Failed LEDs in headlight

[pkn]

To apply this fix, does the headlight need to be heated up to separate it? 

Edited March 17, 2019 by pkn

[2011 Chrome Orange]

Will you ship the replacement sidelights to the US?

[agentdr8]

7 hours ago, pkn said:

To apply this fix, does the headlight need to be heated up to separate it? 

I know to pull the one out of the spare headlight assembly I have the lens had to be separated. It was fairly simple with a heat gun on low, moving it constantly in a sweeping motion. Others have said they've replaced theirs without opening the headlight, and I don't know how that would be possible without cutting a hole in the fixture. 

[pkn]

Thanks Dave

[Dpor007]

Other than pulling the light apart, is the installl of the ring straight forward?

[agentdr8]

1 hour ago, Dpor007 said:

Other than pulling the light apart, is the installl of the ring straight forward?

Yep. Once you separate the lens, you remove the middle layer, which houses the LED ring. It's mounted on the backside via 2 spring nuts. 

I posted a few pics a while back when I disassembled mine. You can check out the photos here. The brown and black wires lead to the LED board.

[Dpor007]

Thank you agentdr8!  Did you fix your LED Rings or buy the replacement?

 

[agentdr8]

3 hours ago, Dpor007 said:

Thank you agentdr8!  Did you fix your LED Rings or buy the replacement?

 

Neither. I just had a spare headlight assembly and needed the lens off it. My car has its original LED discs still in service and functional, but if/when they give up the ghost, I'll likely just repair them myself. 

[Matthew Haskins]

We can replace the LED ring without splitting the casing apart which makes the job a little easier. As it is much easier to replace the ring with the headlight removed, I am recommending that we refinish the lacquer at the same time - we're doing this as a package deal for a pair of headlights inc VAT at £740.

 

[C8RKH]

44 minutes ago, Matthew Haskins said:

We can replace the LED ring without splitting the casing apart which makes the job a little easier. As it is much easier to replace the ring with the headlight removed, I am recommending that we refinish the lacquer at the same time - we're doing this as a package deal for a pair of headlights inc VAT at £740.

 

Cheaper than buying one new headlight and they'll both come back like new. Thanks for putting in the effort to support the community with this - it would have been quite a punt from your side so hope it pays off.

[Gazm]

1 hour ago, Matthew Haskins said:

We can replace the LED ring without splitting the casing apart which makes the job a little easier. As it is much easier to replace the ring with the headlight removed, I am recommending that we refinish the lacquer at the same time - we're doing this as a package deal for a pair of headlights inc VAT at £740.

 

Thanks for the update Mathew. 

Whst is the turnaround time? Could it be done in a day if we visit the workshop? 

Given the lack of support from Lotus on this prevalent and expensive issue, cars having this “upgrade” will be more desirable! 

[Matthew Haskins]

We could install the LED discs in around an hour but the refresh of the lacquer takes 2-3 days so we normally suggest you leave the Evora with us on a weekend and collect the following weekend.

[Techyd]

On 16/03/2019 at 14:02, Matthew Haskins said:

After a considerable delay, we now have the replacement sidelights in stock in our shop - link below

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

 

Is that really the price for one side light disc though?  Noticed one of mine has gone today (two of the LEDs don't light)

[C8RKH]

Why wouldn't it be @Techyd?

I am not connected with Silverstone but I can imagine the investment that has gone into developing that. 

[Techyd]

8 hours ago, C8RKH said:

Why wouldn't it be @Techyd?

I am not connected with Silverstone but I can imagine the investment that has gone into developing that. 

I guess I just thought a ringed LED disc would be a lot cheaper....given the price of LED bulbs...gotta pay for the new showroom somehow 😃

[agentdr8]

1 hour ago, Techyd said:

I guess I just thought a ringed LED disc would be a lot cheaper....given the price of LED bulbs...gotta pay for the new showroom somehow 😃

It would be had Lotus made that a separate, orderable part #, but they included it as part of the entire headlight assembly (same as the turn signals). So Silverstone had to replicate the existing LED disc design and send out for small batch production, which isn't as cheap as large volume. 

[C8RKH]

5 hours ago, Techyd said:

I guess I just thought a ringed LED disc would be a lot cheaper....given the price of LED bulbs...gotta pay for the new showroom somehow 😃

I think you need to investigate the work that is needed to create something like this especially given the size of any production run and the fact they would have had to commit to a minimum batch number to make it viable for the PCB manufacturer. Nothing to do with a new showroom and I'll be surprised if they end up actually making any money out of this.

The cheaper option, that has been done if you research on here I believe, is for you to source new LED's yourself and to replace the individual LED's yourself. No guarantee that the all the LEDs will be the same brightness or maybe even light colour (not all whites are equal it would seem). Good luck.

 

 

4 hours ago, agentdr8 said:

It would be had Lotus made that a separate, orderable part #, but they included it as part of the entire headlight assembly

The headlights were always a sealed unit bought in from a 3rd party. Same 3rd party that makes very similar headlights for other manufacturers including I believe the lights on the AM DB9 and V8 Vantage.

