Changing to LED rear lights - questions.
Discussion
Am changing my rear lights and front indicators to LED's
I've got to find somewhere to mount the load resistors which I've just seen come with a warning - do not mount on plastic...
Has anyone done this and over come this mounting issue?
I was thinking of putting an aluminium block somewhere in the boot to act as a heat sink and mounting the resistors on that to dissipate heat.
The fronts I can mount in the engine bay on a chassis member I guess.
I've got to find somewhere to mount the load resistors which I've just seen come with a warning - do not mount on plastic...
Has anyone done this and over come this mounting issue?
I was thinking of putting an aluminium block somewhere in the boot to act as a heat sink and mounting the resistors on that to dissipate heat.
The fronts I can mount in the engine bay on a chassis member I guess.
Try it without first, sometimes they work without and generally just indicators for flash speed. If needed can you not just mount on the chassis around the diff? A lot more wiring I know but They do get very hot (or certainly the 24v ones I sell do) so not sure an ali block onto plastic would be aby good...
I changed all of my rears and front indicators on the Tamora and didn't need resistors . For the indicators I just swapped the flasher unit out for a £6 RelY for LED indicators. Look on SVC site and do a search on here there's loads...I just haven't got time to search as going out!
Buzz
Buzz
What Buzz says. From memory if you are only doing 2 of the 4 indicators you don't even need to change the relay, i didn't have time to do the fronts at the same time as the rears so drove round for a week before changing them, don't remember the flash rate changing, only when I did the fronts too. SVC parts are good if not expensive, especially their resistors that you can buy in Maplin for about 50p!
Shep
The rear light on the Griff are BAZ15D bulbs, and are a combined rear light and fog all in one. Got mine from these guys:
http://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/566cree-5r-baz15d-56...
The brake lights are BA15S from memory:
http://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/382cree-80-80w-ba15s...
Us the code "audiforum" to get a 10% discount.
They work fab and a massive improvement over the standard bulbs.
I didn't change the indicators so cant help there.
FFG
http://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/566cree-5r-baz15d-56...
The brake lights are BA15S from memory:
http://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/382cree-80-80w-ba15s...
Us the code "audiforum" to get a 10% discount.
They work fab and a massive improvement over the standard bulbs.
I didn't change the indicators so cant help there.
FFG
Whilst you can use load resistors it means cutting into wiring to fit them.
Instead, get a new LED indicator relay which takes care of it for you. Then its just a simple swap of the relay and the bulbs and you're off.
The only issue is if you want to mix and match regular bulbs and LEDs - because you will blow the LED Relay if you put regular bulbs back in.
If you want to mix and match, put a load resistor into the wiring to the bulb you want to us an LED on and leave the standard relay in place.
I have both resistors and a resistive relay, but only because I did the rear indicators first as an experiment.
I ran a bellwire size wire from the indicator circuit up to the back of the speakers and mounted the load resistor to one of the bolts for the speaker. This keeps it out of the way should it get hot.
Instead, get a new LED indicator relay which takes care of it for you. Then its just a simple swap of the relay and the bulbs and you're off.
The only issue is if you want to mix and match regular bulbs and LEDs - because you will blow the LED Relay if you put regular bulbs back in.
If you want to mix and match, put a load resistor into the wiring to the bulb you want to us an LED on and leave the standard relay in place.
I have both resistors and a resistive relay, but only because I did the rear indicators first as an experiment.
I ran a bellwire size wire from the indicator circuit up to the back of the speakers and mounted the load resistor to one of the bolts for the speaker. This keeps it out of the way should it get hot.
I've gone for new rear lights from the Hella mix and match round lamp range having made up new clusters.
The fronts I've got clear replacement indicators with standard bulbs - I'll switch these over to LED and use the resisted relay.
Today's problem is sorting out a sidelight. I've replaced the standard lights with speed 6 style lights - but the ones I sourced are single function units. Looking at fitting something on the front indicators to work as a sidelight. Or possibly motorbike style pilot lights in the original main beam units. Not sure yet.
The fronts I've got clear replacement indicators with standard bulbs - I'll switch these over to LED and use the resisted relay.
Today's problem is sorting out a sidelight. I've replaced the standard lights with speed 6 style lights - but the ones I sourced are single function units. Looking at fitting something on the front indicators to work as a sidelight. Or possibly motorbike style pilot lights in the original main beam units. Not sure yet.
Yes, always get LEDs of the correct colour, even if they're behind a coloured filter.
Conventional incandescent bulbs emit a mixture of all colours (which looks white-ish), so the only way to get them to look like a particular colour is to put them behind a filter that removes the unwanted colours. This wastes a lot of the bulb's power, but there's no other way.
Roughly speaking, a white LED emits its power evenly distributed between red, blue and green - and a red filter simply gets rid of the blue and green. You are therefore throwing away two-thirds of its power. But a red LED emits *all* its power as red light (very different from how an incandescent bulb works) - and a red filter will allow all that light through, thus wasting none.
Put a white LED behind a red filter and it'll be pretty dim; put a red LED behind a red filter and it'll be much brighter. The same goes for amber LEDs with amber filters - although of course the ideal is to put an amber LED behind a colourless lens.
Conventional incandescent bulbs emit a mixture of all colours (which looks white-ish), so the only way to get them to look like a particular colour is to put them behind a filter that removes the unwanted colours. This wastes a lot of the bulb's power, but there's no other way.
Roughly speaking, a white LED emits its power evenly distributed between red, blue and green - and a red filter simply gets rid of the blue and green. You are therefore throwing away two-thirds of its power. But a red LED emits *all* its power as red light (very different from how an incandescent bulb works) - and a red filter will allow all that light through, thus wasting none.
Put a white LED behind a red filter and it'll be pretty dim; put a red LED behind a red filter and it'll be much brighter. The same goes for amber LEDs with amber filters - although of course the ideal is to put an amber LED behind a colourless lens.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Tuesday 25th August 19:29
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