SE Connect has halogen headlights, can I retrofit LEDs

[Disabled Daz]

Has anyone taken a complete LED setup off another higher spec Tuscon to add LEDs to headlights.

Us SE owners know are lights are rubbish.
Thanks

[Indalo]

Has anyone taken a complete LED setup off another higher spec Tuscon to add LEDs to headlights.

With respect, ‘Disabled Daz’, I think you’re asking in the wrong place.

Whether it’s physically possible or not is somewhat irrelevant if it makes your car illegal. I suggest you research the latest version of the vehicle lighting regulations and the new instructions to MOT testers in respect of lights. My understanding, though I may well be wrong, is that ‘upgrades’ of the kind you may be considering are an automatic MOT fail and by dint of that, your car becomes illegal to use.

Please don’t take my word for it; do the homework and find out the truth of the matter as such a modification must be notified to your insurer. They may reject such an ‘improvement’ and that could lead to your insurance being declared void in the event of a claim by you or by a third party.

Don’t imagine that MOT testers might not notice your car model has non-standard headlamps and simply pass it at MOT test time - they have updated instructions regarding compliance with the latest lighting regulations so, shady back street operators aside, your car would be declared as a fail. I’m given to understand that fears of a potential fire hazard figure large in the reasoning behind the latest changes to the lighting system.

[Disabled Daz]

O my. You presume a lot from my 1 question.
I’m more upto date than most concerning MOT rules and regs. I used to work for VOSA before a car 4 post lift failed while I was checking it for its annual sign off. It componded my spine by 4 inches, and 6 operations later I’m now just 1 inch shorter than I used to be.

Anyway I’m medically retired now but still keep upto date with new regs etc.
I’m talking about retro fitting everything including lense, mounting, auto level adjusters on the rear etc. IM NOT JUST PUTTING LED bulbs in the halogen light cluster.
My car is a 7000 mile SE, purchased with cash and adapted for my liking ! If I’d of known how crap the SE lights were, I’d of upgraded them at manufacturing point. But now I think I’m just going to give the SE to my daughter and buy the Tucson with all LED lights . However thanks for your reply and concern.

[PhilHornby]

Two thoughts.

This may be mega expensive.

The CANBUS nonsense may conspire to stop it working. (I can imagine having to 'pair' the new lights to the car... I don't think it's anything like a simple as a switch sending 12V to them, these days)

[Indalo]

I’m talking about retro fitting everything including lense, mounting, auto level adjusters on the rear etc. IM NOT JUST PUTTING LED bulbs in the halogen light cluster.

I grasped that from your first post in this thread and I doubt that any forum members have in fact attempted a full LED headlamp implementation as you have described.

Regardless, I think it may be a cash-sapping exercise if indeed it is feasible. Presumably, you have considered and possibly discarded the idea of the halfway-house alternative, ie, installing brighter bulbs into the existing lamp units? I know that many car forum members have had their halogen headlamp performance improved considerably in such a way for not a lot of money.

[Berty]

Have you looked at each car side by side, as I think the indicator hasn't been taken into account here. I'm sure every country is the same configuration where on the SE connect the indicator is with the headlamp but the LED assembly the indicator is actually in the DRL section of the front of the car so instead of changing just the Headlamp assembly you've to change a heck of a lot more.

Consider then a H7 55w bulb from someplace.

My preferences used to be MTEC Bulbs or OSRAM Nightbreaker. I would always try to get a 4300k or 5000k maximum output aswell. Anything higher is blueish and purple, anything lower goes back towards standard incadescent colour of light.

[Pogleswood]

Have a look on eBay, genuine Hyundai units are depending on condition £200+ each, as Berty said above you’ll have issues with the indicators so you’ll need a complete DRL assembly as well these are around £400 each.

[PhilHornby]

Us SE owners know our lights are rubbish.

My (built-to-a-price) Suzuki motorcycle has a single, olde-worlde 60/55 Halogen H4 7" headlamp - and I think it is really good (even better with both filaments illuminated simultaneously), so I'm bemused that the SE's lights attract so much criticism.

Given your background, can you be more specific, as to what is "rubbish" about them. Are they just dim, or is it more a question of the beam pattern

On the N Line S, low beam remains on when high beam is selected. The 'Cornering Lights' are also activated with high beam, to widen the spread even further. Is this the same arrangement on the SE

The CANBUS nonsense may conspire to stop it working.

I thought the 'controller' might be an integral part of the lamp cluster, but it looks like it/they is/are elsewhere in the car. I bet the Factory Tool can tell the module what sort of bulb it is running, but otherwise, it seems to be necessary to add a dummy load to fool it. (If the bulb doesn't draw the expected load, you'll probably end up with bulb-failure warnings on the dash).