Daylight running lights on Leaf SV

BoatMad

heres a question, I always thought that the use of low down white lights at the front was forbidden under fog lamp usage.

yet the SV leaf really has a bit of a con job daylight running as it just brings on the fogs

, is this actually legal, I had a guard that stopped me today , say " you have your fogs on" , even though of course the main beams are not on.

?????

Alun

As long as they're more than 250mm above ground level (and less than 1500mm) they're fine.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31997L0028:EN:HTML

Section 6.19

BoatMad

ah ha , the leafs are 350mm above the ground, alles Klar

The Leaf does not use the fog lights in theory, they use another bulb in the same reflector.

A lot of people drive with their front fog lights on which is hard and tiring on the eye all because they think it looks cool.

I have the SVE and don't use the DRL's because they look hideous compared to the LED's so I drive with the LED's on all the time.

Gumbo

Deleted User wrote: »

The Leaf does not use the fog lights in theory, they use another bulb in the same reflector.

A lot of people drive with their front fog lights on which is hard and tiring on the eye all because they think it looks cool.

I have the SVE and don't use the DRL's because they look hideous compared to the LED's so I drive with the LED's on all the time.

+1

Another car that does this is the last generation Volvos. Their DRL was n the circular lamp located where most cars have their fog lights.

Alun

You can also buy aftermarket combination LED foglamp/DRL kits for some cars too like my current Qashqai. They look a lot better than fitting just LED DRL's as the layout of the front bumper/grille means they'd be right at the limit of the allowable horizontal separation, i.e. they look far too close together and therefore a bit daft. They're not cheap though.

You really got to be careful with after market LED kits, some are fine but some cause a terrible glare, there are so many illegally fitted HID kits in this country and I really would love if the Guards had the power to remove these vehicles from the road. It causes such fatigue on the road between people driving with front fogs on and badly fitted or bad quality HID kits.

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

You really got to be careful with after market LED kits, some are fine but some cause a terrible glare, there are so many illegally fitted HID kits in this country and I really would love if the Guards had the power to remove these vehicles from the road. It causes such fatigue on the road between people driving with front fogs on and badly fitted or bad quality HID kits.

Ate people retro fitting Xeons ( HID) I didn't know that , I would have thought it wasn't a simple upgrade

LEDs of course are different and technically easier to upgrade

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

The Leaf does not use the fog lights in theory, they use another bulb in the same reflector.

A lot of people drive with their front fog lights on which is hard and tiring on the eye all because they think it looks cool.

I have the SVE and don't use the DRL's because they look hideous compared to the LED's so I drive with the LED's on all the time.

I dont believe there is a separate bulb, I was looking at the wiring diagram recently , I couldnt see support for a separate bulb.??

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

I dont believe there is a separate bulb, I was looking at the wiring diagram recently , I couldnt see support for a separate bulb.??

I used the mk1 eyeball method to locate the DLR filament bulb in the housings. Thinking that I'll replace them with LED bulbs if they ever blow.

BoatMad

samih wrote: »

I used the mk1 eyeball method to locate the DLR filament bulb in the housing myself. Thinking that I'll replace them with LED bulbs if they ever blow.

I shall look over that wiring diagram , the car not being here at present


can they be easily changed

update

the 2014 wiring diagram , is based on lights in the headlamp cluster, which is different to what we have and is for the US market alway

two two bulbs,

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

I shall look over that wiring diagram , the car not being here at present


can they be easily changed

update

the 2014 wiring diagram , is based on lights in the headlamp cluster, which is different to what we have and is for the US market alway

two two bulbs,

There are differences in specs alright between the markets. According to the leaftalk.co.uk the DLR bulbs are P13 (13 Watt) type and "P13" LEDs may need some modding either the bulbs or the reflectors to get them to slot in.

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

I dont believe there is a separate bulb, I was looking at the wiring diagram recently , I couldnt see support for a separate bulb.??

There is very little info on that reflector on the Leaf, I think if you use the google site search on the mynissanleaf forum you will get some info.

