'04 M45 LED Fogs

[nmgoodthing]

Yea, I am pretty knowledgable about cars, even if I wasn't it is pretty much a no brainer. Bulb only goes in one way and wires only hook in one way.

Ha ha! Boon plugged the wrong wires in. LOL! Just kidding buddy.

[xxNite]

did you get your 8500K blue Halogens, yet? If so, do they come close to matching the HID light color?

I'm still awaiting my LED license plate bulbs. They are coming from Japan, so it may take a minute.

[Boon]

Didn't get them yet, expecting that they should be at the house tonight when I get home. I will be try to put them in tonight but not sure if I will be able to. If I do pics will be up tonight.

Does anyone know what kind of bulb goes in the clock? Mine burnt out last night. Very upsetting =(

[xxNite]

Hey! Me, too! My clock bulbs have been flaking-out over the last few weeks. I have to tap the clock like it and old Sony Trinitron to make the lights come on... I noticed one light would come on, then the other may or may not light, too....

But take a look at the following thread, Boon. It has all the information you need for replacing the clock lights.

zer...54023

[Boon]

Thank Nite. Maybe ill rig up one of these 1w H3 LED's that i have sitting in my garage to it hahaha.

[xxNite]

LOL.... Tooooo funny... with a 1W LED you'ld be lit-up with the clock shadow cast all over your interior!

I swear, as many times as I have taken apart interior panels in all of my cars, I just feel "weird" about pulling the M apart? Almost like it's something sacred...

I guess I'll have to get to it sometime soon though... I hate not being able to see the time at night.

You know what really ANNOYS ME about my M45?The radio and cruise control buttons on the steering wheel are NOT BACKLIT!?!?!?!? I guess Nissan assumed that once you know them by day, there is no need for you to see them by night?

Is it just me, or did they kinda skimp on backlighting certain key interior features? Here's my list:

1. Trunk release and gas door too damned close together and NOT BACKLIT2. Cruise & Radio controls on steering wheel NOT BACKLIT3. Heated/Air-Conditioned Seat fan level NOT BACKLIT4. FootWell, backseat, & Trunk interior Poorly lit.5. ALL 4 drivers-side window switches NOT BACKLIT, only the front two.6. NO LOOSE-CHANGE cradle anywhere in the car??? like you can feed the meter with dollars???

Whewwwww... I really let go on the M...

You Know I Luv her, but these things just murder me (having climbed out of a BMW 5-series, to get the M)

Pardon my rant...

[xxNite]

Installed the license plate LED bulbs and WOW they look darn good! This is a link to where I got them from:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2pcs-501-W...wItem

I was a little worried about fit at first, but had to try them cause they have 5 LEDS pointing in all directions. They fit and they look like this: http://rides.webshots.com/phot...lwhiE

http://rides.webshots.com/phot...pxcPr

http://rides.webshots.com/phot...QLGDh

definitely worth the $10

[Boon]

Looks good Nite.

I got my H3's on Thursday but had some friends in town all weekend so didn't get a chance to get them in. I will be installing these tonight and should have pictures up soon after. Hopefully they work better then the LED's.

[Boon]

So new ones are in. I am pretty much a pro at these now, took about 20 minutes for both from start to finish.

A definite improvement but still not what I was hoping for. Take a look.....

Before

After

Before

After

[nmgoodthing]

They look much better.

Unfortunetly the fogs will never match our OEM HID unless you convert them to HID.

I found Lumincs halogen were the closest thing the HID color but they are like 35 buck a pair.

[xxNite]

Dang... I was REALLY hoping that the 8500K rating on the fogs you ordered would do the trick... This is most annoying. Now i realize that we have been over this before, but do you think those crazy-long overpriced H3 LED fogs in the beginning of this thread will fit in the fog housing, Boon? They are way longer than a typical H3 bulb and I am worried about their fitting inside the housing. If you think they'll fit, I'll order them and install them, even though the light output will be very minimal. I just really want the color temperatures to match.

