LED Headlight Delete for Gen2 Rogues

Nissan Rogue forum - Includes Nissan Qashqai and Nissan Dualis as well.
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VStar650CL
Technical Expert
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Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2020 1:25 pm
Car: 2013 Nissan Altima 2.5 SL
2004 Nissan Altima 2.5 S

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Why to Switch:
OEM LED's are great and they don't die often, but when they do, they can give your wallet an enormous whack. Nissan LED low beams don't have a "bulb" in the traditional sense, so they require replacement of the entire headlight assembly if the LED fails. If you cut open a failed unit, in place of a bulb you'll find a sophisticated circuit board and a gigantic aluminum heat sink. It isn't a cheap setup, and that shows in the replacement cost. Rogue standard halogen assemblies from Nissan list for about $400, the LED counterparts list for about $1100. Worse, the aftermarket doesn't make the LED type. Halogen assemblies are available everywhere from TYC and other reputable brands, some for as little as $100.

Switching to halogen assemblies doesn't necessarily mean losing any light. The LED aftermarket has come a long way in just the last five years, and outfits like VLEDs are now making H9/H11 plug-in LED's that are both bright and reliable. They're about $200 a set as opposed to $25 for the cheapest China stuff, but this is one instance where you'll truly get what you pay for. Quality units all have a lot of aluminum and well-designed heat sinking, plus high performance forced-air fans to keep the light source cool. If you want LED lighting in a halogen housing, pay the difference, because the difference in engineering and reliability is huge.

What's Involved:
Switching isn't as simple as just changing assemblies. It requires a good bit of rewiring, because the gen2 Rogue LED's use a single 8-pin connector while the halogen housings use a pair of 6-pins. In addition, the LED's have a "monitor" signal that needs to be mimicked in order to prevent "headlight system error" messages. So at a minimum, you'll need to split each 8-pin connector into two 6-pins and add a relay circuit to fool the monitors. Let's start with the basics. Here's what the halogen units look like from behind, and what the existing and mating female connectors look like:

14-16 Rogue Headlamp Connectors.png
14-16 Rogue Headlamp Connectors.png (145.29 KiB) Viewed 3348 times
HL Connectors.jpg
Note that the turn signal socket is separate from everything else, and that's the same on the LED housings. You won't be rewiring that, just using what's already there. Fortunately, the 6-pin and 8-pin connectors are the same type from the same manufacturer, so the pins are identical. Thus, one way to modify the connections is to "unpin" the 8-pin connector and reinsert the pins into the 6-pin shells. That's easier than you think using some simple but special tools, but I'll address that later. For now, there are three ways to skin the connector cat, and exactly what you'll need depends on which method you choose. But there are some things you'll need regardless of your method. Here they are, along with eBay examples for illustration:
6-pin pigtail connectors (4)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1x-Connector-6 ... SwAtZe60Wj
Bosch "box" relay, 5-pin
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Bosc ... Sw6BZfTTC3
Blue and red "solder shrink" butt connectors
https://www.ebay.com/itm/50X-Solder-Sea ... 0&LH_BIN=1

You can skimp on the relay, since it will carry almost no current. For reasons I'll explain later, just make sure it's a 5-pin unit and not 4-pin. Definitely don't skimp on the butt connectors by using the regular open kind. Remember that all the connections you make will be exposed to weather and engine heat, and in the long run cheap connectors will fail you. The solder-shrink types work fine with a Bic lighter if you don't have a heat gun or pocket torch, and they're completely environment-proof once you shrink them. They're God's gift to good wire repair, so get some. The reason you'll need a few even if you're unpinning the 8-pin connector is that the 6-pin pair has additional ground wires, so some splicing-together of ground conductors will be necessary. If you haven't used them before, the ring in the center of the solder-shrink is low temperature solder that will melt over the wires when you apply heat. To use them, slide them over one wire as you would a shrink tube, twist the stripped wire ends together, then slide the solder shrink over the splice so the solder ring touches the copper. Then just heat it up till the solder runs. If you're using a Bic, keep it in the blue part of the flame so it doesn't end up sooty. If your Rogue has aluminum wiring instead of copper (some do), dip or brush the aluminum with white vinegar before splicing, that will allow solder to stick to it.

One last thing to have on hand is a file, Dremel, or sharp flush-cutter for removing plastic from one of the 6-pin connectors. The black connector on the headlamps has the same shell as the gray, but the polarizing slots are in different places. Unless you want to raid a junkyard for the mating black ones, the easiest solution is to trim the polarizers off one of the grays. Removing the polarizers won't prevent it from locking, and the un-trimmed one still won't fit into the male black, so you won't be in any real danger of loose connections or cross-connections.

