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I thought the RLX was all LEDs. But I find the trunk bulbs and the 4 door puddle lights too dim and not LEDs. I think the vanity mirrors are also incandescent. Odd the map lights and dome lights are all LEDs but not all the interior bulbs.
I also was surprised that the front and rear foot well LEDs are red. I am color blind so the red barely shows, but if they are the same as the RLs foot well LEDs they cannot be swapped by the bulbs alone.
I ordered 6 LED wedge bulbs for the 4 doors and 2 trunk bulbs as I assume they are plug and play. I am not sure if the vanity mirror festoon bulbs are a particular size.
I thought the RLX was all LEDs. But I find the trunk bulbs and the 4 door puddle lights too dim and not LEDs. I think the vanity mirrors are also incandescent. Odd the map lights and dome lights are all LEDs but not all the interior bulbs.
I also was surprised that the front and rear foot well LEDs are red. I am color blind so the red barely shows, but if they are the same as the RLs foot well LEDs they cannot be swapped by the bulbs alone.
I ordered 6 LED wedge bulbs for the 4 doors and 2 trunk bulbs as I assume they are plug and play. I am not sure if the vanity mirror festoon bulbs are a particular size.
Curious is anyone else has done so?
Honestly I did not notice them. Keep us informed though. I can't bend down to check them right now for obvious reasons. Quite frankly I can't open any door because it hurts too much. I would not wish this recovery on my worst enemy. You can't imagine how vulnerable and dependent you are when you experience this type of complex injury/surgery/recovery. I know this is not the point of the thread. Sorry for hijacking it Tampa. I will stop now.
You are correct about the incandescent bulbs. Here is the list of interior and exterior lights:
I am sorry i can't offer anything else, since i have not switched out any of them. People have not had a problem replacing them with LEDs, from what i have read. Most of them say that the light is too bright, if you use LEDs for the vanity mirrors.....
Can the "orange" lights in the overhead console by the HomeLink and Acura buttons be changed to blue. I've got a 14 MDX and these lights are blue. Orange is typically an indicator of some type of warning and I've thought for a long time these lights should be blue. On my 2014 RLX they were orange and I was hoping on the 16 RLX they would have changed to blue...but nope...they are still orange.
Can the "orange" lights in the overhead console by the HomeLink and Acura buttons be changed to blue. I've got a 14 MDX and these lights are blue. Orange is typically an indicator of some type of warning and I've thought for a long time these lights should be blue. On my 2014 RLX they were orange and I was hoping on the 16 RLX they would have changed to blue...but nope...they are still orange.
If they are the similar to the RL, they are not bulb swaps, you have to source and install a different LED component.
Incidentally, the RL was blue....it is curious to me that the LED ambient and footwell lights in the RLX are this color?
My LED bulbs for the trunk and door puddle lights arrived. I will try to ake before / after pics when I find time for the install.
My business partner finally took delivery of his now 2016 MB S550 with all the trimmings, after the lemon debacle he had before. I have not seen it yet, but I'll bet it looks great.
This is a picture from the web I found on what his car must look like at night for the interior:
^^^ That is a bit to 'carnival' for me. I just want brighter puddle lights and trunk lights. I prefer the color temp of LEDs over incandescent.
I may do the vanity lights as well. I ordered the festoon LED bulbs and will test them. If not too bright, I just want LED consistency.
Not sure why they chose red / orange for the ambient LEDs?
I did this LED bulb swap on my RL and was pleased with the aesthetics.
I loved the blue LED's in my old 3G TL, but I personally like the amber LED's over the blue ones in the RLX. Gives it a more inviting, comforting feeling at night. I just wish they gave us the additional options of:
1. option to keep the footwell lighting on after the doors close. (for added ambience)
2. option to control the brightness of all interior amber lights and have a slightly higher max brightness setting (footwell, door handles, side pockets, overhead)
3. option to change colors selectable via system settings.
That to me would be a nice balance between what we have now, and the carnival circus in the S550. Although they are very adjustable and it just looks like the person in that pic had then up too bright, not to mention the contrast on the pic seems set a bit too high. A google search on the 2015 C-class shows IMO a more balanced approach to modern (and tastefull) interior LED lighting.
