LED Headlights into Land Rover Defender

technofile by Lindsay Porter in association with MobileCentre and J W Speaker Corporation

Beam me up Lindsay went along to see the first aftermarket LED headlights to be brought into the UK. That’s not just the first on a Land Rover but the first ever.

You’ve seen it here first – and the future is bright!

Expensive in the short-term but

they last ‘forever’ and are vastly superior to any other lights that have yet been made.

LED lights, and especially the newest LED headlights, are the lights of the future but you can have them today. Here’s what they are made of and how to fit a set of the sensational, new Speaker LED lights. Made in America. Not China.

Led Lamps - What are they?

LED is an acronym for Light-Emitting Diode (or technically, a Semiconductor diode) that produces visible or infrared light when subjected to an electric current.

According to Tim Consolante of MobileCentre, LEDs are commonly referred to as Generation 1, 2 or 3 etc. This is not necessarily correct as there are many

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others in between but it’s the method he suggests we should use here. Anyway, as Tim says: “The irony with LED is you start off with less and end up with more.” We’ll be leaning on Tim’s well informed, nay expert, advice on the technical aspects of this article.

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PICTURE 1 This is a strip of 184 ‘Gen 1’ LED bulbs. They typically have a 5mm diameter head with a narrow viewing angle of between 10 and 30 degrees and a low light output per bulb. The narrow viewing angle is why people sometimes refer to LEDs as being ‘directional’.

PICTURE 2 Generation 1 lights need the use of a good many LEDs to give an acceptable total light output, such as with the floodlight shown here. You can see that all the LEDs are visible and there are no optics to focus or manipulate the light into any given area, which is common of Chinese manufactured products such as this.

Hundreds of Generation 1 LEDs are used in this work light whereas, although the Generation 3 work light shown later uses

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only six LEDs, it is much more powerful and effective. This is because of a combination of optics and later-generation LED technology.

PICTURE 3 Generation 2 LEDs, sometimes called Superflux LEDs, have a wider viewing angle and are preferred for the automotive environment because the four-leg mounting provides a much more robust base than the taller Generation 1 LED which only has two ‘legs’. Also, because of its greater length, a Gen 1 LED is more prone to vibration damage. Generation 2 LEDs can be ‘driven’ harder (with higher currents) than Generation 1 meaning fewer LEDs are required for the same light output.

PICTURE 4 GENERATION 3: These LEDs have evolved so that the LED is mounted on a heat sink designed to directly dissipate the heat generated by the bulb. This allows even higher drive currents, of up to 2A. The viewing angle is wider still, between 100-160 degrees but with this comes the need for optics to distribute the light evenly.

PICTURE 5 Generation 3 and Generation 4 work lights can both be fitted into the same size outer casing. But there the similarity ends. Generation 4 units create six times more light even than the relatively efficient Generation 3 units in an equivalent housing.

PICTURE 6 Generation 4 are also known by the sexy name of Light Engines. In the LED headlamps shown later in this article, there are just three LED Light Engines in total, to cover both low and high beam. Here, you can make out four individual components making up each one of the three LED ‘light engines’ used by this lamp.

How they are made PICTURE 7 Since about 1960, J W Speaker has been producing high quality vehicular lighting systems. The modern factory appears to reflect the high-tech

nature of the work carried out there. And no, in case you were wondering, they only make lighting products. I wonder if there’s a Mr Headlight somewhere, making speakers?

PICTURE 8 Inside the J W Speaker factory, there is a strong commitment to manufacturing the latest in lighting products, especially the newest LED lights.

It’s certain that production standards will be far higher than those found in low-cost Far Eastern factories and that’s why J W Speaker’s LED lighting is approved by American military and the MoD, here in the UK. 

WHY QUALITY LEDS COST MORE The keys to extracting performance from LEDs:  It’s not a matter of just using the biggest or most powerful units you can find but making sure heat is managed and taken away from the LED. If it gets too hot it will deteriorate quickly, which is what happens to cheap LED units.  It’s vital to ‘drive’ LED correctly. Far Eastern manufacturers of cut-price products over-drive the LEDs to extract more light output but again this will be at the sacrifice of longevity. Lights bought on the cheap

from eBay frequently last no more than a few days – often just beyond the few days that eBay and PayPal allow you to claim a refund. Buyer very much beware.  Maybe the most important of all is optics, which means the lens in the glass cover.

We mentioned at the beginning the viewing angle is relatively narrow on LEDs so an optic has to be used to widen and direct the light beam to where it is required. As anyone who has ever bought a camera will know, cheap optics produce inferior results – you get what you pay for.

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technofile by Lindsay Porter

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11 PICTURE 9 The LED manufacturing process begins in the J W Speaker SMT (Surface Mount Technology) Department where the circuit boards are created and tested. It’s good to see that this, the ‘chassis’ on which each item is built, is manufactured in-house.

