LED headlights ice build up?

THe GTI has LED headlights that are, for the most part, awesome.  But I live in the land of ice and snow, and it seems they don’t generate enough heat to melt ice and snow build up.  And there isn’t any headlight washing system.  

Any thoughts about a solution?

Headlight wipers.  Or the VW solution, headlight spray nozzles, that seem to be the first thing people disable because they "waste washer fluid".

I had huge problems with the headlights on my Quantum icing over.  It's not just an LED thing.  It did not have wipers or high pressure nozzles, so I'd just stop every couple miles and clean them manually.   This is why I am thrilled that both of my Volvos had/have headlight wipers.

I wonder if a RainX type application could keep moisture from sticking long enough to freeze.

In reply to A 401 CJ :

It seems to do it on the windshield.  The real problem is when in traffic and slush gets thrown up.  Slush clumps in a way that Rain-X seems unable to handle.

I have been thinking of coating the whole underside of the car with some of that hydrophobic coating, and I wonder if it might work in this application.  Hydrophobic coating don't care about no clumping.  Downside, is that it is not completely clear like Rain-X is.

But hey, a bottle of Rain-X is cheap, it's worth a shot.

Rain-X should at least help some.  

But Knurled is right, headlight icing is not just an LED problem.  I worry that the 35W HIDs on the BMW might not put out enough heat to keep the lenses from icing up (although it's concentrated to a small area of the lens, so that should help).  I've had 55w halogens slush over before, but the 80w halogen low beams on the Jeep seem to stay clear enough.  Only issue I have on that thing is the fog lights and driving lights will get a layer of frozen slush on them while turned off and then they're useless if you need them, at least for a few minutes until the lenses warm up enough (or you stop to scrape them clean).  FWIW, at 60 mph on the highway in 0* weather, even 100w bulbs won't clear off an already-iced lens, at least not in the span of a few minutes.  

In reply to rslifkin :

I wonder if glass versus plastic lenses has something to do with it, too. 

J. W. Speaker will happily sell you LED headlights with built-in heating for exactly this reason.  Not much help for OE lights that aren't standard sizes, but it's something.

In reply to Knurled. :

Quite possible.  I'd expect the glass lenses take longer to warm up, so they'd be harder to melt clean after they ice over.  But probably not much difference for icing up in the first place.  FWIW, the Jeep lights are all glass.  The stock lights were plastic and I did have icing issues with them occasionally, just like when I first put glass headlights in and had 55w low beams.  Neither iced up badly, but both did to some extent at times.  

What we did in the army,in Alaska,olive oil.. yes sounds strange, but rain x won't well. We found the Olive oil  did not slow ice on the lens or clumping..just fell off. Worked for about 2 or 3 days before re applying 

Naturally an Alpha guy would suggest olive oil :-)

When LED traffic lights first came out,  cities had to have workers clear the traffic lights in winter due to the little heat produced by the LEDs.  Scott

a good ceramic coating should help