Last edited by holografique; 08-25-2015 at 03:40 PM.
OK, I got the trunk bulbs and visor vanity bulbs swapped out.
The trunk is much brighter, as I desired. The vanity lights are brighter, but not glaring (to me anyway). I like to color change mostly. The dome lights are already LED but I'd prefer a cooler color temp, so I may swap them in the future.
I did not get the puddle lights done. They are in an awkward location on the bottom edge of the door panel. When you pop out the lens you get a small box like component that was not obvious how to pop open to access the bulb. Further there is no slack in the power line and I did not want to damage it trying to twist and turn the bulb box or pry it open. I am not familiar with these so I will wait for someone with better skills to describe how to access these bulbs.
To do the 2 trunk bulbs and 4 visor bulbs was less than 10 minutes. Only tools I used was a plastic pry bar from a body panel kit, and latex gloves to better grip and remove the old bulbs.
Bulbs: Package of 6 T10 LED replacements $5.99
2 Packages of 2 visor festoon (fuse type) LEDs $5.98
Both from ebay with no tax & free shipping.
1) Stock trunk bulb
2) LED trunk bulb
3) Trunk w/ 2 LED bulbs
4) Vanity: left LED bulb - right stock bulb
OK, I got the trunk bulbs and visor vanity bulbs swapped out.
The trunk is much brighter, as I desired. The vanity lights are brighter, but not glaring (to me anyway). I like to color change mostly. The dome lights are already LED but I'd prefer a cooler color temp, so I may swap them in the future.
I did not get the puddle lights done. They are in an awkward location on the bottom edge of the door panel. When you pop out the lens you get a small box like component that was not obvious how to pop open to access the bulb. Further there is no slack in the power line and I did not want to damage it trying to twist and turn the bulb box or pry it open. I am not familiar with these so I will wait for someone with better skills to describe how to access these bulbs.
To do the 2 trunk bulbs and 4 visor bulbs was less than 10 minutes. Only tools I used was a plastic pry bar from a body panel kit, and latex gloves to better grip and remove the old bulbs.
Bulbs: Package of 6 T10 LED replacements $5.99
2 Packages of 2 visor festoon (fuse type) LEDs $5.98
Both from ebay with no tax & free shipping.
1) Stock trunk bulb
2) LED trunk bulb
3) Trunk w/ 2 LED bulbs
4) Vanity: left LED bulb - right stock bulb
Here is a picture and procedure to change the puddle lights. It says that you should remove the door panel first, although it might be possible to do it without doing that:
If I can figure out how parts A & B come apart, it may not be necessary to remove the door panel. They likley snap together, but it was not obvious where was the point to pry them apart. I did not want to break them, along with so little slack to manipulate the casing.
I will likely wait until the weather cools, rather than laying in a pool of sweat and frustration....which is when I get sloppy and break things!
If I can figure out how parts A & B come apart, it may not be necessary to remove the door panel. They likley snap together, but it was not obvious where was the point to pry them apart. I did not want to break them, along with so little slack to manipulate the casing.
I will likely wait until the weather cools, rather than laying in a pool of sweat and frustration....which is when I get sloppy and break things!
Since i had a few min, i went down to the car to see if i could disconnect the light housing without taking the door panel off. Well it took about 15 sec to do it.....It is tight but it was easy, plus connecting it back was not a problem either. To disconnect it, i used my index finger to feel right after the light housing ends on the gray side (not the black side). You will feel the small release tab, and you just need to push it while slightly pulling the light housing. To connect it i just used my index finger to pin the white connector to the door panel front edge so it did not move around. It makes it much easier if you are able to see the connector while putting back together. Once its disconnected you can see how to take it apart, so you can change the bulb.
Here are a few quick pictures:
HTH.
P.S. This is on my 2015 RLX P-AWS, but it should be the same.....
I did not realize the bulb housing could be disconnected from the power line, which indeed will make it easier to open the casing. I will also take precautions to keep the power line from getting pulled back into the door panel while I do the bulb swap.
As with LEDs you sometimes have to reverse them if you did not get the polarity correct 1st time. But since the door is open once your reconnect the white plug you will know if they light immediately.
Its just a job to do lying on the garage floor as these lights are in an awkward location for access.
