What's the situation with LED's?

[LMJ]

Pretty quick, simple question really. Getting HID's eventually, and I was hoping to upgrade the indicators too maybe?

You can buy many LED replacement bulbs that just swap straight in... are they legal? I look at a lot of these bulbs in halfords and it mentions off road use only...? hmm.

Let me know how it stands, E marks etc, will they pass in MOT's, will it matter etc...

Thanks!

 

[betamike25]

The easiest thing for you to do is search on google for led's and then you can make up your own setup for the indicators... It wont cost you much either. I did that on my volvoT4 and also did the brake lights...It is pretty easy to do, MOT wise you shouldn't have any problems as long as you select the right power of bulb to give you enough brightness
Cheers Mike

 

[LMJ]

Thanks Mike - straight to the point. Yeah that was my intention with the brake lights etc, too. Seem to be obsessed with the crispness of them .......I'm sad.

 

[Fl@pper]

change wiring over to dimmer fog lights like i did may not be crisp buit sure as hell know im braking as all the bulbs are now seperate

just a note that led's draw a lot less current so if you use them in indictors the relay will need changing/modifying to suit

i agree they look crisp though - filled my speedo with em

 

[LMJ]

what do you mean Flapper? I'm lost

 

[Fl@pper]

it's an old trick from back in escort/sierra days as you look at a mk2 rear lamp standard at night, you get 2 outer bulbs both glowing 5w and when you brake the outer one glows a bit brighter - 21w

now in heavy rain or very dark an already lit bulb next to another one that just gets brighter is not ideal hence the introduction of the 3rd (centre) brake lamp on modern cars

by removing the correct wires (paperclip iirc) and swapping over in the lamp connector you can activate the brighter and seperate inner foglamp lens to light up on braking

passenger one isn't fitted standard so you just move the brake lamp wire to the blank pin and push out the blank and fit a bulb, i also extended a wire across to make sure i had 2 fogs working

now your fogs come on the outside of the car and your brakes are on centre

note - as foglamps are brighter as standard i would add a small resistor to calm them down a little or you get moaned at ya fogs are on, and i avoid sitting on the pedal also as when i first did it a mate behind me thanked me for the suntan

next time you are out at night just watch how other cars brake lamps display - you'll see

 

[LMJ]

so what you're saying is... your brake lights are the two columns in the inner side of the light cluster (where the fog lights are as standard)...

Sounds like an idea...

 

[LMJ]

(what does iirc mean) by the waay

 

[Fl@pper]

yup - swapped em over when i was bored waiting for mrs shopping one day- be even better with decent led's in there as i once tried to fill the boot panel with them

 

[LMJ]

ha awesome - might give it a try then... so you swap them in the connector block going into the cluster? Where are your fog lights then? is it legal to have 2 of them? Thought you were only meant to have 1?

 

[Fl@pper]

If I Remember Correctly sorry

i'm pretty sure i removed the wires from the plug using a paper clip either side to release the metal tangs , is easy when you know how mind

 

[LMJ]

yeah I've used that (shall we say - "method) many times when fiddling with my PC with the connectors etc. Haynes show which colours etc do they?

 

[Fl@pper]

i have a feeling it does - i used a multimeter and followed the bulb tracks when i did it

ill check haynes a sec

must have been easy as i did it in tesco's car park but been a while

 

[LMJ]

haha you must have some funny looks fiddling with your wires in Tesco... ... I have to admit - I'm not that bad... I think the worst thing I did was puff a steamy breathe on my bonnet and buff it with my sleeve... I was ashamed - you should've seen my girlfriend's face mind.

 

[Fl@pper]

too late in day - haynes is just confusing me right now but i will get it sorted for ya - just dont forget LED's only work with current flow one way so only one way round to fit properly

majority of the single ones are 3v max so dont just plug one in without knowing its spec or it will just pop

make sure you use the right ones

 

[LMJ]

Yeah will do! ... I'll buy exact replacements of what's there already...

 

[LMJ]

Let me know tomorrow Flapp. Thanks!

 

[Fl@pper]

as mike says you could always make ya own we did on the hotrod in past, but admit was a right pain fitting 102 led's in 2 teardop lenses lol

 

[LMJ]

Flapper - I have taken out my light cluster board, and there's only one pin on the right side with the fogs. What do I do? Use the pin from the brake and swap them over? Cause I only need one fog light don't I?... What I was thinking was swapping the brakes for the foglight cluster either side, and using the brake / tail light cluster as a fog light one side... Will that work?

P.s I've worked out which pin the brake light in the double filament bulb one is.

A few pictures to go with what I'm saying;

 

[Fl@pper]

to swap the brake to fog you need to swap the positive wiring pins over - earths are common

you only get a fog on one side anyway so you'll have to fit a bulb in on the ns one

to have 2 fogs (as they are slightly dimmer so adviseable) run a joined wire from drivers to passenger