Improving T5.1 headlights...

Just better bulbs?

Quality halogen is the cheap MoT-able option and made a difference to my van. LED headlamp units (as opposed to LED bulbs) are spendy. LED or HID bulbs in a halogen headlight are an MoT fail

Has it got projector headlights or reflective ones?

If it was a T4 the answer would be Osram Nightbreaker but I don't know if that works for the T5?

Yeah, think the answer is still Osram

Bulbs don’t really help as they are tiny h4 bulbs. I went aftermarket lights from transporter hq with h7 bulbs. Made a good difference. I think caravelle lights are also h7 but spendy. Alternative is full led conversion if you really have the cash.

I don't want to spend that much.

I'll try some Osram and see how it goes.

To add, are they adjusted properly?

Can you adjust them via a dashboard dial, or screws on the light units themselves? you want them angled down enough to avoid blinding people, but angled up enough that you can see where you are going.

Maybe you just need to drive a bit slower...

To add, are they adjusted properly?

Yes - they're just very yellow and low on power it seems.

Mine had been adjusted, by a garage, with the van full of kit (i.e. tail heavy). Got them adjusted again once emptied, big difference. I’ll be putting Osrams in when they need changing.

Are the headlamp lens UV damaged? If so this will work wonders:

https://www.autoglym.com/headlight-restoration-complete-kit

(best to remove headlamp units before polishing)

Osram Night breaker make a decent difference in mine.

Also have a look in the right hand lower dash to see if you have a dial to adjust the angle.

Not related to brightness but I got an auto headlamp switch upgrade from AliExpress and it's great. Turns the lights on as needed and also adds function to turn the lights on for 30 seconds when locked. Helpful if you park facing a gate/driveway.

The headlights in our T6 were garbage. Ended up changing to aftermarket lights and bulbs. It’s very spendy though. I always liked Ring Xenonmax for the aftermarket bulb, seemed the best balance of price, lifespan and brightness

Agreed with others Osram Nightbreakers made a good difference as you can without going down the LED/HID route on the wifes old Volvo, keep meaning to do my headlights as theyre rubbish too!

I think the halogen lights are just terrible. Friends bought one of these vans and I thought they were driving on sidelights.

H4 lights are woeful. New bulbs help  but only slightly

I changed the headlights in my T6. My mate's T5 has the equivalent of candles for headlights 

Phillips also do some decent ones, 'H7' type, but agree Osram are also very popular.

You'd need to check compatability with your particular make/model/year.

They are not cheap but they are a lot better than... if the existing bulbs are £3.99 motosave specials, that's probably half your problem.

The H4 and H7 fittings are completely different fittings. The H7 is a single filament bulb that will operate only one headlight beam, where as the H4 is a twin filament bulb that works both the low and high beams in one.

The proper solution is to run HD cable direct from the battery to the lights via a relay. Use the current wiring to the lights to trigger the relays. 

It's a standard VW problem as they run the lighting circuits at a lower voltage compared to other manufacturers and why bulbs last a long, long time in their cars. IIRC it's only a 0.5v lower but it makes a massive difference. I bought a kit to do the bypass that welshfarmer describes on my Fabia and when I turn the lights on you can visibly see the headlights get brighter a second after they switch on when the bypass triggers. It came from the Ukraine via eBay and replaced a part of the original loom so looks completely standard apart from the electronic box hidden underneath the battery tray and has been faultless in the 8 years it's been on the car.

Ahh sorry, when people say 'T5' I automatically think volvo V70! 

Ignore what I said.. I don't know anything about VW camper vans! 

I’ve posted about this before. They’re crap. T5.1 don’t have the voltage drop issue. They’re just designed by halfwits. Bi-led units are the way I solved ours.

Check what voltage you're getting at the bulb connectors and then buy night Nightbreakers or Philips Ultravision. They'll only be an improvement if you're getting the proper voltage though. If you've got some corrosion somewhere or a bad connection, they'll still be bad.

Also, I think compared to modern HID or LED lamps, halogen will always look a bit dull. They can seems fine on the road but as soon as you're following a pair of LED tail lights of driving into a sea of HID headlights, the halogens will always look underpowered. It's a bit like going on a night ride on your bike when someone's got a more powerful light that you. Yours seems fine on your own but gets drowned out by the brighter light behind you. 

