2021 Kona EV (Preferred) conversion to LED (exterior and interior)

[navguy12]

fair point on the no drilling

Just that I keep reading reviews on people saying after 3-4 hours of driving the lights flicker, must be because it gets too hot, I'll leave it as is since it fits perfectly in there, if not, I'll probably revert back to Halogen as well but better bulbs

As for the adapter, I'm at the office right now so restricted on printscreen but you can search below and you'll find it

So far it fit perfectly the Aukee LED bulbs, the advertising says its made for the RCP bulbs but that's not true at all. It also looks identical to the ones your LED kit comes with

RCP H7 LED Headlight Bulb Adapter Holders Socket Base Retainers for Kia Hyundai Accord, 2 pcs

Cheers.

Okay, seen.

Here is a screenshot of those adapters:



I'll have to wait and see how my headlamps perform.

I learned a valuable lesson when cutting holes into a 2008 Prius about 10 years ago, as well as "baking" the headlamp housings to remove the halogen setup and install HIDs....never again.

If these units show up and are not plug and play, I guess my wife drives with the OEM lamps...

 

[navguy12]

I have to say I'm impressed with the build and the brightness, I find them a bit too bright though (almost blinding)

my neighbor who's a Porsche Mechanic came by during the day and without me asking told me "I'm surprised Hyundai would put such bright lighting, hurts the eyes"

So I'm debating swapping them out for something less bright, did you get any feedback or have the same reaction ?

Followed my wife for 25 km while she had to drop the car off to get an unrelated pending issue resolved.

Yes, they are bright.

Philosophically, they are the perfect brightness in this era of inattentive drivers.

Realistically, I will probably remove the bulbs and start covering up each single LED with a black sharpie pen, one at a time, until the total lumen amount is moderated enough...

I'll capture and post results here later this week.

 

[Lars]

Cheers.

Okay, seen.

Here is a screenshot of those adapters:

View attachment 9216

I'll have to wait and see how my headlamps perform.

I learned a valuable lesson when cutting holes into a 2008 Prius about 10 years ago, as well as "baking" the headlamp housings to remove the halogen setup and install HIDs....never again.

If these units show up and are not plug and play, I guess my wife drives with the OEM lamps...

Good info! All the pieces are falling in place, still I am just wondering if all the hassle worth it? Maybe I am getting too old for crawling under the car for the rear lights. Still undecided.

Thoughts on headlight LEDs. There are many LED designs for replacing Halogen bulbs. Not surprisingly the issue is heat dissipation of these powerful LEDs. If they get cooked you have no heads - not good! Check out this video:


Beyond proper physical fit there the issue of "light beam spread" and the need to check/adjust headlight alignment after a new bulb is installed.

Just saying.

 

[Lars]

Here is more educational material one should check out before deciding on an LED bulb:

 

[navguy12]

Thanks Lars for the info in the above posts.

Still waiting for my headlamps to even show up...

Dealt with the very bright turn signal bulbs today (I'm leaving the backup lamp LEDs as is, the more light the better AFAIK).

Bottom line: I used a black Sharpie pen to cover the individual LEDs.

All four bulbs eventually had the following done to them:

This first shot is during the trial and error phase:



Ultimately, on each of the four bulbs, the following was done:



The above shot is typical for all four bulbs.

The sides that have six LEDs, all six are covered.

The sides that have four LEDs, the bottom two are covered.

To review: out of the 20 LEDs on each bulb, 16 are covered and only four are left original.

 

[Lars]

Let us know how it goes. The "make a fake bulb" with black felt pan idea is funny, hope it works - ask the Porsche guy As for the backup lights - I am with you 100%. No problem there.

I do have concerns about the heads.You don't want to blind anyone. Even if one gets the beam shape etc. right, there is the question of heat dissipation. I am sure the swap to LED can be done, but it is a tricky thing to do correctly.

Lars

 

[apu]

I do have concerns about the heads.You don't want to blind anyone. Even if one gets the beam shape etc. right, there is the question of heat dissipation. I am sure the swap to LED can be done, but it is a tricky thing to do correctly.

Lars

Its pretty easy to manage with the stock projectors, you can easily lower the beam pattern if your annoying oncoming traffic.
These are my 55 watt 5K HIDs on the Kona, nice and bright with a good cut off pattern. I get no complaints.

 

[Lars]

Its pretty easy to manage with the stock projectors, you can easily lower the beam pattern if your annoying oncoming traffic.
These are my 55 watt 5K HIDs on the Kona, nice and bright with a good cut off pattern. I get no complaints.

