LIGHTS!

[andycs3]

hey guys,

i've finally been told i can get my car back from the garage so i can start mucking about with it myself again.

One thing i've been thinking about for a while is the lights, coz quite frankly they're all shockingly bad

So im thinking an LED upgrade of the rear lights and front small ones.... and wondered if there was anything i could do with the pop ups?

Has anyone upgraded the lights on their cars? or seen any kits? or even any advice about doing it?

Cheers

andy

[Splashout]

I hvae often thought about building a set of HID lights into the pods but it has never got further than a thought.

I wouldnt have thought it was too hard though pick your lights build a pod for them mount within existing pod, was my thinking.

Also thought about trying to build an LED replacement for the rears.

[Tony K]

For the rears and indicators, you can probably find LED bulbs that fit into the original sockets.

For the pop-ups, I upgraded my light circuit to have the switches operate 20A (low beam) and 30A (high beam) relays and power the headlamps directly from the battery with 8 gauge (yes, eight -- it's a freaking cable!) wire. My optics are standard Cibie E-code with standard 55/65 wattage. This was a significant upgrade over the sealed beams it came with. Not sure what your cars have stock. The wiring alone was a huge help in brightness.

For an upgrade over that, check out the Cibie CSR optics. They are a huge improvement over regular E-code 5 3/4" units. CSR stands for complex surface reflector (something like that) -- basically, rather than a simple parabola, the reflectors are specially shaped to harness as much light as possible, like on modern (non projector) headlamps. They are expensive (about twice as much as regular Cibie optics), but AFAIK they are the best thing you can get that's a simple plug-in replacement.

I am a believer in improving lighting through efficiency first before adding more wattage. When you start to mess with 100w bulbs, you introduce new concerns, including more strain on the alternator, needing to upgrade wiring significantly, worries about melting the plastic or fiberglass, and the simple fact that a cold splash of water on a hot optic with a 100w bulb in it can very easily crack the lens.

Tony

[andycs3]

well looking at the LEW website... there does appear to be some useful tuition bits on upgrading bulbs.

Im not wanting to be able to see through walls with these lights... but being able to see the road would be helpful.

And a big thing that worries me, is my friends say when they follow me in the dark, they dont see my brake lights (and its not all the time coz its a lotus and i dont brake)

[peteyg]

I've put LED bulbs in the front and rear sidelights. They give the fronts a cool blue glow but theres little benefit as they don't make use of the reflective lenses like normal bulbs. The light from LED bulbs is a more direct beam so whilst they are brighter, you only get a dot of light rather than the whole lense being lit up.

You can always wire up the headlamps so all 4 are on dipped and main but you'll need a couple of extra relays to stop things like switches melting. I've always had the 4 lamps on and it's quite easy to see ahead without using main beam at all.

[andycs3]

How does one go about changing the relays? (so all four lights are on full beam)

and where did you buy the LED replacements? were they a straight swap or did you have to change anything?

[red vtec]

You can buy HID plug in kits a company called APS makes them.

[tb3033]

Hi,

I too have been pondering the LED upgrade.

There seems to be a good selection of LED replacements from a couple of sellers on Ebay. Most of these replacements have in addition to the main forward facing LED a number of tiers of LED at 90 deg to the main ones, presumably to illuminate the reflecting parts of the light housing.

Im just going to buy a few and see what they are like, if they are any good Ill post some pictures

Ambrose

[andycs3]

What am i looking for in a light upgrade?

what size/wattage/specification should i be searching for?

[obione]

I am following this one with interest, as when you only on dipped lights, in traffic, and its raining, it gets a bit scary...

[andydclements]

I've upgraded high beam to HIDs, and about to start the low beam, but as I need to go from reflectors to projectors in order to be legal it's not a straight swap (you tried finding legal 5 3/4 pojectors?(some are advertised on ebay etc, but aren't legal) . Anyway HIDs are fantastic, and my fornts were quite good by G Esprit standards, as I had all 4 brand new headlamp reflectors.

I cannot see any point in going to LED front side indicators, they're not for driving (police can procecute more easily if you do, because you admit it's dark enough to need lights yet you didn't put diped beam on).

LEDs are more directional. and for markers you don't want directional, you want a scatter beam so people can see them from any angle (oclusion of the car permitting).

Rear LEDs, again Im not enthused, yes in some line of sight they're brighter, but again, you want them tobe seen at other angles as well, especially snce our rear brake lights are so low.

If you haven't got new front headlight reflectors, try that as a first stage upgrade.

Andy

[andycs3]

well im definately not going to go crazy on the headlights.... im thinking new (slightly higher powered) bulbs, and cleaned up/new reflectors....

but as for brake lights and all the others... i still would really like LEDs.

surely the upgrades like _ambrose_ was talking about, with the directional LEDs to illuminate the reflector would be good?

modern cars have LED lights, and no problems

[jimmybondi]

With regular bulbs, they are facing the direction of the light emmission with the reflecting surfaces in the back, as they are omnidirectional.

LEDs have to face the other way round, towards the reflectors, due to their unidirectional nature, the reflectors will break the light beam into several directions...am I right?

[tb3033]

Did not know about all the legal hassles, I suppose eventually a company will have an LED drop in approved. Im still tempted to get a couple just to see what the look like....

Found something that the Stevens people would like +>

Ho Hum

Ambrose

[USAndretti42]

I would love that dash illumination in my car (without the strobe across the top). Would be so nice. Would be nice just to have the heater controls illuminated come to think of it. Makes me feel soooo lazy. Think I'll have a lie down now.

[lionelmac]

hey guys,

i've finally been told i can get my car back from the garage so i can start mucking about with it myself again.

