LEDs in Front Sidelights

Slightly off topic.... But Seb.... I read your article on the sidelight LED's in the BMW Car Magazine.

Zitat von Noggie

Slightly off topic.... But Seb.... I read your article on the sidelight LED's in the BMW Car Magazine.

Lol, you say that but it's more on topic than the last few posts we've had! Glad to hear you read that, I had a couple of emails from people about the LEDs after that.

Still going strong Tony, and looking lovely. I've only ever had them on the 5W setting but they are still amazingly bright when compared to the standard filament bulbs. The Check Control warning continues to annoy slightly, but over the weekend I ran low on washer fluid AND one of my brake light bulbs went out so starting the car was akin to attending a bell ringing concert.

Zitat von Seb

Lol, you say that but it's more on topic than the last few posts we've had! Glad to hear you read that, I had a couple of emails from people about the LEDs after that.

Well, if there is anything regarding the 8 I'll read it.
Noticed the silver 8 in the article, and knowing the LED replacement had been frequently discussed in here I thought it might have been someone on this board.
Then I noticed the signature and knew it was you

Zitat von Noggie

Well, if there is anything regarding the 8 I'll read it.
Noticed the silver 8 in the article, and knowing the LED replacement had been frequently discussed in here I thought it might have been someone on this board.
Then I noticed the signature and knew it was you

Guilty as charged! I hope you read my reports every month...

Well, I dont buy this magazine regularly.
Picked it up in Frankfurt on my way to Qatar.
Needed something interresting to read.

Zitat von Noggie

Well, I dont buy this magazine regularly.

Zitat

Needed something interesting to read.

Hopefully it delivered on that front

Zitat von Seb

Hopefully it delivered on that front

Well I live in Noggie land... We dont have all the English magazines.
(might have to get a subscription)

Yes you delivered..... I had allmost given up on finding anything about the e31, and there you where, saving the day.....

Wil satart looking for this mag when I get to the various airport hub's around Europe (usually Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Frankfurt)

Decided to resurrect this thread... I have LEDs in my front sidelights (aka marker/parking lights to those across the pond) but would like to replace them with some better (read brighter and whiter) ones.

Did we come to a conclusion about which LED assemblies produce the best spread and quality of light, without requiring significant housing mods to fit? I have trimmed a little off the bulb holders to allow space for my current LED bulbs to fit, and it doesn't affect operation or sealing in any way, so I'd rather not have to make further mods.

Thanks

Mine are still going strong and look damn good - so much brighter and nicer than the horrible standard yellow bulbs. Paul, you said you've already got LEDs but you didn't say which ones you're running.

Cheers Tony, I'll give those a shot I already have the resistors so should be plug and play.

Seb, I don't remember which type of bulb I have, but they don't look anywhere near as good as those posted above. I would like these bulbs to be bright enough that I don't need to use the pop-up lights unless it's actually dark or torrential rain, as I think the car looks much better with them down. At the moment my LEDs aren't that great, so I usually end up switching to dipped beam in all but the slightest rain, and at dawn and dusk.

I've got the same bulbs as Tony and I've only ever had them on the 5W setting and I think they are excellent. Well worth the £12 entry fee to the LED club.

Zitat von TallTony;50737

Ahhh, not seen this thread for a while

These are the ones I've got in mine....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/45-LED-W…1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Had them in at least 6 months and no issues. With this latest set I haven't wired up to the 22W tabs to give the super bright setting - in previous attempts to do that the bulbs would burn out after a month or so - banks of LEDs would flicker before dying which was all rather embarrassing

Simply twist in and away you go (though you'll still need resistors to fool the OBC). They give a lovely spread of white light due to most of the LEDs being on the side of the cluster, and hence using the reflectors in the lamp housing. Bit of a pity that you can't have them on the 22W setting ALL the time, but they are still pretty bright.

When the nights draw in again this winter I'll be looking at making some bespoke custom clusters but for now I can live with these bulbs - they certainly match the 6000K HID Main Beams perfectly.

Alles anzeigen

Closet LED lurker coming out here!

Am I right in thinking its a straight swap
(plus resistor to fool OBC)
Seems too good to be true.

Looking forward to changing those nasty yellow side lights

Yes, straight swap plus the resistor, though I'm surviving without those.

Zitat von Seb;50780

Yes, straight swap plus the resistor, though I'm surviving without those.

Really? all those bongs would drive me nuts

Cheers guys, ordered a pair last night. Can't lose at that price!

Job38, yes they are a straight swap with the addition of a resistor in parallel on each side. The resistor needs to consume the same power as the original bulb, which is 5W. So V^2/P is 144/5=28.8 ohms. You won't get a resistor in this exact value, so go for the next value up (probably 33 ohms) and you'll be fine. Make sure it can handle over 5 Watts of power dissipation, personally I'd go for 10W resistors to be safe, and make sure they're well vented to dissipate the heat.

Tony, I'm not convinced on LED interior lights. I had tried them in the doors (puddle lights), main interior light (not map lights) and the rear pillar lights. I felt that the colour is too white, great for outside the car but it made the inside look very cold. I actually prefer the yellow tint of filament bulbs inside, as they appear warmer. So for now I'm going to stick with filaments inside, LEDs outside

Zitat von wayneblackwell1000;50781

Really? all those bongs would drive me nuts

I'm starting to become oblivious to them, being that for the last few months my OBC has been warning of R/FOG LIGHT FAIL about 80% of the time I use the car. Both are working perfectly, not a hint of wiring trouble causing dimming (I recently repaired a broken wire in the bootlid loom) and they've been replaced with original BMW bulbs to no avail.

I'm determined to fix it at some point, but I suspect it's going to involve re-running the cables, possibly all the way back to the LKM . The annoying thing is that I couldn't care less for rear fog lights, this is one area where the US definitely has the right idea in doing without them, complete waste of time IMO and actually verging on dangerous seeing as they mask the brake lights.