LED porn

[johnny_quattro]

I've just swapped my old 501 bulbs which had become quite heavily 'silvered'. No idea why but those bulbs always seem to become more dull over time. I'm sure there's a technical explanation for it.

I purchased some LED bulbs on eBay from fizzmo for my facelift Xenon headlight clusters to replace what we call the sidelights - push-fit small glass bulbs. The ones I purchased were marketed as error-free/Canbus as I didn't want the embarrassment of my headlight pods flickering away like a Halfords demo car.

Four LEDs pointing to the front, and two LEDs either side of the shoulder on the LED light PCB. It took all of one minute to swap them and most of that time was spent reversing the bulbs in their holders as neither of them worked when first fitted. LED lights like their polarity ;-)

I've attached a few pictures to show the marked improvement.

[M-A8]

Very nice mate, looks

BUT, you parked to the kerb so close I almost got heart attack, first thing I've noticed, I'm just very @nal about wheels damaged by kerbs

[ScottD3]

looks good.
Cant beat a bit of LED porn.

[johnny_quattro]

It lasted all of a couple of days before my car did indeed look like a Halfords demo vehicle! NSF bulb started flicking tonight so not best pleased. A good job then that I bought four of them as I like to have spares. I thought that the side mounted LEDs may have been the problem but it's actually two out of the four LEDs that are facing forwards that seem to be the problem.

Let's hope that's the last of it, or I'll be forced into the world of yellowness again. On the subject of wheels and kerbs, I am also incredibly @n@l about that sort of thing and spent ages parking. Hang out the door for the reversing part, and then window down and look ungainly straining my greens trying to hang out of the driver's window. Millimetre perfect. Glad you spotted it and apologies for any consternation caused.

[johnny_quattro]

Weird - lights now working OK so I suspect possible problems due to heat? I noticed that the side mounted LEDs seem to be covered by the surround where you push the light in so I may need to investigate purchasing differently shaped LED lights instead. I did see tower-shaped LEDs on my internet travels and ruled them out as I thought they'd stick out too far... but with the benefit of hindsight, I might have to investigate other options.

Following on from that, one of my front fogs went bang a while ago so I looked at LED replacements. I purchased some CREE LED bulbs/lights and plonked them in. Whilst not quite as bright as the filament H3 bulbs, it now seems to match the Xenons much better. I had to kludge it somewhat as the blade terminal was slightly thinner and I bent it slightly to get it to stay securely in the connector.

[M-A8]

Originally Posted by johnny_quattro

On the subject of wheels and kerbs, I am also incredibly @n@l about that sort of thing and spent ages parking. Hang out the door for the reversing part, and then window down and look ungainly straining my greens trying to hang out of the driver's window. Millimetre perfect. Glad you spotted it and apologies for any consternation caused.

I do same thing, like a 80 year old

I recommend them for sidelights, got them 2 years now
http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/501-w5w...bulbs-white-1/

You may need to stick resistors, but not sure if they are necessary on D2
http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/10w-res...-233-h6w-433c/

Fog lights
I've spend 100s of pounds testing all sort of halogen replacements from top brands all the way to the bottom and my conclusion is:
If you can get HOEN from US, its a good choice but very expensive, but the ones from the following link I have for 2 years now as well and they are seriously very very very close match to white LEDs, really close.

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/mtec-12...004-9005-9006/

I'm so confident you will love them that if you don't I will give you money back for them if you don't

You can still return cree leds and say they flicker or not working properly and you are not keen on installing any resistors etc or whatever, you've got 14days anyway

[johnny_quattro]

Just to confirm, my push in LED lights 501-style are no-name jobs from fizzmo which flick on/off on the NSF so I will replace that one. I noticed it flickering again but it doesn't do it straight away so I've come to the inevitable conclusion that it's either a duff LED job or heat build-up. Either way, it's getting replaced.

The foglights are CREE LEDs and work perfectly. Thanks for your helpful words of advice, as I'll definitely look into that HOEN option.

[M-A8]

Originally Posted by johnny_quattro

Just to confirm, my push in LED lights 501-style are no-name jobs from fizzmo which flick on/off on the NSF so I will replace that one. I noticed it flickering again but it doesn't do it straight away so I've come to the inevitable conclusion that it's either a duff LED job or heat build-up. Either way, it's getting replaced.

The foglights are CREE LEDs and work perfectly. Thanks for your helpful words of advice, as I'll definitely look into that HOEN option.

It's not the heat, they just must be crap.

Honestly, try MTEC for a fraction of a cost you get amazingly white halogen, really worth getting as you get the power and light output of a halogen bulb and color almost identical to white LED.
They do 100W option as well

HOENs are very good as well, the only difference is the price

[ScottD3]

You'd be surprised what heat does to the LEDs.

I've repaired a couple of flickering sidelights resoldering the resisters back on and they worked fine.
Its the resisters that generate the heat and causes issues.

I don't get the point of LED or high powered fog lights, surly that kills the point of fog lights?
Bright lights don't work well in fog, the light just bounces off the fog and you can't see anything.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by ScottB5

Bright lights don't work well in fog, the light just bounces off the fog and you can't see anything.

And it's colour-related too due to the way scattering of light by fog droplets works, which is why yellow fog lights are legal and usually work better.
LED fog lights would seem to be doubly useless.