Bulbs v Led's on the Wedge ..

[Jack Valiant]

Realise this topic has been done before but after long chats with Stewart (Mk1Fan) we decided to try them in stages on the Gredge to see what the fitting issues and performance would be. Any opportunity to reduce significantly the amount of current being used in our ageing wiring looms is worth doing. I decided to try the side lights first:



Originals...



Bulbs v Led's





So on side lights the effect is dramatic in terms of brightness and fitting and with a measured reduction of current of 50%

So indicators are next but with a low current relay needed .... more to follow

[Jack Valiant]

So as mentioned found a bit of time to move onto the driving lights bulbs v led's comparisons. On the Gredge I have replaced the over priced IMPO Cibie Airports with Pug 205 GTi lights with yellow lenses.

Below is the normal bulb and the replacement LED equivalent :



Fitting is straight forward:



Before with normal bulb:



LED fitted :



So initial results would indicate it is worth doing in terms of performance, time will tell how long they last but measured current drawn is 20% less on comparison with the traditional bulbs. Being picky I would say they seem to take about 30 secs to come up to full output. Next the rear light cluster...

[Jack Valiant]

So as promised I have finished my tests for LED's for the Wedge.

So tried the the tail lights next usual bulbs ......



LED'S fitted ........



So conclude that they are worth doing with about 15% brighter

Next reverse lights .. these are very close but I have fitted them as they draw a lot less current



I next compared the rear fog lights and found them to be again similar in brightness but again a lot less current drawn so I have fitted them

Finally indicators were next, we will have to replace the flasher relay as it will not operate correctly with low current LED's so I am looking for a suitable replacement. I have replace the side repeaters with LED's and they are significantly brighter ......



Headlights I have left as they will have effects on beam patterns so in summary:

Sidelights and tail lights, front driving lights, reversing lights, rear fog lights boot lights and interior lights all lend themselves to replacement from bulbs to LED's. They are all more efficient and draw significantly less current from the car and its aging loom. I hope this will be helpful to others considering the conversion.