369 replies to this topic

[Darcini]

Ok peeps, need some advise on wiring led rear lights, as topic. I am in the process of replacing the rear light units with led Elise/Exige units. Now can I please ask all to refrain from posting such things as 'why', 'just buy an Exige' and 'that'll look shite' at this point - once I've finished I will post another thread with pics in which people can slag it off to their hearts content, or not, as the case may be. I thank you. So, the indicators/reverse/fog are standard filament bulbs, so all should be ok there, the stop and tail are the LEDs. Will the ecu throw a wobbly thinking there is a bulb out because of the lower current(?) draw? Will I need some kind of resistor, flux capacitor or whatever or should it be reasonably straight forward? Any informed advice warmly welcomed.

[jameso]

i'm no use here but sweet

[CocoPops]

Our ECU isn't clever enough to have any bulb notification. So, no, there shouldn't be any issues.

[mbes2]

This sounds good, cant wait to see the outcome... I had the same idea but for fronts, I was checking insignia headlights, i.e cheaper than std vx unit... Good luck with this, I know years ago someone did the same with the rear lights with a custom fittiing with lotus lights. Saw it in a Tatal Vauxhall mag (yellow VX) I have it here somewhere, if i find it i will scan upload the pic

Edited by mbes2, 22 April 2012 - 09:27 AM.

[Hark]

If it does throw a wobbly then just fit a resistor before each led light so that the overall resistance is the same as oem.

[H1 HWK]

Hi Darcini, I tried led stop/side lamps in mine last year, without success. I had the high level led faintly lit all the time as if there was some current leakage. It may just have needed a resistor in there somewhere, but didn't fancy a flat battery after a couple of days, so reverted back to standard lamps. Let us know how you get on.

[Bumblebee]

Looking forward to the pics when complete :-)

[CocoPops]

Work in progress pics?

[turbobob]

It all depends on what sort of LED lights you are buying. Some have built in resistors. Some don't. If you connect straight to 12v without a resistor you will blow the LED.

[Tom220SC]

Looking forward to seeing this Nige

[Ormes]

There is definately a thread on here somewhere with people battling to get LED brake lights working properly with the VX. Issue was the center brake light faintly lit all of the time as noted above.

EDIT: to add http://www.vx220.org...ed-rear-lights/

There are others who have had the problem also...
Google search site:www.vx220.org.uk LED brake

Edited by Ormes, 22 April 2012 - 12:26 PM.

[Darcini]

The light units I'm fitting are oem Lotus ones, fitted to later Eliges, it would appear that they are a straight plug and play upgrade for the older Lotus. This is why I was hopefull that it wouldn't be too much of a problem swapping them into mine, from an electrical point of view. Is it likely they already have inbuilt resistors, is there any way you can tell?

[-Dab-of-Oppo-]

This is a project I am going to do myself as soon as I can source some spare rear clusters so I look forward to seeing your results and the way you go about doing it.
Have you bought actual Elise units if so how much and where from? I was looking at either these - http://www.cbsonline...tre_Pair_LEDDC2 interchangable units where you can have what ever colour outer / inner ring you want or also some similar cheaper ones I spotted on ebay. Should be very easy to cut the housing to suit and have 2 or 3 sets mounted flush inside.
If they are an upgrade light I would have thought they would have all the neccessary gubbins built in so they are 'plug and play.' You can easilly test them with a power pack before hand or disect them to see if there is a PCB, resisitor etc fitted inside.



I was put off using these http://www.elisepart...-tailight-unit/ ones by the fact that they look alot deeper, have a wider outer red ring and also don't have any lip on the bottom edge so would be harder to neatly set into a hole.

The only things I would mention (and I'm sure you've got them covered) is that the elise has it's mandatory rear reflectors in the lower bumper so you would need to find a way of integrating a set of those into the unit. Also any lights should be 'E' marked to be road legal probably not a problem if your using Lotus ones. LED's light output can be very directional too so you would need to make sure they are mounted at a suitable angle.

Edited by -Dab-of-Oppo-, 22 April 2012 - 01:26 PM.

[Darcini]

Dab, they are gen-u-ine brand new Lotus units, got them off Fleabay a while ago. I looked at those CBS ones but couldn't find the right combination as I didn't want separate reflectors, the Lotus ones have them built in. Spent a lot of time getting what I hope is the correct angles......

[turbobob]

If they are drop in replacements then they are likely to have the resistor built in. Just clicked the links. Jesus they are expensive

[Darcini]

Bob, is there any visual clue as to whether they have a resistor?

[turbobob]

Difficult to say without actually seeing what you have bought. If you have just bought an LED then you would need to google the part number for the datasheet. If you have bought a unit, and its sealed then probably not. If you have a multimeter and you switch it to diode mode and put across the terminals and it just comes on, then its unlikely to have a resistor built in. Remember LED's are polarised so you will need to make sure that you get the terminals the correct way round. If you fit the wrong way then nothing will happen.

[-Dab-of-Oppo-]

I am pretty certain they will be protected from within the cluster as standard and you could quite safely throw 0-16v at them. Since they are an upgrade with retro-fit potential it would make sense and be far easier to have adapted the lights to suit the car if needs be rather than vice versa

So are you going to be keeping some of the smaller VX lights and still have four seperate lenses or filling a couple of the holes in and just having 2 main replacement units? The way I see it the main problem in fitting is the way the little silver (on a NA) bits jut out to counter the angle of the sloping blackplastic back in order to make them viewable square on from directly behind. If the Lotus ones are about the right size to simply sit into this little 'tube' then it will be a piece of pi55 to fit.

Edited by -Dab-of-Oppo-, 22 April 2012 - 01:54 PM.

[Darcini]

Can't take any pics as son number one as run off with my camera, will post up when it returns so all will become a bit clearer

[turbobob]