The very newest 5Watt LED's aren't yet available in an H3 format. plus I have a feeling you may run into that same resistor-load problem and they won't light (perhaps).

I gotta give something a try...

take a look at:http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Con...46237

let me know if they'll fit.

By the way, Boon. take a look at the load-resistors sold by V-LED's. they may be what is needed to make the 1W LED's you bought earlier to work in our fog application..

http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Con...num/3

Thanks,Nite
Modified by xxNite at 4:34 AM 4/2/2008

[Boon]

They might fit. Not sure exactly how deep the little housing reflector goes, might even be able to be removed. Even with the LED's I dont think they will give that blue tint that our HID's give, just a bright white. These ones are pretty much white and they do give a better view of the road then the factory fogs so they will work.

Let me know what you do Nite and keep us posted...

[xxNite]

Boon,The V-Led's are actually supposed to be a dead-on match for our HID temp color. (blue-white). You can see what the 1W LED's you ordered looked like on a lexus at the following link. It also explains why the 1Watt LED's didn't work in the M45:

"You may have to rewire your + and - wires so these work as they are polar sensitive. As you know a regular bulb is just a "short" so you wont have to change it back if you go back to a regular bulb".

http://clublexus.com/forums/sh...30766

in the picture, the Lexus guy has the 1W bulbs you ordered. the 1W LED color temperatures are icy-blue HID-like.

I think I am having one of those "ah haaa" moments!
Modified by xxNite at 9:54 AM 4/2/2008

[Boon]

Well he said those are with the 1W ones. I will swap polarity and try them out. If they work do you want them? I need functionality and those don't look like they do much in that department.

$10 shipped and they are all yours!

[xxNite]

aw man... you know i'm with it. give 'em a try reverse polarity. and i'll be glad to buy them from you and install them. let me know how things go & i'll paypal you.

[xxNite]

Well after finally getting an opportunity to install the 1watt LED H3 fogs that I got from Boon, I have found the following:

Hey Boon, they do work and light-up off-the correct factory wiring in my '04 M45!?!? I spent 30 minutes rigging up a few connectors to reverse the polarity in case that is what was troubling these fogs from lighting when you tried them. after that rigged connection didn't work, I put them back to the factory standard and bingo! they lit up.

The bad news is that the housing isn't designed for a forward firing light source at ALL. when these LED lights were fully installed in the housing, the matte gray housing interior shield just forward of the point of insertion completely swallows-up the light output. With a standard incandescent 55 watt, the light output that is at 180degrees from the forward facing position is what is used by our M45 housings.

I find it strange and actually a waste of light that the housing wasn't better designed to yield more light output by using a different type of shield in side the housing. The light shield is removable with a small phillips screwdriver but can only be gotten to by taking off the front glass shield. I think the front glass/plastic window is glued shut for a water proof seal, so I won't be messing with that at all.

To date, none of the LED based bulbs will be able to remedy this lighting problem since they are all so directional and neither the forward nor flanking position will properly disperse light into the back reflectors.

I considered trying to line the shield housing with aluminum foil over top of the matte gray paint to reflect the light back to the rear reflectors, but the sun was setting and I didn't want to get caught in my driveway with my pants-down trying to put the M's lower splash shield back together in the dark!

The good news is HID H3 kits are getting cheaper by the day and I may spring for a kit when we get our tax rebates! LOL

So there you have it... the only lights that effectively work are incandescent & HID's that flood the housing with light in all directions so it can fire back into the surrounding reflectors. I'm giving-up on the LED route.

I think I'll try these LED H3's in my Supra's fog housing to see what they look like? or better yet put them in the factory clock that we all seem to have a problem getting the orange colored bulbs for...

[Boon]

Hey Nite, sorry they didn't work out for ya and that you had to rig the harness up for no reason. It was definitely reversed for me so that is odd. Maybe they don't care from the factory seeing as how it doesn't matter for the incandescent bulbs and they just wire it up however. Or maybe they changed it on the 04. Either way kinda strange haha. Well keep us updated if you get the HID's and if so make sure you get pics up.