Hi guys,

I'm replacing my front turn signals with LED bulbs because the other bulbs I bought just aren't bright enough. T-Diddy pointed out these on eBay, so I bought them.

But now I have two questions... are my turn signals going to start flashing at a mile a minute now? Should I maybe buy rear flasher LEDs (red) and get this electronic LED flasher to replace the stock one in the car?

Does anyone know if we have a 2 pin or 3 pin flasher in the car?

What do you guys recommend? Please help. Thanks!

Rob

 

To make the LEDs blink at the right rate you're gonna need to put these in click here . I'm gonna be clearing the headlights and using LEDs so I've been doing some research. I just can't do anything until the spring. Let me know how those bulbs work out for you. LEDs don't flood light in the housing as good as regular bulbs, but since you painted the reflective part of the housing, the LEDs might be better.

 

Thanks T,

I will just go to an eletronics store and grab 6ohm resistors... don't wanna pay more than a few cents for that. That's awesome, thanks for the info!

 

If you buy some from a store, be sure to get te right wattage. It should probably get at least 25W to be safe.

 

Sounds good to me. Those are gonna be BIG.

 

Yeah the resistors are gonna draw about 14W when you apply the turn signal. I don't know what the price would be at a electronic store. It might be easier to buy the kit.

 

Unfortunately VLEDS already shipped my LEDs, so I'll go grab them locally. I doubt they will be more than 1$ each. It's a surplus electronics store.

 

You should be able to find something. Just mount the resistor somewhere that its not touching any wires or anything.

 

Thanks for the info guys. That answered my questions from my clearing headlights thread.

 

This forum is SOOO awesome, I love it!!!

 

zax,
I purchased the same led bulbs you posted. I was hoping they would be brighter than my previous 15-led bulbs. Unfortunately they are not. The 24-led bulb is the same size, they just have smaller led's to fit the same shape. Plus the 24-led jobs have a yellow band around the end, so they are not truly clear when off. I think either way you have the brightest led option. I used the RL-650 load resistors from Superbrightleds.com. You will need something similar. They get very hot, so get the right wattage. And make sure they are mounted to part of the chassis. I believe you need 50 watt. The relays weren't out yet. They may or may not fit. Can someone look into this? I really don't think you will gain anything by switching out the rear bulbs. The led's will just make the signals have a "hot" spot. Plus you will need resistor loads for them as well. For what it's worth, I have tried the silver incandecent bulbs, 15-led bulbs, and 24-led bulbs. Once you remove the yellow lense and clear bulb, it just isn't as bright. But damn does it look good without the yellow!

KBOM

 

KBOM,

Thanks for the info! I will definitely go out and grab those load resistors...

Just so I understand you correctly, the best result possible after I've cleared the lenses (as I've done) is to use the LEDs (15 or 24 is irrelevant) right?

 

zax,
It's really a judgement call. The silver incandecent bulbs are comparable and don't require wiring modification. But the led's are much cooler! If your going to be in there anyways, go for it. Just do a good job when you tap into your stock harness. And I can't stress enough how important it is to get those resistors mounted to chassis. They need the sheetmetal as a heatsink. Trust me, they get hot!
So to put it simply.......... If I had to do it over again, I must say the silver bulbs work fine. But in the true sense of making it custom, led's are cooler. In the long run, say a year or two down the road, I may wish I had just let it be

KBOM

 

KBOM,

Where did you get your silver incandescents from? Cuz I somehow doubt they were as bad as mine. When my parking lights are on, you can BARELY tell that they are lit. And that's in the dark! When it's light out, you can't tell at all.

 

I want to say here: http://autolumination.com/7443_7440.htm

It was some time ago. You need the 7443 type.

 

Yup, those are the ones I got. They SUCK!!

Question for you.

The resistor only goes inline with the flasher part of things right? The parking light filament can stay as it is?

 

Zax,
you sure you want to go through all that trouble? KBOM says the light output isn't that great either. That's a lot of time to put into something that doesn't yield the end product you are seeking.

 

Well, I honestly think it can't POSSIBLY be worse than the crappy silver things I have now. I can barely tell they're on. I'm sure LEDs will be brighter...

And for me, wiring and electronics is a joke. I've done much more difficult things on my car.

