I've been looking to switch my ugly halogen DRLs to LEDs but there's so many out there... also since they act as High beam (which i find is useless next to the HIDs) i was thinking it might be important to select good ones.

I'm hoping without having to add any relays or complicated installation.

Any thoughts?

PS. I now have the base HIDs and white LED fogs from VLED


thanks!
MM

 

Correction - the DRL's on the 07 - 08 do not act as High Beams - the HID bulbs we have in our cars all years 04-08 the D2S are both low beam and high beam. The inner bulb for DRL's is only that, they are on while the low beams are off, and off when the low beams are on, when you flash the high beams are run the high beams its your D2S that is flashing....

I think Bruce (endlessrpm) sells a plug and play kit. otherwise you will need to a harness with resistors/decoder to help with eliminating the DRL light on your dash and getting full power to your LED bulbs, since their draw is less, they will appear dim and the ecu thinks there is a bulb out and you get the DRL light on the dash...

I am using the R3 Harness from iJDMtoy and LED bulbs from Diode Dynamics their XP80 LED bulb at 6000k cool white rated at 510 lumens...

 

got it, thanks man. Nice car btw

 

I would do this:

 

I have the iJDMtoy harness along with the same bulbs as kocyk except in 6000k. I also have the OEM projector lens mounted in front of the DRL which gives it a nice, diffused look.

DSC03850 by KJ TL-S, on Flickr

 

appreciate it

 

U had to get a extra pair of projector lenses for your DRL?
Is there a DIY for that look.. ?

 

Didn't have to. But I was upgrading to ZKW lenses when JnC was doing my lights, and he had the idea to put the old lens in front of the DRLs. No idea how they're mounted to be honest with you. Has a cool quad projector look to it when they're off too.

DSC02124 by KJ TL-S, on Flickr

DSC02119 by KJ TL-S, on Flickr

DSC02133 by KJ TL-S, on Flickr

 

Yeah that is sick man...im new to the forums and JnC is a vendor too (did some research and saw his name on AZ) about a post with zkw projectors too

Well anyways how much did all that cost with labor? The post about the projectors were back in 2008

 

I don't recall exactly. In all it wasn't cheap since I had to pay him for the real ZKWs and the Osram CBIs that he had sourced for me. I think those things were maybe $125 and $175, labor maybe $175, and swap cost $25 if I recall, so I bet I'm all in maybe $500 for them, or more if I'm wrong on what the labor was. That doesn't include the DRLs of course, but those bulbs were only about $50 plus the harness.

Not cheap, but JnC really does some spectacular work. 3 years later and I still love these headlights.

 

Awesome, loving the double projectors.

 

Like the others, I use the iJDMtoy R3 harness with led bulbs from DDM Tuning. No issues.



Maybe not the greatest picture but the only one I've got on the phone right now

 

Good stuff guys, thanks for the recommendations. They all look very nice.
However i was looking for something a bit less expensive.... the harness is 60$, the bulbs are 60$, convert that to CAD i'm above $160 easy...

Isnt there some kind of less expensive bulbs with an integrated resistor/capacitor (instead of the harness) that would do the job?

 

iJDMtoy's harness came out to $30cdn shipped to Blaine. Amazon sells their stuff too. You can find cheaper bulbs from ebay or aliexpress for $10cdn/pair.

 

try looking to Bruce/EndlessRPM I think he sells a plug and play DRL Led set up, not sure how, but something to consider...

 

Thanks, i checked and he sells them with harness ($70).

Now i'm interested in his Switchbacks... not sure if its the blinkers... i'll need to research that. So many things to do!

 

yes the switchbacks are the blinkers

 

6 years later...is the harness the only way to put in LEDs to work bright enough and not flash as DRLs? Particular phrase to search on amazon? Also would the regular 9005 bulbs (3.2 Base TL) not blind others, and should I look for lower lumen rating 7k as opposed to 10k?

 

Yes. Or modify car's wiring like I did.




Also, color temperature, in K, is just that. 7k will be slightly blue, while 10k will be blue.

Lumens are measurement of brightness and rating on basically all of the bulbs doesn't matter. They just put anything. That's why you can buy AA powered 10000000 lumen flash lights on ebay.

 

What peter said! Very often, people confuse color temperature (measured in Kelvin) with luminosity (measured in lumens). You can thank shitty eBay/Amazon marketing for conflating the two terms. the higehr the Kelvin, the lower usable light due to your eye seeing the warmer temps better. Don't be a crappy ricer with 12000 K purple lights, stick to something in the 5000-7000K range to stay truest to white. The warmer it is, the more effective it is in fog as well.

 

Sorry, i should have clarified. Looking at 6-7000K for the bulb color (no problem, plenty of choices), but wanted something with lesser Lumens (7000LM or so). But as you pointed out, Lumens are probably numbers pulled out of their @$$.

Trouble finding the harness still, for a reasonable price. Also, 2004-2006 owners, what exactly happens when you just put in the LED DRL? Flashing, 1/2 lit, not on at all? Or does this also vary between bulbs?

 

You've got Canadian TL right? Like you wrote, depends on the bulb. Overall, the "smarter" it is (or rather the power supply / driver inside the bulb) the worse or less predictable it will behave. Very simple linear current regulator might even work without any harness but I wouldn't trust it.

If you're looking for LED with less power buy one without external radiator and/or fan. I have couple in my fogs - for looks only, so didn't want them to be too bright.

Maybe something like

The ones I got are no longer available so can't recommend anything. Get ones with free return so you're not risking anything.
While at it, let me say that color rating is also bad. I have 6000k switchbacks and 6000k fogs and they have more of the difference between them that I would like.

If all fails you can create your own wiring harness. No idea if it will be cheaper, but some male and female plugs, some wire, and at least 2 1k or 10k resistors and you can get something like I did with my car.

 

Is it easy to install? I have tried a few of them on eBay but nothing works for me. Your car light looks fantastic