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

[Leo2005]

Hmm. In my opinion red is not a good color to get a brightness. Also if you planning to use red on red it will take all the brightness away and make a color darker. That's why I think you have to use white ones. For the direct sun on tail lights that would happen to more than 80% of the cars unless you can see the bulb/led from outside like turn signals. If its hardly covered like brake lights you have this problem on any car with or without leds. Original bulbs are white in the back and thats why you should use white leds for conversion. It is like....if you will you blue lights under red filter you will get a purple. So in case of using red led in tail lights you should have clear tail lights.

[Leo2005]

I found some info from:http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Con...GuideWhich color of LED should I use?For the most vivid color and best results the LED color should be the same as the lens color. If a white LED is used behind a red lens some of the useable light is filtered out. If a white LED is used behind an amber lens the color will be bright yellow.

[Pescakl1]

Here is what was said in the other forum. Like I said (and he says it maybe more clearly than me), halogen bulbs and LEDs are two different technologies and should not be compare directly.

Hopefully, I will receive my red LEDs before the weekend, so I will be able to tell/show you if he is right or not (he converted his car to LEDs too, he experimented too).

From my experience, for clear lens, the HF LEDs work better than SMTs. It seems the output is sharper than with SMT which has an more flat/uniform output, works lees with the reflectors. But that is just MY perception of it, no scientific fact here to sustain the assessment.

Quote »NOTE:If you can at all help it, only go with "white" LEDs if/when you are using them in an application that really needs "white light" (for example, my "running lights", above). However, when you have a light behind a colored plastic "lens", try to match the LED color to the color of the lens (even if/when the incandescent bulb you were replacing was originally "white"). The reason for this, is that converting white light to colored (red, amber, etc) light wastes a lot of potential light. While that wasted light is unavoidable with incandescent bulbs (because "white" is the natural color of incandescents), LEDs can easily produce colored light from the get-go. So by having your LED modules produce light in the proper color, you effectively get a much "brighter light" than you would otherwise have, because you have avoided the light loss intrinsic in converting white light into colored light.

i.e. Put a red LED module behind a red car lens (for example a brake/tail light), and it will be very significantly BRIGHTER than the equivalent (made to the same standards) "white LED" module. And the reason for this, is that you aren't wasting potential light brightness, trying to convert the white light to red (instead you are just producing red light, and virtually all of it is going out the red car lens). And the same principal also applies to any other "colored light" that you might want. If at all possible, have the LED modules generate the light in the correct color to begin with, and you avoid the huge (sometimes 2/3 or more) loss of light needed to convert "white light" into colored light (thereby getting much more effective brightness out of your car LEDs)... [/quote]

[ncc1701]

Thanks Pescakl1 and Leo2005 for the info.

Pescakl1, do you have any pictures of what you have thus far? I'm just curious.

[Leo2005]

Yeah. I'm interested to see it too. It will be hard to beleive until I see it.

[EddNog]

EddNog, you did the front turn signals too, right? If you did, can you grab a shot of the front as well?

Thanks!

Yep! Front, rear and underneath, too (you'll understand once you see it ).

-Ed

[EddNog]

Here is what was said in the other forum. Like I said (and he says it maybe more clearly than me), halogen bulbs and LEDs are two different technologies and should not be compare directly.

Hopefully, I will receive my red LEDs before the weekend, so I will be able to tell/show you if he is right or not (he converted his car to LEDs too, he experimented too).

From my experience, for clear lens, the HF LEDs work better than SMTs. It seems the output is sharper than with SMT which has an more flat/uniform output, works lees with the reflectors. But that is just MY perception of it, no scientific fact here to sustain the assessment.

Just to reinforce what's being discussed here, Leo and I have both found the resulting brightness after the LED conversion to be equal to or brighter than the original factory bulbs when using the highest-LED count bulbs from V-LEDs.com. For the record, I chose red, not white bulbs, for the rear end. When I shoot the videos, you will see that it is at least as bright with my setup (using red LEDs) as factory, and probably as Leo's car (we'll never know unless I drive all the way to Rochester or he comes all the way down here, or we meet somewhere in the middle, and do side-by-side comparison).

I know his headlamps have a way sharper cut-off than mine do, though.

