LED's and the RX8
 

I've read over a lot of the posts here about LED's, but I'm still unsure of what to use. First I'm going to get LED's for all the exterior lights in the future.

Brake Lights
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...FV/32481/sret/

Turn Signals
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...FV/32481/sret/

Reverse Lights
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...FV/32481/sret/

Front Parking Lights
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...FV/32481/sret/

Front Side Markers
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...FV/32481/sret/

License Plate
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...FV/32481/sret/

Turn Signal Load Resistors
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...FV/32481/sret/

These are what I want to get, but I also need to get load resistors for the other LED's also to protect them from voltage spikes, should I use them on the brake lights/reverse lights? I know the parking lights and side markers, these are what I was looking to use http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...FV/32481/sret/
Will these work, and will they work for the 2watt high power LED's (allow them to work at full light capacity?).

I emailed v-leds but they were not much help...
-----Original Message-----
From: ely_ja@yahoo.com [mailto:ely_ja@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 9:34 PM
To: sales@v-leds.com
Subject: Product Question


The submitted form fields are:

cmd: emailform

selSubject: General Product Question

Message: LED BULB OUT WARNING FIX 25 OHM LOAD RESISTOR KIT

Will this work for protecting the LED bulbs from voltage spikes? Will
they work for high power output LED's without dimming them? Should I use
them on the brake light LED's? I'm replacing all bulb's in my Mazda RX8
that are filament bulbs to LED's and if I don't protect them they will burn
out pretty quick from what others are saying.

Thanks for help =)
-------------------------------------------
I don't think it is necessary to install resistors for voltage spikes, I
don't think you will have an issue with our bulbs. Others may not be
designed as well. We have had many RX8 owners install our products with no
issues. The only time you should install a load resistor is to create load
on the circuit for the blinkers to work at a normal rate in the case you
cannot install an electronic flasher. The load resistors have no effect on
the output of the LEDs.

Thank you,

Jake York
Velocity Distributing Inc.

what the representative said about load resistors on the blinkers was completely true. As long as the other LEDs you are planning on installing are the same bulb code, you should not have a problem with brightness or dimming. But, you should not need to install load resistors on anything except for the turn signals.

As far as your selections for the parking and side markers, looks completely fine. I have been using VLEDs for a while and they continue to sell quality products. The SMTs are awesome...hope this answers some or part of your question.

Personally, I don't use LEDs for my brake or signal lights because the 7440/3's just aren't as bright as an incandescent bulb. If you are going to use LEDs for brake and signal, I recomend getting the brightest they have. You've got the right one for the brake/tail lights (don't forget you'll need an extra for the 3rd brake light. I would use the same style bulb for the signal lights and reverse:

Signal
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481

Reverse
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481
or
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481
(that second link for the reverse light uses .5 watt LEDs and may be as bright as an incandescent. Too bad they don't have the .5 watt LEDs in amber and red.

For the license plate light, you only need a SMT that fires down, that bulb you've chosen will be wasting a lot of light to the side. I'd recommend the same bulb you have for the parking light, or this if you don't want to go quite so bright:
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481

You will need the load resistors for the signal lights. I use resistors on all my LEDs to protect them. Not the load resistors that V-LED sells, but just a small 1 watt, 10 ohm resistor from Radio Shack soldered in myself (works fine with the 2 watt parking light bulbs). I had several V-LED bulbs burn out before I started running resistors, not one since.

Oh, and don't forget fog lights!
http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/e...s/ledfog02.jpg

Yeah I have read through that post and several others, but I'm still unsure of what to use resistor wise and if I need them on the taillights also.

This is a Quote by Aipex8
--------------------------------
I've heard nothing but good things about Apexcone, I guess a lot of BMW guys use them too.

Your LEDs are most likely burning out because of voltage spikes, not heat. HID bulbs burn cooler than halogen and are pretty far from either the parking or corner lights. Adding a resistor will probably solve your problem. I know next to nothing about electronics, so I don't know if what I've done is technically correct, but it seems to have worked since I haven't had an LED burn out since implementing it. First, go to:

http://autolumination.com/equalizers.htm

Scroll down until you see "LED protector". That is what I started out with. If you look at the installation diagram, it shows you how to install the "protector" on the ground wire. This has changed on their site, it used to instruct you to install it on the possitive wire (which I did). At the time I was running pretty wimpy LEDs and it worked fine. The problem was when I upgraded to higher powered LEDs they wouldn't light up all the way... too much resistance. Maybe this is why they switched their instructions, but it seems to me you'd want the resistor on the possitive wire to protect against spikes, but I could be totally off here, like I said I know nothing about electronics.

