Jump to content


Photo
- - - - -

Lighting Upgrade


  • Please log in to reply
36 replies to this topic

#31 Elijah2004

Elijah2004

    Starting My Mini Up

  • Noobies
  • Pip
  • 4 posts
  • Location: Jakarta

Posted 05 May 2026 - 01:55 PM

My neighbour had the Wipac lights on his Defender and they're very good. The Ebay copies are awful, beware. I have some pictures of the beam pattern of the Ebay lights on an MOT beam test machine, it's hilarious.



#32 Elijah2004

Elijah2004

    Starting My Mini Up

  • Noobies
  • Pip
  • 4 posts
  • Location: Jakarta

Posted 05 May 2026 - 01:58 PM

Are those Wipac quadoptics that he's got? Thinking about replacing my old Lucas 7669 HCR 20R with one of those, but I heard Lucas units perform better, might be wrong tho, so many different opinions of which one's better, get's confusing xd.

#33 Elijah2004

Elijah2004

    Starting My Mini Up

  • Noobies
  • Pip
  • 4 posts
  • Location: Jakarta

Posted 05 May 2026 - 02:01 PM

My neighbour had the Wipac lights on his Defender and they're very good. The Ebay copies are awful, beware. I have some pictures of the beam pattern of the Ebay lights on an MOT beam test machine, it's hilarious.



#34 PoolGuy

PoolGuy

    One Carb Or Two?

  • TMF+ Member
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 981 posts
  • Location: Bucks

Posted 05 May 2026 - 03:15 PM

Are those Wipac quadoptics that he's got? Thinking about replacing my old Lucas 7669 HCR 20R with one of those, but I heard Lucas units perform better, might be wrong tho, so many different opinions of which one's better, get's confusing xd.

Not Quadoptics, he had the led.



#35 Rubbershorts

Rubbershorts

    One Carb Or Two?

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 740 posts
  • Location: Bradford-ish

Posted 05 May 2026 - 05:13 PM

I have the pictured E marked reflector and a 4300k warm white LED bulb fitted to the car. This set up is legal apparently but only if your car is pre 86. I think that's the cut off. Once fitted I took them to the garage to have them set up correctly. The guy doing it said they had a "weird throw". I think he meant onto the curb side. First time I used them it was apparent they are far too bright for anyone/thing that gets caught in the part of the light. Pedestrians actually stop and turn away, they're ridiculous. Due to feeling so vulnerable driving this tiny car at any time I've stuck with them. I hate the look of the modern mini offerings with the halo light around, even if you choose not to wire that part in you can still see it. I'd like a much weaker LED soft white bulb, or a full LED unit that doesn't have the halo. Daz.

Attached Files



#36 SolarB

SolarB

    One Carb Or Two?

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,406 posts
  • Location: Surrey

Posted 14 May 2026 - 12:31 PM

Information from Hella from years ago.

 

Below is a table illustrating the severe reduction in light output experienced during volt drop.

 

Operating          Light

  Voltage          Output

      %                   %

    100                100

      95                  83

      90                  67

      85                  53


Edited by SolarB, 14 May 2026 - 12:33 PM.


#37 tarnofsky

tarnofsky

    On The Road

  • TMF+ Member
  • PipPip
  • 39 posts
  • Location: Bavaria

Posted 03 October 2026 - 08:08 PM

Try Philips Ultinon Pro6000 LED bulbs. They are coming with certification also for the UK as far as I can see. They are road legal with the E11 0035 marked 7" lamps, as used on the Rover Minis past 97. 

All you'll have to modify is the parking light socket. They're different pre 97. Sockets for the new lamps are available from the Bay and it's an easy job with a soldering iron or you crimp them in. Use Osram LED W5W bulbs for the sidelamps. They also are universally road legal across the EU - I think I remember, also in the UK.
The light color is bright white for both. Believe me, they're incredible. On my Cooper they are so bright that they out-shine the additional driving lights where the beams overlap. Vision range is about 2 times H4 standard.
Added benefit: power consumption is 18W instead of 55W H4. 36W instead of 110W running through the light switch on the dash. 3A instead of 9A if I calculate correctly. In any case, the light switch didn't need replacing since I first fitted them despite running the car with lights always on. If you pull it out and feel it after a 2h drive it's not feelably warm whereas with the H4 the pins get so hot, the little spring in the switch pushes it trough the (molten) plastic on the rear of the switch.Attached File  H4 vs Philips Ultinon6000Pro.jpg   29.94K   1 downloads

Left: H4 - Right: Philps LED plus Osram side light


Edited by tarnofsky, 03 October 2026 - 08:10 PM.





5 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 5 guests, 0 anonymous users