Small Mod Help

[jeebowhite]

Hi Guys,

So I just started my first few MOD's, nothin' major... Just replaced the number plate bulbs for LED Ones, and I am looking to replace the indicators with LED's. Of course though, I ordered some that dont have resistors :| learned a lesson...

So I now need to get the resistors installed so I can use the LED Bulbs... I can see you either need an inline resistor (looks like that would be a hole bag of fun to implement) or I can replace the indicator relay with an LED relay...

Can anyone point me in the direction of a suitable LED indicator relay? secondly, should the relay be in the bonnet fusebox?

Any thoughts much appreciated :D

[Andy H Dibley]

This is where I got mine from when I did the mod on a MK2 Mondeo. Just check it'll work with the Canbus system though.

http://www.autobulbs...-Resistor-Kits/

ETA:

My relay was in the glovebox area. Also meant you lose that 'tick tock' sound familiar with an indicator going off.

[jeebowhite]

Cheers Andy, I think I will take a further look later!

Now to go digging for my relay, see what type she is!

[Lenny]

For those who own a mk2.5 focus and possibly C-Max and want to fit led indicators.

As far as im aware,

The focus doesnt have a removable relay,

Nor does the relay make the ticking sound.

The Can-Bus system controls the flash rate of the indicators aswell as creating the ticking sound effect from a small speaker in 5he rear of the speedo cluster.

You can adjust the flash rate of the indicators using a modified elm327 when fitting led to replicate the pace of a halogen

[Andy H Dibley]

The Can-Bus system controls the flash rate of the indicators aswell as creating the ticking sound effect from a small speaker in the rear of the speedo cluster.

Lenny,

Do you by any chance know if its possible to increase the volume from that speaker? I ask because I find my indicators incredibly quiet compared to the old fashioned relay clicking away. I'm curious as when I've been through the Diagnostics check, when it gets to the speaker test, mine says something like 50% as though it could be louder? At a guess. Just curious if you knew if it was changable.

Cheers!

[FOCA]

Hi Guys,

So I just started my first few MOD's, nothin' major... Just replaced the number plate bulbs for LED Ones, and I am looking to replace the indicators with LED's. Of course though, I ordered some that dont have resistors :| learned a lesson...

So I now need to get the resistors installed so I can use the LED bulbs... I can see you either need an inline resistor (looks like that would be a hole bag of fun to implement) or I can replace the indicator relay with an LED relay...

Can anyone point me in the direction of a suitable LED indicator relay? secondly, should the relay be in the bonnet fusebox?

Any thoughts much appreciated :D

The way to do it is replace only 2 of the 3 indicaters per side with LEDs (light-emmitting diodes) , ie keep a regular (incandecsent) bulb in the circut of each "side"

this will mean only replacing 2 of the 3, and not having to fit a resistor (all the resistor does is heat up/ waste power- better to use a regular bulb so the enegy is used/ - to light the bulb (not wasted) )

i have also found the high - level brake light stays on if you replace all the brakelights with LEDs, i keep a regular bulb in here too

Apart from the headlights and these bulbs Every Single Bulb has been changed to LEDs, on the exterior of my car, ive also done the all instrument binnacle/ clocks, and the interior, with just the centre consol to do, i consider these things a minor modification, though but it has enabled me to fit a lighter battery (with an overall reduction in electrical load,)

each LED bulb cluster is less than a watt and is replacing 5w or 10w bulbs

eg - 2 10w interior bulbs replaced by 2 1-watt LEDs 2 watts total instead of 20 (minus 18 watts) -

2 tail lights, 2 no. plate lights and 2 front side lights - regular = 30w, LEDs = approx 6w (probably less)

if you replace all of them its a considerable reduction in electrical power - could mean the difference between a flat battery/ the car starting etc

[jeebowhite]

Lenny, does that get controlled by the mod cable for the cruise control and the russian software? I might have found some software that will allow me to translate some of that app!

FOCA, thanks for the reply, the problem is, I got the bulbs yesterday and started trying to test them, I put one LED bulb in the rear holder (other two were still halogen) and this did increase the speed of the flash...

[Andy H Dibley]

On a car with an old style relay controlling the flash rate, replacing any bulb with an LED will increase the flash rate. This is due to the complete indicating circuit needing to see a certain resistance. It's the same situation as if one of the bulbs was to blow. The relay and timing circuit would flash faster due to the decreased load.

All the bulbs are in parrallel as well so unfortunately FOCA, your maths needs a bit of revisiting. Resistance of a circuit changes depending on whether the bulbs are in series (daisy chained one after another) or in parrallel (each bulb having a seperate feed).

[FOCA]

.

All the bulbs are in parrallel as well so unfortunately FOCA, your maths needs a bit of revisiting. Resistance of a circuit changes depending on whether the bulbs are in series (daisy chained one after another) or in parrallel (each bulb having a seperate feed).

I would not like to argue with your mathematics knowledge but i am an electronics engineer and i have already done the maths (theory) and fitted all the LEDs (the practice)

My LED indicators (and all the rest of my LED lights) work perfectly - you should be thanking me for telling you how to do it

i "dumbed it down" for forums - no point in using technical jargon/ etc that only a few can understand -

The 3 bulbs are in parralel, replacing all 3 with LEDs produces too high a resistance, replacing only 2 of the 3 with LEDs means 1 of the 3 is an incandescent (regular) bulb, this 1 bulb gives the circut a sufficient load without using a load resistor so the indicators work correctly

If the bulbs were in series the 3 bulbs would each only recieve a 1/3rd of the voltage,(approx 4v each) and if one blows they would all go out!