-Ed

EDIT: Btw, my original reasoning for going red instead of white out back is because back when I was buying LEDs for gauge pod LED swaps on Scion tCs, we noticed that certain color LEDs were always brighter in total outputs than certain other colors, and the total output for white LEDs (measured in mcd) was almost always lower than any of the other colors (except maybe green, if memory serves me correctly); red was always one of the brightest. I figured that lighting from behind a red lens filter (such as the Rogue's tail lamps), the higher intensity red LEDs would work better than filtering lower intensity white LEDs down to only its red spectrum constituent wavelength output (am I making sense, here?). Additionally, there is the basic physics that a red lens will filter out a lot of the white bulb's output, whereas it has much less of an effect on already-red light.

[Pescakl1]

Thanks Pescakl1 and Leo2005 for the info.

Pescakl1, do you have any pictures of what you have thus far? I'm just curious.

You are welcome. if I can avoid you to make the same mistake that I did. Isn't the aim of an internet forum?

BTW, for the rear turn signals, I have right now 36 HF LEDs, the white ones .

Unfortunately, the red LEDs did not come by mail yesterday, so I looked at when I bought them, and I will probably have them in the middle of next week (take usually about two weeks to come when from California).

I am in rush at work right now (too much time on the internet?) and doing extra hours, so I will only take the time to play with the LEDs when I get the new ones. Hope you are not too much in a hurry. News in a week from now.

Eddnog, you are saying the same thing that I read, and definitively makes sense to me.That is what happens when you use your brain before buying. I should start doing that

[EddNog]

...That is what happens when you use your brain before buying. I should start doing that

Oh, trust me; I've made far too many, and far too expensive, purchases without thinking them out sufficiently beforehand, so I know where you're coming from.

-Ed

[mstrmstr]

You guys are a hoot.

Temporary " I give up" on the LED thing..until.. I started following VW Passat's around to watch their LED tail lights work.. Bet they though I was a stalker..I like the halo type turn with center stop setup..

Have a wanted note up at the scrapyards for a set of tail lights to cannibalize.They (Passat tail lights) look like a nice cut and glue install for the rogue form my parking lot measurements.. I'm off to a local dealer Saturday to see what I can get info-wise and maybe, if they are not looking - kinda take one apart- when I'm out on my "test" drive. By accident of course...

I gave up on the light bulb LED exchange after seeing so many other makers cars with systems that work great..like the passat . I am trying to find a "donor"...

[ncc1701]

Hey EddNog, just wondering if you have had a chance to get that video. No hurry, just wondering.

[EddNog]

Hey EddNog, just wondering if you have had a chance to get that video. No hurry, just wondering.

Finally got my car back on Saturday!

I'll take care of it tonight.

-Ed

[EddNog]

And here...we......go:

Video from the rear.

Video from the front.

The best way to do this is right-click on the link, and then save it to your disk before opening it. Be warned that each video is ~40MB in size!

Sequence of lighting is parking lamps on, low beams on, fog lamps on, demonstrate brakes lamps, demonstrate left signal, demonstrate right signal, demonstrate left signal, demonstrate right signal, demonstrate emergency blinkers, demonstrate reverse lamps, turn off low beams and fog lamps, turn off parking lamps. Well, that's what is for the video from the rear; it may be slightly different from the front if I didn't keep to the program by mistake in my rush to get this done.

Equipment on the car includes:Factory HID lowbeams (SL AWD package)5000 Kelvin H11 HID plug-n-play kit in the fog lampsSuperwhite/amber front LED parking lamp/signal bulbs (with resistors)Red LED rear combination parking lamp/brake lamp bulbsRed LED rear signal bulbs (with resistors)Rear red underbody LED strip attached to the brake lamp circuitLeft and right side orange underbody LED strips attached to the left and right signal lamp circuitsSuper white LED reverse lamp bulbsSuper white rear license plate bulbs

The LED strips I got from a local place along with the H11 HID kit for my fog lamps; the LED bulbs and the resistors for the rest of the car were all purchased from V-LEDs.com

I suppose a couple things to note is how sharply the LED bulbs behave, how difference in brightness there is for the rear combination lamps between just parking lamps and brakes applied and finally also how bright the reverse lamps are (especially in the video shot from the front). I really like how the front amber/super white bulbs behave, too, and they are way brighter than the stock amber incandescent bulbs!

-Ed
Modified by EddNog at 12:11 AM 10/21/2008

[mstrmstr]

great vids.

Plus, Ed, you can scurry real good in the dark without falling.

