Failed LEDs in headlight

[21gg]

I did it a few years back, i cut a hole in the underside of the head light. Someone has done it without cracking open the head light but it looked near impossible to me at the time. If i lived near silverstone i would let them do it. 

Page 4 of this thread has a link to my pictures. 

[RHDV8]

Wasn’t there a post recently about this that involved chopsticks?🤪

[Hypermark]

Hi All,

 

Been reading this long post as I have three LEDs not working in my n/s Exige 410 headlight. Am I to take it that the only two options are to buy a replacement or ask Silverstone Lotus to do their fix?

BTW my car is still in warranty by 2 months - is it worth a call to Lotus?

Thanks in advance for any help here.

[exeterjeep]

25 minutes ago, Hypermark said:

BTW my car is still in warranty by 2 months - is it worth a call to Lotus?

I'd be calling right away, that's what a warranty is for.

[Hypermark]

Have done - sent e-mail there does not appear to be a warranty number to call.

[exeterjeep]

Contact your dealer (lotus dealer?) who supplied the car or get in contact with your local dealer, where abouts are you.

[Hypermark]

I have contacted Lotus warranty by email and they have suggested I contact my local dealer, Stratton Motor Company near Norwich who can handle my request.

[Gazm]

It is ridiculous that an issue that existed on the first Evoras in 2009 hasn’t been addressed and still exists! 

[JimH]

New Evora headlights currently showing as unavailable too..... 😶

https://lotusparts.strattonmotorcompany.com/a/Lotus_2014_Evora/_83812_9108399/Headlamps/Evora_B132T0325D_1713.html

[Jovver]

This might sound odd, but I recently noticed that a couple of LED were not working on my car, but this coincided with the HID bulb dying.

I changed the HID bulb and hey presto, all the LEDs started working again and there have been no problems ever since...

 

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Jovver

[hyperviper]

I showed my Evora headlight to an electronics expert buddy, who's very good at bespoke electronic solutions..
Aside from the brutal method of getting access to the ring, he reckons that replacing the led's is a very simple process (obviously this is in relation to his skill set and not mine!)

To eliminate the risk of a replacement led not matching the existing ones (on lumens or colour saturation), he suggested replacing all led's in a ring.

He reckoned it would cost between 50p - £2 per led to buy (depending on the type and fixing - since neither of us have a headlight in bits he can only guess)..- and a few minutes per led to replace.
None of mine are faulty (famous last words) but I'll be badgering him in an instant when they start to fail..

[JimH]

https://shop.lotussilverstone.co.uk/collections/lotus-accessories/products/evora-sidelight-led-disc

Silverstone Lotus can replace the whole disc (for a price!)....

[TdM]

On 01/05/2022 at 08:59, hyperviper said:

I showed my Evora headlight to an electronics expert buddy, who's very good at bespoke electronic solutions..
Aside from the brutal method of getting access to the ring, he reckons that replacing the led's is a very simple process (obviously this is in relation to his skill set and not mine!)

To eliminate the risk of a replacement led not matching the existing ones (on lumens or colour saturation), he suggested replacing all led's in a ring.

He reckoned it would cost between 50p - £2 per led to buy (depending on the type and fixing - since neither of us have a headlight in bits he can only guess)..- and a few minutes per led to replace.
None of mine are faulty (famous last words) but I'll be badgering him in an instant when they start to fail..

It'll just be two pins and a bit of solder once you are in there, I just wouldn't have the confidence to be tearing the headlight apart.

[21gg]

Having done it once myself....I would pay silverstone without hesitation!

[Troy5925]

I have noticed 2 LED lights not working on my today

 

Is there an update on best practice to go about replacing the 2 LED lights now?

[agentdr8]

Not sure about "best" practice, but the options you have are:

1) Do nothing (may not be possible given your inspection requirements)
2) Replace entire headlamp assembly to get new LED ring ($$$$)
3) Purchase replacement LED ring from Silverstone and install yourself ($$)
4) Purchase replacement LED ring from Silverstone and have them install it ($$$)
5) Remove LED ring yourself and replace failed LEDs ($ - also need know-how and proper tools/equipment)

 

[Alfa2Evora]

Well, after going through a phase of "I wonder which ones are not going to work tonight" with the LED's a good while back, they then reverted to behaving normally with only a very occasional instance of 1 or maybe 2 having a few hours of 'resting'.

This past week or so however, they've been dropping like flies - there are now only 4 working on the driver's side, and 5 on the passenger's side, . There is some condensation inside the lights - no more than usual, for this time of year, on the driver's side but the passenger's side is running with water (I'm thinking of issuing fishing permits, ) which may explain why the LED's that are still working are very dim in this unit, in fact I've seen more light output from a glow-worm.

I could understand if the driver's side headlight had major water ingress as that's the unit that took the hit last September when the SUV took a shortcut over the front corner but I can't fathom what's happened on the passenger's side - why now and why so suddenly? Frost followed by quick thaw followed by frost again, and so on, cracking the sealant perhaps?

The car is hopefully going into the bodyshop for repair sometime in March (subject to all the bits having arrived) and the lights will have to be removed anyway, so it looks like I know already how I'll be spending any spare time I have during that period.