OPT7 LED headlights

[marcad80]

I have done alot of investigation on LED headlights and have come to the conclusion that the OPT7 should be what I purchase. The main reasons being the CREE LED choice they made, the compact electronics, cooling system, and all the reviews I read. I couldn't find anywhere that they were compatible with the model S, but I decided to give them a try. The following are the results of this installation. For reference, I installed them on a 2013 Model S with Halogen lights.
Upon installation I immediately found that the electronics and cable harnesses were small enough to fit into the headlight assembly. Therefore no holes needed to be cut into then rubber cap. See picture
After installing one, I did the side by side comparison. I was hoping for more light than the Halogen bulb, but in my opinion it was about the same. Altgough with such a change in K it's hard to compare. See picture
After installing the second bulb and running a test, in a silent garage, I was able to audibly notice the cooling fans in the bulbs. It wasn't objectionably loud but it was audible.
Beam alignment was perfectly matched to the old bulbs, both low and high beams. See pictures
The road test.... Both bulbs turned on instantly, and I immediately noticed the much cooler light. Very white with a slight tint of blue. It gave an appearance of a brighter lighting on the road and near objects, but the advantage quickly went away in the distance. I didn't notice any advantage at objects over 20 -30 feet. I also noticed another interesting phenomenon. The little model car on the dash board now has headlights that go on and off. Left and right independent of each other..... The lower power usage must be near the threshold of a "blown bulb" indication feature.

All in all, I like the fact that I now have LEDs throughout the car (plate lights as well). I like the 100 watt savings. I like that the headlight and daytime running lights white match well. I would have preferred them to be brighter, but they seem as bright as the halogens. I am pleased with the OPT7 and will now wait to see how the reliability is.

 

[bredi]

Wow! night and day. literally! or dusk and noon. wow.

The headlights on my S have always been a disappointment for me. To the point of feeling like they are from 1980! Hazardous, on windy roads.

Thanks for the post and research. Can you post where you bought them and the installation process?

awesome.

 

[marcad80]

I bought them straight off the OPT7 website. 100 dollars and free shipping. Make sure you get the 9005 bulb style. My box has a sticker on it that reads 95-HL-6.

 

[brantse]

I installed LED retrofits in my non-tech package car about 6 months ago. After finally coming to terms with the fact that they just absolutely didn't produce enough light, I have now switched to a HID conversion....and must say WOW. The amount of light produced from HID's is astounding. The kit I got was literally $30 for everything (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F378OSE) and quality is very impressive for that price.

Also, does the toy car on your dash show the headlights on with the LEDs? Mine didn't, which I found to be very annoying. Now that I've switched to HIDs, the indicator works correctly.

 

[marcad80]

The toy cars headlights are going on a off, let and right independent of each other. I'm guessing the fan motor in the LEDs is varying speed based on the temp of the bulbs, and crossing the "dead bulb" wattage detection threshold.

We're the LED you tried the OPT7?

What kills me here is just looked at there Web site and I see they just released a fluxbeam X with 20 Percent more light.....

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Headlight spot looks to be hot and without a clean cut-off. Brighter isn't always better, it's also about the pattern.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

I have done alot of investigation on LED headlights and have come to the conclusion that the OPT7 should be what I purchase. The main reasons being the CREE LED choice they made, the compact electronics, cooling system, and all the reviews I read. I couldn't find anywhere that they were compatible with the model S, but I decided to give them a try. The following are the results of this installation. For reference, I installed them on a 2013 Model S with Halogen lights.
Upon installation I immediately found that the electronics and cable harnesses were small enough to fit into the headlight assembly. Therefore no holes needed to be cut into then rubber cap. See picture
After installing one, I did the side by side comparison. I was hoping for more light than the Halogen bulb, but in my opinion it was about the same. Altgough with such a change in K it's hard to compare. See picture
After installing the second bulb and running a test, in a silent garage, I was able to audibly notice the cooling fans in the bulbs. It wasn't objectionably loud but it was audible.
Beam alignment was perfectly matched to the old bulbs, both low and high beams. See pictures
The road test.... Both bulbs turned on instantly, and I immediately noticed the much cooler light. Very white with a slight tint of blue. It gave an appearance of a brighter lighting on the road and near objects, but the advantage quickly went away in the distance. I didn't notice any advantage at objects over 20 -30 feet. I also noticed another interesting phenomenon. The little model car on the dash board now has headlights that go on and off. Left and right independent of each other..... The lower power usage must be near the threshold of a "blown bulb" indication feature.

All in all, I like the fact that I now have LEDs throughout the car (plate lights as well). I like the 100 watt savings. I like that the headlight and daytime running lights white match well. I would have preferred them to be brighter, but they seem as bright as the halogens. I am pleased with the OPT7 and will now wait to see how the reliability is.

Which pictures are the one with the new bulbs? Also what about the fan noise?

 

[marcad80]

The bulb on the left is the LED, the right is the OEM Halogen. I will now be replacing them with the new X style.... I'll take a left / right picture of the old LED and the X LED when I do this. At this point their Web site says the new X is not available in 9005 yet. The web site says they have also fixed the "bulb out" problem on the X version.