Anyway, I fixed the problem by making my own "protector". Autolumination's is just a 1 watt, 100 ohm resistor soldered to wire on either side with a little shrink tubing and some wire taps. I basically just made my own with 1 watt, 10 ohm resistors instead. I've done this for parking, corner and my rear plate light . I'm still running the resistor on the positive wire. Still haven't had a burn out.

Any electronic gurus here care to explain which makes more sense... resistor on the positive or ground wire?

EDIT: Was just talking with Rotary Rasp via PM and he said that it makes no difference which wire the resistor is on, it works exactly the same. He also said that a resistor will offer very little protection against a voltage spike. They have solved the burn out problem for me, so maybe it was just very small fluctuations in voltage that were causing the burn outs. Small enough that the resistor actually did help. I don't know. They are cheap so it's worth a try if you are having burn out issues.
--------------------------------

He is using 10ohm 1 watt resistors, but will they work for the Front parking lights im using which are 2 watt, I would assume I would need a 2 watt resistor, I can't remember my small electronics stuff, so I may just need to buy a book on this stuff. Also from what rotory rasp said they offer no protection really, so i'm a bit confused if I really need these or not.

Yes, I have the 2 watt LEDs in my parking lights and the 2 watt flanks in my corners and those resistors allow them to run at full brightness.

Oh, I would use them on the tail lights also. The nicer LEDs are too expensive to take the chance for me.

Thanks Aipex8. I was looking at the turn signal and reverse LED bulbs that I chose because of price, since they are not on constantly I did not think their would be much problem, but if the brake light LED I picked is not as bright as the filament then the cheaper ones are gonna be really Dim. I may just have to shell out the extra cash for those and just go with the white/amber combo up front for the turn signal with the added white as a bonus.

Ill go to radio shack and pick up the resistors/wire, any suggestions on what to use as a connector to tap the lines that will last? I may just solder but I am no professional at it.

Also, do you use resistor protection for your interior LED"s also?

Our car doesn't use the front turn signals as parking lights also, so the dual color bulbs will do nothing, only the amber LEDs will light. Just go with the full amber LEDs for front as well.

As for the resistors, you'll probably need to do a little soldering. If you own an iron then it shouldn't be a big deal. To tell you the truth, these were the first things I ever soldered so a noob can handle it.

Take the resistor:
http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/produ...160203w345.jpg

Snip both ends so they are about 1/4". Take two pieces of wire about 3" and solder a piece to either end of the resistor. Put a piece of shrink wrap around it. Now you've got something that looks like the following, except without the blue wire taps.
http://superlumination.com/images/au...otector_wm.jpg

Now cut the power wire running to the bulb. You can use wire taps if you like, but I use insulated blade connectors. Make sure that you use a male and a female on each resistor, that way if you ever want to go back to an incandescent bulb you can easily remove the resistor and just reconnect the two ends of the original wire.
http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/produ...266750w345.jpg

Great info for those looking to get LEDs. I've been thinking about it but was way to lazy to figure out all the bulb codes.

I'm bookmarking this thread

Yeah I also like the way they look.

These are the LED bulbs I use:

Tail/brake lights: http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481
These are bright enough for this application. They fill the reflector very well.

Turn signals: http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481
These are also bright, but a bit less than filament bulbs. Still, they work just fine even in daylight - certainly much better than any other amber LED bulb I've seen before.

Reverse lights: http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481

As for the third brake light, I still have the original filament bulb. I'll probably swap it for a LED bulb, or may be looking at that new LED brake light that is being talked about here: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-exterior-appearance-body-kits-27/new-led-brake-light-pictures-included-161767/#post2751356
Two things to consider if you're going to use a LED bulb as the third brake light:
- First, be careful with the bulb size and the direction of the LEDs as the space may not accomodate taller bulbs and also, it is more important to have straight firing LEDs than side firing ones since the reflector / housing is set up differently than in case of the tail lights.
- Second: you will have to use a load resistor with it because if you swap all the brake lights to LEDs, you'll have the ABS light illuminated. Keeping the filament bulb in the third brake light prevents that.