PICTURE 10 J W Speaker begin the process of building an LED light with one of these base circuit boards.

PICTURE 11 All of the components to be added to the circuit board start out on a long reel (see red inset, top), a different reel for each electronic component. An automated Pictureker assembles the circuit boards, selecting components from the relevant reels according to the program it’s set up to run.

PICTURE 12 After the boards are assembled, they pass through an oven which solders on the components, so removing any possibility of the occasional ‘dry joint’ which is the curse of hand-soldered circuit boards and also speeding up the process enormously.

PICTURE 13 Before leaving the Surface Mount Technology Department, all boards are

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FACT FILE: ADVANTAGE LED

individually tested to ensure that they meet the company’s strict quality standards.

Some people criticise LEDs because of their narrow beam and for domestic room lighting, that is a problem. However it’s a huge advantage with products such as LED headlights.

A conventional halogen H4 bulb creates around 1,500 lumens of light (lumens being a measure of all the light created at the source). Its bulb is mounted into a headlamp bowl, and the light is reflected from the mirrored bowl which loses a large amount of the light created.

The remaining light then passes through the piece of glass, or lens, at the front of the headlight. But because the optics have to collect light coming in from the wide area of the reflector, much of this light is wasted. This indirect method is around 35 percent efficient so the great majority of light you started with is lost.

With an LED headlamp, the light engine produces a sharp beam of light, tightly focused directly through a single optic onto the road, giving efficiency in the region of 60 percent, so there is minimal light wastage.

The result is much more light onto the road and a far brighter and sharper headlight beam than is possible with halogen.

PICTURE 14 This is one of J W Speaker’s Production Associates assembling an LED product. I’m told that use of the word ‘Associate’ is not just an example of corporate-speak pretentiousness of the sort that turns ‘cleaners’ into ‘Dust Management Executives’ (as if there was anything wrong with being a cleaner) but is a genuine reflection of the fact that J W Speaker sees every employee as being ‘associated’ with the quality of the products that the company produces.

PICTURE 15 During the assembly process, the LED is re-tested yet again, so that any potential faults are spotted before manufacture is completed.

PICTURE 16 Here, one of J W Speaker’s sonic welding devices is seen fusing the two halves of an LED product together. This is a key part of the process as far as projected longevity is concerned.

LEDs are designed to last as near to ‘forever’ as dammit is to swearing so there will never be any need to open up a lamp in order to, say, change a bulb as you would with

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an old-fashioned (but still extremely common) incandescent light. So, it’s important that the component is completely sealed to keep out any source of corrosion or contamination.

to be extremely robust and unaffected by vibration and in the most demanding circumstances, guards provide extra protection.

Picture 17 Potting – an epoxy resin, liquid-setting sealant – is added to the base of the LEDs, and they are then laid out for the potting to harden off.

Picture 19 After the guard has been added, the LED lamps are packed for shipping as in any other factory.

Picture 18 Here you see two Production Associates adding a guard to the LED lamp assembly. Many of J W Speaker’s lamps are used in the construction industry, on fork lift trucks and in other demanding and harsh environments. They’re designed

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Fitting the LED Headlights Picture 20 Before removing the old halogen headlights, we placed a board in front of the vehicle. Its position was measured to make sure it was parallel with both headlights and there was some

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masking tape on the floor so its position could be reset accurately later on. (There was a door behind there that we needed to use...)

Picture 21 To get at the Defender headlight, you have first to remove the sidelights...

Picture 22 ...and then the trim. This applies both to the standard trim and the KBX Upgrades trims I’ve got fitted.

Picture 23 Remove the screws (one shown) holding the headlight to the vehicle but not the headlamp ring screws, shown later on. 

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Picture 24 The halogen unit, complete with bulb, unplugs from the trailing lead inside the housing.

Picture 25 Now there are three screws into three clips...

Picture 26 ...that hold the headlamp rings to the glass bowls. Remove all three and keep them – don’t let them escape across the floor. Defender headlamp rings are notoriously rust-prone. (Doesn’t anyone make stainless steel ones?) You’ll want to clean them up and rust-proof them or even fit new ones if necessary. I recommend a smear of copper slip on the inside faces.

Picture 27 Land Rover headlamp rings are a tight fit on the Speaker LED headlights so you’ll need to ensure there is no rust or highspots on the inner face of the ring. You’ll also probably need to expand the ring by heating it with a heat gun or hair dryer...

Picture 28 ...so that the ring can be pushed over the front of the LED headlight.

Picture 29 You need to ensure that the ring is all the way home.

Picture 30 With the clips seen earlier

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held against the back of the LED headlight surrounds, the retaining screws can be refitted as before.

Picture 31 Now there’s no what-goeswhereing required because there is no external wiring. The existing headlight socket simply pushes onto the three terminals mounted on the back of the new LED headlight unit.

