Replacing incandescent bulbs with cool LED alternatives?

[jimmyz80]

Sadly, these LEDs did not work for me. They did the fast blink after install, and I kept getting "Left blinker error". It wasn't a bad LED bulb because even if I swapped sides, I'd still get the same error message. They would almost work, as there were no errors after I put in one reg and one LED bulb, but as soon as I put both LED bulbs in, I'd get the error message. Not sure what the problem is, but I've just put the reg bulbs back in for now.

How weird... I'm going on a month or so with them now, and not a single error or fast-flash. I wonder what the variable is between our setups. Out of curiosity, what's your firmware version on the car?

 

[Chillout]

Looks like they have fewer leds but for that price it still may be a great deal. Very curious.

I guess my Roadster doesn't like them... throws an error!

 

[Austrianer]

I tried AFTERPARTZ 2*CREE XB-D Amber Light 80W LEDs but got hyper flashing and errors too. Each of these LEDs draw 410mA at 12V. With a parallel resistor starting at 100 Ohms and below it worked, no hyper flash and errors anymore. So it seems the minimum current to keep the Roadsters boardcomputer quiet is somewhere from 500mA to 550mA.

I will now try to solder 82 Ohm 3W resistors into the turning signal sockets, there should be enough space.
With the LED (410mA, 4.92W) and the 82 Ohm parallel resistor (146mA, 1.75W) the power consumption would be around 6.7W which is only about 1/3 of the original bulb (1800mA, 21.6W).

Btw, I have a European Roadster Sport 2.5, don't know if the turning light circuit is the same in all models.

 

[wiztecy]

All 1.5's will hyper-flash as well. I didn't want to cut or dig into the wiring and found these pre-built resistors with light socket connectors that are almost plug & play. What you need to do is cut off some or one of the nipples on the connector that the LED turnsignal will be mounted to to make it fit into the slots of the housing. You can turn it enough so it locks in place by pressure. I used a very sharp utility knife to do my custom work.


1156 3156 7440 LED Hyper Flash Fix Wiring Adapters For Turn Signal

 

[Austrianer]

I know these adapters, one of my LEDs I tested had such an adapter included. The problem is with this adapter a lot of energy is wasted and converted into heat, that's why this big heat sink is on.

The adapter I tested looks like the same but had only about 6.3 Ohms and draw 1900mA on its own (=22.8W) at 12V.
But even an 8 Ohm version draws 1500mA and produces heat, together with my type of LED they would both draw 1900mA compared to 1800mA of the original bulb.

So that's why I decided to test the limit and found it for a less power consuming solution.
The 82 Ohm / 3W resistor I use needs no additional heat sink and is small enough to fit into the back of the original bulb connector socket, no need to cut of anything (I hope :wink, only a little bit of soldering work. As soon as I get my resistors and install them I will make photos.

 

[wiztecy]

Saving energy with your turn signals blinking is waste of time in my opinion. Also your headlights, Halogen, don't really make that much of an impact with your range if you go LED or even turn them off.. I have a Zero motorcycle and that would get the most benefit due to a smaller pack, even there I'm not messing with LEDs or headlights to save pennies in terms of energy usage efficiency. I'd rather have a cleaner installation. Also that heat-sync will never heat up from a blinker. Its not constantly flowing current and how long does a blinker stay on? Worse case scenario would be you're disabled on the side of the road running your hazards, but even then, you have bigger issues on your hands.

Only reason I swapped out my regular incandescent bulbs for LEDs is that LEDs are brighter hence safer so that others see you better, and they run cooler. My parking lights have already melted the clear covering in the past.

 

[Austrianer]

Your parking lights clear covering already melted?
That's why I've already replaced anything I could with LEDs, parking, license plate, trunk and interiour lights. Was inspired by the trunk light melted thread to do so.

And for the turning signal, well everybody has to decide this on his own. If I have the opportunity to make the turning lights brighter, less power consuming and less heating, then I will do so.
Anyway, I will make photos of my solution, hope to get the resistors in the next days.