Do you have the SVE BoatMad ? if you do just drive with the LED's on all the time, It has the Auto lights but I have the led's on all the time they look so much better.

If you look into the reflector in the drl's you'll see 2 bulbs one is the DRL's which is a weird type of bulb and the other is a normal fog type bulb.

It's just pure penny pinching they don't use LED drl's, even on the SVE they have halogen side lights which I replaced and the reg plate bulbs are now led. The trick when getting led's for sidelights and reg plates is to get the dimmest ones you can find and they're still plenty bright.

You have muppets now putting ultra bright led's in their reg plates and it would blind you, it's just ridiculous some people have no cop on.

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

There is very little info on that reflector on the Leaf, I think if you use the google site search on the mynissanleaf forum you will get some info.

Do you have the SVE BoatMad ? if you do just drive with the LED's on all the time, It has the Auto lights but I have the led's on all the time they look so much better.

If you look into the reflector in the drl's you'll see 2 bulbs one is the DRL's which is a weird type of bulb and the other is a normal fog type bulb.

It's just pure penny pinching they don't use LED drl's, even on the SVE they have halogen side lights which I replaced and the reg plate bulbs are now led. The trick when getting led's for sidelights and reg plates is to get the dimmest ones you can find and they're still plenty bright.

You have muppets now putting ultra bright led's in their reg plates and it would blind you, it's just ridiculous some people have no cop on.

no I have an SV, with cold pack, had to draw the line somewhere and the 6kw used up the budget.

I do see now there are two bulbs, in time Ill fit them all with LEDs anyway

right now , Im trying to get my new granny cable in the handle of a J1772 design , out the door as SWMBO is bending my ear

samih

samih wrote: »

There are differences in specs alright between the markets. According to the leaftalk.co.uk the DLR bulbs are P13 (13 Watt) type and "P13" LEDs may need some modding either the bulbs or the reflectors to get them to slot in.

But with that type of bulb it would be very difficult to install a led that won't dazzle on coming drivers so you would need a whole new light designed for led's the only thing is you won't find ones with fog and drl's, not easily anyway and it;s hard to find Chinese bulbs that are good, there are a lot of European suppliers selling these cheap kits for many times their actual cost.

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

But with that type of bulb it would be very difficult to install a led that won't dazzle on coming drivers so you would need a whole new light designed for led's the only thing is you won't find ones with fog and drl's, not easily anyway and it;s hard to find Chinese bulbs that are good, there are a lot of European suppliers selling these cheap kits for many times their actual cost.

I dont understand, why would a LED bulb of similar luminosity " dazzle " anyone ?? .

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

no I have an SV, with cold pack, had to draw the line somewhere and the 6kw used up the budget.

I do see now there are two bulbs, in time Ill fit them all with LEDs anyway

right now , Im trying to get my new granny cable in the handle of a J1772 design , out the door as SWMBO is bending my ear

Well yes, I would do the same if I had to , the extra range and faster charging are much more useful.

You can get LED H7, H4 etc and they are very good but as I said very few are actually not going to seriously annoy on coming drivers. And it will be difficult to find proper reliable kits. And non of them are legal. The same with HID retrofits, non of them are legal.

BoatMad

You can get LED H7, H4 etc and they are very good but as I said very few are actually not going to seriously annoy on coming drivers. And it will be difficult to find proper reliable kits. And non of them are legal. The same with HID retrofits, non of them are legal.

are you sure , the only specification from the EU , is luminosity , if you meet that , you are compliant

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

I dont understand, why would a LED bulb of similar luminosity " dazzle " anyone ?? .

Because they're not designed for the reflector and the headlights won't have auto level which is a legal requirement, LED's output their light differently so the bulb must be designed accordingly to match the reflector.

Having said that, the led bulbs now are better but finding a bulb kit that is good quality will be difficult and one that is designed to work with a reflector type headlight will be difficult. Mostly projector lenses are better.

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

are you sure , the only specification from the EU , is luminosity , if you meet that , you are compliant

You're not compliant if there is no auto level in the reflector and the beam pattern is way off. But the law here doesn't care what you put in, not even the NCT unless this has changed I don't know.