Do the LED's light up instantly like the Cadillacs and BMW's? Or is it just a different looking type of light..?

So sounds like those LED brake lights are as bright as the stock filaments?

Ok, for the High beams and fog lights I was looking at the xenon plasma 5800k superwhites. They are at http://autolumination.com/headlights.htm and only about a 1/4 way down the page at 13.99 a pair. Do you think those will match the LED's close enough, or should the 8500k's be better?

They are LEDs... so yes, they will.

Almost... the filaments are a little brighter, but these are really bright enough. Not too much difference.

Personally, I'd stay away from autolumination... don't get fooled by their cheaper prices. The old saying holds true... you get what you pay for. Rather shell out a bit more and get better bulbs.

This was the company I used for a long time for my LED needs. They were very inexpensive and had a huge selection. http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index.p...41a4328607546d , unfortunately they have gone out of business though.... You can still call them and see what they have left in stock.

Cool thanks. May try them out. Wish Mazda had put LED lights in our car from the start.

Autoilumnation. Was not impressed.

I will try them

Almost sticky worthy for the Exterior mods section.

what load resistor would work in this case?

crazy how this would affect the abs light :eyetwitch

Thought I'd chime in quickly... here's a quick back and forth I had about this:

If I had to trust anyone with LED questions... ^^^^

^^Not sure if this was in response to my question, but if it is, it doesn't quite answer it. They are referring to the turn signals.

I want to know how many ohm resistor you need for the third brake light if you've swapped all brake lights for LEDs. Maybe a 25 ohm?

Thanks Wulf, I just realized you've responded to my same basic question I've posted in two separate threads. It would be nice not to have to put a load resistor in any of the brake lights, but I just dont want an abs light illuminated as Tamas says here, although I do trust Rasp's opinion.

Not sure why the ABS light would light up in the first place! I'm getting my LEDs once the snow is gone so I'll be able to test it then.

I'd PM Rasp and run it by him.

I may go all LED soon as well, and will let you know what happens Wulf.

I'm not sure... I'll just try to use what I used for the turn signals or something like that. I simply made my load resistors using wirewound resistors from Radio Shack.
One way that could work is to measure the resistance of the filament bulb in the third brake light because I know that with that in, I have no problem with the ABS light and my other lights are all LEDs.

I agree... it's pretty stupid actually. The only way I knew it must be the LED bulbs is that the ABS light appeared right after I swapped my third brake light to LED, so it was easy to figure that the last change is the culprit.

interesting thread....im book marking this!!!

Hello I went to install CREE leds on my car today. The reverse and brake(using a halo ring for tails)work great, but im a little stumped on the turn signals.

I did the rear ones first. I first got the quick flash like they were burnt out. I added a 8ohm 20w resistor to each and all was good.

I then went to the front passanger and swapped it out. I was back to the quick flash. I then added a resistor and still the quick flash. Is the second resistor not big enough or could there be another problem?

No need to use load resistors for LEDs
 

Team

For those interested, no need to use resistors if you modify the relay flasher unit.

Why? Because for anyone who has tried to change the front flashers you have a hard time adding resistors due to lack of space.


I have 2004 model Rx-8 and the flasher unit part number is F151-66-830. This flasher may exisit on new models too? I simply changed the capacitor C1 as shown in the pic below from 4.7 micro farads to 10 micro farads and the 'fast flash' you get without the load resistors was fixed :) It slows down to normal speed.

You can get the capacitor from Jaycar for 40 cents and have any compentent electronics dude replace the capacitor for you.

For those of you who cannot find the flasher unit - it is under the driver's side near behind the dash near the bonnet release. You need a philips screwdriver to remove the bracket holding it. Its a bit fiddly so get a few cushions to support your back as your head gets under the dash :)

Enjoy

Martin

http://www.breathingmonitor.com/rx8.jpg

Martin, what LEDs did you have installed? Was it just the turning signals?