And yes, they appear the same as the SH. Again, I find it odd that selective lights were not LEDs and others are. Do you also find them very dim considering their purpose?
I did not realize the bulb housing could be disconnected from the power line, which indeed will make it easier to open the casing. I will also take precautions to keep the power line from getting pulled back into the door panel while I do the bulb swap.
As with LEDs you sometimes have to reverse them if you did not get the polarity correct 1st time. But since the door is open once your reconnect the white plug you will know if they light immediately.
Its just a job to do lying on the garage floor as these lights are in an awkward location for access.
And yes, they appear the same as the SH. Again, I find it odd that selective lights were not LEDs and others are. Do you also find them very dim considering their purpose?
I did this while i was on my knees, but yes it will be much easier laying down...
I don't understand it either, but i don't think its mainly because of cost savings. I think its because people don't usually notice them......
Yes i agree with you, they are dim....... the whole purpose of those lights is to see whats on the ground........If you confirm that the LEDs make a difference, i will definitely change them also! I will be changing the trunk lights as soon as i have the SH.
Oh, and thank you for doing all the legwork on this!
TampaRLX-SH i would like to thank you for taking the initiative of switching the lights to LEDs. I just changed the trunk lights, and wow what a difference! You can actually see what is in the trunk at night now......you can even see what is stored in the net on top of the battery! Next i will try the vanity lights, and then the door courtesy lights.
Thanks for reminding me pgeorg. I was waiting for the cool weather to change out the door puddle lights with LEDs. Plus I put nice garage car mats / carpet that makes it easier to lay on the floor. I should try this week.
Just one caution on the vanity lights - and probably the reason that they were left as "normal" bulbs.
The whiter, harsher LED light tends to highlight any minimal imperfection that would be overlooked by a dimmer warmer bulb.
You might hear lots of gripes from your SO about why "I can't go out looking like this, I have to spend another hour fixing my makeup so that nobody could ever see that microscopic blemish"
You are correct about the incandescent bulbs. Here is the list of interior and exterior lights:
I am sorry i can't offer anything else, since i have not switched out any of them. People have not had a problem replacing them with LEDs, from what i have read. Most of them say that the light is too bright, if you use LEDs for the vanity mirrors.....
In line with my post directly above. We need to ask ourselves why Acura decided to keep some lighting as non-LED. It is clearly NOT economic.
I think we know the reason for the vanity lights. I thought the reason for the puddle lights was that the whiter light won't affect night vision as much - but then there are the LED door handle lights.
Why would the trunk light be conventional?
Before you go swapping out bulbs willy-nilly, I think you need to ask "why weren't they LED"?
Just one caution on the vanity lights - and probably the reason that they were left as "normal" bulbs.
The whiter, harsher LED light tends to highlight any minimal imperfection that would be overlooked by a dimmer warmer bulb.
You might hear lots of gripes from your SO about why "I can't go out looking like this, I have to spend another hour fixing my makeup so that nobody could ever see that microscopic blemish"
I understand and agree with your point. However:
1. I do not wear makeup
2. The image I see in the vanity mirror is perfection.
3. I like the brighter look to reveal broccoli stuck between my teeth.
4. I do not like the yellow glow (you call warm). And should I have a lady in the passenger seat, I damn well want a CLEAR look at what my libido is considering.
5. My car, My Rules.
In line with my post directly above. We need to ask ourselves why Acura decided to keep some lighting as non-LED. It is clearly NOT economic.
I think we know the reason for the vanity lights. I thought the reason for the puddle lights was that the whiter light won't affect night vision as much - but then there are the LED door handle lights.
Why would the trunk light be conventional?
Before you go swapping out bulbs willy-nilly, I think you need to ask "why weren't they LED"?
What Kool Aide has Acura sent you?
All of the LEDs are included in newly engineered components to the car, so moving forward with market demands, go with LED. The trunk and puddle lights are indeed from the parts bin of all Acuras and Hondas, so when that part supplier contract comes up, maybe they will redesign as LEDs. I think ordering unique parts for the DOZENS of RLXs sold is very much an economical decision. Besides, IMHO the trunk and puddle lights are crap. With age I need MORE light. I speak to the vanity LEDs above.
