ve done long road trips away from home

the only issue is the colour, the d3s without the mercury already lose colour, but the nightbreaker is almost halogen yellow

I’m running the cool blue boost now, they are about as pure white as you’re going to get in d3s without sacrificing output

 

Thanks for the link. The OSRAM spec sheet says the Night Breaker Lasers are "up to" 4500K which is slightly whiter than stock. It's interesting that the Lasers have the same bulb brightness as the Unlimited in the YouTube test, both around 1600 lux. That implies the Lasers bias their light output toward the top side like these one sided LEDs, to throw a higher fraction of the same total output underneath the cutoff plate. It is a little strange that they are only rated at a normal 3200 lumens, but lumens alone can be elusive. I ordered a pair for direct comparison to the 4500 lumen LEDs.

 

The ability of the human eye to see things begins to diminish above 4500K despite the lumen rating. Particularly for the geezerly, keeping the color below 5000K is important for nocturnal visibility.