Wipac LED head lights. Any good?

I’m a New Forest commuter and have to dodge ponies, cows, and deer in the dark. I’ve tried bulb upgrades but halogen just doesn’t cut it for me in a 7” lamp and I don’t want to mount spots.
Can anyone give me feedback on the wipac units please.

Wipac is a make, what are you looking at specifically? And are you after dipped or mainbeam performance?

Good halogens should be more than good enough tbh (unless you need an eye test ). Several options you can go down, such as higher wattage bulbs or some of the over 100% brighter options. In the Land Rover you can also run the headlights via an aftermarket harness direct from the alternator via a relay. The advantage here is, you'll get higher voltage at the bulb (and thus more output) than you will going via the stock wiring that runs through the switch (as there is a fair bit of resistance and you end up with lower voltage at the plug).

There are several makes of lenses, traditional ones have the glass cut for the beam, although newer ones use plain glass with a shaped reflector. I suspect the latter may have a slight performance edge, but probably not a lot in it. Wipac are generally well know and well regarded.

Other options are to run LED bulbs in the standard halogen housing. It's a little bit of a grey area on how legal it is, but higher wattage bulbs also aren't strictly legal either. In practice you may be able to get much better illumination and much better beam pattern and cutoff over the halogen bulbs. But the LED bulbs are hit & miss and you really need to do your research and know what you are buying. Far too much crap available.

Or you can run HIDs, although H4 HIDs are pricey. Although sadly like the LEDs there is far too much crap on the market. You want 4300k HIDs, pretty much anything else it utter garbage and should be avoided. Trouble is, even a lot of the claimed 4300k kits are also rubbish.

Lastly you can look at full LED headlamps. Some are good, some less so. Personally I've been reasonably unimpressed with the majority I've seen and a lot do seem to dazzle on coming traffic. Prices can be horrific for these too.

Personally if you are driving with mainbeam I'd seriously reconsider running some spot lights and/or a light bar. They make HUGE difference.

Test the voltage at the bulbs, see if there is any drop from battery voltage.

I'm running 100w bulbs in my stock lamps which I cleaned inside and out. But crossing the forest this time of year you need excellent high and low with real depth mof distance vision and sharp cut of so as not to dazzle oncomming cars. Literally the first you see of the animals is two pairs of legs in front of you! I'd thought of crystal lenses and top range halogens but idont want to pay out only to find i need something better, same goes for cheaper LED units. I'm againts spots and lightbars because low beam performance is as much if not more important. I recently hit a black cow on a dark rainy morning on low beam. I'd slowed enough that it got up again and was ok but once they salt the roads the buggers will be licking the tarmack at 5am again!
So I was looking at Truck lite or Wipac LED replacement units.

Ok. thanks 300bhp/ton. It seems from the chat on multiple posts that it's a minefield. for now I think I'll up grade the lenses to crystal. Any preference on manufacturer? Wipac, Britpart ???? and where can I get a direct harness?

FWIW I used the Crystal Lamps from Bolt-on-Bits on my 90 and 110, with Osram Nightbreaker bulbs - huge improvement over stock.

Personally, I'd use the cheapest fillament headlight I can find. That way, when you inevitably clobber some wildlife, replacing is quick, cheap and easy!

You can't have a sharp cutoff and long distance dipped beam that doesn't cause dazzle, one or the other
Older style headlights gave a much wider spread of light, but weren't daylighters as modern setups are

I fitted Wipac crystal lens units and a boomslang type harness (think it was paddocks own brand). There is a great improvement when used with decent phillips bulbs or similar. The lights are now on a par with many new cars.

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zeaphod said:

I fitted Wipac crystal lens units and a boomslang type harness (think it was paddocks own brand). There is a great improvement when used with decent phillips bulbs or similar. The lights are now on a par with many new cars.

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Thanks Zaphod. Just fitted Wipac crystal lenses and replaced the 100w Chinese bulbs with good quality 60/55w bulbs. What a difference! next stop is the direct harness and sram night breakers.
Incidentally, I passed a defender with led headlights tonight. It was dazzling me and I'm not sure it was giving him much vision either.

Mudstyler said:

Thanks Zaphod. Just fitted Wipac crystal lenses and replaced the 100w Chinese bulbs with good quality 60/55w bulbs. What a difference! next stop is the direct harness and sram night breakers.
Incidentally, I passed a defender with led headlights tonight. It was dazzling me and I'm not sure it was giving him much vision either.

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You’re welcome....

A bit of feedback. I fitted crystal lenses, osram rally 100w bulbs and a direct loom. what a difference! Great distance and decent cut off on dip which was my priority. I'm not dazzling anyone and I can see those pesky animals in. time now. Thanks guys.

I thought 100w was illegal for road use? Might be wrong

Correct, they are not legal for on road use. They will usually also not last very long compared to the standard 55watt bulb.

I have fitted a set of the LED headlamps and I think they are amazing - No question the cut off was a bit ambiguous but I got a friend to drive ahead of me and towards me and no problem reported - I've had them on 3 months now and no-one has flashed me. I think I'm going to have to swap over come MOT time as I've read they might be subject to same restrictions as xenons in that they should have levelling and washers. But for light, I really can't fault them.
ps - ahem...I can a bit actually - they seem to emit some frequency that reduces radio reception.