LED Day Running Lights

[RJKflyer]

Try www.ultraleds.com or Enter

The technology moves quite quickly so you'll need to look for the latest (and brightest) versions. Usually the SMT type are best - make sure you opt for ones with as broad a dispersion as you can find

[WinnieB]

Hi, I like what you've done with this. Would it be possible to post -or email- a schematic including parts used?

Many thanks

WnnieB

[N E V E R ~ F O L L O W]

RJKflyer: Is this the resistor I get for the Daytime running lights? and what which wires to i connect. the daytime running lights are linked into the tiny small bulbs too.

do you know what kind of resistor or solution there is to the 2 license plate lights if they are LEDs?

Dude, you're awesome. Jonathan

615-0505
HS50 Al house wirewound resistor,24R 50W

http://http://uk.rs-online.com/web/s...37;#breadCrumb

[RJKflyer]

Hi All,

I have recently IMPROVED my set up. I have installed 60 SMT 'bulbs' from v-leds.com

Will post details in a minute... but here are the pix...

[RJKflyer]

I used 50W 24R for the DRL and 25W 68R for the sidelight bulb. All from rswww.com | Welcome to rswww.com. Example part number is indeed 615-0505 for the DRL resistor.

Many ask about the HEAT given off - especially as i have mine mounted INSIDE the headlight 'cap. 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. However, as they say, your mileage may vary - in the sense that if there are wide tolerances in the bulb-failure detection system, then the resistors just may not work for you.

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.

The DRL LED bulbs are from Welcome to V-LEDS.COM , their 60M-SMT bulb. Look under SMT types, white, 1156.

Wiring not scotch locked - wires soldered to connectors on lamp holder, and colour matched for neatness (well nearly - had to use black not brown for earth...). The DRL feed wire is YELLOW, the sidelight is BLUE. The common is BROWN, which you can use for both, assuming you're installing LED sidelights too.

[PAH]

Your car looks excellent - I am going to do this on my A4 S-Line Cabrio for sure! I have the standard xenons, so the DRLs look really yellow in comparison.

Now electronics are not my forte by any stretch of the imagination...but I am comfortable soldering etc. I will buy the parts as suggested from RS and VLeds, but I'd like to make sure I get the wiring absolutely correct.

Is it just a case of simply wiring a resistor (50W 24R for the DRLs and 25W 68R for the sidelights) across the terminals of the bulb holder, so effectively it is in parallel? Are any other modifications required (other than of course mounting the resistor somewhere)? I assume the 60M-SMT bulb just plugs into the existing element-bulb socket?

Any extra help would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers

Paul

[PAH]

Well, I've ordered all the parts, so I'll let you know how it goes!

[PAH]

Just out of interest, here are the links to the parts I bought:

SMT LED DRL Bulbs - eBay Motors: V-LEDS HID WHITE 60 M-SMT PARKING BACK-UP LIGHT BULBS (item 250275530851 end time Aug-02-08 23:51:41 PDT)

LED Side Lights - 194 WHITE REFRACTOR 5-LED WEDGE BULBS 194 168 147 158 on eBay, also Bulbs Lenses, Lights Lighting Accessories, Car Tuning Styling, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 02-Aug-08 11:25:10 BST)

LED DRL Resistors - WELWYN | WH50 24R JI | Resistors, Thermistors & Potentiometers | Components & Spares | CPC

LED Side Light Resistors - I couldn't get the 25W 68R resistors anywhere, so I went for 2 options, and will see if either work. Option 1 was the same as the DRL resistors (WELWYN | WH50 24R JI | Resistors, Thermistors & Potentiometers | Components & Spares | CPC) and option 2 was the closest I could get to RJKflyer's recommendation (WELWYN | WH25 47R JI | Resistors, Thermistors & Potentiometers | Components & Spares | CPC)

[PAH]

Still waiting for delivery of the DRL LEDs, but the rest of the kit arrived the other day.

Several notes to make:
1) It is not very easy to remove the existing bulbs, especially the sidelights. You need to give the wires a good tug to pull that one out!
2) The wires are not very long either, so everything is pretty tight!
3) DON'T buy the LED sidelights that I got, as they don't fit through the aperture in the existing light unit. I need to order some different ones.
4) If you buy from V-LEDs, you may need to give them a nudge to ship your order! I checked last night, and they still hadn't been shipped (after almost a week). I dropped them a note asking them when I could expect them, and soon received a note from the shipping company to say they were now on their way!

One thing I did notice was that, on connecting the LED sidelights (without resistor to test) that the light pulsed. Is this something that the resistor will supress? Hope so, otherwise I'll have pulsating lights, which may cause some problems!!

[RJKflyer]

PAH - my responses to your enquiries.

The 47R resistor you purchased will do the job in terms of suppressing the bulb failure, BUT i could not vouch for how hot it might get - it's a LOWER resistance to that i specified, and so it will get much hotter as it is essentially going to pass more current. Did you not try rswww.com | Welcome to rswww.com - they definitely have the right ones.

I mounted the resistors inside the plastic cap.

Re connections, yes the resistors go across the bulbs. You can in fact 'save' a wire as the brown is a common earth to both bulbs (in other words, you only need one brown wire from the common of both resistors back to one brown wire on one of the bulbs).

Does this answer your questions?