Felt the same on our Caravelle - it had the standard, awful, halogens. Fitted a pair of Transporter HQ LED/DRL units with OSRAM nightbreakers. No problem with MOT as you are not changing a halogen bulb to LED, you are changing the whole headlight unit.

The jump in quality was very high, worth the outlay. Following their video instructions, fitting was pretty straightforward. 

hot_fiat
Full Member
I’ve posted about this before. They’re crap. T5.1 don’t have the voltage drop issue. They’re just designed by halfwits. Bi-led units are the way I solved ours.

I've found myself looking at Morimoto projectors for my van headlights yet again this year (Transit Custom rather than VW, but equally poor headlights). Definitely the preferable to slapping some LED bulbs into standard headlight units.

Yeah there's a few other makes now, but the morimoto bi-led and their newer bi-led 2.0 are the shizzle. No mucking about with self levellers like you'd need for HID, proper shielded biased cut-offs, magnetic bearing fans, chunky solenoids and a decent ballast, it all drips of a quality product. You need washers for MOT compliance, but that's it.

Assembling it all was really satisfying.

I’ve found myself looking at Morimoto projectors for my van headlights yet again this year (Transit Custom rather than VW, but equally poor headlights). Definitely the preferable to slapping some LED bulbs into standard headlight units.

good quality LED bulbs like xenons online supply work really well in the customs, loads of people run them and unlike some of the cheaper LED's the light goes where it should so they don't dazzle and they don't give any fault codes.
beam patton being correct and them being out of sight behind the projector lense probably helps with passing MOT's, some people on the custom sites swap them out for MOT's but most don't and they pass.

had mine for over a year and never been flashed or had any problems.

I use Osram Nightbreakers in my T5.1 and they're garbage IMHO - hardly any better than the standard ones. I'm running the twin reflector Caravelle headlights on mine and there is a wiring mod you can do which keeps both dipped and main bulbs on at the same time... on the to-do list for this winter.

Last time I've looked at any form of LED bulb for a non-LED headlight they come with caveats like "for off-road use only" etc. I think Osram themselves do one now but for some reason they're not legal in the UK. Tempted to try a set simply because I like to be able to see where I'm going in the dark and since most modern cars have retina scorching lights anyway, I can't see it being too much of a problem.

Try a wiring loom. Connects battery direct to headlights so you get more power/brighter lights. Standard upgrade to do on T4's whose headlights are like candles stuck to the bumper.

Reading things through it seems our t5.1 has an upgraded wiring loom. That said, the wires are pretty small and feeble looking.....

I have tried out a set of brighter bulbs, let's see what difference that makes on the way home tonight.

A reasonable cheap upgrade is to fit caravelle headlights with an upgraded loom as the dip beam stays on with the main headlights, or fit a big **** off led light bar in the front grill

T5.1 caravelle here - interested to hear about the mod above - anyone got a link??

Yep, they are dangerously bad. So much so I actively avoid nighttime driving in the van if I can. Bookmarked for tips.

I was reading this and thinking the 1980s solution to awful headlights was a cheap set of spot lights wired to be additional to full beam.  Somafunk has said it.  Iirc the only requirements an mot tester had to check were the position.   I don't know if the regs have changed at all but led spots or light bars start from about £20, a cheap option.

The standard headlights on my VW van are fine. After years of night riding on the bike I suppose any car or van headlights are a huge improvement. Anyway no need for an upgrade for me maybe because I don’t drive quickly. 

With current traffic light outputs my 37 year old 951 became almost undriveble at night.
Low driving position, H4 lamps and barely 13v measured at the lamp.
A universal H4 loom/relay kit, wired to the alternator, not battery as in my case the battery is in the boot.
So 14.5v at the bulbs made a big difference, then some Osram night breakers make it acceptable.

