hi
thanks once again for your response
1. I don't wanna go back to him because once you have a bad experience then you don't want to try same thing.
2. passenger side J blade doesn't work at at no matter what I do.
3. spoke to jaguar in details and they said they have checked all the fuse and everything and confirmed that it has fault with the headlamp.
4. when I use to wash my car water use to go inside the lamp I don't know how(you think led got damaged because of that?)
5.indicator, dipped headlight, beam works apart from day time running light.
6.if I buy new headlamps will they work straight away?

xDave looks like you have a lot of knowledge about this stuff so if want you to do that job(would you consider?)

looking forward for your reply.

many thanks

 

I have attached some pictures there is no damage to the headlamp xDave they way you took a part the headlamp its not like that. I had a proper look and can't find any damage to the headlight shows that been internally modified. in the last picture you can see that one connector in connected to the headlamp and the other on is in the middle.
there are 2 connectors on each side and the guy who did the modification he told me that for passenger side day running light got power from driver side day running light.
let me know what you think.

many thanks
yasir

 

The main driver is vulnerable to water ingress as it sits at the very base of the headlamp (lowest point where water would run to). With used lamps it is not uncommon to find corrosion around the internal connector that connects the wiring loom inside the headlamp to the driver which screws on from underneath. That is from water ingress or condensation.

As you mention your indicator is working (which uses the same PCB and driver as the white LEDs for the J Blades) I suspect a fault with either corrosion on the internal connector to the main driver, or a damaged driver itself.

Both could be fixed externally (unscrew the old driver, screw on the new one). It is the big rectangular one at the base. You can find replacements on eBay. JLR used to provide the main drivers as spare parts for their xenon lamps, but I am not home at the moment so cannot check to see if it is offered for the LED ones. eBay would still likely be considerably cheaper even if they do.

Water should not be getting into the headlamps, and even if the symptom is resolved you need to fix that as well. If they were modified internally, it appears they were not resealed correctly. That was one of the reasons why I cut into mine where I did (shown in this thread) because the cuts, bar a small one on the upper corner, were all shielded from normal driven water as a precaution.

(In your photos (RHD car) on your driver blades there are patches of light tube unlit. Is that a camera refresh artefact, or do you have standing water in that lamp as well?)

Was any warranty offered with the modified lamps, or, as you are in the UK, was it supplied as part of a trade to consumer transaction (even if an individual is making them, if they are selling multiple units they are considered to be trading) in which case your statutory consumer rights kick in and you could reject the lamp due to the water ingress. 6 months is not a satisfactory time for them to last, and although it is outside the generally accepted time for a refund you should be entitled to a partial refund less your enjoyment.

Water aside, can you describe the connector arrangement you are showing please? Normally (in unmodified cars) there is a single 16 way black connector direct from the car wiring into the back, centre of the headlamp. Your photo and description is of two. I'm limited in how I could help without some sort of wiring diagram to shown what has been done. I would definitely try swapping the lamp over first though to check. If you cannot get a diagram, is there any chance you could print out the PDF in the second post here and by tracing the wire colours (or ideally with a multimeter) mark on which pins are connected to which on that extra connector?

 

hi
thanks for your reply
I don't have standing water in the light, but just the water drops stayed inside the main unit
I found one guy who is going to send me the balast and I'm going to replace it and see if any luck.( balast is the programmer on the maim unit). in total there are two ( one for beam and dipped light, second for J blades(indicators and day running light).
looks like that connector is converted connector( main connector goes in to modified connector and that connects to the headlight) it looks to me but you know more then me.

last thing I want to ask

can you modify the cables rather modifying the headlights? and then headlight becomes plug and play.

why im asking the last question because if he modified the cabled then replacing the lights should solve the problem.

looking forward for you reply.
many thanks
yasir

 

The main driver is what most people would call the ballast when coming from xenon lamps. I 'borrowed' the attached photo from an eBay listing which shows it. It screws in from below, and has a weather seal around the connector on the top side which pops out. Don't lose the cables inside the headlamp! There is not much slack.

The second driver for the light tubes is not strictly a driver in that there are no power supply components in it, but it is the easiest way to describe it. Do not unscrew that one - you will break your light tubes.