[jeebowhite]

Thanks for the comments FOCA, Don't get me wrong - I am certainly not trying to pick anything, but can you advise why if I put only one bulb on, that even with two standards and only the read replaced with LED, it started hyper flashing at me?

Not sure if I am missing something obvious?

[jeebowhite]

Hi Guys,

Ok so working on my bulbs... I have replaced the fronts for xenon HID bulbs... and put LED sidelights in.

I am now working on the rest of the car... I wont be replacing the indicators until I have some method of changing the timings, and / or confirm I am definitely / not running with an indicator relay...

So next step... Reverse lights... Might well look to replace with Cree Q5's when I can afford it, or just to make them LED, might just get a set of standard LED's for a lot less...

The main pain in the glutimus maximus at the moment is the apparent lack of Red dual filament (kinda) LED's for the tail light and fog light... if I am not mistaken it is a standard Dual Filament bulb, which unfortunately doesn't seem to have LED replacements easily accessible (found some more expensive Dual Filament Whites, but not red's...

I could do with taking the bulbs out and checking them over but as far as I know the brake lights can be replaced, the indicates can also be replaced (once I find a means to sort the timings), the reverse lights too, but I am struggling to find a valid P21/4W that I can replace it with...

If anyone who has done an LED conversion on a dual filament can point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated!

[FOCA]

So you have 2 standard bulbs and when you change the 3rd, the indicators flash too quickly, which one did you replace?

I have a Mondeo - it has red coloured lenses in the rear lights so i can use white LEDs in the lail/ stop/ fog lights

The stop light had a single light (easy to get) , i bought cheap "generic", (not specifcally for Ford/ the Mondeo) LEDs from e-bay, some were too "fat" to fit through the lens reflectors

The "tail/ fog" light was one dual bulb, i had to use a tail/ fog light with "regular" pins and file off one of the pins (the "stop/ fog" requires "staggard" pins and i could not find an LED one on e-bay so i modified a "tail/ stop" light)

So the regular (rear) fog light was replaced with a "stop" light so it was not much brighter than the tail lights, it passed the MOT ok like this

Overal the LED lights are notacably brighter, the no. plate lights light up the road under them, ive tilted them in a little (onto the no. plate) to reduce this - the reversing light is brighter too (+ its a "wighter" light) - thats with cheap eBay ones - you might not need the Cree Q5s

Just an idea but you could tape coloured red or amber gel (coloured celephane used in disco/ band lights) onto the white LEDs instead of couloured bulbs under lexus-style (clear) tail lights

[jeebowhite]

Thanks for the reply Foca, the one I did was the rear offside reverse light, the side repeater and front bulb where standard halogens. all three bulbs lit up, but it was flashing like a bulb was out (I would expect that given the little resistance).

I am looking at some cheaper LED's for the reverse bulb and will also look into the LED's you provided the links to!

I do hope to get him fully LED'd up soon!

[FOCA]

OOPs ! - by sheer coincedance i burrst a headlamp bulb the other night, i had a look at what i had done with the indicators and they were all stock "regular" bulbs, the only modification i had done is fitted "titanium x" style white lens repeaters and orange bulbs on the wings (stock was orange lenses and clear bulbs )

I had bought LEDs for the indicators but never fitted them (i did the other tail lights, rear lights, fog and brake lights, including the high-level brake light, and the front side lights)

Guess what - when i tried the LED on one of the indicators that side would blink fast - sorry about that

I had a big pile of LEDs left over (most didnt fit- did it by "trial and error" till it worked) and i forgot i had not done the indicators

De tango - When i had the headlamps off i decided to remove the orange lenses, bit of an epic job but 1st i got orange bulbs now ive fitted "chrome orange" bulbs so no orange color is visible on the headlamps (or anywhere on the car) it gives it a much sleeker, more modern look

Im not going to bother with LEDs for the indicators, to much hassle and not going to save much power as the indicators are not on much

I may upgrade the sidlights to Crees, and the dipped main beams to eco bulbs that use 20% less power and are 10% brighter (supposed to improve MPG) and high performance bulbs for the high/ main beam (i thought that might work well - eco for dipped / high performance for high beam)

[jeebowhite]

Thanks foca, it does make sense lol, its no priority so may just upgrade the rest.

[Andy H Dibley]

On a car with an old style relay controlling the flash rate, replacing any bulb with an LED will increase the flash rate. This is due to the complete indicating circuit needing to see a certain resistance. It's the same situation as if one of the bulbs was to blow. The relay and timing circuit would flash faster due to the decreased load.

I had bought LEDs for the indicators but never fitted them (i did the other tail lights, rear lights, fog and brake lights, including the high-level brake light, and the front side lights)

Guess what - when i tried the LED on one of the indicators that side would blink fast - sorry about that

I know you had a go at me about checking your maths, but I did say, any change to the loading of the flashing relay will increase the flash rate, or at worst not cause the indicators to flash at all.