[ncc1701]

Oh man, that's freaking awesome! Thanks Ed! I'm pretty jealous!

I love the turn lights underneath! I might have to steal that idea!

How are the rear lights in the day time? Are they bright enough to be seen?

[EddNog]

great vids.

Plus, Ed, you can scurry real good in the dark without falling.

Hahaha thanks...I guess that's why my friends always joke that I'm 1/2 human, 1/2 ninja and 1/2 cat!

Oh man, that's freaking awesome! Thanks Ed! I'm pretty jealous!

I love the turn lights underneath! I might have to steal that idea!

How are the rear lights in the day time? Are they bright enough to be seen?

The rear lamps are all at least as bright, if not brighter than stock, especially the reverse lamps, which I think are probably too bright at night, now. The front lamps are way brighter than stock in parking lamp mode (superwhite); however, I think in signal mode (amber) it's not quite as bright as the stock incandescent bulb, but it is still visible in day time, and the sharp flipping action between white and orange is a serious attention-getter (hopefully, not too distracting)...

I think my fog lamps produce way too much glare at night, so I use them only sparingly. The factory fogs do not have a shield in front of the bulb (like the low beams do), so they produce a piercingly bright flare in one's eyes when viewed, and I can see quite clearly...up into the trees when they're on.

-Ed

[Leo2005]

Love the idea of underbody neon. Mine look the same way in the back just like your Edd. The front ones I putted 48 led turn signal but super white only.

[Pescakl1]

Hello all,

Received LEDs from Hong Kong last Friday (takes just two more days to come compare to California), and did some head to head testing right away (good thing because did not have time since).

I have to change some of my guesses now that I tested red LEDs:- SMT LEDs have a better output than HighFlux ones. It is just that when they are whites in front of a red assembly, the HF have probably larger spectrum than the SMT meaning they have more white in them. At the end, they give more red output.

- Red LEDs give more light output than halogen bulbs. I put back a halogen bulb to compare with the red LED and yes, there is more output: The halogen gives an orange-red type of light when the LED gives pure red, and lots of it.

Here are the comparisons that I have done: For turn lights, 30 SMT red LED vs 36 HF white LED



Rear lights, 30 SMT red LED vs 48 SMT white LED (just light and with brakes on)



30 SMT red LED vs OEM halogen bulb



Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, did the test at dawn, after work, with my cellphone. You may have to trust me more than you hoped.

FYI, 30 SMT LEDs comes from warden_jp2002 on Ebay and are about 3 to 4 times cheaper than the ones from v-leds (14 $ vs 49$).

[ncc1701]

Awesome comparison! I tired searching on ebay, but didn't find anything. Do you have a link?

[Pescakl1]

It is the link to his store, so it should last a while:

http://stores.ebay.ca/warden-jp2002

On the left, you can limit the display to certain LEDs you need or use the store search function using "7443 red LED" for example.

[ncc1701]

Awesome, thanks!

Those are great deals! Too bad he doesn't sell bulbs that will fit my Altima Coupe

[Leo2005]

looks good but not a big difference. Unless the difference makes a price for red led. Never thought that red led will put good output throw red filter. Looks good but almost the same. How is it during the daytime since you was talking so much about it?

[Pescakl1]

I should have take my "real" camera, you would have seen the difference.Believe me, it is there, you can visually see it. The lights are now bright red instead of orange-red. In fact, I went back on the v-leds.com website, and it is now written on one of their Guide page: http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Con...Guide

As for daytime, well, we will have to wait until next spring .When I go to work, it is still the night, and lately I do a lot of extra hours so when I come back, it is already dark.If it is sunny this weekend, I will try to put the rear of the car in the sun and check it out, but it is a little bit biased as the autumn sun is not as bright as the summer one (lower on the horizon).

[tintintin2006]

Hi , for the turn signals, can I use the Flasher instead of load equalizers ?? Is there any flasher can work with Nissan rogue ( 2 terminals or 3 terminals) ?? And how many flasher I have to buy for each light ?? Because they say the Load equalizers have problem with the Heat, and they suggest do not stick the Load equalizers on the plastic or the pain !!, so I dont know what gonna happen if I use it !thkns so much !!

[Pescakl1]

A flasher is a better solution than the load resistors, you need only one flasher instead of 4 load resistors.