 

zax,
You are correct about the load resistors. Right side connects in parellel between common (blk) and turn (wht). Left side connects to common (blk) and turn (red/blu). I ran out into the garage and did a little research. The relay is a definite "NO"! Not even close. I did a comparison between the silver and LED bulbs. No diff at all between the 15 and 24 LED. I would say there is maybe a 20% difference between the LED and silver. LED being slightly brighter (especially head on). I tried to take pictures......

Bulb Options-


LED-


Silver Bulb-


Like I said, very subjective. Hard to capture in a picture. Note that these were both taken with only the parking filament on. They do get brighter with the hazzards or turn signal on. Again, the LED's are much brighter head on.

Are LED's worth the effort........ You decide.

Hope that helps

KBOM

 

KBOM,

you ROCK for doing that. Thank you so much!! Wow, there really isn't much difference with the LEDs

Thing is, I already ordered the LEDs, so I guess I'll try it out. I don't understand why it isn't brighter than this.

If I was to put a slightly smaller resistance (5ohm still at 50watt) maybe the LEDs would be brighter? Or do they only depend on voltage (which is the same since they are in parallel). Then again, you have NO resistance going across the parking light "filament" so it's as bright as they will get. ARGH. I don't get it!! I thought LEDs were the answer to everything.

 

zax,
Seeing is believing

I guess the original design just can't be beat. A clear bulb in an enclosed reflector with an amber lense. If someone were to make a true clear lense that would replace the amber one, and use an amber incandecent bulb.... now that may be close. I'm affraid this is as good as it gets.

I have had numerous comments on how good the clear look is. And I like it myself (much more important). Well worth the agony of putting them in the oven...... My wife thought I had finally lost it!

So get those LED's in there and quit looking at it

KBOM

 

Yup, I agree. I'm gonna forget about it once the LEDs are in. :P

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

 

that maybe a stupid quesiton, but the 15LED is only white, which means it blinks white, right?

 

Mark,
I was always told "there is no such thing as a stupid question"

LED's are usually clear or white until you apply power. These glow amber when powered. The 24-LED version has a yellow band around them for some reason? If you want the toatally clear look you may want to go with the 15-LED type. Or get whatever color you like. Just watch out for the popo :shakehead

KBOM

 

Hey KBOM thanks for all the info and pics. I was hoping the 24 LEDs would of been brighter than the 15 LED ones, thats too bad. I think I will still go with LED bulbs after I clear the headlights.

 

Just go to a local autoparts store, that carries PIAA. Get the PIAA Mirror Orange bulbs. That's what I got. They are just as bright as the stock bulbs.

If you don't like PIAA, you can get StealthAuto bulbs.

I haven't run StealthAuto, but they claim to be the brightest silver bulb. My PIAAs are pretty bright. Even in direct sunlight, they are still very visible. At night it lights up everything in front of me amber.

 

Learn something everyday.

Why should I watch for popo? In MO, all I need is an amber blinking light, no reflector needed. Or is there another reason?

Thanks, Mark.

 

I think he meant watch for the popo if you get any color beside amber.

 

Dude, where were you a few days ago before I purchased my PIAA hyper wihites? I would have bought the stealthauto amber instead. Good info by the way.

 

So, looks like the PIAA's are a good option. Only problem I see with the StealthAuto bulbs is their site doesn't list 7443 as an option. The 7440 is only a single filament bulb.

KBOM

 

I noticed there are a lot of haters of the silver coated bulbs. I actuallyl found my silver coated bulbs to be brighter than the LED bulb I had in originally. (I removed it, because I couldn't find a good place to mount the huge resistor I needed to plug in to make my lights flash at a normal rate).

I haven't cleared the lenses on our TL yet, but here are pictures of how the PIAA Mirror Orange Bulbs look in my G35. As you can see, they are far from being dim.

Lights off:


Lights On:


Signal lights illuminating garage wall with all the flourescent lights on:


Signal lights illuminating entire garage with lights off:

 

Dear zax123, you better buy those with 50 watts ratings as ohm's law and safe circuit practice dictates.

Amps = Volts divided by Resistance Value

13.8 Volts / 6 Ohms = 2.3 Amps

Wattage = Volts X Amps.

13.8 Volts X 2.3 Amps = 31.74 Watts

While the 25 watts might work for a little while, it will burn out.

Rules of thumbs with resitor power dissipation factor is you do not want to use more then 50 to 60% of their actual Wattage rating for long term reliability.

While 50 Watts is tight for this application, flasher are intermittent use and the 50 Watts resistor shoud be able to last.

This is the reason why the guy on Ebay is selling the 50 Watts power ratings.

