Introduction: LED Headlight Conversion
My wife had a headlight that was really dim on her 2012 Nissan Rogue. I'm not certain that we ever changed the bulbs so they're both pretty old.
I love how snappy LED headlights turn on so I went in search of a retrofitting kit. I remembered bulkier kits from years ago but now, they make complete units that you just plug in!
Supplies
H11 LED Conversion Kit - I like these because the "bulb" is fully round so that there won't be a dead spot in the headlight pattern - Your car may take a different bulb so be sure to buy the proper kit
Step 1: Remove the Headlights
When I bought these headlights, I was expecting the installation to be be a bit more difficult than it was. Amazon said that my car was not compatible with these lights. That's not a huge deal to me and, truth be told, I was looking forward seeing how I could modify my lights to accept the LED. It turns out that an H11 bulb is an H11 bulb. It just snaps right into place despite what Amazon says (that may not be the case for your car, but I don't know why it wouldn't be)
If you can change a traditional bulb, you can manage this.
Open your hood and access the headlight unit. That may be more or less difficult depending on your car. I could readily get the bulb out of the passenger side without an issue but had to remove some of the intake on the driver's side.
Remove the old bulb.
Step 2: Replace the Headlight
At this point, I wasn't certain that the LED was correct. The plug looked slightly different and I noticed that one prong was longer than the other by .5mm. I looked over the receiving plug to make sure that everything would line up correctly to make sure that no damage would be done.
Then, I plugged the unit it and turn the lights on to make sure that it worked.
Installing the LED is no different than installing a regular light. Just line everything up, push it in the hole, and twist until it stops.
Then, zip tie the ballast to something sturdy so that it isn't knocking around. Then do the other side. The whole car took me about 10 minutes.
The last photo shows the difference between the two bulbs. The LED is on the passenger side while the traditional is on the driver side. I've had these on for a few weeks now and I must say that I'm very pleased. They're bright but not bright enough to have other motorists flashing their lights at me. They're also very secure so they don't bounce around in the housing like I have seen in other conversions.