Speak EV - Electric Car Forums banner

Good quality LED bulbs for Leaf

6K views 34 replies 21 participants last post by  Raymondo 
#1 ·
Anyone come across good quality LED bulbs for the Leaf, especially for the DRLs?
I bought some ebay ones, I only fitted one and it started flickering.
So they're going back.
I'd rather they were straight replacement and no filing/mods needed, I don't have the patience! :)
 
#4 · (Edited)
It was a package of DRL, sidelight and numberplate bulbs for £26.95 delivered.
Seller name is mnftech
I should state the following, for the sake of fairness

1. I only experienced problems with the numberplate bulbs, the others may have been fine, I didn't try, I just got annoyed and gave up.
2. Other users on a facebook Leaf page have had no problems with the same ones.
 
#7 ·
One of my Mnftech LED DRL's has begun to stop working while I'm driving. It comes on initially but by the time I get where I'm going it's gone off. If I then switch my lights on and off it restarts. I've put the halogen bulb back in and that behaves normally. Bit annoying after 11 months. I've messaged them on ebay, I don't think 11 months is very reasonable for an LED bulb...
 
#13 ·
Seeing the initial topic title I was going to comment that I didn't see the point of replacing the main headlight bulb, as the halogens are good for melting frost, etc. in the winter.
Tekna models have LED headlights already.
I just want LED DRLs because the dull yellow glow makes the car look old.
The headlights and DRLs are never on at the same time, so the effect of all the lights matching is moot.
 
#10 ·
Yes, LEDs proved their reliability years ago, but LED bulbs seem a different kettle of fish. Even the domestic bulbs seem less than reliable. Not to mention that many LED bulbs have poor efficiency - there's a huge range between the best and the worst if you look at the lumens output for the wattage.
 
#11 ·
Not to mention that many LED bulbs have poor efficiency - there's a huge range between the best and the worst if you look at the lumens output for the wattage.
Most automotive LED "bulbs" that are designed to fit in a standard bulb holder are designed to draw the same current as the bulb they are replacing, so as to operate correctly with bulb-failure warning systems.
 
#14 ·
Does anyone use led indicator bulbs, or high beam.

I always replace bulbs with leds on my cars and bikes and keep the old bulbs for emergencies when needed.

This leaf seems to have bulb figments that I don’t have any off, and need to try to match up, I think the high beam are h9 type, but the big cap less bulbs with a orange colour seem to not exist.

Anyone shed any light( no pun intended) on this for me please...tia
 
#16 ·
Just to update my own post, I contacted the seller 'Mnftech' on ebay as the bulbs had been installed for less than a year. They asked me to send the fautly DRL bulb back to them and I received a replacement yesterday.

One of my Mnftech LED DRL's has begun to stop working while I'm driving. It comes on initially but by the time I get where I'm going it's gone off. If I then switch my lights on and off it restarts. I've put the halogen bulb back in and that behaves normally. Bit annoying after 11 months. I've messaged them on ebay, I don't think 11 months is very reasonable for an LED bulb...
 
#17 ·
Same problem as most others, bought ours from mnftech last July and one of the DRLS failed about 6 month ago. The number plate LED also flickers too.

When the other DRL fails I'll put the halogens back in as I can't be bother with the hassle.
 
#18 ·
Same here, also got them from Mnftech, failed after around 6 months, rubbish quality unfortunately and not cheap at nearly 30 pounds! Couldn't be bothered returning them as no point replacing the bulbs with more rubbish. Such a pity it's not possible to get good quality bulbs as the halogens look terrible and do the car no justice at all.
 
#19 ·
Still worth doing what I did if you have the time. It's only 3 volts bolts holding in the fog light/drl housing. Remove them from behind and remove the unit. Widen the hole that the bulbs go in to slightly and then you can fit cheaper bulbs that are otherwise a mm too big. My bulbs cost £6 a pair now. I've had to replace 1 in the last year which was a very simple plug and play job.

Further information here: Leaf LED Sidelights, DRL's and Fog Lights
 
#20 ·
For the hassle of fitting and potentially constantly re-fitting, I'm not going to bother with the DRLs.
It's a weird decision from Nissan to make the dip headlights LED and main beam halogen though (Tekna)
I'd love to make the main beam LED as well if it was possible using good quality bulbs.
 
#21 ·
Personally, the hassle of the led DRL's is outweighed by how good they look once done. I can replace a bulb in about 5 minutes now if I had to. Thankfully I've not had to for at least 12 months.

I changed my halogen main beams to these on my 2012:
Text Product Line Font Parallel


I can't link to them as the order was over 12 months ago and if I try and view the product from my order it's a dead link. These have been very good. I spend a lot of time driving down dark country lanes and these throw out a good wide spread of light. They were a straight swap. My only criticism is that when using main beam they make one of my radio stations crackle but it's a minr issue.
 
#23 ·
You would think that some savvy manufacturer would get on board and produce good quality LED DRL replacements for the Leaf that fit without any modification and last at least a year, how hard would it be?
I wouldn’t mind paying a premium for a quality product that I know would work.
 
#27 ·
I have replaced almost all the filament bulbs that came with my 2016 Tekna with LED ones including the interior ones. I have to say it makes it feel a lot more modern looking, especially inside!
Only ones I have yet to replace are the fog lights, high beam halogens and the glove box bulb.

It's on a lease, but I think I will be keeping the car because I love it so much ?.
 
#28 ·
I have fitted OSRAM LEDriving 5828CW Cool White to my DRL they are P13W from Ebay. I could not get mine to fit in the housing at first. I removed the complete DRL/fog light units (3 screws) so that I could see the problem as on examination they appeared to be the same as the original filament bulbs. I found that I could fit them ok if used the "o" rings from the filament bulbs as the those fitted to the Osrams were just too thick. The bulbs use 3w instead of 13w and are much brighter with a similar light colour to the led headlights (about 6000K). They have a 6 year osram guarantee and just work great in my Leaf30 and are CANBUS compatible . They are not EC approved for road use!
 
#30 ·
I have fitted OSRAM LEDriving 5828CW Cool White to my DRL they are P13W from Ebay. I could not get mine to fit in the housing at first. I removed the complete DRL/fog light units (3 screws) so that I could see the problem as on examination they appeared to be the same as the original filament bulbs. I found that I could fit them ok if used the "o" rings from the filament bulbs as the those fitted to the Osrams were just too thick. The bulbs use 3w instead of 13w and are much brighter with a similar light colour to the led headlights (about 6000K). They have a 6 year osram guarantee and just work great in my Leaf30 and are CANBUS compatible . They are not EC approved for road use!
Does the underlined mean they could fail MOT testing?
 
#31 ·
The MOT Manual might help. As far as I can see there's no mention of EC approval. The MOT is a safety check, not a legality check and with the DRL's on the leaf being such a pig to get at, I can't see any tester bothering to remove them to check anyway. As long as they emit white light and turn off (or dim) appropriately when the headlights are used, they'll probably be fine. Not that that's an invitation to blame me if you get the tester from hell...
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top