DJKham

Hey guys,

IMO, one of the nicest bang-for-the-buck mods you can do on your RDX (or almost any vehicle) is replace the factory license plate, turn signal and back-up bulbs with LED's.

All bulb fitment types by year for the RDX can be found here:
http://www.eautoworks.com/html/bulbS...-Acura-RDX.htm

Here's a comparison of the OEM back-up bulb and the replacement LED:



I get all my bulbs from an online store called Autolumination (http://autolumination.com/) and they seem to have some durable products.

I can take some shots of how the car looks with the new bulbs if anyone's interested. LMK.

VietNinjaJ30A1

I've been considering this as well, so I'd love to see the pics with LEDs in!

brizey

There are maybe 10 other threads on this.

XIS

I am ok with that... Each time I get closer to doing something like this.

Thanks

DJKham

Yeah, my apologies for the duplicate thread if there was already one (or several) on here. Will take some night shots with a good camera so that you can see what it looks like.

DJKham

Here are some shots of the LED's:

Reverse lights:


License plate lights:


Front turn signals/parking lights:




Performance-wise, they are all superior to stock (brighter, but not offensively-so). My only advice to anyone thinking of doing this mod is to make sure you get enough LED's in each bulb so that it's as bright, if not brighter than stock.

VietNinjaJ30A1

Looks good. Did you take any pictures from farther away? They look dim, but I'm sure that's just the photo.

Nyjumpman23

Thing is...how long will these things last?

wspy

They (leds) are supposed to last at least 5 times longer than the regular bulbs!

DJKham

From far away, they are all brighter than stock. Like I mentionned above, the trick is to make sure you have enough LED's in each bulb. For these applications, here is what I went with:

Reverse lights: 19 super white LED's
Turn Signals: 60 Amber LED's
License Plate lights: 14 super white LED's

In terms of durability, I've been running LED bulbs from this manufacturer for almost 5 years in various cars and have never had one blow so it would appear that they are as reliable if not more so vs stock.

phoward_15

Do you have to use some kind of resistor or converter to run the right voltage to these lights or is it just "plug and play"?

DJKham

They're just plug & play as long as you go with a manufacturer who makes the corect ones. One electrical difference you will see however is the speed of the turn signals which will blink faster (about 1.5 x). Has something to do with the circuit and the fact that LED's react faster than tungsten-based bulbs.

wspy

I'd say that the reason that you are getting the "hyper flash" is because the circuit needs to see more resistance, so yes you need to install resistors in the turn signal circuit!
The other bulbs that dont flash may not need resisters unless you get a message stating that a buld is out after installing the LED!

inquisitivetiger

Was thinking about doing the brake lights too. I got this from one of the other threads and wanted to see if anyone can help clarify with the brake lights.

The outer brake lights are 7443. Should I get the wide angle SMT LEDs or would the Spider ones be better for the RDX?

More threads like these leads to shopping carts >100.. Hot dog!

PoLuRDX

Nice pics-just ordered white leds for license plates and reverse lights. Can't wait to receive and install them.

Was it hard to install the license plate lights?

inquisitivetiger

Also, did you need transistors for the front turning lights with this manufacturer?

DJKham

@ PoLuRDX: Install on License plate lights is easy. The trick is to go at it from the inside of the tailgate (and not the outside of the car). Pop off the panel and it's pretty easy access from there.

@ inquisitivetiger: no, didn't require any transistors for turning lights. I went with the 60LED..I believe they are SMT towers. Word of advice on those is to go as bright as possible. Install on them is a cynch (just pop the hood and they're right there).

Good luck and LMK how you make out post-install.

PoLuRDX

Thank you for the help DJKham. I received the led bulbs today and was able to install them with your help. The light output on mine came out to a bright white with a little purple hue on them. Looks very clean from the dull yellow stocks.

DJKham

That's awesome man. Glad to hear it worked out for ya!

