How to install LED kit in tail lights(finally got my project done)

[Leo2005]

First of all I would like to say that tail lights have bulbs 7440 and 7443 but 7443 will perfectly work on 7440. Back up lights have 921 bulbs.Start from unscrewing the bolt and help with screwdriver to popup the tail lightFor the turn signal you will need a Load equalizers that you can buy almost in any auto parts store. Otherwise you will have a fast turn signal like machine gun. Make sure the light is working because led bulb has + and - .For the brake light if you didn't buy the special led brake light for the scion tc then you have to modify a little bit the bulb because nissan is using the same wiring diagram as scion. From the picture below you can see that resistor goes to the positive wire. That wire will go on the tail light(not on the brake).After a small modification you should have something like that To make sure you are going to the right direction you can check the voltage in the socket and put some voltage on the bulb.For the back up light you have to pop up to small plastics under the back door Then you will find one screw inside of it and two screws on the side of the backup light. The back up assembly should come off as soon as you push all 3 screws. The reverse light does not require any modification. Just in case if you burn the fuse for the brake light the fuse is located under the panel from drivers side and for the tail light/instrumental panel fuse located under the hood next to ECM
Modified by Leo2005 at 8:31 PM 3/31/2008

[bill875]

This is great!!! I was just wondering about this. Thanks for posting

Can you provide more specific info on where to get these bulbs and what brand/part number they are? I looked for 7440 and 7443 LED bulb but I received a ton of results. If all of your parts work, I would like to duplicate your exact setup.

Also, will this void the mfr warranty?
Modified by bill875 at 8:33 AM 3/31/2008

[philipa_240sx]

For some reason MSN groups does not like external linking. All I see is broken image links. I edited your message and it looks you composed your post correctly so it's not a forum issue. If you right click and 'view image' you can see it just fine. Unfortunately I have no suggestions on how to fix it so everyone can see the images in your post.

[Thirakul]

can you send pics of how bright they are lit? and on you opinion, how bright are the led compare to the ordinary stock bulbs

1 being dimmest 5 being the same brightness 10 being really bright.

i have been wondering about the led bulbs as well and want to convert the taillight bulbs to led.

[PCY]

Either my computer has problems, or your pics don't show at all in this thread. All I get are a bunch of x's in the pics. What gives?

-Peter-

[Leo2005]

Bill. I was buying 7443 led from eBay with most amount of led on it.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...84720This is the one that I ordered from eBay.Thirakul. The brake lights are about the same so its 5 or 6. The reverse lights a lot brighter so its about 9 and turn signals are brighter 7. Phillipa. I'll change the hosting website for pictures. Thank you.

[Leo2005]

I changed the picture hosting so I hope everybody can see pictures now.

[bill875]

I am completely unfamiliar with what is located behind the taillight lenses so please bear with me. In the one picture there are two bulbs shown with what I assume is the load equalizer. Both bulbs have a different number of LED's. Can you tell me what the difference is and which purpose each bulb serves?

Do I need a load equalizer on both sides? Also, are these white LED's or Red?

Thanks

[Leo2005]

Load equalizer required 1 per turn signal. So if you planning to install 2 led turn signal in the back and 2 at the front you will need 4 load equalizers. You don't need load equalizer for other than turn signals. The led bulbs are white because the tail light has a red cover. I bought 2 different led bulbs with different amount led on it to see if the brightness will be different. The brightness is almost the same between these 2 types. But led by itself looks a little bit brighter and works faster.

[Leo2005]

Heres a short video so you can see the difference. http://video.google.com/videop...73348

[tikus]

Thanks for the video, look nice.

[NicolesRogue]

Heres a short video so you can see the difference. http://video.google.com/videop...73348

I think you need a video of how it looks at night, to see a significant difference. Let me know.

[phantom of the opera]

I know this will not be a popular opinion and subject to immediate dissing, but I think LED taillights at night are obnoxious. Their extreme brightness often causes me to look away. It is the opposite of what should be happening.

No they do not get my attention, they are an annoyance. I'm glad the Rogue does not have them, so people will not be looking away.

[peleke]

well, I bought some 9-led backup lights and installed them last night. These particular ones were not very bright. They had a bit of a blue tinge to them and the light was very directional. I'll see about getting some 12-led ones and see if they are any better.

[EddNog]

Thanks for the guide, Leo. I was wondering, did you find that the reverse lamp assembly was incredibly tight? How did you pop the plastic clip from behind? It looks like it needs to slide towards the centerline of the car, laterally, but the three bolts from the tail lamp come in directly, restricting the lamp from sliding sideways. I found that there was a lot of tension holding the lamp to the car, and peeking at it from the side it looked there was some sort of adhesive seal holding the lamp to the car. Did you run into this?

Thanks!

-Ed

[Leo2005]

Ok. Thats easy but you have to push it a little bit. Pop the small plastic piece that behind the tail light on a door. Then take off the screw 1 inside and 2 outside. Get a smaller nut so you can push the screws. Carefully push screws one by one on a side and then the one that inside. You will have to push hard later the screw the one that inside. That's all. Only 3 screws with small plastic and you don't have to slide anything.
Modified by Leo2005 at 8:11 PM 6/30/2008

[Leo2005]

[Pescakl1]

First of all I would like to say that tail lights have bulbs 7440 and 7443 but 7443 will perfectly work on 7440. Back up lights have 921 bulbs.

Question for all of you: How do you find the LED reference for the Rogue lights?

Is there a chart or something like that?