[Techyd]

4 hours ago, C8RKH said:

I think you need to investigate the work that is needed to create something like this especially given the size of any production run and the fact they would have had to commit to a minimum batch number to make it viable for the PCB manufacturer. Nothing to do with a new showroom and I'll be surprised if they end up actually making any money out of this.

Thanks - You're right, behind the scenes a lot of effort is made,  of that I'm sure, and I'll probably buy a pair of them but I'm not going to pretend its money well spent 

[C8RKH]

3 hours ago, Techyd said:

Thanks - You're right, behind the scenes a lot of effort is made,  of that I'm sure, and I'll probably buy a pair of them but I'm not going to pretend its money well spent 

I agree with you that it's a high cost to pay, due to the poor design of the original head lamps which makes them hard to service etc.  Great for the manufacturer to sell new ones at £1100 a pop to the likes of thee and me. You'll get no argument for me on that.

However, I was sort of standing up for Silverstone as they did not need to do this, and did invest their own cash in a solution that whilst yes, is expensive, is still significantly cheaper than the alternative and hopefully means we have a solution for many years to come as the Evora's age.

[Gazm]

29 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Great for the manufacturer to sell new ones at £1100 a pop to the likes of thee and me. You'll get no argument for me on that......hopefully means we have a solution for many years to come as the Evora's age.

I have 4 Lotus cars, all on the road but this weakness in the Evora is an absolute disgrace. The fact that a car could fail it’s first MOT and the only official solution cost over £1,000 per light is ridiculous. Re-manufacture of critical parts normally happens to classic cars, not the current model, the silence from Lotus is deafening. 

Well done to Silverstone for taking this on. I look forward to seeing cars advertised with the “Silverstone lights”

Does anyone know it current models have the same spec lights? 

[C8RKH]

35 minutes ago, Gazm said:

I have 4 Lotus cars, all on the road but this weakness in the Evora is an absolute disgrace.

Does anyone know it current models have the same spec lights? 

Current Evora's use the same lights as the originals (though the originals are nicer as they had a nice LOTUS engraving on the inside. It's just the way things are going, it is not unique to lotus, as i said, Aston martin use the same company for their lights as will others.

Shocking state of affairs really but not unique to lotus.

[Techyd]

2 hours ago, C8RKH said:

However, I was sort of standing up for Silverstone as they did not need to do this, and did invest their own cash in a solution that whilst yes, is expensive, is still significantly cheaper than the alternative and hopefully means we have a solution for many years to come as the Evora's age.

Absolutely - kudos to Silverstone for finding a middle ground, and more importantly, demonstrating commitment to the product and excellent customer service ( @Matthew Haskins )

[andyj007]

who needs bloody multiple  leds anyway.. whats wrong with the simple replacement bulb, could be led if it needed to be.. why do these car designers come up with this unfixable crap...   poor design & execution...  not just lotus tho..  we are the idiots who keep buying them..

 

personally id like to go back to simplified stuff..  

its why i love my early s2 so much...  easy enough fix..  and i can work on it.. unlike my evora..

 

 

 

[martvanderkooi]

I have upgraded my LED's with all new ones,  LED's are not normal to fail under normal circumstances I agree.

However there are some factors a LED's doesn't like:

1: Unstable voltage or current, most LED's used in the automotive industry have advanced voltage and current protection boards, the Lotus uses a simple version of this.

2: Heat cycles on the solder and the LED's themselves, if the LED's get to warm they will stop working after some time.

I figured out that in my case it was the easiest way to just get the LED's renewed and the cooling advanced, so I did as you can see in previous posts.
When someone change just the LED's or want to make a new PCB, rethink the factor of cooling.
Inside the headlight in summer we have a lot of heat already, when the Xenon bulbs are on and the side lights are burning, I recon it can get around 60/70 degrees in there, without cooling the LED's can't cool enough and are having a short lifespan.

I quote from THIS article:

Temperature is not only important while talking about LED chip but also about environment conditions, an example of to hot environment of luminaire are lamps mounted on roofs or in another places liable to operating in too high temperatures. Another cause of LED life shortening can be an inappropriate choose of power supply or too high current or voltage of power supply. 

Temperature, mentioned over and over again is so crucial because it has very big influence on working time of LEDs. This, in turn is caused by Silicon used in process of diodes productions. Silicon influenced by heat loses his properties. It's important to remember, that LEDs are light source with multi-annual lighting time but we need to fill particular demands to preserve LED properties.

If you have a set of LED's you like to have fixed including a cooling solution as I made please send the LED's to me. I will replace all LED's and install the cooling solution, I am sorry for all of you that can't remove the headlight and/or the lenses as I can't facilitate in disassembling the headlights in my repair shop.

You can always PM me with questions.

Thanks,

Mart
iCanFix Apeldoorn

 

[Reindeer]

Hi All,

Is Silverstone's replacement still the best option here?

Any progress with any DIY attempts?

I love the smell of solder in the morning!

Cheers