Stylinhonda

Always wanted to try a set for my license plate. Any pics from farther away?

I have never purchased LED lights.....So when you say 14 super white LED's, does that mean there are 14 little LED's in each little bulb?

So like on this one there is 25?

"Introducing the New 25 Led SMT Tower III 194 168 W5W 2825
Outfitted with the latest Super High-Flux SMT Leds
Fully Regulated - Proprietary Circuitry. Protected Under (US Patent # 7,345,433)
The Widest, Brightest and Best 194 168 W5W 2825 Ever Made!
Only 11mm diameter x 38mm overall
Don't be fooled by cheap imitations, these are not available anywhere else!
Note: these are slightly larger than stock 194 bulbs. Please measure to make sure they will fit before you order"

Also will these fit, it says they are a bit larger?

Looking to do the license plate lights, reverse lights, dome lights, map lights and door lights if they are not to hard to change out. Just don't know how many LED's to get. Don't want them to be super bright, or dull.

Stylinhonda

Anyone know how many lights are ideal for the license plate?

PoLuRDX

For me, I installed the 5-smd LED bulbs and they were bright enough.

Stylinhonda

Thanks, I was looking at the 5 or the 9.

Is replacing the trunk bulb and step lights on the doors difficult?

And the 194 on that site is used for the dome lights, license plate lights and step lgihts?

Redevil

any instructions or pictures how to install the plate lights? I don't want to start pulling on panels and start breaking plastic clips and fasteners. Only had the car for 4 days now.

brizey

We have an XT and an RDX, too, lol. Ours are a bit older though--'04 and '07. Go go turbo cute-ute! (The Nissan Juke commercials are so dumb--the Forester XT was released in the spring of 2003!).

Chronic14

Anyone know what bulb to use in the arm rest? I see the light, not even sure how to even get to it, so that would be helpful as well. :P

That thing, along w/ the light in the back/trunk area don't give much light, at all.

Stylinhonda

Anyone have any better places to purchase LED's!!!

AMUA6

iTrader: (7)

Lookin' good!

Khanyam3

DJkham can you take pictures further away of the license plate light area? Thank you

Redevil

And post how to remove the bulb from the licence plate area.

Khanyam3

Mau108 wrote this The rears are easy as pie (swapped mine to leds and looks very sexy )

Open the rear hatch, theres a panel in the middle with a small notch at the edges (look carefuly) where you can put in a flat head and wedge it open. Give it a few wedgys (I dunno what to call it) till the panel comes out (it may take some effort but dont be scared to put some umph into it)...then you'll see the bulb holders, just turn it in a direction and pull it out (it may be tricky to get the bulbs out but its doable)

try it out....took me about 5-10 minutes to change the two bulbs.

I just pry mine open and now i'm just waiting on the led lights.

XIS

which ones did you use? I understand (I think) that one size fits and it is easy to determine which number bulb works for what application, but then you have to decide how many led's to choose from for each bulb...
You can get them with one, or two or four or five LEDs in one bulb... which one did you select?

Thanks!

Redevil

Haha, I didn't even see that bigger panel on the hatch. Thought it was referring to the smaller panel at the very bottom. I was able to change mine over finally! These pictures are with the lights and car a little dirty, but they are much brighter for sure.

Next is to change over the map light...anyone know how to pry those off?

Thanks

XLR8R

Most LEDs put out much less light than incandescents. They only appear brighter due to the higher color temperature. LEDs are also highly directional and less suited to auto applications where 360 degree light is needed.

Here's the statement on auto lighting from superbrightleds.com:

Maybe I'm peeing in the Cheerios, but it doesn't hurt to know what you're buying. Also check dcmodels excellent lighting research here: DIY - COMPLETE bulb part number guide w/ NOTES

Khanyam3

Redevil what led bulb did you buy? Did you get it from autoillumination?

Redevil

These are the bulbs I used. They are also on my Fozzy and are really great.
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...s/WLED-xHP.htm