 

[Austrianer]

As announced here are few photos of my modifications, the LEDs in the turning signal are working perfectly :biggrin:

There was no space inside the socket for the resistor, so I placed it outside, had to solder the wire beside the red cable only, the other one is just plugged in.

Closed socket from behind.

From the side.

No spacing problem when mounted.

The LED in action.

And here's a sample photo of my parking light LED, color appears the same as of the Xenons.

 

[ravng]

Hi.
Thanks for the tip! Replaced my interior and trunk light with the SuperBrightLeds you recommended, made a huge difference!

I just received the shipment from SuperBrightLEDs, but it will be Monday before the parts from Mouser arrive. What follows is my report so far.


INTERIOR "DOME" LIGHT: (turns on when you open the doors or manually switch it to On)

This light has a holder with a twist lock. Standard wedge base bulbs plug straight into the holder and then the holder is twisted into the fixture. The fixture itself can be disassembled, but that's only for the very brave and adept.

So far, my recommendation is the $4.95 WLED-WHP. Its 120° beam covers just as much area as the original incandescent. I would have preferred natural white, but the only available white is "cool white." It puts out a healthy 15 candles (15000 mcd) of brightness, which is at least as bright as the original. I noticed that the original 5 W incandescent is too hot to touch after it's been on long enough for you to remove the socket, but this replacement is only 0.3 W - quite a bit less wasted energy (94% less waste!). Note that both times I installed it, I got the polarity backwards, and it did not light up. If that happens to you, then quickly remove the base, rotate 180° and reinstall. I cannot remember whether this LED is protected against reverse polarity power, but it did not burn out after two brief instances of reverse voltage. Thankfully, you don't even have to unplug and replug the wedge base bulb itself, because the twist lock holder fits two ways.

I tried the $3.94 WLED-NW5, which is supposed to have a 220° beam, but it just barely did not fit into the fixture using the normal procedure for replacing the bulb. It's theoretically possible to fit it in there by disassembling the fixture further (see below) and plugging in the bulb after the holder has been twisted in, but I did not bother since the brightness is only 2 candles and I don't think that the wider beam would be of any use.

I disassembled the fixture with the hopes of fitting in the $11.95 WLEDB-CWHP4-DAC, but ran into a couple of problems. First of all, the killer is that the ring into which the four LEDs are mounted is literally too big in diameter to fit behind the bezel. A second problem is that I would not recommend disassembling the fixture for most people. It takes a rather delicate hand to take this thing apart without breaking it, and the real challenge is getting the it back together. You can see why I did not go back and try to fit the 2-cd bulb.


TRUNK LIGHT

The standard festoon bulb that comes stock is 37 mm, so the best replacements will be 37 mm, too.

Here I recommend the $14.95 3710-CWHP6. It's the brightest they offer, at 66 lumens, and the over-sized package actually fits just fine. Here, you drop from 5 W to 1.632 W, an energy savings of 67%. Again, the original bulb gets very hot and that really seems like a waste to me. Some of you who actually like the warm color of incandescent bulbs might prefer the 3710-WWHP6. Unfortunately, you still have the original problem that if one piece of luggage covers the tiny light you can't see the rest of the trunk. For me, the convenience of replacement far outweighed the potential advantage of installing something completely different. Besides, every trunk has a single light that can easily be obscured.

I also tried the $7.95 3710-CWHP3 and it seemed fine. It's half as bright as the HP6, but still plenty bright compared to the original. Power is about 0.6 W, or 87% less than incandescent. Also available in warm white as 3710-WWHP3.

I tried a couple of the 3610-xW4 bulbs, but here you have a slight problem. After removing a 37 mm bulb from the socket, these 36 mm bulbs fit loosely and flicker on and off. They're also rather dim for the trunk at only 5 lumens (4 lumens for warm white).


LICENSE PLATE ILLUMINATION

There are two bulbs and holders here, with the same 37 mm festoon bulb.

All of the same LED bulbs fit, but I notice that they're all much brighter than the OEM incandescent bulbs. Since I have an ongoing problem with the license plate lights causing glare in my backup camera lens, I chose the dimmest LEDs available. I wouldn't call it lens flare - what actually happens is that the light coming in at a 90° angle from above just makes the cheap plastic lens look fogged. With all the fogging in the headlights, I assumed for a while that the backup camera lens was fogged on the inside, too, but it turned out to be the license plate lights.

