LED DRLs - latest improvements

[P_G]

I haven't either but by the looks of things we'll have two people there who have fitted them in Jim and Andy?

Will order parts next week.

[klauster]

if you can order we the bits too, ill settle up with on the day

[Marcus-RS4]

Problem is, how are you going to plug in the soldering iron at the RR day? Its best to do it properly rather than with scotch locks?

[klauster]

ah

[bn8959]

I can bring gas soldering iron

[Marcus-RS4]

Sold!

[seventeenAPG]

Have to say I'm delighted with the way it looks now. Big improvement. Even the missus noticed the difference and believe me that is saying something!
The credit goes to the guinea pigs who went first though! rjkflyer in particular. Cheers Your resistor values do indeed work with regards fooling the lamp failure monitor and theres not too much heat at all. You can easily keep your finger on them so no danger of melting anything! Also glued the resistors to the covers.

Its the same type of bulb from the drls that goes in the rear cluster for indicators etc. Tried it very quickly as it was getting dark tonight. Looks pretty cool but not so easy to do the resistors. Gonna take the lining away from the boot tomorrow to see if there's enough space. Very difficult to show the effect properly but the LED binary on-off rather than dimming and lighting as per the filaments looks much better (just like my old m3!). LED lamp is in the cluster on the right shown below.

And, before anyone asks, yes it is the same car! just the front is nice and clean for the first pics!!

Just for reference, also a pic of the front in the twilight.

I know this is an old thread but was wondering if you got the rear indicators to work. I have just done the Drls and would love to change the flashers as well. I did try one of the drl leds (no resisitor) and the indicator just flashed really quickly like there wqs a bulb out. Might it be the case that a new under dash flasher unit is needed for both regular indicators and hazard warning system?

[MB2]

There is NO issue with heat from resistors if you size them correctly.

The mistake people make is assuming that the resistors need to take the full equivalent current of the existing 21W bulb (which in fact runs derated anyway). I conducted extensive experiments to see how high a value i could use which still kept the bulb failure detector happy.

I used 50W 24R for the DRL and 25W 68R for the sidelight bulb. It was testing them that showed they don't give off so much heat that it would be a problem, hence installing inside the headlight on the cap thus avoiding sealing and untidyness issues. The heat dissipation for the DRL resistor is hence ca. 8 watts, and for the sidelight ca. 3 watts (at worst case 14V). Not exactly high, and more importantly, in each case less than HALF the recommended dissipation for the resistor without any heatsink.


Also, remember that for the most part there is airflow albeit limited when you are moving.

The DRL LED bulbs are from http://www.v-leds.com , their 60M-SMT bulb.

Wiring not scotch locked - cos if ARSEY thinks LEDs are chav, then even worse is using SLs on a car like this - wires soldered to connectors on lamp holder, and colour matched.

Great post & saves me experimenting with resistor values etc. & also shows a neat way to manage wiring as have just got hold of some DRL LEDs will want to implement shortly so thanks. One question - could the large resistor not do double duty for both the DRLs & the side-lights as only one or the other will be on in use so is only to pass the autocheck on start up ?

[DazN]

I used the same resistors in the caps and they generated a LOT of heat, I had to relocate them elsewhere with extended wires!

[MB2]

Thanks - did they melt anything or did you just feel uncomfortable with the heat build up ?

[RIV]

I got led converters from eBay, no heat issues whatsoever, the original resistors get way too hot!!!