Häufig gesuchte Highlights
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LED headlights perform significantly better in terms of luminous flux than traditional light sources like halogen (or xenon). Depending on the type, LED headlights produce much whiter light as well as homogeneous illumination, which makes for safe, pleasant and fatigue-free driving.
With LED headlights, your vehicle “consumes” less electricity (and therefore less fuel). Also, the average “life expectancy” of approximately 10 years is much higher than that of conventional light sources. Xenon headlights, for example, often achieve less than 10 % of the life of LED headlights. In the case of halogen light sources, this value is even lower at just 2–4 %.
In addition to service life, all light sources are affected by further accompanying phenomena, including an accelerated ageing process due to the heat inside the light source or the additional equipment requirements for headlight levelling and headlight cleaning (see below). The drives up the costs of a xenon headlight system considerably.
Service life and the associated cost saving with LED headlights is particularly important when they are used in commercial sectors, such as public transport. Here, defective light sources must usually be replaced immediately for safety reasons, with attendance by service personnel often incurring very high costs and onward travel being disrupted. To determine the exact extent of the cost benefit, NOLDEN offers its commercial customers on request a tailored payback period calculation for the planned switch to LED lighting.
At the time of the changeover from existing halogen headlights to LED headlights (e.g. Defender, Wrangler, Mercedes-Benz G-Class), the halogen headlights meet all requirements of ECE R48 because this was verified by the manufacturer and confirmed during vehicle approval. If you now replace the halogen headlights, there is generally no change to the criteria above and, as such, the LED headlights also continue to meet ECE R48.
If a complete conversion of a vehicle is undertaken and not simply a change of headlights, ECE R48 must be fulfilled and, in case of doubt, also proven. In reality, this can be done only by a professional expert. The obligation to comply with ECE R48 rests with the installer of the headlight and not the manufacturer of the headlight.
In any headlight, moisture accumulates over time. The moisture penetrates the headlight through seals, cables or plastic parts of any kind. The less the headlight is used, the more moisture accumulates. After a while, condensate forms on the headlight lens.
LED ventilation elements
When a conventional headlight is switched on, it generates heat and the condensate evaporates in the warm air. As the pressure in the headlight is above atmospheric pressure, the moisture is “pushed” out of the headlight and the condensate clears. LED headlights have ventilation elements for this purpose. As much less heat is produced to the front side of LED headlights than with halogen headlights, they need much more time for the condensate to clear. In principle, condensation is normal as long as it doesn't form droplets and the condensate clears after a good period of operation.
Condensate is normal
As much less heat is produced to the front side of LED headlights than with halogen headlights, they need much more time for the condensate to clear. In principle, condensation is normal as long as it doesn't form droplets and the condensate clears after a good period of operation.
Snow and ice are particularly unfavourable to LED headlights, whereas with halogen and xenon headlights they pose a negligible problem due to the higher temperature of the headlight. Crucial to a “clogging” of the headlight is the installation arrangement of the headlight, i.e. whether or not the design allows ice and snow to escape to the sides.
Another known phenomenon is the freezing of any condensate trapped inside a headlight. LED module headlights freeze up quickly or ice forms because hardly any heat is generated in the front part of the headlight. Nevertheless, the benefits of the LED headlight win out convincingly with respect to service life and performance characteristics.
There are LED light products out there that fit standard halogen bulb holders, e.g. H4 or H7. This might sound like a good, inexpensive and quick solution at first. But beware: This solution is almost always illegal and risks voiding the whole vehicle type approval. Every headlight bears a marking to indicate the light source with which it has been tested and approved.
A headlight is only ever approved for this type of light source. This means that the approval is invalidated when an LED light source is fitted. Irrespective of this, the light distribution of these kinds of solution often differs greatly from that of the original lighting. In addition, a dazzling and, therefore, endangering of other road users cannot be ruled out.
LED headlights almost always use multiple LEDs. Given the long life expectancy and reliability of the headlight, they are designed without the ability to exchange individual components in mind. A change of design would lead to far higher costs and additional weak points, such as the introduction of seals. The risk of failure of the headlight would also increase. If an LED headlight suffers partial failure, it is usually necessary to exchange the complete headlight.
Within the scope of the ECE, each headlight type (except work lights) must have an approval and the associated approval mark is required to be visible on the headlight. Each light function has its own approval mark. If a headlight has, for example, both low beam and high beam (“bi-LED”), there must also be two approval marks for these light technologies. The same applies to any electronics connected to the on-board electrical system.