Also, do not install them near combustible material as they will get hot.

Best regards

frenchnew

 

Great info. Thanks.

I ordered the resistors and the amber 15 LEDs from e-bay. Hope for the best.

I am sure they will make the cleared headlights look even better.

 

avs007,
Good stuff. I will definately give the PIAA's a look if I have problems with the LED's. I actually like the look of the silvers......no little resistors to look at. LED's are so cool though

KBOM

 

Another thing to keep in mind with LEDs... The 50 watt resistor I had got really ****'n hot when on. I was worried I was going to start a fire, because:

1.) The resistor got so hot.
2.) The stock bulb is only 21 watts. A 50 watt resistor is double the load. Wasn't sure if the wiring could handle it safely for prolonged amounts of time.

I suppose I could've had a bad resistor or something, but it was so big I didn't know where to mount it safely. When I heard I needed a resister, I was thinking one of those tiny carbon film resistors or something. Not a honkin' wire-wound resistor.

 

Wow, I'm getting scared of these LEDs now... Can I safely TEST the LED setup without putting the resistor there or will something blow up? I just want to see how bright they are. I'm thinking I'll have to find the PIAAs somewhere though. Looks like they really are the answer. avs007, are the PIAAs you used 7443 or is the part number different in the G35? I think I should find the PIAAs and install those. The whole resistor thing is freaking me out now.

So, what happens if I DON'T put resistors in parallel? The signal lights will blink super fast? Can I eat least put them in there to see how fast they will be?

 

The light I got is 7440, because I replaced my headlights with the new 06' Coupe lights, which have Bi-xenon projectors. The front signal lights are no longer parking lights, so they aren't 7443 anymore. I'm sure PIAA makes a 7443 tho, they seem to have everything else.

You don't need to be freaked out by the resistor thing. You can connect the LEDs without resisters, just to test the brightness. They will just blink super fast, because that's what the car does, to tell you a bulb is burned out. It does that because the LEDs draw so little power, the ECU thinks the bulb is out. If you decide to get LED's, at least try to get ones that look like this: ,
because the ones that don't throw light in every direction will appear dim.

Now I haven't tinkered with the lights in the TL yet, so I don't know what the wiring looks like, but the G35's wiring harness is all neat and tucked, and very tight as far as extra space is concerned, so I couldn't find a good place to put the resistors. The fact that they got hot also put me off. (The fact that the resistors are shaped like big heat-sinks should tell you how hot they get)



Maybe I did something wrong or something, I don't know. I just assumed that since the resistors draw up to 50watts, that would equate to lots of heat, so I assumed that was normal.

I just went to a local auto-parts store, and ordered the PIAAs, because it was simpler, and hassle-free.

 

So I checked PIAA's site, and it looks like the Mirror Orange, only comes in 7440 and 1156.

Maybe you can check out Sylvania Silverstar Signal Bulbs. They are basically the samething, except when off they are irridescent blue, instead of silvery.

I was going to get these, but couldn't find anyone locally that stocked them in the "import" sizing. And ordering them would've taken several days.

I've never known Sylvania to make bad/dim bulbs, so they are probably pretty good, and probably come in every shape/size.

 

Sure you can plug them in without that 6 Ohms-50 Watts Resistor and you will not damage the LED or the wiring. The only thing is that the flash rate will be really fast.

As for mounting the resistor, the can be secured with metal screws to the body (At least the one picured on this forum) and it will help them to dissipate the heat and keep them cooler.

Best regards

frenchnew

 

Sure you can plug them in without that 6 Ohms-50 Watts Resistor and you will not damage the LED or the wiring. The only thing is that the flash rate will be really fast.

Positive. Will not damage wiring, because they draw so little current. Will not damage the LED, because the LED already has the necessary stuff on the circuit board to handle that. Besides, the resistor is wired in parellel to the LED, not serial.

However, the shop I bought my LEDs from, told me that for an unknown reason, they seem to burn out prematurely if you replace the bulbs that are used as DRLs, such as the many GM cars you see that use bright marker lights as DRLs. But that's a non-issue for the TL.

As for mounting the resistor, the can be secured with metal screws to the body (At least the one picured on this forum) and it will help them to dissipate the heat and keep them cooler.

That makes since, but that wasn't possible in the G35, because the way the headlights mount. Only thing nearby to screw it into, was the radiator, but I aint poking holes on that Hopefully you'll have better luck finding a clean mounting place for the resistor in the TL.