Halogen H3 Led replacement

Gruffalo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Midlands
Looking to replace some halogen bulbs (with the wire) with led’s. Seems a lot of options but what would be equivalent or better ideally than a standard 55w H3 ?
Thanks
 

DrDunc

Member
Mixed Farmer
If you're not worried about electrical interference causing trouble with the radio, then practically every LED h3 bulb will be better than a halogen equivalent.

You need to be careful that the lamp fitting has enough clearance behind the lens. LEDs have a big heat sink that needs space.

Cheaper LEDs will produce a lot of light, but won't focus properly inside a lamp reflector designed for a halogen bulb. You need to look for led bulbs that specify that they emit light from the same position as the coil within a halogen bulb.

I live in a very poor radio reception area and enjoy listening to dab. If you want superb led light quality without radio interference, then Phillips ultinon are the only option I've found. They are way more expensive than others, but cheaper than changing the light fitting for a sealed led lamp. The light that they produce is superb, with no dark areas, and a far greater distance illuminated.
 

ACEngineering

Member
Trade
Location
Oxon
Looking to replace some halogen bulbs (with the wire) with led’s. Seems a lot of options but what would be equivalent or better ideally than a standard 55w H3 ?
Thanks

Dont waste your money on H3 LED bulbs, tried a few and their useless, blindingly bright to look at but utter crap cause the standard light unit reflectors are not designed to work with them so dont throw the light out any useful distance. If you want LED lights then get proper LED light units.
 

GHuggins

Member
Livestock Farmer
I've tried just led bulbs, full led conversion with correct housings and HID's... I have not tried the phillips that was suggested above, but from my personal observations the straight led bulbs are as stated - completely useless. They look bright looking at them, but might only shine light out 3 feet from the tractor that's worth a damn - stock bulbs are brighter if actually trying to use them. If all your doing is swapping bulbs and have room for the ballast then HID's are far superior in stock housings... I guess because they emit light like a regular bulb? You can also get them fairly cheap now too...

If your swapping your work lights, go with a spot/flood combo led light - I'm running flood only and wish I had done a combo setup for distance. Then if your swapping just headlamp - do the whole housing assemblies if you want led.

Just my .02 ;)
 

ricky_rascal

Member
Location
N. Yorks
Prices vary wildly and some are quite expensive. If it’s in work lights then it may be worth swapping led work lights which will be better. Has as been mentioned most are quite a bit bigger to the rear of led bulb as they have a heatsink and cooling fan so may not fit in light housing. I’ve tried some and not convinced they are a lot better than the halogen they replace. Purpose built led lamp will always be a lot better.
 
I bought a rake of led floods off eBay, they cost £2.26 each delivered.
Crap build quality but kick out plenty of light.
And I'm not worried if one gets broken

IMG_20201213_094412_891.jpg
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zero

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Yorkshire coast
IMG_20210112_180456783.jpg

We got these from 247 lighting. They were a bit pricey but fit the Ford lighting brackets and the wires were more than long enough to connect up under the cab roof. Their similar brightness to when the original lights were new but with a slight blue glow.
 

DrDunc

Member
Mixed Farmer
Phillips ultinon bulbs in the outer pods of the standard fit valtra roof reflector dip and main beam lamps. There's also Phillips ultinon bulbs in the projector lamps in the bonnet (they're always obscured when the loader grab or bucket is on, hence valtra fit roof main light pods). They don't dazzle other folks on the road, yet light further ahead than the halogens that they replaced. They're also the same white "colour" as the led worklamps, and that makes me happy.

Also in the roof there's utv products sourced round 80W flood lamps and a 160W lightbar mounted on an aluminium bar between the original halogen worklamp brackets.

There's also a pair of the 80W lamps on the indicator stalks to light the sides, and 6 utv products lamps at the rear on the original halogen worklamp mounts.

Working at night the tractor is surrounded by a lake of shadow free daylight.

I threw out the halogen lamps, they were literally like candles in the snow!

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GHuggins

Member
Livestock Farmer
Hopefully these photo's won't use up too much space as there are a few. This is an example of the LED bulbs vs LED Specific lights vs HID's.

The headlamps are just LED bulbs - as you can see looks bright just looking at them but from the tractors seat they put out measly light even though they are supposed to be brighter than the OE halogens - they aren't by a long shot...
 

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GHuggins

Member
Livestock Farmer
The top cab lights are HID's - one of the ballast are blown and needs replacing which is why only 3 of the 4 are shown working - main downfall of HID's, but they are very cheap now... View from seat is with headlamps back off...

Tractor is down for a starter, so might go ahead and replace it...
 

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GHuggins

Member
Livestock Farmer
These are actual full LED replacements. Extra lights added below cab...
 

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GHuggins

Member
Livestock Farmer
These are the LED specific lights on the back of the tractor with extras added to light the 3 point and to light outwards from the fenders.

Also attached pic with all lights on outside of the tractor minus headlamps as they aren't worth turning on :/

I should also add that all lights are the same 35 amps except for the rectangular ones which are 15 amps. All lights were rated at roughly the same lumens and are "white" lights...
 

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