Hey Matt,

I tend to get myself into these "controversial" conversations more as I get older but I sadly have to admit that (1) yes--the halo stuff with the BMW's make me nauseous--just another gimmick and (2) don't even get me started on daylight running lights--perhaps the stupidest "feel good" nanny state mandate ever on cars. Let's see, the last time I had a hard time seeing the car coming at me in the daytime was. . . never! Also, if some valid case could be made for the effectiveness of daytime running lights on the front of the car then surely these lights should also be along the sides of the cars as well. In fact, pedestrians should be forced into wearing daylight running lights so that drivers can easily see them (think about it--makes much more sense than the ones on cars).

And yes, for those who run out and spend $1,000s on exhausts expecting to get anything more than noise, I have a bridge you might be interested in.

All in good fun (I hope).

Doug

 

Am going for the cree ones, hope there not to bright ;-)

 

I have looked at cree, they look like SMDs but with a lens to expand the light, projector style..... Most stop and tail lights still look very similar as standard with a glass bulb but have the cree led inside instead of the filament



Must admit I have not tried them yet

 

Forgive my ignorance, but what is a cree bulb? Is it a brand or a type of bulb?

As for the parallel squabbling going on - please don't, we're just talking about stupid bulbs

 

Doug,

Believe it or not, there is actually one good reason for DRLs. Colorblindness is a visual disability that mostly affects males. I know a guy who suffers from it although he has perfect 20/20 vision, and he reports that under certain overcast daylight conditions, he can have trouble distinguishing a dark grey, low-slung sports car coming towards him from the asphalt road. DRLs help him see the oncoming dark grey vehicle much sooner....

 

But why?

The high level brake light is already LED!

 

Frog,

Cree is a company here in Durham, North Carolina that builds state-of-the-art LEDs....

 

Ah ok, that sounds good. What I secretly want is a bulb so powerful that it cuts the car behind in two

 

Since the mid-1970s I have wanted a five-million candlepower bulb mounted dead-center at my trunkline. When fools behind me drive up on my rear with their brights on, I would flip the switch and instantly roast their retinas and pupils like a skinny pork chop on 1,500-degree coals....

 

I can supply you with a 2Kw LASER (can cut 15mm thick low carbon steel (LCS), 6mm aluminium alloys and 10mm stainless steel (304SS))

 

I thought the James Bond options only came on Astons.

 

Just is why I didn't like the older type Leds, there are much better/brighter ones, like the Cree versions. Would be great to update them as well.

 

So just to be clear, the newer CAN-compatible lights do NOT need the resistors and will not set off the dash error messages. Is this correct?

 

If you were so inclined it is possible to replace the LEDs with brighter ones (or replace the entire thing with a modern LED bar).

My 3rd light was non functional when I got the car and this was one of the first things I did. Much brighter now and lower power/cooler too.

Be careful standing directly behind the car when you take pictures of your new LED bulbs lest you be incinerated.

 

Can you share what you've done, am certainly interested in upgrading that light as well, although this all sounds now so yesterday with Stumpys laser.

 

Hey Jon89--yeah, I have heard the couple of reasons where it makes sense to have lights on such as driving at dusk or in inclement conditions during the day. Most folks would have the common sense to turn on the lights by themselves under such conditions. I am in sunny SoCal and it strikes me as idiotic to see cars driving around in the clear bright light of day with lights on. I realize that the nanny-statists figure that we are all too dumb to figure out when to use our lights but if they were going to force this feature on us, couldn't they have made it so that the lights would turn off when they were not really needed (i.e., during a clear bright day)?

Doug

 

Since mine didn't work and I wouldn't be out anything if I destroyed it, I attempted to repair the LED bar by removing the board from the assembly, de-soldering all of the components and replacing them with new.

IIRC, The LED bar is 4 groups in series of 4 parallel LEDs with some resistors that keep the current under control. The original is a fairly unusual 4 post LED package with an operating current of around 300mA each, which is pretty high by LED standards.

I assume that this high current part was the brightest LED reasonably available when the car was designed, but there are much better options now. The 4x4 design is simple but if one of the LEDs burns out then the current will become unbalanced and take all the rest of them out too, which I think is what happened in my case.

I replaced all of the LEDs with a more modern 2 post, super bright type, that operate at 20mA. Because I changed the operating current I had to replace the resistors too. There is also 1 capacitor that I left alone because it checked as ok when I tested it. The capacitor is not particularly critical and only really serves to be a low pass filter, probably so that the LEDs don't pulse due to electrical noise.

When I get home I can find the actual part numbers for the LEDs I used, but it amounted to something like $15 in parts and a few hours time to do the work. The scariest part was using the soldering iron to soften the plastic rivets that hold the board in place so it could be removed.

Mine is a coupe, so the LED assembly is made a little differently than a convertible, but I would assume that the circuit board is the same.

 

When I have done the high level brake light I just rip the whole PCB out and replace it with an LED string, I just solder the wires to the original connector.

Job done

 

Yeah, yeah, taking the easy way out.

Mostly I fixed it just to see if I could; never claimed it was worth the time or effort.

 

Im going to get me some them lights. What did you use for reverse and turn signals? Also, would the front and rear signal bulbs be the same?