As far as the noise, sounds like a computer fan at both headlights.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

The bulb on the left is the LED, the right is the OEM Halogen. I will now be replacing them with the new X style.... I'll take a left / right picture of the old LED and the X LED when I do this. At this point their Web site says the new X is not available in 9005 yet. The web site says they have also fixed the "bulb out" problem on the X version.

As far as the noise, sounds like a computer fan at both headlights.

Thanks for the info. I guess one is high beam vs the regular right? It is definitely whiter than the OEM i guess. I guess the question about the fan noise is about how loud it is in the cabin with and without the window down. Other reviews say it's pretty loud outside.

Thanks!

 

[FlatSix911]

I have done alot of investigation on LED headlights and have come to the conclusion that the OPT7 should be what I purchase. The main reasons being the CREE LED choice they made, the compact electronics, cooling system, and all the reviews I read. I couldn't find anywhere that they were compatible with the model S, but I decided to give them a try.

After installing one, I did the side by side comparison. I was hoping for more light than the Halogen bulb, but in my opinion it was about the same. Altgough with such a change in K it's hard to compare. The road test.... Both bulbs turned on instantly, and I immediately noticed the much cooler light. Very white with a slight tint of blue. It gave an appearance of a brighter lighting on the road and near objects, but the advantage quickly went away in the distance. I didn't notice any advantage at objects over 20 -30 feet.

The white/blue color temperature is an improvement over the OEM Halogen bulbs, but the brightness is disappointing.
I would recommend using a set of high quality aftermarket HID bulbs until the available LED technology improves

 

[Snerruc]

My car came with led headlights. I would rate them about equal to the last sealed beams I had.

 

[marcad80]

As far as the noise, it's like a laptop fan. I can only hear it when the garage door is closed. Definitely quiter than the other fan noises the car makes....

As far as the brightness, I would like them to be brighter, but I said the same thing about the Halogen. If the newly released X version is really 20% brighter I think that will do it. I plan on ordering as soon as they are available.

 

[DarkMatter]

If someone says you'll get the same brightness out of an LED as out of the halogen in the same housing, they are lying. The halogen uses a really bright single point source, and really bright LEDs at the current state of the art either need liquid cooling to be a single point, or multiple junctions with a bigger cooling solution and either independent optics or a different projector system than halogen. On top of that the amount of power you're saving is at best a rounding error - 100w will save you one mile in 3 hours of driving. If you really want a different color use the HID drop in kits. They also have problems but at least they won't give you dangerously dim light with a horrible beam pattern.

 

[Jeff4155]

I installed HID's in my other vehicle and it really is day and night, they can't compare to standard halogen, I would go for them every day between 4000-6000k anything higher will be blue to purple colour and anything lower than 4000k will show up as yellow

 

[brantse]

We're the LED you tried the OPT7?

No, they were actually these, but also used Cree chips.

I installed HID's in my other vehicle and it really is day and night, they can't compare to standard halogen

This is absolutely true. HID's take like 10 seconds to warm up, so they wouldn't work well to substitute for dedicated high beam lamps. Also, as they would be blinding for other drivers and are illegal, you can't just swap out HID's in standard "reflector" headlight assemblies. They work fine for the MS, as the headlight uses a "projector" which was designed around the use of an HID lamp. Also, this single lamp serves for high and low beam, by using a solenoid actuated shutter, to block the upward directed light when using low beams.

 

[Jeff4155]

No, they were actually these, but also used Cree chips.


This is absolutely true. HID's take like 10 seconds to warm up, so they wouldn't work well to substitute for dedicated high beam lamps. Also, as they would be blinding for other drivers and are illegal, you can't just swap out HID's in standard "reflector" headlight assemblies. They work fine for the MS, as the headlight uses a "projector" which was designed around the use of an HID lamp. Also, this single lamp serves for high and low beam, by using a solenoid actuated shutter, to block the upward directed light when using low beams.

Exactly what Brante said, HID's can only be installed in vehicles with "Projector" housings, if not the beam will be all over the place and not road worthy

 

[Chief holley]

I'm still new (so new, I don't even have the car yet!), what type of headlight housing does the Model S have, projector or something else?

 

[brantse]

I'm still new (so new, I don't even have the car yet!), what type of headlight housing does the Model S have, projector or something else?

The old style (pre-facelift) has a projector housing. These came with HID's if you had the tech package and halogens, if the car was not equipped with the old tech package.

The new style (post-facelift) is a completely new design, incorporating a slew of LED elements.

 

[FlatSix911]

The old style (pre-facelift) has a projector housing.
These came with HID's if you had the tech package and halogens, if the car was not equipped with the old tech package.

The new style (post-facelift) is a completely new design, incorporating a slew of LED elements.

Correct... and as mentioned above the HID projector lights are still better than the current LED technology

 

[rolson1011]

The old style (pre-facelift) has a projector housing. These came with HID's if you had the tech package and halogens, if the car was not equipped with the old tech package.

The new style (post-facelift) is a completely new design, incorporating a slew of LED elements.

What if I have a weird in between 4/2016 car that has AP, but the old front end? Is AP the tech package with HID? I feel they are not very bright compared to others I've had.