On the website selling LED lights, there are so many references, I don't see how to find the right one.Usually they write something like: "Common use: tail lights / etc..." and then for the cross references: "3156 = 3056, 3156, 3356, 3456 (3157 bulbs will work in all 3156 applications.)"

How to deal with it?

Since the tail lights are also the brake lights, two different intensities are needed to suit the Rogue. Which one can fit this purpose?For the turn lights, the halogen bulbs are W21W, what is the LED equivalent which will fit the plug and the lamp?

I am interested to change some halogen bulbs in LEDs but I don't know which ones order?Help please.

BTW: How much lower the electrical consumption is when switching to LEDs?

[Leo2005]

The way I found out light which bulbs are there just by taking them out. About electricity I don't because I don't really care about it. All I care about was delivering light faster and the brightness. After finding out about types of bulbs I started to search these bulbs on Google. Pretty much everything that I could find I posted here. For the tail lights you can use 7443 as for brake as well as for turn signals. You probably wont find 7440 led bulbs but if you will then you can use them on turn signals only. And order 921 for reverse lights. Anything else I can help you with?

[Pescakl1]

Euh... yes, sorry.

1) I searched on ebay and found 7443 LEDs from 12 to 36 LEDs bulb. How many have yours? Same question for the reverse lights?

2) Since the tail lights are also the stop lights, does it mean that I have to look for dual filament bulbs and not single (single only for the rear turn light)? Is there still a good difference between the two illuminations with the LEDs (tail light compare to stop light)?

3) Did you found the reference for the front turn lights? For the the halogen bulbs, they don't use the same (not even the same wattage)?

4) Is the installation difficult or do the LEDs bulbs fit perfectly?

5) For the turn lights, where did you attach the load equalizer or load resistor? Is it specific to the 7443 LEDs bulb or any will work fine?

I think I am done... for now Sorry to bother you with all that but there are so many references now, I don't know how to do.

[Pescakl1]

Ok, I selected a website which is quite well done and with some good general information so I can answer some of my own questions:

The reference of the LED bulbs is the same as the halogen bulbs (for the numbers). I only knew the 900x and Hxx series and did not know there are so many reference numbers for light bulbs (may be could they make generic ones in the future like for the high and low beams).So going on the sylvania website, you will find all the reference numbers you need:Front turn light= 1157As said rear turn light= 7440 and tail/stop light= 7443, Back up light= 921License plate= 168Glove box= 158Map light, Dome light and Trunk light are all = 3175

2) 7443 LEDs lights are dual filament bulbs.

3) 1157.

4) should fit as it is the same base.

[Pescakl1]

Load equalizer required 1 per turn signal. So if you planning to install 2 led turn signal in the back and 2 at the front you will need 4 load equalizers. You don't need load equalizer for other than turn signals. The led bulbs are white because the tail light has a red cover. I bought 2 different led bulbs with different amount led on it to see if the brightness will be different. The brightness is almost the same between these 2 types. But led by itself looks a little bit brighter and works faster.

Question about the load equalizers or load resistors:Now, some webcompanies sell flasher instead of the load resistors. From what I understood, instead of regulate the electrical flux at the end (close to the bulb), it regulates the flux at the source. Am I right on this?

This means we need only one flasher (less than 20$) instead of 4 load equalizers (one at each corner, about 40$ for the 4), and a little bit cleaner installation.

My question is do you know where to install the flasher in the Rogue?I have no clue, they say to find where the turning light sound come from

Still about the flashers, there are several ones: Does the "Japanese" one (one supposed to work for japanese cars) is the one for the Rogue?

Thanks for your help.

[Leo2005]

Sorry. Never heard of these before. From the second picture on a top you can see white equalizer installed in one inch from the bulb. I bought these from autozone which made specifically for led problems. The cost 2 for $9.95. I'm sure you can find probably cheaper on eBay but they have to be installed one per bulb which is gonna cost ~$20. I don't know about flashers that you talking about.

[Leo2005]

Right now I'm planning of integrating a board with whole bunch of led in tail light but before it I want to retrofit headlights with q45 lens. Will keep this topic updated if I change anything.

[Bacon]

looks great...

just ordred the led reverse and license plate bulbs... posting pics of them installed when i get them in...

[rjchoops]

If you put AMBER LEDs in for the turn signal bulbs, do you think that the amber color would show up through the red lens? Randy

[Pescakl1]

You are talking about the rear turn lights of course, right?

I am not an expert, but I will say that amber + red = darker red.I don't think you will see some amber coming out of the light, unfortunetaly (I don't understand why rear turning lights are allowed to be red, it is less obvious to see them, less safe on the road, anyway).

Most important, you will loose some illumination in the process (two filters instead of just one). Stick to the whiter (no filter on the bulb) light when the housing is already colored.

[Leo2005]

Well in this case I can recommend ta bake the tail light and take out the red filter. Now you can have any color for turn signal in your car.

[EddNog]

Well in this case I can recommend ta bake the tail light and take out the red filter. Now you can have any color for turn signal in your car.

The red face is the entire outer casing; you'll have to replace it with something or least seal in each section with something else.

-Ed

[Leo2005]

Edd. You can take it out pretty easy by splitting the tail light. I've done it a few times on my mitsubishi galant and audi a4. But you will need red bulbs for stop light and red or amber for turn signals. I used white led bulbs on my turn signals in the back and was pulled over once by a cop but judge dismissed it . Its not that hard and if you worry too much about that your tail light will fog after that you can seal it with silicone all around. That's all.