Good test, good proof! But you have HIDs not LEDs.

And just to go off topic for a minute - man the snow! We had an unusually cool September so far in SW Ontario. We know "winter is coming" but not just yet. This should be still windsurfing time not snow boarding time.

 

[electriceddy]

Good test, good proof! But you have HIDs not LEDs.

And just to go off topic for a minute - man the snow! We had an unusually cool September so far in SW Ontario. We know "winter is coming" but not just yet. This should be still windsurfing time not snow boarding time.

I think apu recorded that video during the winter season, at least I hope.
OT reply: not so cool here, 29 today and 31 tomorrow

 

[persianrider]

I like this thread because we pretty much all have a common goal

that said, near my work there are cops on bicycles, so I asked one of them to ride behind the Kona at a distance of 10-15M and for me to use the flashers

He pretty much told me to change them ASAP.... blinding to the point that he literally had to blink a few seconds, did he exaggerate ? Maybe, but it was the identical reaction to my neighbor the porsche mechanic... both of these were in the daytime

In my case I'll order new bulbs for the front and rear flashers... won't adventure into covering any of the LEDs, if I have to get under there to take the **** out.... im changing it (LOL!)

as for the reverse LEDs, those as well I'm changing, (remember I said I'm pretty OCD about these things earlier in the thread lol)..... NAVGUY for me I noticed when I was reversing in a dark spot/area such as my parking, the LEDs are so bright that they create a blur on the reverse camera, which actually hinders visibility

honestly I'm tossing the idea to go back to the halogens but at the same time I got Philips LED bulbs on my wifes previous Nissan Juke and they were always just the right brightness. I actually got the Philiips for the Kona's license plate and they're perfect, blend in like it was the natural bulb.

The only reason I didn't get philips, I wanted to try these bulbs and the philips are more expensive

As for the headlights, I have the 45W LED installed (they arrived faster than the 55W) I adjusted them perfectly, but there are dark spots, no go (returning those, thank you Amazon!). The 55W arrived today but didn't have time to make the swap.

I have to admit, the heat is a small worry but I'll still install the 55W since I have them, just so we can get all this "testing" done even if we don't keep any of these bulbs on.... @apu how did you install the HIDs ? Don't those aftermarket kits come with a box and you need to drill into the cover to pass the wires and stuff ?

 

[Vince08]

To review: out of the 20 LEDs on each bulb, 16 are covered and only four are left original.

I was just wondering if it is better just re-installing back your original Halogen signal bulb? Although the halogen bulb may not be at the desired brightness, but at least it is expected to be more reliable than any aftermarket LED bulb.

 

[persianrider]

I ordered the front,rear flashers and reverse lights LED Philips.....

Will update what I get from it, they'll only all be here next week. I started the return process with Amazon for the other ones, like I said just too bright in my mind. I'll also compare with the stock bulbs (at least for the front since it's easy) just to get an idea Philips LED vs Stock Halogen

Headlight 55W LED review to come tomorrow or friday night, because of that adapter it's an easy swap now, it takes more time fitting the box and original H7 bulb holder than swapping the actual bulb

 

[navguy12]

I like this thread because we pretty much all have a common goal

that said, near my work there are cops on bicycles, so I asked one of them to ride behind the Kona at a distance of 10-15M and for me to use the flashers

He pretty much told me to change them ASAP.... blinding to the point that he literally had to blink a few seconds, did he exaggerate ? Maybe, but it was the identical reaction to my neighbor the porsche mechanic... both of these were in the daytime

In my case I'll order new bulbs for the front and rear flashers... won't adventure into covering any of the LEDs, if I have to get under there to take the **** out.... im changing it (LOL!)

as for the reverse LEDs, those as well I'm changing, (remember I said I'm pretty OCD about these things earlier in the thread lol)..... NAVGUY for me I noticed when I was reversing in a dark spot/area such as my parking, the LEDs are so bright that they create a blur on the reverse camera, which actually hinders visibility

honestly I'm tossing the idea to go back to the halogens but at the same time I got Philips LED bulbs on my wifes previous Nissan Juke and they were always just the right brightness. I actually got the Philiips for the Kona's license plate and they're perfect, blend in like it was the natural bulb.

The only reason I didn't get philips, I wanted to try these bulbs and the philips are more expensive

As for the headlights, I have the 45W LED installed (they arrived faster than the 55W) I adjusted them perfectly, but there are dark spots, no go (returning those, thank you Amazon!). The 55W arrived today but didn't have time to make the swap.

