Headlight bulbs?
- Thread starter Agzand
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megreyhair
Active Member
The entire assembly will have to go. It is not a bulb you can replace.
Thanks, at $900 it will be an expensive bulb replacement. I hope they will last a long time.
They will maybe last forever. That's one of the advantages of LED.
That is what they say, but from personal experience with household LED bulbs, it is not true. They go bad as often as florescent bulbs, at least the earlier models. I am sure the automotive bulbs are better, so hopefully they will last the life of the car.
Clarity_Newbie
Active Member
Aqzand
The LED "bulb" can last many 1000's of hours...the weak link in the led light tech is the "led driver" or the part that controls the voltage sent to the bulb..which must be "low voltage". Typically, the driver goes bad and, like most things in this country, it costs almost as much to replace the "driver" to repair a led light as it is to buy a new light...at least that is my experience with under-cabinet lights I installed 7 years ago and tried to repair instead of replace this past summer.
That may explain why the "whole unit" has to be replaced...and if that is the case...you will be essentially replacing the whole unit because the "led driver" went bad.
It is also entirely possible that automotive led lights are a different animal than residential lights as I have never looked into how the automotive leds function.
Always something.
Hope this helps.
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AlAl
Active Member
There's a pretty large variance in quality for products built down to a price(until tooling/automation eliminates guesswork).
I've taken apart quite a few headlamp modules at work(body shop), and feel there is very little to worry about with the assembly going bad. Most of the specialty units(like on our car) are built to properly expel the heat generated by the assembly.
As long as the components stay dry and cool, they will outlast the vehicle
Fast Eddie B
Well-Known Member
I hope so as well.
With LED’s becoming so ubiquitous, and assemblies so expensive, I’d also hope specialty repair shops crop up that can troubleshoot and repair/replace individual elements. Might be a good business opportunity for someone!
Yes, it is definitely helpful. I had a few LED ceiling lights that started flickering and at $25 a pup it was not worth fixing them. There was no replaceable part inside, so I had to replace the light. At $900, I think eventually there could be solutions to fix them if a small part fails. It might not be endorsed by Honda, but it is certainly doable.
MNSteve
Well-Known Member
I've seen a fair number of complaints about anemic headlights on the Clarity. I think that if there were enough of them out there to justify it that some aftermarket firm would offer replacement headlights with more light. On the other hand, at $900, there isn't much potential market.
David in TN
Well-Known Member
The actual retail price from Honda for the headlights is $1,348.87. I found where they can be purchased for $1,052.12.
My previous daily-drive was a 2017 Honda Civic Si. I replaced the stock bulbs (high, low, and fog) with LED's. About $50/pair.
The LED lights on it were amazing, and a lot better than the Clarity, and yet didn't dazzle on-coming drivers. I may attempt to do a minor aim adjustment, on the Clarity's lights, sometime in the future.
My previous daily-drive was a 2017 Honda Civic Si. I replaced the stock bulbs (high, low, and fog) with LED's. About $50/pair.
The LED lights on it were amazing, and a lot better than the Clarity, and yet didn't dazzle on-coming drivers. I may attempt to do a minor aim adjustment, on the Clarity's lights, sometime in the future.
If you get in an accident with your Civic and the other party notices your lights they can blame it on you. An OEM solution is always better.
David in TN
Well-Known Member
Unless you enjoy seeing where you are going...
LED bulbs are generally a whiter light closer to the way we see things during the day.
As with any headlight bulb replacement, you have to ensure proper alignment.
Sent from my SM-N960U using Inside EVs mobile app
It doesn't matter how perfect they are aligned. It is still illegal and if someone notices they can shift liability to the car with illegal lights.
petteyg359
Well-Known Member
Perhaps because one of the biggest most sold brands is trash. Avoid the "EcoSmart" crap from Home Depot. They are reliable in the sense that they can be relied upon to fail within a few months. I have IKEA bulbs approaching 24000 hours on-time, though.
AlAl
Active Member
From my understanding, that law applies to HID retrofits on OEM reflector equipment; since all factory Xenon kits must use projector housings with a cutoff.
That said, I have heard of people getting pulled over for using those chintzy aftermarket LED kits on reflector housings. You know, the bluish ones that well exceed the 6k temp
Thanks to an inattentive driver I did have to replace one of the headlight in my Clarity(only had 2,000 miles on it 
). Yes they are well over $1000. Not sure about replacing individual LED's. I brought the old one home to see if I could make work bench overhead
light like I did from an 1980's BMW front end. It was quite difficult to disassemble, I just used a saw to quickly get rid of the aft support structure. From the attached photos it does look like the individual LED's can be removed, I just don't remember how much has to be taken apart to get to them. BTW, the light they throw is quite narrow, probably use it to light my soldering station.
). Yes they are well over $1000. Not sure about replacing individual LED's. I brought the old one home to see if I could make work bench overhead
110v LED bulb is not just the LED, but also includes the ac-dc downvolt power adapter. Those adapter doesn't last well.
Also, to mimic the bulb shape, there is limited space for heat. I would recommend replace the whole light fixture to a LED assembly with all LED pre mounted, just like the clarity headlights.
Clarity_Newbie
Active Member
Thanks to this thread...lol...I read up a little on automotive LED and basically they too require a type of LED driver or voltage manipulator.
I have included a link below to an interesting article about this subject for those who want to delve more into the matter.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/automotive/led-drivers-expand-control-automotive-lighting
IMHO and if I understood the article correctly, the end result is IF the headlight unit on the Clarity malfunctions...it will most likely be the mechanics between the power supply and the LED "bulbs" failed. But hey...technology changes every day so this will change at some point as well.
But $900 for this? Wow.
Hope this helps.
I have included a link below to an interesting article about this subject for those who want to delve more into the matter.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/automotive/led-drivers-expand-control-automotive-lighting
IMHO and if I understood the article correctly, the end result is IF the headlight unit on the Clarity malfunctions...it will most likely be the mechanics between the power supply and the LED "bulbs" failed. But hey...technology changes every day so this will change at some point as well.
But $900 for this? Wow.
Hope this helps.