Last, I spoke to my Acura Tech before jumping off the Mod Cliff. He assured me there was no reason appropriate LED replacements would be an issue to the car's electronics. LED reverse lights tend to have a narrow beam, so they keep them bulbs. I swapped mine with LEDs specified for reverse lights and I like them. Turn Signals sometimes have conflicts between the LEDs and blinking mechanism. Maybe I will take on these too one day, but I am old and getting lazy, so that I may have to live with.
Six months later, after revealing my LED conspiracy on the internet, I have yet to have an Acura SWAT team descend upon my house via an Apache helicopter and hold me at gunpoint while exclaiming "Les jeux sont faits!" until I returned to OEM incandescent bulbs.
Sometimes you have to take HUGE risks in life to feel ALIVE. I follow the lead of a philosophical giant - Ferris Bueller. Now excuse me as I adjust the air pressure in my tires 1psi from the recommended, because my ass feels better when I do.
Last edited by TampaRLX-SH; 01-27-2016 at 01:12 PM.
All of the LEDs are included in newly engineered components to the car, so moving forward with market demands, go with LED. The trunk and puddle lights are indeed from the parts bin of all Acuras and Hondas, so when that part supplier contract comes up, maybe they will redesign as LEDs. I think ordering unique parts for the DOZENS of RLXs sold is very much an economical decision. Besides, IMHO the trunk and puddle lights are crap. With age I need MORE light. I speak to the vanity LEDs above.
Last, I spoke to my Acura Tech before jumping off the Mod Cliff. He assured me there was no reason appropriate LED replacements would be an issue to the car's electronics. LED reverse lights tend to have a narrow beam, so they keep them bulbs. I swapped mine with LEDs specified for reverse lights and I like them. Turn Signals sometimes have conflicts between the LEDs and blinking mechanism. Maybe I will take on these too one day, but I am old and getting lazy, so that I may have to live with.
Six months later, after revealing my LED conspiracy on the internet, I have yet to have an Acura SWAT team descend upon my house via an Apache helicopter and hold me at gunpoint while exclaiming "Les jeux sont faits!" until I returned to OEM incandescent bulbs.
Sometimes you have to take HUGE risks in life to feel ALIVE. I follow the lead of a philosophical giant - Ferris Bueller. Now excuse me as I adjust the air pressure in my tires 1psi from the recommended, because my ass feels better when I do.
The quality of aftermarket LEDs has improved to the point that they usually won't cause problems - but it sounds like you did as I suggested to ask yourself "why aren't they LEDs?"
I too need more light (and I really don't get weak trunk light bulbs) but I don't get why the rear turn signals aren't LED - especially given that the fronts are LEDs. Aside from the bulbs themselves, there are no parts that I can discern that are from the parts bin. The housings are RLX specific so they could have been easily redesigned for LED.
No Kool-Aid, just inconsistencies that make me go "hmmmm"
Don't worry about the black helicopters, they are all flying over my house but my tin foil hat will ward them off.
Big thanks to TampaRLX-SH for the idea to change the trunk bulbs to LED's. I finally got some bulbs today (shipping took 6 weeks+??) and changed out the trunk bulbs in about two minutes. Amazing difference in light brightness and light quality!!
I tried to change the courtesy lights (puddle lights) but the bulbs that I got were too long and were almost touching the end of the cover and thus wouldn't allow the tab from the housing to slide into place. For anyone attempting this change, I found that if you GENTLY pry up on the FOUR small, light grey tabs with a small screwdriver (eg the one you use for your glasses) that I was able to get the cover off the housing without having to remove it from the power source connector. There is ZERO extra wire for that connector and I was too scared to take it off like pgeorg did for fear of not being able to get it back together (especially considering the awkward access to the underside of the door). Just FYI, the bulbs that I bought are 36mm long, so something shorter by 3 mm or so would work (around an inch and a quarter total will work).
I'll be changing the bulbs in the cargo area of my wife's MDX just as soon as she gets home from shopping.
I will try your technique, hondamore. I have tried pgeorg's approach, but there is not enough wire to get my fat fingers in the hole, press the release tab and not wack my head on the bottom of the door while swearing like a sailor.