TOUGH AND STRONG  You’d normally think that using a mallet on a piece of delicate lighting or electrical equipment would be bad news, and normally you’d be right. But Tim Consolante of MobileCentre, the UK importers of Speaker LED lights, assured us that there would be no risk of damage whatsoever in using a mallet on these headlights.  They are approved for military use, not only because of their low power consumption and high output but also because they are extremely tough and strong.  Each of the LED lights contained within the housing is itself sealed and, on top of that, the glass domed cover is there to provide an extra layer of protection.

Picture 32 As the new headlight is offered into the aperture, you can be forgiven for thinking that it looks unusual, to say the least.

Picture 33 My initial approach was to concentrate on the function of the new headlights which, as you’ll see later, is vastly superior to that of any other headlights on the market. After a while, I saw function and form melding together and yes, I now actually appreciate the appearance of the things!

The new headlights simply screw back in the same way as the old ones came out.

Picture 34 Before refitting the trim, it makes sense to check that the headlight is functioning as it should. Straight away, you notice the extreme whiteness of the light and you also notice how, when you’re not looking

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TARGETED BEAMS Tim Consolante explained that a halogen Tim Consolante explained that a bulb’s light comesbulb’s from light a coilcomes woundfrom front-to-back halogen a coil wound that heats up and theglows electricity side-to-side thatglows heatswhen up and when is the applied to it. This light then off then the electricity is applied to it.reflects This light back of theoffheadlight in an almost random reflects the backunit of the headlight unit in pattern.

The random beam ofpattern. light is then directed as an almost The beam of light accurately as possible by the glass lens on the is then directed as accurately as possible by front the lamp unit. modern halogen the of glass lens on the(Many front of the lamp unit. headlights also have a shaped reflector (Many modern halogen headlights alsotohave a improve matters.)

HID bulbs, incidentally, havematters.) a spiral that is shaped reflector to improve wound side-to-side and that’s and that HID is HID bulbs, incidentally, havewhy a spiral bulbs placed in reflectors intended for halogen wound front-to-rear and that’s why HID bulbs bulbs, give a light spread thatfor is illegal. placed in reflectors intended halogen LED bulbs throw the forward from bulbs, give simply a light spread thatlight is illegal.

LED the bulb itselfthrow and don’t need to redirect bulbs simply the light forward fromit from a reflector.

This and is fardon’t moreneed efficient and accurate the bulb itself to redirect it than any other type from a reflector.

Thisofisbulb. far more efficient and accurate than any other type of bulb

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straight at it, the headlight isn’t at all dazzling.

This is because an LED beam is very sharp and directional which is, of course, highly desirable in a vehicle headlight.

these headlights from the relevant Vehicle Approval Authority and here’s the copy I’m going to carry with me until Mr Plod catches up with what’s going on.

Picture 35 Finally, it’s simply a matter of replacing the trim and sidelights, as before.

Picture 39 It was easy to check the position of the headlight beams against the felt pen marks made earlier on the board while the halogen lights were still in place.

Picture 36 In the main picture, you can see the Speaker LED headlight on low beam.

The two D-shaped lights, one on each side, have the job of creating the correct spread of light bearing in mind what we just said about the directional quality of LED lights. On the right (B) is the headlight on high beam while on the left (A) is the old, more yellow halogen light.

Picture 37 In case the previous picture didn’t make it absolutely clear, this is an undoctored photograph taken with the halogen lamp on the left-side and the new Speaker LED lamp on the right-side of the vehicle. I find this an astounding difference and the picture clearly speaks for itself.

Picture 38 Now, accepting that HID bulb conversions in halogen headlight units are illegal, what about the legality of these new LED lamps? Well, I’m delighted to report that UK approval has been granted for the use of

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Picture 40 It was difficult to photograph the headlight beam as seen from behind because the camera kept trying to compensate and make it seem even better than it was. This is the best representation I could come up with. The whiteness of the ‘picture’ is exactly what you get while the sharp edges to the light beam mean that oncoming traffic shows no sign of being dazzled – much less so than with HID headlights I have used in the past.

In summary, I think it’s fair to say that these headlights are a sensational improvement on anything that has come before. They will, in effect, last well beyond the life of the vehicle without ever needing to be changed.

They are built for the very harshest and most demanding of environments – the battlefield – and the quality of the light is, one might say, light years away from

anything I’ve ever experienced before on a Land Rover Defender – or any other vehicle for that matter.

It’s a massive leap from normal Defender headlights, which are notoriously poor, to having headlights that are among the best on the road. And not one single driver coming in the opposite direction has ‘flashed’ me. As I say, a sensational improvement.

LRM

CONTACT Mobile Centre Ltd PO Box 222, Evesham, WR11 4WT Tel: 01386 834851 www.mobilecentre.co.uk KBX Upgrades Ltd AB Parts Store, 65 Parkside, Spennymoor, Co Durham, DL16 6SA Tel: 01388 812 777 E mail: info@kbxupgrades.co.uk

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