Plug-and-play light: H7 LED retrofit lamps Osram Night Breaker

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After around four years, Osram is replacing its LED retrofit lamps, which can be used instead of H7 bulbs. The next generation of H7 LEDs, which are already road-approved for many vehicles, offers not only the usual advantages in terms of brightness and service life, but also easier installation. Osram unsurprisingly calls the new generation "Night Breaker Led Gen 2 H7".

"Higher luminance"

The retrofit lamps are intended as a replacement for the halogen bulbs in conventional low beam and high beam headlamps with H7 bulbs and bases. Osram promises "even higher luminance and therefore optimized illumination" than before. An ADAC test with the previous generation was positive.

Their color temperature remains unchanged at up to 6000 Kelvin, corresponding to a range similar to daylight. At the same time, they are said to be up to 50 percent lower than the maximum permissible values for glare for other road users in ECE R112, although they "generate up to 230 percent more brightness than H7 bulbs", as Osram writes. Compared to conventional H7 lamps, these LED retrofit lamps are also said to consume up to 60 percent less energy.

Plug-and-play

In addition, "more efficient thermal management" is intended to potentially increase the service life by reducing the thermal load. In conjunction with a newly developed, vibration-resistant design, customers can expect a service life that is up to five times longer.

The LEDs are now more similar in design to conventional halogen lamps, which makes them easier to replace. Osram uses smaller fans for this purpose. Thanks to this so-called "1:1 geometry", the H7 LEDs from Osram require neither adapters nor deeper caps than other retrofit models. Because the electronics are now integrated into the lamp, there is also no need for a ballast for vehicles with CAN bus electrics, which sells the semiconductor lamps to the control unit as H7 in order to ensure functionality. The manufacturer refers to this as a plug-and-play solution.

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More and more approvals

Osram continues to work on road approvals for more and more vehicles. Osram currently has ten approved LED lamp types including H1 and H4 for over 1000 models in its range and sells its retrofit lamps with a four-year guarantee. Osram provides a list of the currently approved models; there are also models for trucks, motorhomes and two-wheelers. For approval and warranty to take effect, the relevant "general type approval" must be requested online from Osram using the chassis and headlamp approval number and printed out. An accompanying sticker must also inform inspection and supervisory bodies about the conversion.

Some cars need the headlight waste heat to defrost the lenses – with the cooler LED retrofits this may not work as well. In snow and ice, the driver should take particular care to ensure that the headlight lenses remain clear. Temperature differences can also cause converted headlights to mist up from the inside, which can lead to undesirable scattering of the light beam. Standard LED headlights, on the other hand, usually have a fan, sometimes with heating, to prevent frost and fogging.

(fpi)