Hello. Curious of opinions for these headlights, does anyone have halo lights installed? Thanks

I like the idea of LED lights in a 914. I do not like the idea of adding stuff to is that doesn't make it period correct. And yes I understand that LED isn't period correct either, but better light for me is in another league as driving around with big halo's. Especially in popup headlight the kind of defeat the purpose. Or are you always going to runs the de popups open?

I don't think you can see the halo with the main beams on.

I’ve seen people use halos in the fog light location. Seems like a better place for a DRL since they’re always exposed.

This was in my thoughts as well, that it wouldn’t be period correct. I put them on my Corrado, there’s no giant ugly ballast sticking out like a sore thumb, they just plug in like original and they make a world of a difference. You can Actually see the halo at night with lights on and the light is more of a white light with blue glow. The only advantage On my 914 is that it will be painted blue which would match.

The best led light for our cars that I've seen and used is the GE Lighting 69821 Nighthawk LED 7-Inch Round Replacement Headlamp. Also used a lot by Jeep owners.

I like the idea of LED headlights a lot, even as little as I drive my 914 at night.

Deal-breaker for me is something that is obviously period incorrect. Still watching this space to find the right mix of an LED replacement that looks more or less like an H4 or generic sealed-beam headlight from the 1970s. Simple fluting, high performance.

If all I cared about was performance—or still drove my car on the back roads a lot at night like I did 10-20~ years ago—I'd be all over the Nighthawks.

They don't look period correct but most of the time they are hidden. The nice thing is they only take 5 minutes to install. Unplug your old lights, plug in your new ones. Keep the old ones for the car shows. They really make a huge difference for night driving. I got a pair for my Dad's jeep wrangler and he loves them.

I waste a lot of time looking at LED headlights online and the closest of the GOOD headlights I've seen to period correct are some United Pacific 31400 units that sell under a few different brand names.

Not perfect but a little closer than the Nighthawks and I actually like the pattern better. Here's a review of them.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qStRHOFRcY


The problem with buying LED is there is a lot of snake oil out there. I've seen some LED units that look period correct, but not DOT approved and usually have really crappy beam patterns that either don't use the light efficiently or would blind oncoming drivers. I get the idea it is hard to aim LED lights using more conventional lens designs.

The Jeep one is the only one that is US DOT approved as far as I have seen.
The problem is some say DOT approved, but they mean Chinese DOT, not US.
We have a plug and play solution that is reasonable. We kissed a bunch of frogs to find these. At one point in time we even had a Phillips chip version, but pretty sure they weren't supposed to be selling them as that dried up.

The version we sell is the best we have found for the $. We just did a GB and shipped a bunch out. Anyone want to chime in?

I have halo lights on the bug. Like adding a third brake light I did it to make it more visible to the people that are doing everything in their car but driving. I wired the halos to be on with the ignition. Giving me daytime running light. It does give the car a unique look at night. If one of the kids are driving I can spot it about a half mile away based on the light location, light color and halo look.

With the 914 the lights have to be up for a daytime running light. I was planing to do a daytime running light with the fog lamps which is impossible to find anymore.

Spokes front turn signal LEDs seem to be bright enough I'm going to try running them as daytime running lights.

I like the idea of the DRL using the @Spoke white portion of the European front lights. Question is, are they bright enough for that purpose? Could the white portion be brighter and be dimmed down to a proper level once the headlights are turned on?

Wondering how these would need to be wired up the most elegant way to work, also if the car has side markers or not (different connection scheme?).

New variation of a product?

No, or minimal change in wiring needed. My 73 headlights don't pop up when the switch is pulled half-way to parking light position and the Euro parking lights just divert power to a separate bulb in the white secition rather than the dual filament bulb in the amber section. Wiring and operation to the side markers remains unchanged. I just have 5w incandescent bulbs in my euro units right now for testing but even with just those, I think they would provide a bit of safety as DRLs. LED are only going to be better.

Now all that said, I remember I had to swap a wire connection on my first (70) 914 to keep the headlights down when the switch was pulled to parking light position. I don't know if the offiicial wiring schematic changed in that regard later or what but I guess on some cars, you might have to make the 2-minute change although I con't remember specifics of what wire went where for that.

Well, that would be if you want to turn on all the parking light with the switch. My view on this concept is that only the white portion of the EU front lights are one when the car is running, no switch turned on, just like a modern car.

I don't think a standard marker light brightness would be enough to get the safety of a DRL, hence brighter LED for running but when parking or headlights are turned on, then they dim down to normal brightness. This circuitry would have to be embedded on the PCB of the upgraded lighting.

Ah gotcha. I've never had a car with running lights that are always on. I"ve always just had to switch on fog or parking lights so I'm in the stone age. When I was driving 914s, I tended to run with the parking lights on all the time anyway.

I agree about the standard marker light brightness, I didn't explain it well. What I was trying to say is that the standard bulbs in the white Euro section of the lenses produce more light than I expected and would probably be enough to grab oncoming driver's attention during the day but brighter lights would certainly be better. Either way, I think clear on Euro lights can add a margin of safety even if they don't match a true DRL.

It's easy to add those euro light fittings too.
Just pop in one of those. And a dimming relay.

I added a relay which turns on the running lights when the car is on. I have LEDs all round so not much drain on the electrical system. And for some reason, my foglights can come on with the running lights if the switch is ON.

Here's how I wired it:

DRL Wired

I just run Mark’s driving lights, pointed down as my DRLs. I rewired the switch so that they are independent of the headlights and can be turned on and off at will. Been running these for 5 years and just don’t see the need for LEDs since these work more than fine.

A halo Headlight on a car with hidden headlights does not compute. It’s like putting gills on a horse.