Which Method:
The three ways you can proceed are:
1) Unpinning and re-pinning. This will give you the neatest result. It's what I would do.
2) Cutting the 8-pin loose and butt-connecting the 6's. This is easiest but will give you an ugly glom of butt splices to tape and hide.
3) Make a pair of interface harnesses. This will let the LED's be reinstalled later if that matters, but will mean either chopping the 8-pin male connectors off the existing LED units or raiding the junkyard for them. Since good-used LED units fetch big bucks on eBay or Kijiji, you probably want to avoid butchery on any working units. Just one of them will probably pay for your entire conversion.

If you choose method 1 or 3, you'll need some precision picks for unpinning the connectors. These are $3.95 from Harbor Freight, and frankly fabulous for the price: https://www.harborfreight.com/test-prob ... 61872.html

To let you make an informed decision, here's how easy it is to unpin this type of connector:

HL Connector Disassembly.png
That's really all there is to it, but lifting the pawls can be difficult without sharp probes, and prying the locks can be difficult without a strong, tiny hook. The right tools make all the difference. If for any reason you need to disassemble a male connector, they come apart the same way. The only difference is a silicone gasket inside the shell that you pop out before working on it.

The Wire Positions:
Here are the diagrams for what goes where. The wiring diagrams indicate the same color scheme and pin positions for all Gen2's, so you'll use these pinouts regardless of what year or trim level your Rogue has:

Rogue Left LED Conn.png
Rogue Right LED Conn.png
Rogue Gray HL Connector.png
Rogue Black HL Connector.png
Especially if you're unpinning, you'll want to do all the rewiring work after the LED units have been removed but before the halogens are installed. This will make it much easier to work with the connectors. The LED's have some different wire colors left and right, but the pin positions on the new 6-pin connectors will be identical left/right. Except for the feedback wire on each side, you'll simply connect the wire from the LED connector to the corresponding function position on the gray or black 6-pin, Lo Beam to Lo Beam, DRL to DRL, etc. One of the two feedback wires will be fed to the Bosch relay and the other left open, so decide which side you'll mount the relay on and cap whichever wire won't be used. Route one of the two LED ground wires to each of the 6-pin connectors, then create the additional ground pin for each 6-pin using a pigtail lead and solder-shrink to splice with the original LED ground wire. Once the wiring is complete for the two 6-pins, trim the polarizers off the "faux black" one like this:

Gray to Black.jpg
Dummying the Feedback:
The Nissan documentation says the feedback lines are "pulled up" through a resistor in the IPDM, then pulled to ground by each LED controller if the LED is working properly. The wiring diagrams show the two wires joined together internally inside the IPDM, which is why only one wire should be needed to dummy the signal. The relay will basically ground the feedback wire whenever the Lo Beams are turned on, making the IPDM think all is well. Here's how you wire the relay:

Dummy Headlight Feedback.png
The Nissan documentation is frankly a bit fuzzy about this, and that's why I mentioned earlier to get a 5-pin relay and not 4-pin. I have my doubts about it from an engineering standpoint, since this comprises a logical "OR" circuit. That means if it works the way it's described, both headlights would need to fail before an error was flagged. I suspect the signal state may actually be opposite, that a bad LED actually grounds the line and a healthy one doesn't. That would make better engineering sense. In any case, should you have any problems with error messages, there are two possible reasons. One is that the documentation is lying about the signal state, and having the 5th relay pin will allow you to "invert" the signal by switching the feedback wire from pin 87 to 87a. The other is that the diagrams are lying and the two lines aren't really joined inside the IPDM. If that's the case, connecting both feedback wires to the relay instead of just one should resolve it. This is the only part of the installation that I wasn't able to "nail down" from available documents, so if you do have problems, please post which one of the fixes worked.

Hope you find this useful, and happy motoring!

PS - Hey, Rogue, AZ, y'all really need to make me an Electrical forum! ;)


datechboss101
Posts: 934
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 12:01 pm
Car: 2016 Nissan Rogue SL -- RIP
2018 Nissan Kicks SR -- RIP
2019 Nissan Rogue SV w/ Prem. Pack
Location: Orlando, FL

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VStar-- This is a great reliable information for those with the LED lights from factory, if they need to be replaced. Its all technical, and I believe that's how Nissan purposefully designed this lighting system to be, making it nearly impossible to only replace the light bulb.

I second switching to the Halogen housing, since the aftermarket is filled with LED conversion kits. And these kits just run for like under $200, if you find the proper kit which has water seals and everything. This is also the cheaper route for many owners since no body wants to pay arms and legs for a new housing, and have to take off the front bumper to replace the current housing.

itsa300zx
Posts: 1243
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 9:39 am
Car: 1990 300zx NA W/TT swap
2011 Nissan Rouge S
2008 Highlander SR5
Location: up North

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Thank you for sharing your knowledge Vstar, great info and nice write up. Should be posted to the FAQ


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