It's possible to fit the 3610-xW4 festoon bulbs into the license plate light holders by squeezing the metal springs slightly closed before fitting the new bulbs. You only need to make them 1 mm smaller, which is not too difficult. So far, I don't think that my license plate lights are flickering due to the undersized bulbs, but that may not last. I hesitate to recommend this option since they're technically not to spec. Anyway, once installed, but before screwing on the plastic lens covers, I rotated the directional LED while looking through my rear window at the Alpine in backup camera mode, until the lens looked completely clear. This reduced the brightness quite a bit, but considering that the LEDs are already ridiculously brighter than the incandescent bulbs I think it ended up about the same. On the side opposite the backup camera, I just aimed the LED straight out for full brightness.

These bulbs are only $2.84, so I guess I'm not too picky that they aren't perfect matches.

 

[Electric Swede]

Thanks to all who have posted about replacing incand lights with LEDs. I have a different problem: My dome light didn't come with a bulb or socket. I removed the light to see why it didn't light up when I opened the door and found no bulb and no socket. So how do I find one? I called Lotus to see if I could order the assembly but they told me there was two different ones for the 2010 Elise and he wasn't sure which one I would get if I ordered it. He said the socket was a standard one that I could get at an auto parts store. But not knowing exactly what it looks like, how do I walk into an Auto Zone and get the correct socket.

Any suggestions?

 

[ShawnA]

Hi Electric Swede,

There are 3 parts involved: The fixture and its clips which are easily broken
The funny twist in socket, and the actual light bulb which I believe is in the 194 family.

Please see the attached sheet...

Shawn

 

[Electric Swede]

Hi Electric Swede,

There are 3 parts involved: The fixture and its clips which are easily broken
The funny twist in socket, and the actual light bulb which I believe is in the 194 family.

Please see the attached sheet...

Shawn

Shawn - I am totally aware of this and have talked to the Lotus parts guy about this exact part number. What he told me is he's seen two different assemblies come in when he ordered that part number. I even texted him a picture of my dome light assembly. He said he would have to order the part (which I pay for first), wait for it to come in, and look to see if it was the right one before shipping it to me to ensure I received what I needed. That is when he told me the socket was, "a common light socket you can get from any auto parts store." That is all well and good, but without knowing what the damn thing looks like, how do I get one from my local Auto Zone, Discount Auto Parts, or O'Rielly's?

 

[ShawnA]

Hi Electric Swede,

As I said earlier there are 3 parts:
1 the complete fixture referenced above
2 instrument panel bulb socket 1/2" <<<<<<<<<<< If you do not need the fixture you need this and a bulb
3 the bulb 194 series wedge bulb

The instrument panel bulb socket was not available at my Advanced Auto Store.

There are many for sale on Amazon - You need the 1/2" size.

It is the part in the picture on the left....



Warning - As you remove the fixture from the car to replace the lamp
there is a wire harness to the fixture that lies in the horizontal plane.
It is on the side toward the driver's door on a left hand drive car.

Good luck,

Shawn

 

[drewski]

Shawn - I am totally aware of this and have talked to the Lotus parts guy about this exact part number. What he told me is he's seen two different assemblies come in when he ordered that part number. I even texted him a picture of my dome light assembly. He said he would have to order the part (which I pay for first), wait for it to come in, and look to see if it was the right one before shipping it to me to ensure I received what I needed. That is when he told me the socket was, "a common light socket you can get from any auto parts store." That is all well and good, but without knowing what the damn thing looks like, how do I get one from my local Auto Zone, Discount Auto Parts, or O'Rielly's?

I had a broken tab on the ight assembly and replaced it, so have an extra bulb holder.

Send me your address and it's yours.

No bulb

 

[slcasner]

I had a broken tab on the light assembly and replaced it, so have an extra bulb holder.

It's really easy to break the tabs on that light assembly when you try to take it out.