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Led Tail Light Conversion.. Is It Do-Able?


Brigante
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I want to carry out an led tail light conversion, but not in the obvious way

I know its possible to fit the led led tail lights from a mk4.5 mondeo to a mk4, but these cost a ridiculous amount on eBay, talking about 50quid+ per unit, so at least 200quid

And then theres the fact they wont fit straight off and will require fitting the tailgate itself from the mk4.5 also.. This will cost god knows how much

So what I would like to do is simply modify my existing tail light units by sticking in some led strips and splicing them into the relevant wiring for the tail lights etc

I already have some cree reverse light bulbs and I have some cree indicator bulbs that I will be fitting once I purchase some resistors to sort the rapid flashing

So the main issue is led strips for the side lights/brake lights

Is this actually do-able though as I know the side light/brake lights use the same bulb and seems to have a higher voltage going through it to make the brake light brighter

Would this still work with led strips or won't they be able to change the brightness?

I got the idea as I know a similar modification is possible with the focus tail lights

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i thought the tail and stop lights were a dual filament bulb?

The only way you could do it is bypass the sockets and wire directly in behind, but most LED strips are not bright enough and so you would lose a lot of light output...

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Normal stop / tail bulbs are indeed dual filament 21/5w

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Yup I already knew they are dual filament.. thats why I said the stop/tail light uses the same bulb

Thats why I started the topic, to ask if it was at all do-able because they use the same dual filament bulb

What I indeed would of intended to do is splice the led wires directly into the wiring behind the bulb holders

But would it actually be possible to wire in led strips for the stop/tail light bulb so that they have two different brightnesses so that they get brighter when the brakes are applied or is it a no-go'er?

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But would it actually be possible to wire in led strips for the stop/tail light bulb so that they have two different brightnesses so that they get brighter when the brakes are applied or is it a no-go'er?

first the voltages are the same for rear and brake lights m8 ,,

normally with led lights, there are 2 sets of them , just like there are 2 filaments in the bulbs,

one set of leds for the rear lights then a second set for the brake lights ,,

but as said, i dont think normal led lights will be bright enough, only way to find out is to wire some up, and test the lights on a bright day to see how bright they are.

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yeah, there are just double SMD's in the bulbs normally, so in that respect, you would struggle, unless of course you can find a single strip of LED's that the SMD's exceptionally close together.

The real factor your looking at, is the LED's your thinking of are probably no more powerful than your current DRL's and as such, you would see they are not overly bright in daylight, now your going to put those behind a lens which will hide it moreso.

Its probably something you could do, however, your looking at finding pretty specific LED's and strips and the cost you may find exceeds the value of just upgrading with factory quality units...

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dude there is no way it could exceed the cost of upgrading the the factory led tail lights..

again, it would require buying the four separate led light units from a mk4.5, looking on eBay they are going for about 80quid each.. thats 320 already

then the fact they wont fit the mk4, so a mk4.5 tailgate will be needed

looking on eBay, i can see plenty of mk4 tailgates, but i've only found one mk4.5, its grey, doesnt have a spoiler n doesnt have privacy glass and its 180quid

now the cost is up to 500quid already

then take into account respraying the tailgate black to match my car. then theres the fact it doesnt have privacy glass. even if it was possible to transplant the rear windscreen from my current tailgate, it would be a painstaking operation to remove it without smashing it and then have to remove the new tailgates windscreen and glue on mine.

then of course possibly having to transplant all the wiring from my tailgate onto the new one and fitting it. if i didnt do all of this myself there would be god knows how much in labour costs

obviously i would rather have the factory led tail lights but taking all of the above into account it would be an insane cost to consider it

again modifying my existing tail lights to led was just an idea as it would look flash, i dont know whether or not its possible which is why i started the topic. as said before i got the idea from some fellow members who own focus's who carried out a similar mod by wiring in led strips on their tail lights for the indicators and that seemed to work quite well

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Fair comment, I must admit I didn't see all those additional costs lol. As for those, I would say if you really want the best output you need at least 4.5k output for tail lights and 5 to 6k for fogs and stops. It might sound daft but as I say with the lens in the way and the daylight, your going to need exceptional output.

I think the ones you linked are cheap enough, you can buy one, wire it into a mains source and put it in the lens and just get out and look in bright sunlight and see what it looks like. Best case scenario it does the job perfect and I hope it does (I might even do it myself following our guides lol) but you might find you need brighter led strips and would need to look for brighter lumes output

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you linked two of the same ones

i was originally looking at that style, but thought the leds looked too small and spaced too far apart, couldnt really see any spaced closer together which is why i thought about the solid strip i linked

only linked it as an example of the style

would go for summin like these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flexible-2-PCS-12V-Car-DRL-Fog-Strip-Daytime-Running-Bright-COB-White-Lights-/281481299839?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item418997c77f

6000-6500k apparantly

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oh and with the fogs i'd be fitting cree fogs

but i'm struggling to find them in the correct fitment/pin arrangment

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Fancy checking haynes for the wire colour of the rear indicators? Will soon be adding the resistors so that I can fit the cree indicators

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Yeah no worries I will check Haynes later and let you know. Once I have gotten the kids out from under foot...

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I have a couple of the cob ones first mentioned at 14cm long and they are very bright and have about 64 smd leds in 2 rows they are probably the best you can get for what you want, you can hardly look at them close up without your eyes watering.

edit: see those actually have 84 leds, even better

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Yeah no worries I will check Haynes later and let you know. Once I have gotten the kids out from under foot...

any update on the wire colours?

could you also tell me the colour of the earth wire (incase its not black)

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Sorry matey I wasn't feeling too good last night, so didn't get chance to grab them. I'm just heading out now to have the brake discs changed will take the manual with me and if I don't get stuck in getting black hands I will get the court sorted

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Seems Haynes forgot about the indicators....

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Quick search if tinterweb and I found this on just answer

Drivers side light unit

Side light: white / orange

Brake light:violet / brown

Indicator light:green / orange

Earth: black/ white

wiring to Drivers side light unit in boot

at multi plug in rear arch.

Fog light:Brown / green

Reverse light: green / brown

Passenger side light unit

Side light:violet / green

Brake light:violet / brown

Indicator light:grey / orange

Earth:black / white

wiring to Passenger side light unit in boot

at multi plug in rear arch

Fog light:brown green

Indicator:green / brown

Read more: http://www.justanswer.com/uk-ford/5lcvg-ford-mondeo-hi-trying-wire-trailer-socket.html#ixzz3UFz3muLh

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No Haynes doesn't show Indicators but dug this out from notes when I fitted tow relay:

Driver side Indicator = Green/Orange

Pass Side Indicator = Grey/ Orange

Haynes shows Earth to RH unit no2 as Black/Blue and Black /White to all others including LH unit No2.

Edit: just beat me to it jeebowhite

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Thanks lads

I'll attempt fitting the relays later

Is it safe enough to use the scotch locks provided or should i partially strip the wire n splice em in?

Heard bad things about scotch locks

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Should be alright as they are pretty waterproof. I opted for positaps previously though, if it goes wrong it can be removed with little damage but scotch locks are a bit more aggressive

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i do like the look of posi taps

dont have time to get any though

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They can be delivered quickly.

Definitely worth the wait though mate no damage should your efforts not work

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Might just splice em in

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