Some condensation in sealed lamps always occurs (with the LEDs they don't get hot enough to clear it, so this time of year in the UK you can see it around the edges). If it forms droplets, or covers the area where the light beam projects out, then you have a problem.

Yes, that is possible. If you don't have or want the cornering lights you can adapt the harness car-side to achieve the other functions which then makes the OEM LED headlamps plug-and-play.

 

hi
thanks for you reply
I have ordered the balast and going to check tomorrow that if they gonna work.
when you mentioned about the balast on the light(you said there is only one but the guy I bought the balast from he said there are two balast on each light one for dipped and beam and other one for J Blades is that true?

many thanks
yasir

 

Hi Yasir,

There are no ballasts on the LED lamps. There is one main driver (the big removable one on the base - shown in the photo above) and one which is often called a driver for the light tubes/J blade LED board (the smaller one on the top) which is really just a heatsink with a few passives.

The person you have bought the main driver from appears to have referred to it as the ballast. There are no gas tubes involved with the LEDs, but the term is still often used incorrectly to refer to any external metal box attached to headlamps.

Remember - as you will need to remove the front bumper to remove the headlamp to replace the driver that may be faulty, you may as well swap the lamps over first to verify the issue follows the lamp and does not stay with the adapted wiring harness you are using. Only if the issue does follow the lamp should you try replacing the driver.

 

hi xDave
thanks for your quick reply.
yes definitely I will follow your instructions and swap the lights first and then I will try the driver.
you are right just spoke to the guy who is sending me the driver and he said he is sending me 1 driver each side.

really appreciate your support and will update the result.

many thanks

yasir

 

HI xDave
I received the parcel today and just wanted to ask that what is the difference between these two and are these both going to go on the unit or just the big one.

how can I check that these will fit on my head lights( don't want to take the bumper off and find out that they don't fit.

looking forward for your reply
many thanks

yasir

 

The larger one is the driver, it screws into the bottom of the lamp then slides out around the round seal. It's tight, but you can pop the connector out and change over.

The smaller one is the heatsink/PCB for the light tubes. You don't need it. Do not remove it from your existing lamps as it will break the light tube (there are two tubes, each attaches to the board at 90 degrees to the other so pulling the heatsink off from outside the lamp will break one, or both, of those where they clip into the holes on the PCB.

 

Xdave I have had the LED conversion on for a month or two now. Really love it and other than starting the car with the high beams on no problems.

Just did some longer night drives. Does the auto high beam have any adjustments? Seems to not switch on the bright lights enough and I have been switching them on manually.
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Friends, hi! Who did the installation method 2 do your J-blades have two modes: bright-day, dark-when you turn on the low beam?

 

 

After a very long road trip (5850 miles) found out a few more things?

ABrice;
I followed your suggestions and am now running 10A fuses in positions #49 and #50 in the rear fuse box. I used the flash to pass feature on the highway and immediately got the
Adaptive headlight error on the dash. Found both 5A fuses blown. Replaced with 7.5A fuses and same thing happened so I now have 10A fuses in #49 and #50 positions. Everything
has been working fine. Still get the error but no blown fuses if I start the car with the lights set to bright.
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Ok, so I finally managed to find a local breaker who has a good set of LED units and is willing to trade them for my xenons. The only experience I've had with electrical wiring is when I connected LED strips to my old X350 by splicing into the parking light wires, so I'm really excited about figuring out how to put this harness together. I love new fun projects! Thank you @xdave @clubairth1 and @ABrice for all the info in this thread, ESPECIALLY XDave.

 

Does anybody know how long the LED headlights are supposed to last? Is there a replaceable bulb inside or must the entire assembly be replaced?

 

They are non-serviceable assemblies. You can replace the main driver but not the LEDs as the units are sealed.

 

Can anybody in the States give me an idea of how long the shipping from Simtek should take? I've got the headlights in hand and I'm already losing patience!

 

When I ordered my plugs and pins it took a while for sure!
I think 3 weeks or so. But remember they really don't sell much to the general public so they have to handle these types of orders on a as needed basis.
Which in my case was by hand. I was able to pay using PayPal.
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Three weeks...ugh. Patience is not my strong suit.