I should have taken a few pictures of how the headlights lit up BEFORE I hacked up my headlight bulbs. I separated the dish-shaped mounting flange from my headlight bulbs and used them to mount LED bulbs that were supposed to be H4 compatible. They fit right in and seem to work OK. Problem is, I don't know how to orient them inside the headlight. They have LED chips on two sides. The way I have them now, the top half illuminates on low beam and they both illuminate on high beam. The pattern doesn't look good either way. I can rotate the bulbs and experiment with how they look, but can anyone tell me how the stock bulbs look? Do they illuminate the whole reflector or just the top or just the bottom when on low-beam?

Anyone else converted to LED bulbs? How are they oriented?

Hi Marcus they pretty much illuminate the whole reflector. Have a look at the pictures, these were me experimenting with halogen bulbs. I can’t remember if these are dipped or full beam? In the last one you can see the difference between the standard and halogen. The pattern is pretty garbage but that’s probably because I am so close to the garage doors.

I think you may struggle with those LED bulbs as they are always going to give a bias to one side over the other. You might have been better off leaving the little dish/bowl in place if it was possible?

Tony

I have always been led to believe that you cannot LEGALLY use LED bulbs in OE light units unless the whole unit is designed for a LED installation. The reason being that the patterning on the glass (for a light unit using a normal bulb) is designed to direct the light in the required high beam/low beam pattern. The light being emitted by a LED 'bulb' will not bounce off the reflector in the same way as the normal bulb and will therefore give an incorrect pattern. A MOT examiner will therefore, and should, fail the car on the grounds of "incorrect light pattern". Light pattern IS an item that is checked in a MOT, irrespective of the car's age. My advice, if you wish to improve the output of headlamps on a 500 is to use Halogen bulbs (with a protective relay put into the system), and only use the LED units for side/brake and indicator lamps. :bang::idea:

I have fitted LED lamps throughout. My headlamp units came with a H4 base. The dipped ( normal drving) lamp is at the bottom and the high beam is at the top.
I have clear lenses with a blue glass centre reflector.
They are very bright.

Good stuff, thanks!

Mine currently illuminate the upper half in low-beam. I can easily just spin them around and see how that looks.

In the U.S., there isn't much that is regulated with respect to lights. I see pickup trucks with full width LED light bars blinding everyone. Get one behind the little Fiat and you might as well drive with your eyes closed. And here in North Carolina, cars are in the minority!

The dish shaped base of the original H4 bulb just allows it to sit in the housing. This is the part I kept and grafted on to the new LED bulbs. Another variable is the depth of where the LEDs are that illuminate the reflector. One side of the LED bulb has the chips lower than the other side. Kind of similar in the actual glass bulb I took out.

Well, I'll spin them around and see what it looks like tonight. I don't drive it much at night but I want every advantage in seeing deer early enough to avoid them.

I just failed the CT (MOT) with my Giardiniera for "not bright enough" headlights.
I have regular 45/40W bulbs as in the OP's first picture, halogens are too long to fit in the reflector.
Can anyone recommend a brighter bulb (perhaps 60/55W), brand and type, please.

I'm asking here because the favorite auto shop answer to a request for something not in stock or unfamiliar is "it doesn't exist", with a smirk for good measure :tosser:

Never mind, I just ordered a pair of 75/70W from Ricambi...

I hope they won't melt the plastic connectors !