Now the funny part: If you find on the Rogue where is the flasher to replace with this electronic flasher, please let us know.I looked for a long time and never found it, and I believe I am not the only one.

Load resistors heat a little (they are in fact a sort of resistance to simulate the internal resistance of a bulb, resistance that a LED doesn't have, and resistance and current equals heat), but no more than a bulb, so it is better/recommended to installed on a metallic part rather than on a plastic part (metallic part will dissipate the heat better than the plastic which could melt depending of the type of plastic).You have plenty of metallic parts in the corners on a car, so it is not that hard to find a spot.

[tintintin2006]

oh thnks!! that means I have call Nissan and ask where the place for flasher BTW, thnks so much for ur answers !!! 1 more question for the HID light !!I want to change my Low beam to the HID (i see in ur picture that u have a canadian Rogue too that isnt equiped with HID like me), the problem is that I'm afraid that HID gonna glare the orthers (as I know, the HID USA Rogue factory has the levelizing to control the light's angle). IS that any problem when to change to HID light !!1 more. do u think it look nice when I change my bulb fog light and my Higth beam wiith the White LEd to look like HID, because I dont want to set up an other HID kit for the FOg lights and dont want to drill anorther hole in my car !!Which Load equalizers u used for the turn LEd light, because there're two type of LOad Equallzers on V-LED (6 Ohm and 3 Ohm)thks so much !!

[Pescakl1]

I want to change my Low beam to the HID (i see in ur picture that u have a canadian Rogue too that isnt equiped with HID like me), the problem is that I'm afraid that HID gonna glare the orthers (as I know, the HID USA Rogue factory has the levelizing to control the light's angle). IS that any problem when to change to HID light !!

The usual ones complain. You know, the ones with their high on, the ones with their own lights too high. But usually, 99.99% of people never complain.If I remember correctly, I put the light assemblies as low as possible and they light the road pretty good (at least twice better than halogen OEMs). From there, if you find them too low, you can move them up a bit.A good way to know is to be about 5 meters behind a sedan and make sure the lights go few inches above the license plate.

do u think it look nice when I change my bulb fog light and my Higth beam wiith the White LEd to look like HID, because I dont want to set up an other HID kit for the FOg lights and dont want to drill anorther hole in my car !!

Yes, I don't see the point for HID lights for fog and high, except if you use them quite often. Moving both to LED depends of your use of them. Do you use them for their purpose? If yes, don't change them as the LEDs won't be as powerful as bulbs. If no, high are only use as DRL, same for the fogs, then yes, it could be nice visually to put everything (high, fog and turn signals) in LEDs. That is your choice depending on your use and taste.

Which Load equalizers u used for the turn LEd light, because there're two type of LOad Equallzers on V-LED (6 Ohm and 3 Ohm)thks so much !!

I used the 6 ohms, I don't think the 3 ohms existed when I buy them.A good thing with V-LED is that you can email them with some questions, they have a really good customer service with a great choice and good prices.Good place to shop.

[tintintin2006]

Hihi, I live in Montreal too. I dont use the Fog light often and use the Hight ligt only for day light. I think i can change it to LED or some thing like that (DRL). BTW, we can change these bulbs easily ( just Plug-N-play right ??)1 thing, u can change the angle for the HID low beam, how ?? because I want to buy the HID conversion H11 kit that will fit perfectly with the hole of halogen bulb and I just need to plug-N-play. That mean I cant change the light's angle , right ?? if i wanna to change that, it have to be done by an professional installer

[Pescakl1]

BTW, we can change these bulbs easily ( just Plug-N-play right ??)

Looks like it in the description. If you want to be sure, ask them directly.

u can change the angle for the HID low beam, how ?? because I want to buy the HID conversion H11 kit that will fit perfectly with the hole of halogen bulb and I just need to plug-N-play. That mean I cant change the light's angle , right ?? if i wanna to change that, it have to be done by an professional installer

Owner manual, page 8-26: Between the two bulbs, there is a bolt with dents which can be seen by above (small hole). Using a flat screwdriver, you can turn the bolt which in return will move up or down the light assembly. It is the same system in all cars.If you can (cannot remember if you have space or not), reach directly the bolt.

Best way is to do it at night with the lights on, projecting on a wall, as you can see how much you move them.

Everything can be done by yourself, no need to pay someone to do it, you just need a free afternoon and some patience (take your time).

[tintintin2006]

thnks alot, u're the best !!