Headlamp Bulb replacement

Guys, I've been running around with crappy lighting on my 2012 SD4 PureTech since 2012 when I purchased the car new.
The lighting is . In fact, my daughters Citroen C3 gives better light displacement even on main beam. I'm sure my Maglight gives off better lighting.

If anyone has had the same sort of experience I am having with the HB3 bulbs and you have resolved your issues can you give me some advice as to what bulbs would be best served in these headlight housing. Nothing wrong with the reflectors They are like new.

Thanks.

(08-03-2019 07:02pm)IvorRedOne Wrote:  Guys, I've been running around with crappy lighting on my 2012 SD4 PureTech since 2012 when I purchased the car new.
The lighting is . In fact, my daughters Citroen C3 gives better light displacement even on main beam. I'm sure my Maglight gives off better lighting.

If anyone has had the same sort of experience I am having with the HB3 bulbs and you have resolved your issues can you give me some advice as to what bulbs would be best served in these headlight housing. Nothing wrong with the reflectors They are like new.

Thanks.

I have tried one of the Osram enhanced replacements for the HB3, much acclaimed at circa £25, no discernable difference so don't bother with these; I suspect the Phillips variants are similar. I have researched LED and HID Canbus replacements, these may be okay but I can't find any credible reports, so I keep an open mind and share your interest.

I hate to ruin your day guys but this is a topic that has been researched and discussed heavily on both Freelander 2 forums and Evoque forums.

result... the HB3 Halogen projector bulb/headlight combo in both FL2 and Evoque are a massive failure!!

many, including myself, have experienced multiple exploding bulbs, frequent blowing of bulbs, melting bulbs, to name but a few symptoms.

LR did produce a tech bulletin with effectively put an inline resistor into the wiring loom to reduce bulbs failing but there is really no viable, brighter option for LR fitment HB3 bulbs.

the problem seems to be the shutter (that switches between dipped and main) is too close to the bulb and so retains the heat. This results in the bulb getting hotter and hotter until eventually fails. To combat this, by reducing the current to the bulb via the Tech bulletin modification, the bulb doesn't get as hot so doesn't fail. However the downside to this is that the basic bulb doesn't produce as much light.... catch 22!!

Thanks to Derek and RobG. Guess I will have to stick with the Osram Night Breakers. Pretty poor show from LR. How on Earth did this model be passed fit to be driven on the roads at night in the first place?

(12-03-2019 11:04am)RogB Wrote:  I hate to ruin your day guys but this is a topic that has been researched and discussed heavily on both Freelander 2 forums and Evoque forums.

result... the HB3 Halogen projector bulb/headlight combo in both FL2 and Evoque are a massive failure!!

many, including myself, have experienced multiple exploding bulbs, frequent blowing of bulbs, melting bulbs, to name but a few symptoms.

LR did produce a tech bulletin with effectively put an inline resistor into the wiring loom to reduce bulbs failing but there is really no viable, brighter option for LR fitment HB3 bulbs.

the problem seems to be the shutter (that switches between dipped and main) is too close to the bulb and so retains the heat. This results in the bulb getting hotter and hotter until eventually fails. To combat this, by reducing the current to the bulb via the Tech bulletin modification, the bulb doesn't get as hot so doesn't fail. However the downside to this is that the basic bulb doesn't produce as much light.... catch 22!!

Roger, Thank you for your reply and elucidation of the cause of the problem, the question remains and is the reason for the continued discussion, what can be done to improve this at a reasonable cost?

As you point out, JLR may well have introduced a quick fix to increase the bulb life at the expense of performance ( I've not seen the Technical Bulletin)

I am optimistic that a High Intensity Discharge (HID) or LED aftermarket replacement may be successful, providing that their spatial light output is similar to the HB3, around which the focussing is designed. The luminance of these devices (HID /LED) is far greater for a given power consumption, less energy is used and far less is disippated as heat. The snag is that both of these devices use so little current to produce a greater overall luminance, that the vehicle's control system thinks there is a fault. These aftermarket manufactures have got round this by deliberately introducing a resistance to draw extra current to fool the control system into thinking it still has the original incandescent bulbs fitted ( so called CAN BUS Compatable) This is a reasonably practical solution and I would like to try one of these products, probably the (HID) variant. It is a gamble however, longevity as well as performance and I therefore appeal to anyone who has any practical experience of using any of these after market products which can be found on Amazon, Ebay etc.
Many thanks in anticipation.

Derek

Thank you Derek for your input on this.

I have now purchased the following: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-Ra...2749.l2649

Removed the 110% brighter Osram HB3 bulbs and fitted the HID's. What a MASSIVE difference!

Anyone using standard HB3 bulbs on the Mk1 Evoque should seriously consider if you haven't already done so in changing to these bulbs.

The country lanes I use are well lit up. I went for the 6k bulbs. I was a bit dubious at first when driving at night as the brightness of the bulbs kept me thinking that I might be blinding oncoming traffic but I counted over 200 vehicles I passed and not one flashed me.

Good thing about these particular lights is that the whole wiring and canbus can be fitted inside the headlight housing without having to drill holes into the light dust cap.

Very pleased and feel safer now driving at night.