LED lighting for license frame

[tjh2dUVA]

Sorry if this has been addressed before, but I couldn't find anything relevant in the search topics -- at least under the P38 category.

Has anyone retrofitted LED's for the small bulbs that illuminate the license frame in the back underneath the trunk section? It would seem like a fairly easy swap, and it makes a pretty nice difference from what I have seen on other vehicles.

Thanks.

[rrtoadhall]

A member has an active topic over on teh MarkIII board on this right now.

[p38arover]

I think it will bring up a bulb failure alarm. That's why mine are taped over with black electrical tape - the number plate is on the rear bar and not on the tailgate as it would be obscured by the spare wheel carrier if left in the original position.

[q-rover]

I did it with all my lights.
Unfortunately as P38rover says you get bulbfailure alarm, so I changed
them back again, except for the rear numberplate ones and interior. I dodn't
mind the alarm too much, it's offset by the bright white cones of light
rather than a dull glow.
I was thinking of doing the puddle lights in the doors as well, but can't get the
damn things out.
For the interior I went with an amber colour. The amount of light is very good
from the LED's I got and you don't ruin your 'nightvision', plus they complement
the tan leather I have.

[tjh2dUVA]

Well I went ahead and ordered a pair -- they were really cheap, so I might as well test it out.

There has got to be someway to either disable the bulb failure alarm or get some kind of special resistor that won't trip it.

[p38arover]

There has got to be someway to either disable the bulb failure alarm or get some kind of special resistor that won't trip it.

No. The bulb failure alarm appears to work by monitoring current drawn. A LED has less draw so it will look like a failed bulb. To overcome that you will need to put a low-value resistor in parallel with the bulb so it draws more current. The cheapest low value resistor that will handle the current without overheating would be a....... bulb.

[tjh2dUVA]

The LED bulbs came in the mail a few days ago and I hooked them up. The install was fairly straight forward. The only issue was that the bulbs themselves have about 9 mini LED bulbs in them. The entire bulb housing was just slightly too large to fit in the factory casing hole, so I had to kind of rig it into place with some electrical tape. At any rate, they look much better. They are super bright, white lights. The beam can even be seen on the ground. It is a night and day difference between the crappy tungsten ones. I have had them in for several days now and have had no Bulb Failure warnings. I have turned the lights on and off numerous times to see if I could trip it, and nothing. These lights may not be wired to alert for failures. If anyone else is interested, the lights I got were JDM T15 xenon white LED 2825.




Sorry for the poor image quality. Even with my sub-par photography skills, you can immediately tell a big difference.

Thanks.

[p38arover]

The lamps you bought obviously draw enough current for the system to not detect a bulb failure.

I do have to ask, though, why do you want your number plate brilliantly lit?

[tjh2dUVA]

Well it's not that I want my license plate brilliantly lit, I just can't stand the burnt amber color of the light produced by the tungsten bulbs.

It's purely an aesthetic thing, most likely due to owning a newer Rover with the crisp white/blue light band produced by xenon bulbs. I just like the color of light better.

If I can figure out a way to turn on my fog lights independent of having the headlights on, I want to swap out at the H3 bulbs for some high-powered SMD LED panels. Due to their longevity, they can be used as daytime running lights and produce a virtually equivalent light color as true HID xenons. Since the fog lamps have a clear lens where bulb shines through, it would seem to be viable option, unlike the main beams which have the casing with prisms for halogen bulbs.

[BeanBean]

I like the look. You have me in the market for some LEDs now.

[Hoges]

P38arover wrote:

I do have to ask, though, why do you want your number plate brilliantly lit?

The answer relates to matters "in camera" ....

[p38arover]

P38arover wrote:

I do have to ask, though, why do you want your number plate brilliantly lit?

The answer relates to matters "in camera" ....

That's why mine is barely legal - maybe it's not even that.

[99p38a]

I don't think that the license plate lights are set to the bulb failure warning. Unless if only 1 of the 2 is blown it still draws enough for the failure not to warn. I found this out when I had my car taken for inspection. The shop charged me $4 for the bulb and $10 to put the bulb in. Only 1 blown, couldn't convince them to let me out since it still has one. All else was great.

[wills]

I was thinking of doing the puddle lights in the doors as well, but can't get the damn things out.

After reading this thread I started wondering about putting LED bulbs in my puddle lights too - I got hold of 2 from Halfords (UK parts store place) for a ridiculous price of £9.72p just as a little experiment.

Got home and put them in and the difference was amazing, the ground is very well lit when opening a door now whereas before I sometimes couldn't even tell I had puddle lights!

I have since done a bit of research on-line and found the Ultraleds.co.uk do some interesting LED bulbs for cars at a more reasonable price so have ordered a few as more of an experiment to see what those bulbs are like - they even do bulbs for the dash etc (the little wedge base one) AND they do ones which would fit the HeVAC unit (im not going for blue colours or anything, just the original green colour). As said, I have some on order so will post back with results, they will probably look awful

Lastly, to get the puddle lights out, get a small flat blade screwdriver, like a jewellers one and push it into the edge of the lens on the puddle light, push hard and the screwdriver will slot in between the lens and the rubbery plastic housing of the light. Once in, lever the lens out and then that will allow you to squeeze the body of the puddle light itself on different sides so you can pull it out of its hole. Took me a few mins to get the first one out but once you get the technique its easy, I had the other side changed in less than a minute!

-Wills

[p38arover]

I don't think that the license plate lights are set to the bulb failure warning. Unless if only 1 of the 2 is blown it still draws enough for the failure not to warn.

But you are right, A single bulb failure won't bring up the warning. I tried it tonight.