Adventures in LED bulb upgrading

[Tawny]

Boot light(s):
Any 501(T10) LED will do, but best to get the ones with 360° light output.

High level stop light:
Any parallel sided* 501 LED will do. I went for the red 1W high power ones; a definite improvement over the original bulbs, but not dazzling.
If, like me, you find some corrosion on the copper strips that pass power to the four bulb holders, then a quick rub down with an ink eraser cleans it off nicely.
Oh, don't fit xenon white LEDs; I tried that, and they made the stop light bright pink.

Number plate lights:
Any white parallel sided* 501 LED should be fine.

Rear fog lights:
I went for the 382 sized red 5W Cree Q5 element bulbs.
These are seriously bright bulbs.

Side indicators:
The internal space is extremely restricted in these. I had to fit single SMT element 501 sized LEDs, as the larger ones were too long to allow the amber lens to be refitted over the bulb socket.
Fitting LEDs in the side indicators had no effect in the hazard/turn signal flash timing.

*They have to be pushed through into the fitting from behind, so the extra wide ones that have a 501 base won't fit.
Also, there are some very long multi-element 501 LEDs available (I used five-element SMTs) and if you get something too long, it'll bang up against the back of the lens.

 

[Qwertben]

pictures would be good?

 

[Tawny]

pictures would be good?

Sorry, I didn't take any.
I was trying to get the job finished before nightfall, and I'd left it a bit late starting.

 

[Anonymous]

Get some in yer headlights!!

If you read my 'Projects', you'll see I like LED's too!! :lol:

 

[Tawny]

I've got some xenon white 1W 501's for the side lights, plus some Halfords HB3 Extremes for the dips and mains.
I just haven't fitted them yet...

 

[lusid666]

do the leds need to be canbus?

 

[Anonymous]

I believe the Canbus ones are for vehicles which have systems which can detect when a bulb is blown/not working.

This should help explain it:
http://www.skeenway.com/auto-led-bulbs/what-is-new-can-bus-led-light.html

One thing to bear in mind though, is LEDs could effect the rate of flash for the indicators. But, through all of the changes I had made to my lighting, the flash rate for hazard lights remained unaffected.

 

[Tawny]

do the leds need to be canbus?

Nope. None of the ones I fitted were, and no errors or warning lights popped up. :thumbs:

 

[Anonymous]

no errors or warning lights popped up. :thumbs:

That's because the Puma isn't that technologically advanced!

 

[Tawny]

Side indicators:
The internal space is extremely restricted in these. I had to fit single SMT element 501 sized LEDs, as the larger ones were too long to allow the amber lens to be refitted over the bulb socket.
Fitting LEDs in the side indicators had no effect in the hazard/turn signal flash timing.

Update:
I've found some very small form factor 1W LEDs that fit the indicators; The Philips Vision LED W5W T10 4000K.
They're xenon white bulbs but work fine in the standard amber lenses. They're sold in packs of two, and are relatively expensive, but they're a significant improvement over the original incandescent bulbs or the SMT ebay LEDs I first tried.
If you're using aftermarket smoke/silver lenses you'll likely need to stick some red or orange gel sheet over the flat bulb end.

(They also make a 6000K blue version, but flashing blue lights on Tawny somehow lacks all appeal...)

 

[Tawny]

Interior/Courtesy light & reading lights:
I ran into a slight problem here.
The interior light has two +ve lines, and a common -ve. These are supplied via a two contact socket, which supplies power for the automatic interior light (engine stop/door open) and has the common -ve, and a single contact socket, containing an always-on +ve for the interior override switch, and the two reading lights.

The festoon bulb was easy to fit. They're symmetrical, so you just turn it round if it doesn't work. I chose a 2x 1W white LED bulb, but found (like the incandescent bulb) it was a bit harsh to look at directly. I tried facing it upwards, but the galvanized plate that makes up the back of the light housing makes a poor reflector. I solved this by putting a white sticky label over the metal; now I get a nice even diffuse light.

The reading lights were the sticking point. In the past, I've found it to be customary to supply +ve to the rear contact of T4W shaped bulbs. The reading light circuit +ve is supplied to the body of the bulb.
This isn't a problem with incandescent bulbs, but the LEDs are polarized.
It isn't really an option to "re-wire" the sockets, as the entire circuit is made up of pressed/shaped/folded metal which doubles up as the internal structure of the entire light assembly.
I might look at reversing the wiring in the two T4W LEDs. It depends on how well they've been put together...

 

[chriscolden]

I solved the map reading light problem by soldering two wires to each bulb. Then striping a good amount of wire bare so I could find somewhere to twist them around the metal plating for the correct polarity. Wrap the bulbs in insulation tape as no to short anything. I have used 5 led bulbs and like them quite bright so I chose not to use the holders and instead I have angled them down into the lense, and used garden wire to secure them into place.

This method means I haven't modified the original housing at all.

I can post a picture if you like.

Chris

 

[musicformybumhole]

I just ran in to the same problem when I went to fit LED reading light buld there now. A pic of your modifications would be great.

Thanks

 

[CherryVimto]

The LED bulbs are easy enough to pull apart, then just reverse the polarity. I did this with mine.

 

[musicformybumhole]

Fancy doing mine for me?

 

[CherryVimto]

Depends on whether you really want to change the reading light bulbs. I've tried several LEDs in mine, even making my own lights with ultra bright LEDs, but for some reason, they are never turn out very bright.

I've got LEDs fitted either bought as LED 'bulbs' or self made:
DRLs - self installed
Main beam - not bright enough, more like side lights - going to investigate the CREE LEDs
Front indicators - self made
Side indicators - straight fit
Rear indicators - polarity needs reversing
Brake/tail lights - polarity correct but brake lights cause side lights to turn on - circuits had to be separated as such
Interior light - self made
Reading lights - polarity needs reversing
Rear interior light - self made