General Fiat 500 LED conversion UK based newbie

[F500ldn]

Hello everyone!

New owner of a used 500 in the UK and delighted with the car (minus a few things that will hopefully sort out soon).

I was hoping to get some help with the front headlights as I’m thinking of replacing them with LEDs to improve visibility (also like the look).

Has anyone tried to replace them themselves with budget friendly Amazon/EBay (sub £50) options?

Looking forward to your insight

Tee

 

[TrevC]

I replaced the standard bulbs with Osram Night breakers, which gave a substantial improvement. I'm pretty sure that there are no l.e.d. replacement "bulbs" that are legal for road use in the UK.

 

[jrkitching]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Retroffiting LED headlights is not legally permitted in the UK.

 

[chris3234]

As above you need a led headlight unit e.g a complete item with built in lights the be fully "legal"

 

[F500ldn]

Thank you for the quick responses! That clears it up! Osram it is!

Could I also ask if anyone knows of the top of their head regarding the front lights.
Are two semicircle lights (that form a full circle with a line actors) part of the headlights or running lights? The left one is a lot dimmer than the right one so I was trying to find out which bulb needs replacing but all the videos are for either headlights or DRLs.

 

[John202020]

Thank you for the quick responses! That clears it up! Osram it is!

Could I also ask if anyone knows of the top of their head regarding the front lights.
Are two semicircle lights (that form a full circle with a line actors) part of the headlights or running lights? The left one is a lot dimmer than the right one so I was trying to find out which bulb needs replacing but all the videos are for either headlights or DRLs.

Phillips also do some very good upgrade bulbs, what year your car? The lights in the bumper are, side light, day running lights and full beam(including dip above when on)
Side/drl is a 21w/5w push in bulb type 580
Though not legal if you have projector type head lights it's possible to fit HID conversion, with some clever wiring they will pass a mot, as our Mazda has for years.

 

[F500ldn]

Phillips also do some very good upgrade bulbs, what year your car? The lights in the bumper are, side light, day running lights and full beam(including dip above when on)
Side/drl is a 21w/5w push in bulb type 580
Though not legal if you have projector type head lights it's possible to fit HID conversion, with some clever wiring they will pass a mot, as our Mazda has for years.

Thank you John, it’s a 65 plate. The newer facelift 1.2 pop.

 

[vexorg]

The law is stupid on this, motorbikes can have the conversion and pass, cars cant.
You can pass with very poor halogen bulbs, but LED/HID that meet the beam pattern perfectly will fail.

 

[chris3234]

The law is stupid on this, motorbikes can have the conversion and pass, cars cant.
You can pass with very poor halogen bulbs, but LED/HID that meet the beam pattern perfectly will fail.

Explains why I often get blinded by motorbikes light's especially the idiot's that drive around with full beam on all the time

 

[John202020]

Thank you John, it’s a 65 plate. The newer facelift 1.2 pop.

I've heard the new face lift cars with projector lights are poor compared to the older standard design

 

[Little500ladybird]

On a side note, I replaced the daytime running/side lights with cheap ebay LED's. They initially worked, but then the OBD kicks up a fuss and now says "check lights" and has cut the power to them. I suspect the very low running current of the LED's confuses the control system, and it cannot believe the lights can function at the much less than one ampere of an LED.
There is, so far as I can tell, no fuse for these sidelights, only the control unit.
Oh for just a switch and fuse!

 

[Troubles with 500c]

There was a previous thread that recommended some better quality LEDs for the DRL. Not sure if the those bulbs are still available.

I’m intending to swap to swap to these, so hopefully someone will know the best ones to use.