Each LED headlight also has an electronics module. This must have an approval for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). This ensures that the headlight does not cause any interference in the on-board electrical system and also continues to function correctly when exposed to external interference (e.g. radio, GPS, GSM) in the vehicle. As such, each LED headlight must have at least two approval marks (light technology and electronics). Unfortunately, it is still very common for products to lack EMC approval. Even work lights need EMC approval.
However, there are vendors that simply apply the approval mark representing EMC approval. By doing so, they are suggesting that they offer an approved headlight even though it does not have any technical lighting approval at all. If a vehicle has non-approved headlights, the whole vehicle type approval and therefore its insurance cover could become invalid.
Counterfeit approval marks are unfortunately difficult for the non-expert to recognise, but they are quite common. Approval marks are often faked or the same marks are used for different headlights. Each ECE approval is registered and therefore verifiable. In case of doubt, you could have the approval certificate sent to you by the approving authority. However, this is a fairly complicated process and there is little promise of success.
To obtain an ECE certification mark, the vehicle must have on-board failure detection for the lighting. This is a system that monitors the low beam headlights and direction indicator lights and, in the event of a failure, warns the driver unambiguously – by means of a warning tone and a corresponding visual notification in the cockpit. The problem here is that the on-board electronics and diagnostic system of most vehicle models have been designed for conventional lamps, i.e. halogen indicator lights or xenon headlights, for example.
The lower power draw of LEDs by comparison with halogen or xenon headlights, for instance, could be deemed by the on-board electronics to be a “malfunction” or defect. You could install resistors in the wiring harnesses, but at best this would lead to an unnecessary waste of power. The economic advantage of an LED solution would be forfeited. And, at the very worst, resistors could even cause smouldering fires. For this reason, this workaround is rightly prohibited.
Failure detection is a compulsory requirement within the scope of the ECE. A vehicle that does not fulfil this requirement could be in breach of its insurance cover. The ECE requires either that the defective headlight be visually indicated to the driver (e.g. by a tell-tale) or that the headlight must switch off completely even in the event of a partial defect (e.g. failure of an individual LED). NOLDEN LED low beam headlights have an integrated diagnostic system and switch off in the event of a partial defect.
All NOLDEN main headlights have integrated electronic damping elements that optimally prevent or reduce flicker caused by PWM or the test pulses of a diagnostic system in the on-board electrical system. However, if the on-board electrical system is no longer supplying enough energy to drive the headlight in a stable way, flicker cannot be prevented. If flicker does occur, external add-on modules can be the answer and these are also available from NOLDEN.
In addition to anti-flicker modules, NOLDEN also offers combination modules of anti-flicker and “LMS” modules (load monitoring system). These systems operate based on a patented technique and are not comparable to the capacitor solutions prevalent in the market. Capacitor solutions might well be very affordable, but often headlight failures or malfunctions occur because charging and discharging of the capacitors causes high transient currents, which are interpreted as a fault by the headlight control unit, the vehicle electronics or both.
Some new headlights in our portfolio have an additional connection for battery positive and can suppress flicker of any kind – even without external add-on modules.
Both the luminous efficacy and the service life of an LED module are crucially dependent on thermal management. The targeted use of heat sinks makes a fundamental contribution to good thermal management – the most important factor for the correct operating temperature of an LED. Temperatures that are too high are proven to have a direct influence on service life and luminous flux, of both an individual LED component and also the complex LED module. For this reason, it is necessary to dissipate the heat from the semiconductor chip by design measures (e.g. heat sinks).
As a rule of thumb, the cooler the LED is operated, the longer its service life and the higher its luminous flux. Also decisive is the ambient temperature: the warmer it is, the greater the importance of an efficient heat dissipation in the lamp. Unlike many OEM LED headlights, the premium LED modules from NOLDEN do not need active cooling, but achieve outstanding results with passive cooling alone.
Reputable manufacturers indicate the permissible ambient temperature on their products or in the product description. Only then can the luminous flux and service life potential of the LEDs be optimally utilised. When integrating LED headlights into vehicles, the manufacturer's fitting instructions must be strictly observed and provision must be made for sufficient cooling air. Under no circumstances may the heat sinks have direct contact with vehicle components. The clearances specified by the manufacturer must be observed.
Terms like lux and candela are frequently used. What does it all mean?
LHD = Right-hand traffic
RHD = Left-hand traffic
Errors and omissions excepted, subject to change without notice
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