You'd have to get your headlights re-adjusted in a garage to make sure beam spread is correct.

If you're getting flashed then something is wrong and get used to it because there is nothing worse than cars at night with wrongly fitted after market HID/LED kits.

You might actually be better off for now with a HID kit designed for a reflector headlamp. You need to look at plenty of reviews.

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

Because they're not designed for the reflector and the headlights won't have auto level which is a legal requirement, LED's output their light differently so the bulb must be designed accordingly to match the reflector.

Having said that, the led bulbs now are better but finding a bulb kit that is good quality will be difficult and one that is designed to work with a reflector type headlight will be difficult. Mostly projector lenses are better.

hmm, most headlight aiming moves the body , and " auto levelling" is not EU requirement, ( the ability to manually adjust based on loading is )

LEDs output comprises of less colours then halogen , but I can see no reason why the reflectors are any different . The colour temperature is different then halogen of course. The only reason a reflector housing might be redesigned is to handle the heat dissipation differently , but typically thats not an issue with LEDS in cars

note that projector lens and LEDs are not mutually exclusive, LEDs are just like halogens ,a light source

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

You're not compliant if there is no auto level in the reflector and the beam pattern is way off. But the law here doesn't care what you put in, not even the NCT unless this has changed I don't know.

You'd have to get your headlights re-adjusted in a garage to make sure beam spread is correct.

If you're getting flashed then something is wrong and get used to it because there is nothing worse than cars at night with wrongly fitted after market HID/LED kits.

You might actually be better off for now with a HID kit designed for a reflector headlamp. You need to look at plenty of reviews.

many people flash LED cars ( and Leafs with DRL in the figs) , that doesnt make it illegal

There is no requirement for " auto levelling", there is a requirement that the headlight pattern remains within the dimensional specification and hence as the car loads and tips backwards, an adjuster must be provided to allow the driver to adjust the lights back to the correct position ( and no -one does of course)

The beam pattern is a function of the reflector, in some cases the LED will sit at a different focal point and that may or may not result in changes in pattern

Myself, I was primary talking about Non-headlight bulbs

Halogen headlights are not designed to be used with HID or LED's, you can get HID's for reflector lenses but they can cause blinding at night.

Light is light but both bulbs output the light differently.

AFAIK none of these kits are type approved so are not legal, then again I'm not a law expert.

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

Halogen headlights are not designed to be used with HID or LED's, you can get HID's for reflector lenses but they can cause blinding at night.

Light is light but both bulbs output the light differently.

AFAIK none of these kits are type approved so are not legal, then again I'm not a law expert.

I suspect we are at cross purposes

I agree with you , EU rules on LED main beams and HIDs over 2000 lumens, require headlamp cleaning and auto levelling

Th light patterns etc must be also road legal, some LEDs move the focal point etc

The light isn't output differently , its all light , its more etc do with the reflector focal position and the light output position , which can be different on LEDs

I agree re type approval, though its unclear in the EU what the status of post construction modifications are. There is a proposal to ban post conversions, and that in effect , a typo approved car must remain type approved or be re-assessed if mods are made, but I dont believe that is EU law at present

virtually Anything you add to a car , can technically be regarded as a mod


my discussion was about non-headlamp LEDs

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

LEDs output comprises of less colours then halogen , but I can see no reason why the reflectors are any different . The colour temperature is different then halogen of course. The only reason a reflector housing might be redesigned is to handle the heat dissipation differently , but typically thats not an issue with LEDS in cars

note that projector lens and LEDs are not mutually exclusive, LEDs are just like halogens ,a light source

The Hn halogen bulbs are much closer to a light "point" where all the unidirectional rays originate from one well defined location. Most LED bulbs have multiple emitters with a much larger radiating surface and each individual emitter has certain angle of illumination so they need a different reflector or projector. Actually each emitter needs its own. Each Leaf LED headlamps has two separate emitters with their own lenses plus a "brown" H9 Halogen for main beam using conventional reflector

For DLRs and misc bulbs that doesn't really matter as they don't really have a light pattern. But headlights are very well defined to direct the light just so.