I installed LED turn signals (rear only so far), side lights and LED Parking lights before I found this thread. I've been burning out side lights and parking lights so I'm kicking myself for not doing more research before I did the swap.

I'm curious if the capacitor swap just fixes the blinking rate, or if it solves the burnout issue that other owners are solving with the load-resistor set on the blinkers, and 10ohm 1Watt resistors on the remaining lights.

I'm was just about to place an order for load resistors from RotaryFX; now I'm wondering if I can save the money by swapping that capacitor - Mostly I'd like to just stop burning out LEDs though, because it's starting to get expensive to replace them.

How often are you burning out LEDs? I don't have the resistor fix in yet, haven't had the chance too, and I haven't replaced any of my LED's and nearly every bulb on my car is LED now...

To date, I haven't tried the capacitor swap, the resistor patch or the load resistors in-line with the blinkers... I just bought some LEDs and swapped them for the regular bulbs (to the cries of "You Fool!" from the forum).

I started going LEDs about 2 years ago, and so far I'm on my 3rd set of parking light LEDs and my 2nd or 3rd set of front side markers... And I only put about 5k miles a year on the car. The most recent burnout on the right front sidemarker actually melted the LED bulb and left crud on the connectors in the lamp socket.

I've had the rear blinkers in for almost a year with no issues other than the rapid blinking, and possibly the power surge that melted the side markers.

I just installed the rear reverse lights and brake lights yesterday, but the car's nose is still off while I wait for a parking light LED to come in... and then I can go get an Inspection Sticker and go for a damn drive for the first time in like 3 weeks. I also replaced the mounting bracket for the ignition coils, so what started as "Let's take the nose off and change some bulbs" quickly became "While we're here, let's fix that too and see if that loose coil will finally stop throwing CELs about misfires", which of course really means "Let's look at the car collect fall foliage in the engine bay while we wait for parts to ship".

I just ordered 6 "LED Protectors" from AutoIllumination (LED Flashers Blinkers Resistors Load Equalizers for Turn Signal Replacement Bulbs Rapid Flashing Fix - halfway down the page, $1.99 each)... Which I could've made myself thanks to the DIYs left here by other members, but I just didn't want to waste the time picking up the parts.

I also ordered the "Turn Signal Bulb Load Resistor" from RotaryFX (Turn-Signal Bulb Load Resistor Set (Set of 2)), which I hope will help - Their page doesn't list the ohm/watts and I've seen 2 different diagrams as DIYs, both calling for different resistance.

Very soon the only rear bulb that won't be LED is the 3rd break light (so I don't need to add another resistor), and the only nonLED in the front will be the high beams. The blinkers will have their special resistors, and everything else will have the little surge protectors.

And it will all work, and I'll drive Happily Ever After.

Instead of load resistors, or capacitor modding the stock flasher, or resistor modding the stock flasher, or adding "LED protectors" (what are these ?? diodes ?? resistors)... isn't the best way to prevent hyperblink for LED signals nowadays to just replace the flasher with LED compatible one? Also seen on the autolumination page.. you can get a plug and play LED flasher that takes care of the issue.

Thanks for the info, would be helpful to LED conversions.

(As a new member with only three posts, and all about the same product, you risk being labelled a 'spammer'. Three is probably enough.....)

.

For anyone not clear about why you need resistors on tail lights with LEDs to prevent the ABS light(and wondering why the light would come on) it is because it is there to warn you if your brake lights have blown or if your brake switch has failed. Both would obviously reduce safety in heavy braking situations as you'd have no lights.

Leds do not present the same resistance through the circuit so the canbus system lights up the ABS light to warn you.

Many cars also do this with headlights etc and the blue highbeam light won't work for example.

You only need a total resistance equal to about 5w of power which at 12v is a 28ohm or SMALER number of ohms. 25 is about perfect if you only do one. For mine, a 47 ohm 10watt ceramic resistor is soldered across all 3 lights(one on each brake light). No problems at all and very little heat per resistor (and a 10w ceramic is not very big)

Oh and if anyone wonders, lots of lights in the RX8 don't even need to be canbus, the system only checks a couple of them. The vast majority can be normal leds and still not show an error.

Has anyone replaced the headlight bulbs with LEDs?