One thing i've been thinking about for a while is the lights, coz quite frankly they're all shockingly bad

So im thinking an LED upgrade of the rear lights and front small ones.... and wondered if there was anything i could do with the pop ups?

Has anyone upgraded the lights on their cars? or seen any kits? or even any advice about doing it?

Cheers

andy

Hi Andycs3

I am about to try some IPF Super Low Beam H4 globe replacements - I have these on my other cars and the make a huge difference. They are expensive but the go straight in, no need to upgrade wiring or relays as the are low wattage but very high light output. Just for something to do I may also rewire the Hi onlys to come on with low beam.

B) .................xisab

[andycs3]

Ill be very interested to see the results

[nickruocco]

hey guys,

i've finally been told i can get my car back from the garage so i can start mucking about with it myself again.

One thing i've been thinking about for a while is the lights, coz quite frankly they're all shockingly bad

So im thinking an LED upgrade of the rear lights and front small ones.... and wondered if there was anything i could do with the pop ups?

Has anyone upgraded the lights on their cars? or seen any kits? or even any advice about doing it?

Cheers

andy

Hey Andy i know its been awhile since this post started, but I just started upgrading all of my lights to LED on my 94' S4.

tonight I replaced:

-running side lights

-rear brake lights (4)

-turn indicators

-reverse lights

-door lights

-interior ceiling lights

-number plate lights

-front and rear bonnet lights.

I bought a few extra colors for the interior lights and changed the main light inside to red to match the car color. Looks really neat when it is dark out. For the reading lights which I never turn on, I changed to black lights haha. Looks so crazy inside when i am driving around with a white shirt on. Could not get a good picture though....

For the turn indicator lights I have to change the "LED Flasher Unit" in the binnacle. With the low current draw of the LED turn indicators, they do not work with ALL turn indicator LED lights installed. Although with only the two rear turn indicators LED, the turn signal goes twice as fast indicating there is a bulb out...

I have not figured out the pin drop on the flasher unit yet but i plan to take off binnacle later tonight and try to match it to one of these: http://www.superbrightleds.com/flashers.htm

as for the reflector i have attached a picture of the brake lights fully on. in the picture the left is two red 24 LED 1157 brake lights from Superbrightleds.com and on the right are the original filament lights.

The LEDs do look a bit dimmer, but i think this is because i bought the red lights...might change them later on. I do also believe the reflectors do not spread the light as well as the filaments.

CORRECTION:

Which Color LEDs should I use ?

For best results the LED color should be the same as the lens color. As an example: a red lens will filter out all but the red portion of the light so if the light is all red, none or very little light will be blocked by the lens. The light from a White LED contains very little light in the red portion of the visible spectrum so most of the light would be filtered out by a red lens.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me, i will keep you updated with the turn indicator issue.

-Nick

Edited November 7, 2007 by nickruocco

[andycs3]

so just a quick check... those brake bulbs (LED) just dropped straight in without any modifications?

[nickruocco]

so just a quick check... those brake bulbs (LED) just dropped straight in without any modifications?

For my 1994 esprit s4 yes... they are typical 1157 dual contact bulbs. i bought them from superbrightleds.com here in the US.

Product number: 1157-x24

Someone has informed me that they are not as bright during the day...i have not checked this out let, but i will soon and let you know. don't want to risk getting rear ended...

if you want to change the turn indicators as well, you have to switch out the flasher in the dash..12 dollar part.

[andycs3]

ok so after much deliberation im going to order some LEDs

i would like to change the side lights front and rear to begin with, and im also going to change all the interior lights, using a guide on LEW.

But my question is this... which should i buy for the side lights?

im looking at buying from www.ultraleds.com but for some reason can't get a direct link to work.

Which bulbs would fit for front and rear side lights? is it the 239 bulbs for front?

also if i choose to fit LED indicators while im at it.... where is the flasher switch located that ill need to change?

[nickruocco]

Hey andy,

i just changed all my lights over to LED on my 94' S4, I believe they are the same running lights. I ordered from

superbrightleds.com they are in the US though...

here are the product numbers I used:

-Door lights 3610-x4 Red (2)

-Overhead 4211-x6 Cool white (1)

-Overhead 4211-x6 Red (1)

-Reading, running WLED-x6 White (8)

-Brake 1157-x24 Red (4)

-Reverse,front blinker 1156-x24 White (6)

-Fr/bonnet R/trunk 4410-x9 White (3)

-Electronic LED flasher CF13GL-02

-Big gauges 4-LED BA9s

-Small gauges 74-x LED Bulb

-Rear wing N/A

the electroninc flasher is located in the dash. kinda tricky to get off and on but it is a simple install. you just need to

un plug the original one and plug in the new one.

on ultraleds.com im pretty sure the 239's are all festoon bulbs that are not the correct replacement for the running lights. you should be looking at the 501's

the 239's are for the interior lights.

if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

-Nick

Edited February 3, 2008 by USAndretti42
Removed quote which was the previous post and so didn't need repeating

[andycs3]

501's dont look the right shape.....

The front running lights in my car resembled a resistor in looks and were 38mm in length

i haven't taken the rear of the car to bits yet... so im not sure what they look like.... oh i wish i would stop raining

edited to add: also if you're not all bored of this thread by now, how does one go about changing the relay so that both lights work when on full beam? i thought id attempt this while im doing it... might as well do all the light associated issues in one go

Edited December 3, 2007 by andycs3

[andycs3]

Dont like to drag up old threads but does anyone have a list of the types of bulbs used all around the car from the parts list? (for the S3 N/A)

cheers

[andycs3]

any idea if one of these would work with my car or not?

Relay