LED headlights performance

[SSi3]

Hello i3'ers!

We are thinking about purchasing an i3 in the near future, so I wanted to ask some questions of the forum.

First off, the LED headlights... how do they perform in comparison to typical BMW bi-xenon's?

We currently have a 2010 328xi Touring and love the bi-xenons for the night-time country road driving we often do. I'll definitely never go back to halogens.

 

[Boxbrownie]

First of all even with the LED headlamp option they are ONLY the dip beams, the main beams or high beams are purely halogen (they are what looks like the "fog lamps" in the lower part of the bumper).
I have asked this question before as headlamp performance for me can be a deal breaker as I think night driving safety is paramount, unfortunately as the i3 is designed primarily as a "city car" the main/high beam has been it appears somewhat left out of the hi-tech design brief!

 

[LivingBetterThurEV]

Comparing to my other vehicles (X5, Prius, etc..) - I like the LED lighting driving at night on the i3. Out in the distance, it gives a blue/purple glow to road signs from the top edge of the light pattern. Overall satisfied with night visiblity and lighting effects. But, I wish the high beams would rotate around corners like owners manual video indicates.

On a related topic: BMW makes it confusing with in-accurate owner's manual videos on their website. For example in the US/Canada, there is no fog light switch, or fog lights - 55w high beams are in the bumper.

 

[tiburonh]

Hello i3'ers!

We are thinking about purchasing an i3 in the near future, so I wanted to ask some questions of the forum.

First off, the LED headlights... how do they perform in comparison to typical BMW bi-xenon's?

We currently have a 2010 328xi Touring and love the bi-xenons for the night-time country road driving we often do. I'll definitely never go back to halogens.

As stated by others, only the low beams are LED's; the high beams are halogen -- and a funny halogen at that as their color spectrum is rather yellowish, which makes them seem out of synch with the blueness of the LED's. (Some on this forum have switched out the original equipment halogens for a different brand that has a bluer color temperature). As for brightness, the LED's are fantastic, definitely seem more powerful than bi-xenon's. The halogens are just OK, but when combined with the LED's I feel that on net I'm seeing better than I do with the bi-xenons in my wife's x3. I don't have to worry about hitting any abominable snowmen down here in California, but there are plenty of deer running around at night where I live and I feel very confident I will see them far enough ahead in my i3.

One thing to note- because of various stupid laws in the US, I don't think any of BMW's cars here are programmed to offer that spiffy feature you can get in Europe where the high beams dip automatically when oncoming traffic nears. And in the i3, at least in the US, we also don't get the feature where the lights turn as the car turns.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The NA i3s do not have front fog lights (not sure any do), but mine, at least comes with rear ones. If you use them, try not to be one of those annoying people that leave them on all of the time - they are bright and annoying to those behind...save them for real bad weather!

As an aside, I also own a GT, and while the US versions do not have the switch that enables rear foglights, all it takes to make them function (they're already there and may be in other BMW models, too) is to replace the switch, about a 5-minute job that only takes a Torx screwdriver. No programming or other work to do...plug it in, it works.

 

[SSi3]

Thank you everyone, that's what I wanted to hear. I realize the high (main) beams are halogen, but i'm ok with that, just wanted to make sure the low (dipped) beam performance was similar or better than xenon.

As for front fogs, I'm glad it doesn't have them, they are usually not much use and here in North America you can never use them without also having dipped beams on, so what good are they in fog if the dipped beams are blinding you?! :roll:

jadnashuanh, I do wish the NA i3 came with the rear fogs activated, not that I get much chance to use them where I am, but always nice to have just in case. My Clubman had a rear fog, and my current E91 328 Touring now has its rear fogs activated after I modded the headlight switch (rather than replacing it)... I got to use them once this summer on an extremely foggy saturday 401 drive to Toronto, I was happy (<- lighting nerd )

 

[Blue20]

The NA i3s do not have front fog lights (not sure any do), but mine, at least comes with rear ones. ...

How did you find this out? There is no fog light switch for NA version. Can you show us some photo on yours?

 

[tiburonh]

The NA i3s do not have front fog lights (not sure any do), but mine, at least comes with rear ones. ...

How did you find this out? There is no fog light switch for NA version. Can you show us some photo on yours?

+1 to this - there is no switch for a rear fog light on my car either. The owner's manual (which applies across multiple countries) shows it, but in reality it just isn't there.

 

[F8L]

The more yellow color of the high beams makes perfect sense from a maximum distance standpoint. We are not designed to see well in the blue spectrum which is why headlight manufacturers stick with 4300K-4800K bulb ratings. Blue headlights (6000K+) are for ricers and Tacoma owners. I guarantee oncoming traffic will not be impressed with your blue high beams. LOL

 

[Boxbrownie]

The more yellow color of the high beams makes perfect sense from a maximum distance standpoint. We are not designed to see well in the blue spectrum which is why headlight manufacturers stick with 4300K-4800K bulb ratings. Blue headlights (6000K+) are for ricers and Tacoma owners. I guarantee oncoming traffic will not be impressed with your blue high beams. LOL

I hope that oncoming traffic will never be impressed with your high beams, they should not be on by the time your near enough to impress them

 

[Surge]

The NA i3s do not have front fog lights (not sure any do), but mine, at least comes with rear ones. If you use them, try not to be one of those annoying people that leave them on all of the time - they are bright and annoying to those behind...save them for real bad weather!

As an aside, I also own a GT, and while the US versions do not have the switch that enables rear foglights, all it takes to make them function (they're already there and may be in other BMW models, too) is to replace the switch, about a 5-minute job that only takes a Torx screwdriver. No programming or other work to do...plug it in, it works.

Where are you located?
And what is a "GT"?! Nissan GTR? 5 series GT?

 

[jadnashuanh]

Well, I eventually remembered to look at the headlight switch, and mine does not have rear fog lights! I know the one I drove in the try and drive event did, but that was likely a Euro version or a later prototype...so, I stand corrected. My guess is, though, that a simple change of switch would allow the inner lights to turn on as rear fog lights. My BMW 535 GT x-drive accepted a Euro headlight switch and enabled the rear fog lights with the simple replacement...no reprogramming or anything else required. My guess is that the i3 will do the same thing, but may not be as useful if you really do only use it for shorter trips in and around the city. FWIW, the switch is essentially an input to the computer and does not actually switch anything power wise...it only sends a signal, and the computer turns the lights on/off. IT has a small chip in it and low-power switches.