I am eager to replace the puddle light bulbs as they are worthlessly dim and just last week I stepped in mud I could not see, exiting the car in a dumpy parking lot.
And yes, the trunk swap produces dramatic improvement for little cost and minimal effort. I often forget my laptop bag in the trunk and when I go to the garage I pop the trunk from inside the house (via fob) and the trunk opens illuminating the completely dark garage enough to get my gear and go (without triggering the overhead garage light).
Tampa - Now that you have served as our test vehicle, I would also like to swap out my trunk and door lights. But I am having trouble identifying the correct replacement bulbs. Could you expand a little on the exact specs for the LEDs for these two locations for the electrically 'dim'-witted among us? T10? 168? What is size, what is base, etc.? It's hard to find a source to match the car and the bulbs. Thanks for your help.
Thanks hondamore! Your technique worked! It took me 20 minutes (including time to snap a few pics). The pics never show lighting that well, but the difference is significant. The puddle lights are not only brighter (my priority) they match the color temp of the illuminated door sills.
fsmith - I used simple T10 bulbs from ebay. They are cheap. The T10s cover the 2 trunk lights, and 4 puddle lights. Festoon bulbs for the visor mirrors and I found LED reverse lights that work well.
Festoons I used: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-Xenon-White-29mm-3-SMD-6641-Fuse-LED-Car-Vehicle-Visor-Vanity-Mirror-Lights-/221218473106?hash=item3381a60492
Most of the pics are self explanatory. But pics 1 & 2 are front door after the LED install. Pic 1 compares front door LED and rear door OEM bulb. Pic 3 is rear door before the LED (it does not even look like there is any puddle light). Last pic is both front and rear doors open with LED install.
Last edited by TampaRLX-SH; 04-19-2016 at 06:03 PM.
fsmith - I used simple T10 bulbs from ebay. They are cheap. The T10s cover the 2 trunk lights, and 4 puddle lights. Festoon bulbs for the visor mirrors and I found LED reverse lights that work well.
Got the lights from eBay as suggested in Tampa's post. Arrived in three or four days. Easy install in the doors just by kneeling down and using Hondamore's technique with a very small screwdriver and a small mirror to see how to pry out the light, and without having to remove the light from the connector. The LED puddle lights make a significant difference in being able to see the ground next to the door at night.
The visor vanity lights were way too bright for me so I passed on those. Looking for something less bright but I haven't found any that are less bright and/or that have fewer than 3 LED segment in each.
This is the kind of thread that makes this Board so useful. Thanks to all the beta-tester testers.
I purchased some Yorkim T-10 5th gen and they seem to be a bit too blue, 6000K or higher. They seem to match the door handle LEDs, but the stock overhead LED seems much warmer in temperature. Just installed in the doors and trunk.
I would like a warmer light had no luck searching for 5000K T-10.
There is a gentleman from Boston who will be VERY happy I changed my door puddle lights for the brighter LEDs.
Arriving at restaurant last night and parking, I opened the door to see that brighter light shining down on a wallet. I am awaiting a call back from his office number (business card in wallet) in hopes he is checking his messages while here in Tampa on business or pleasure.
If I had not changed out the puddle lights, I doubt I would have seen the black wallet in the dark on dark asphalt.
I got the LED bulbs in 2 days from a seller in NY off of Ebay. The trunk bulbs were pretty quick and thanks to another poster about the POLARITY needing to be correct (had no idea). Very quick and wow, it lights up so nicely.
The doors were a bit trickier....my first one, I removed the light box from the wire by unplugging it. Then I figured out everything snaps together....did the first one.
The other 3 took less than 2 min each. I didn't even bother disconnecting them anymore.....just:
1. pop the light loose from the door.
2. snap off the light gray plastic piece to expose the old bulb (you can do this w/ it still connected) Try to do it quickly, b/c those little bulbs do heat up quickly.
3. pull out old bulb, pop in new bulb
4. re-align the gray plastic piece and snap back together
5. pop back into door
6. enjoy the awesome new light on the ground!!!
Are there lights where are feet go under the dash?
Hi, my old RL had this blu-ish light that seemed to be on during the car ride near my feet in the front seats.....does the RLX have a similar type of lighting? Sorry if this has been asked before!
08-22-2015, 08:46 PM
^^^