I have to admit, the heat is a small worry but I'll still install the 55W since I have them, just so we can get all this "testing" done even if we don't keep any of these bulbs on.... @apu how did you install the HIDs ? Don't those aftermarket kits come with a box and you need to drill into the cover to pass the wires and stuff ?

Thanks for the backup light heads-up regarding effect on the back up camera.

Next time I'm in the mood, I'll do the same to those bulbs as I did to the flasher bulbs.

Let me know what kind of flasher bulbs you get.

Based on my blacking out the individual LED process, these bulbs only need a single LED on each side to be 100% effective without blinding anyone...

 

[navguy12]

I was just wondering if it is better just re-installing back your original Halogen signal bulb? Although the halogen bulb may not be at the desired brightness, but at least it is expected to be more reliable than any aftermarket LED bulb.

The signal bulbs are just run of the mill incandescent bulbs.

You may ultimately be right, but I'm a little stubborn.

I don't like the "delay" between the instantaneous OEM LED on the exterior rear view mirrors versus the flasher bulbs at each corner of the car, so I'm going to persist with these LEDs for now.

If I can't get a satisfactory headlamp pattern with my yet to arrive LED units, I'll ship those back and just live with the OEM halogens.

I won't touch aftermarket HIDs.

 

[navguy12]

Thanks for the backup light heads-up regarding effect on the back up camera.

Next time I'm in the mood, I'll do the same to those bulbs as I did to the flasher bulbs.

Let me know what kind of flasher bulbs you get.

Based on my blacking out the individual LED process, these bulbs only need a single LED on each side to be 100% effective without blinding anyone...

Persianrider: could you post the actual link to the actual Philips bulbs you are about to try out please? Thanks.

 

[hobbit]

My Kona just passed its Massachusetts safety inspection with a pair of LASFIT modules
in the low-beams, and the super-bright LED bulbs I put in the reverse lights (here's why).
Nary a whimper about non-spec lighting or inappropriate cutoff.

I did find that the LASFITs do need to be pulled back from the fully-seated position in the
adapters a mm or two, to optimize light output and beam shape. Basically the backs of the
fan housings are right up against the dust caps, and it bugs me that the modules are basically
held in place by O-ring friction. I really need to get that webpage worked up about them, I think
I've got enough pix to warrant it...

_H*

 

[persianrider]

This is the model I’m getting for the Philips

I got these in the past and they were perfectly fine lights.....let’s not forget Philips as a brand can’t afford having LEDs that blind folks. So they definitely turn it down a notch.

I didn’t install the 55W led yet. Tomorrow night is my expected install. Was busy prepping for the electrician coming to install my FLO X5 charger tomorrow

 

[navguy12]

The Lasfit headlamp bulbs arrived today.

Prior to the swap, I did an ad hoc check of the existing aim in a dark garage and set up tape lines to show the center of the beam and the cut-off:



There are also tape marks on the floor (for vehicle re-position) as well in case I must re-visit this in the future.

Once the units were installed, the aim was surprisingly close.

I did adjust the starboard side lamp down two full revolutions.

The first night drive will be the true test.

Observations with the Lasfit's right out of the box:

• There was no way the units, with the attached adapters, would fit into the housing and have a correct (vertical) alignment,
• As previously discussed, I removed the adapter and inserted that into the housing...and then "friction fit" the LED lamp at its correct alignment (actual LEDs facing 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock with connection wire at 6 o'clock positions), and
  
• The above installation does not make me confident that these lamps will not shake over rough road surfaces.

I contemplated removing the three Philips screws holding the metal retaining ring and rotating that unit about 120 degress, but I don't want to hack the original mounting hardware AND I simply could not get good purchase on all six screws (three a side) without a high risk of stripping some of the screw heads.

 

[KiwiME]

I haven't noticed any issue with shaking despite my initial concerns. I had to adjust the beam down a lot more than 2 turns and still need a bit more. I loosened the three screws to install because the adapter fit was so tight that I was worried about damaging them. I may try the small axial position change hobbit used but overall I like the results.

 

[navguy12]

I haven't noticed any issue with shaking despite my initial concerns. I had to adjust the beam down a lot more than 2 turns and still need a bit more. I loosened the three screws to install because the adapter fit was so tight that I was worried about damaging them. I may try the small axial position change hobbit used but overall I like the results.

Thanks for that feedback.

I was disappointed that the nice, tight and locked adapter on the actual lamp would have put the lamp way out of the intended position by about 120 degrees of arc.

If for some reason the friction fit is not stable enough, I'll have to improvise a fix but until then, I'll leave it as is.

Nice white light, that's for sure...