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LED lights - any problems?
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:33 pm
by alinton
I bet this has been asked before, but I can't find it in the search!
I want to change stop/tail, indicators, reversing and sidelights for LEDs.
But I bet the indicators will flash really fast, and the brake light warning will come on with LEDs, as they're drawing less current?
Anyone had experience of this?
Ta
A
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:37 pm
by bb1boy
If you pay a little more you can get leds with extra wizardry inside to stop the errors.. I believe the magic word to be Canbus
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 8:30 pm
by alinton
Yea? do they have resistors incorporated?
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 9:35 pm
by bb1boy
I believe so
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 1:49 am
by K30DPC
You won't get any advantage over the standard bulbs IMHO. Reversing, front side lights, wing indicators, corner lights make sense to me and this is all I've changed. But I kept stop/tail and front/rear indicators as a standard bulbs. If you wanna make it right then it will take a bit more then just buy cheep LED bulb and put it in instead of 21W light bulb. Mind you most of ebay LEDs make less light then 21W bulb so you will be less visible especially on days which may result another write off. Hopefully not.
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:46 am
by NafemanNathan
I've got LED bulbs in my rear indicators (as I needed yellow bulbs and there was more/cheaper choice with LED) and I believe these are the resistors I am using in conjuction with each of them...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BA15S-382-P21 ... XQydtTNWGl
The indicators still flash slightly faster than usual, but it's not fast like if you have an indicator bulb out. I'm sure I could get around it if I was to up the resistance, but I've been used to it for a long time now. Also the hazards still flash at normal speed.
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:51 am
by batkosio
K30DPC wrote:You won't get any advantage over the standard bulbs IMHO. Reversing, front side lights, wing indicators, corner lights make sense to me and this is all I've changed. But I kept stop/tail and front/rear indicators as a standard bulbs.
I did the same, no need for more...
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 9:41 am
by jjmartin349571
I put canbus LED tail/brake lights in my 4th gen and still got the brake light warning on the dash. I think the way round it is to measure the resistance of the filament bulb, measure the resistance of the LED bulb, and then find a resistor to make up the difference. I couldn't be arsed though and just put the filament bulbs back in

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 1:54 pm
by indigolemon
jjmartin349571 wrote:I put canbus LED tail/brake lights in my 4th gen and still got the brake light warning on the dash. I think the way round it is to measure the resistance of the filament bulb, measure the resistance of the LED bulb, and then find a resistor to make up the difference. I couldn't be arsed though and just put the filament bulbs back in

Nah, just ground out the bulb warning:
http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/wiki/in ... ning_light
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 2:17 pm
by jjmartin349571
Yeah but I like the reassurance that if the bulb blows I'll get a light up on the dash letting me know... Otherwise I'd probably be driving round with bulbs out blissfully unaware until the local constabulary fancy a word
