Username 0

What you will need:

Two led strips
Dremel
Two 470ohm (or close enough) resistors
Two diodes
some wire

What I did first was remove my reflectors, cut the led strips to about the same length of the reflector and then dremeled out a slot wide enough to slide in the led strip.




Then I slide in the led strips. You might have to redremel the slot a little to fit the strip. in my case, my led strip had this waterproof silicone coating I had to remove in order for the strip to go in. After i removed it, it when right in. You might have to mess with it a little.


Then use some silicone to close off the slot so no water gets in.


Next, run the wire through the stock hole as shown. You will find a few ways to run the wires up through the trunk. There are grommets that can be removed for this. You will have to remove the plastic the in the trunk near the bumper. Then you will see the grommets.


Now the wiring! You can wire these up straight to your brake lights or/and parking lights. I wanted both! Thats why i used resistors and diodes. Twist up the resistor and diode like so. Make sure you have the silver strip towards the resistor!



THIS IS OPTIONAL!!! This part requires some knowledge of resistors and diodes and how they work. Look below for some diode info
The resistor cuts the voltage down to about 6 volts. This dims the leds for the parking light affect (half voltage). The diode will prevent the power flowing back into the stock harness.
The diode end goes to the parking wire on the bulbs socket harness and the resistor part goes towards the led strip.
For the brake light effect (full voltage), all you have to do is run a straight wire(with diode) from the brake wire on the bulbs socket harness over to the led strip (after the resistor).
So essentially you should have two power wires and one negative wire going to each led strip.
Parking wire - 6 volts (resistor/diode)
Brake wire - 12 volts (diode)
Ground wire.

Here is a simple wiring diagram i created for you guys.



When the wiring is done correctly, your led strips should immitate the bulbs in the tail lights. here is video of what it should look like.



I hope I explained this in a way that everyone can understand. I am half asleep right now, lol.

How diodes work.

MC MiYoung3269

Is the the reflector lens glued onto the mounting plastic?

Username 0

Yes it is. That's why I used this method. I didn't want to mess with glueing it back together.

tobwac

the more i look on this more i want to do that mod lol

Andy Tsang

Looks good

Username 0

I thought about making prewired led kits and selling them.

opboarding

Thats smart to use the diodes. When I redo mine I will have to use those instead of doing two independent rows of leds. I tried to do it that way without the diodes and I blew the brake light fuse. Drove to work without brake lights since I didn't know it was blown. Scary times.

komplexZ

you forgot the most important step, how to actually remove the reflectors from the bumper? pry them out?

Username 0

Thats the easiest part. Thats why i didnt bother adding it. All you have to do is reach your hand behind the bumper where the reflector is and push in the tab on the reflector that is towards the inner part of the bumper. It should pop out and you then can slide it out.

l0stsx

now you just need to custom fabricate LED taillights

rotciveel

Did anyone else successfully do this mod? I'm stuck at trying to get the wires into the trunk from the reflectors. Any pictures to help?

iCrap

I never got around to doing this mod. I don't want to pull my rear bumper off..

ejongjin

I also did this mod and I didn't remove my bumper.

This is my car photos on exLEDusa instagram page.

http://instagram.com/p/b2vG2BiXbp/
http://instagram.com/p/b7LjkVCXbJ/

robpp

iTrader: (2)

Ijdmtoy sells the lights prewired......makes this mod easy. Just pull.th e outer light.

iCrap

How did you do it without taking off the bumper?

rotciveel

I'm in the process of doing this mod (opening the reflector is tough for me) and I found the grommet he mentions. Once you open the trim on the trunk latch you can pull the carpet from the inner taillight area. There is a rubber button about 2 inches in diameter near the bottom under the carpet area. If you pull that, you can feed wires straight up through from the reflector light.

May be unclear without pictures, I'll try to add later if people are interested.

rotciveel

I have completed the mod but they only function for constant parking lights. They don't get brighter with the brakes even though they are wired for it. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that both parking and brake wires receive 12V when the brakes are pressed or if it's to do with the type of diode I used? (though I don't believe it should be that).

I know the connections of my splices are good via a check with my multimeter.. Don't know what the problem could be... Rocking the reflectors at night in the mean time anyways. Looks good!

MC MiYoung3269

The Diode shouldn't effect anything as far as the brightness goes. It just prevents the current from heading back up the wiring. It's the Resistor that dims the power for the parking lights.

rotciveel

Yeah, that's what I figured... The LED strip works correctly when I test it with an external battery by connecting the 2 power wires independently.. Dimmer with the resistor and brighter without.

Don't know why it doesn't get brighter when both wires are connected...

MC MiYoung3269

Loose connection maybe? lol Try testing them with the battery again, but leave the lead with the resistor plugged in and tap the wire without the resistor on the battery and see what happens.

rotciveel

I don't know what the issue was before but it works now! I think it was just hard to see in the lighting I was working in before. It all works as advertised now!

MC MiYoung3269

kixo

So by removing the reflectors, does that mean there is no reflective surface on the rear of the TSX? I would worry about visibility when parked on the street at night.

MC MiYoung3269

^ The reflectors aren't removed. You're only adding LED's behind the actual "reflector" part of the reflector. The clear red part of the reflector with the pattern on it IS the reflector.

richyrich1988

Iheartjdmtoy's website says it's only for 2011+ TSX Wagon....so i don't think they will fit the sedan

iCrap

won't fit. It's a totally different shape.

aczace87

How do I get them to blink as well ? Also how did you connect yours and what should I get?

Username 0

I had the same question and I found a few modules that will do just that. Here are a few links I found.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...be-module/195/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dyna-Flash-Strobe-Controller-Flasher-Safety-Module-for-LED-Brake-Stop-Light-12V-/221632876165?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item339a594e85&vxp=mtr
Here is a video on how to install the GS-100A which goes for as little as $3 on ebay.

abc1123

The kit on Ijdm website, will they fit on cu2?
Or they only fit on wagon??

iCrap

only the wagon

aczace87

So your saying if I buy the Acura TSX wagon brake led kit from them, I can take out the leds and put them in my Acura tsx 2010 reflectors? Would the led be the perfect length ? Because I know the reflectors are different from the wagon to the sedan.

kid617

im srry but ive tried this an I just cant get the led strips to slide in

iCrap

you have to get the really thin ones. might also have to slightly sand the top of the leds.

CU2REY

Guys those brake light flashers work, but make sure you get the correct one.. I have 3 capabilities..

1.) Flash flash flash flash flash.. slow flash. slow flash. constant red
2.) Flash flash flash flash flash flash solid.
3.) Flash flash flash flash flash flash flash flash flash flash flash flash flash



let me know if ya want. ill post a vid

Username 0

Yeah yeah. Do it.

melojose94

Will I need the resistors and the diodes if I just connect them to the parking lights?

opboarding

If you just have the single power source wired to it you won't need the diodes. The resistors are still needed depending on what voltage the LED strip requires. When you buy one see if the voltage is listed.

melojose94

Awesome! Thanks man!

Username 0

Resistors aren't needed for led strips. They already have resistors in the strip.

RBNJ

Thanks for this idea, I'm going to mod my TSX using this . Just as an FYI I took apart the reflectors using a sharp knife and small flat head 'cause I didn't want to do the "drill through" method you used. I want to make sure I can securely mount my LED strip to the reflector body and I didn't think I could handle it your way It wasn't that hard to pry the 2 pieces apart, just took some patience. There isn't a ton of adhesive holding them together.