Stil hard to deal with LED lamps on other vehicles, but you can't beat the physics of being at eye level with SUV and Van headlamps.
In a van it should be fine.

good quality LED bulbs like xenons online supply work really well in the customs, loads of people run them and unlike some of the cheaper LED’s the light goes where it should so they don’t dazzle and they don’t give any fault codes.<br />beam patton being correct and them being out of sight behind the projector lense probably helps with passing MOT’s, some people on the custom sites swap them out for MOT’s but most don’t and they pass.<br /><br />

I’ve upgraded the main beam bulbs in my EcoSport, with some 5000k Philips bulbs, earlier this year, but one blew last weekend, so I’ve replaced both with some similar ones, can’t be arsed to check the make at the moment; the point is, high performance bulbs are expensive, and I’ve noticed that more recent Fords, like Focus, Fiesta, and Puma have LED’s fitted behind a projector lens, so I was wondering if it’s possible to retrofit those LED’s into the ones on an EcoSport, or something similar.

Anyway no need for an upgrade for me maybe because I don’t drive quickly.

How fast do you drive on a NSL road in the pitch black? 60mph in the dark is borderline dangerous with standard T5.1 lights... Dropping down to 40 is still dodgy. I leave dipped on so I can at least see the road in front of me - main beam illuminates the road about 80m ahead and then a massive area of dark between that area and the van.

CountZero
I’ve upgraded the main beam bulbs in my EcoSport, with some 5000k Philips bulbs, earlier this year, but one blew last weekend, so I’ve replaced both with some similar ones, can’t be arsed to check the make at the moment; the point is, high performance bulbs are expensive, and I’ve noticed that more recent Fords, like Focus, Fiesta, and Puma have LED’s fitted behind a projector lens, so I was wondering if it’s possible to retrofit those LED’s into the ones on an EcoSport, or something similar.

Don't think Ford use projector for LEDs, certainly my recent Focus didn't.

edit to add, pic of what my focus had

A universal H4 loom/relay kit,

I seem to remember that there's some reason why a universal kit doesn't work on a T5, but I can't remember what it is now. I think it's the the connections on the back of the lamp housing?

60mph in the dark is borderline dangerous with standard T5.1 lights… Dropping down to 40 is still dodgy.

Glen Lyon in the pitch black was really noticeably difficult, even main beam just doesn't work that well at all. Dip the lights and it was really, really poor, even at single track road speeds.
The 'side lights' are laughably poor for being seen - I think intended as parking lights.
The third 'daytime running lights' are also poor for being seen.

OSRAM NIGHTBREAKERS! You can't go wrong.

I have a T5.1 and live in rural mid wales where lights are essential. As noted the output is pretty poor. I did fit a set of better bulbs but the difference is minor. In the end I went for the nuclear option which is a set of Lazer 500 lamps in the grill. I didn't buy the T5 kit whihc is over £500 quid, but rather picked up the lights direct from Lazer in a half price sale. Still expensive but WOWSER. They make night to day. Sometimes the glare of signposts is too much! I have driven rally cars in the 80s with all manner of spot lights and these are just in a different league as regards output andf qwuality of light. However, dip beam is still crap! But small price to pay. On busy roads you are driving on dip most of the time anyway, and in the lanes around home I might dip once in 10 miles of driving.

The trick with the direct wiring to the headlamps via relays is what I did on my landrovers. They go from borderline dangerous and undrivable to being actually pretty damn good. Certainly as good as most standard run of the mill cars, even by current standards.

because I don’t drive quickly.

Pleased for you. I dont drive quickly either but not being a driving god I need a bit more light to be able to drive safely.

The standard T5.1 H4 headlights are, as a few people have said already, just terrible, and spare me the sanctimonious 'drive more slowly' crap, they are genuinely like driving with candles sat on your front bumper and borderline dangerous, crossing over into actively dangerous in the rain.

It's the optics of the rectangle headlights rather than the bulbs, we actually stuck some good quality Philips LED H4s in as an experiment. The same bulbs in a Mk2 GtI were brilliant, with a sharp cut-off and loads of useable light, in the T5 they were barely brighter than standard halogens, really. The LEDs don't need an aftermarket loom to boost voltage either, so that's not the problem.

I think the only real solution is an alternative headlight - Caravelle H7s, an aftermarket projector one or a full LED conversion. 

But mostly I just wanted to say that the stock headlight are just bloody awful and the people who think that wanting to upgrade them is some sort of boy racer thing clearly haven't actually driven a T5 with those lights. They are dangerously and notoriously feeble. 

In case anyone is interested I replaced the Bosch generic H7s in my caravelle yesterday with Osram Nightbreakers as suggested above and they are noticeably less awful