P2 Headlight upgrade

ICEDVOVO

My wife usually only drives during the day but this morning received a major dummy spit about how crap the headlights are. Its a 2003 v70t. What upgrades are recommended, which ones are the easiest and cheapest and where do I find them? I don't blame her, I think an excellent upgrade would be to duct tape 2 Eveready Dolphin torches to the bonnet. But seriously there must be something I can do to fix these. The lenses are clear so that's not part of the issue

ramrod

Put in better globes.

Quick easy and cheap

Osram nightbreaker laser

No complaints here

ICEDVOVO

ramrod Thanks, im looking into LED swapouts from Amazon or Ali express. Ill post how they go.

arebee

Also, are your headlights glass or the plastic type, if plastic, may well benefit for a refurb..

ICEDVOVO

arebee Glass so shouldnt be an issue

ICEDVOVO

These ones off Ali express are brilliant. In ten minutes I replaced both high beams (HB3) and the normal driving lights (H7) $31 for the pair of HB3,$ 24 for the pair of H7. Now I have brilliant white headlights instead of eveready torches. Old ones pictured next to the new sexy black HB3 replacement .The H7 replacements look identical but dont have and apparently dont need the Canbus decoder that you can see here on the HB3 replacement. No issues whatsoever, the canbus attachment and lead fit easily tucked in next to the globe and the dome covers on the lights go straight back on again. One of the best and cheapest mods you could possibly do for an old P2

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ICEDVOVO

Well I thought I'd got this right but I'm getting a "dipped beam" message for both the headlights with the H7 led globes.

I was suspicious of the bare H7 LED being a direct replacement because there was no "canbus decoder" attached. Turns out they do need a "canbus decoder"

Saying its a "canbus decoder" is bullshit. All there is inside these things is a 21watt load resistor to trick canbus into thinking there is still an H7 21w halogen bulb attached.

Anyway you can find plug and play "H7 canbus led resistors" on ali express at $8 a pair that will make the message go away. These have connectors pre wired so why would you bother making your own load resistor

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ICEDVOVO

An update on the LED Canbus decoders on my last post. THEY DONT WORK!
They're just a circuit board with some kind of IC and a largish capacitor in plastic enclosure.
They're probably just meant to be for turn indicators to stabilise power for led substitutes.
Im going to try installing ordinary old load resistors, the orange ones,
They are generic load resistors you can buy anywhere from places like Jaycar. Narva sells them as kits for around $30 to $50 but im a cheap bastard so im buying 50w 6 ohm ones from China for around $2 each through ali express.
I will have to find a safe way of mounting them so they can dissipate the heat they generate. They basicly replicate the energy load of a normal halogen globe

ICEDVOVO

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I ordered these ones, $5.57 a pair, but I had to order 3 pairs to get free shipping! _ Ali Express
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009328669556.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.17.6fd937a4PNMXiB&algo_pvid=5a8b0c9f-0b49-45fd-9901-8bf0c07971c1&algo_exp_id=5a8b0c9f-0b49-45fd-9901-8bf0c07971c1-16&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%2257%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%7D&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21AUD%2111.84%215.67%21%21%2153.82%2125.79%21%40210318ec17559870374574025e4a0e%2112000048771656684%21sea%21AU%212985395555%21X%211%210%21n_tag%3A-29919%3Bd%3A448a3a73%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895%3BpisId%3A5000000177892386&curPageLogUid=p4wpMeksVtgd&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A%7Cx_object_id%3A1005009328669556%7C_p_origin_prod%3A

carnut222

ICEDVOVO Haha yes, the old "if you order 3 items you get free postage" has gotten me a couple times too. I still don't know how they sell stuff so cheap…

ICEDVOVO

Yeah. Recently needed a $230 coolant reservoir from Volvo, but got one for $31 including delivery on ali express. Might have had an extra hose spigot (outlet) on it but for $31 I can live with that.
Surprising the amount of volvo parts they sell. I always check their price before I order.