Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

So the LED drama continues. Last week I changed out my rear turn indicators in this thread: https://my350z.com/forum/exterior-and-interior/126426-how-to-change-out-rear-turn-indictor-lights.html so this week I continued on with the front ones.

I'm using 15 LED wedge bulbs that have most of thier LEDs faced forward and a few off to the sides. Those sideways LED's light up the sides of the reflectors adding a bit more angle to the viewing.


See last week's high-beam thread here: https://my350z.com/forum/exterior-and-interior/125887-how-to-exchange-hi-beam-lamps.html for the rather simple instructions on how to remove the front wheel well splash guards to get to the light assembly.

While I was "in there" I also swapped out the amber corner reflector's for some clear/white ones. The passenger side is a b!tch as you have to remove a bunch of the 10mm screws attaching the bottom of the bumper cover in order to get to the reflector with a stubby screw driver from the bottom.



And the normal results.


One issue faced with changing the turn signal bulbs for low wattage LED's is that there are sensors that check the current flow of the bulbs. If a bulb is blown the current flow will drop and the sensor will cause the blinker to blink really fast - about four to five times faster than normal. Some like this, others don't - I didn't so I bought a pair of 3 ohm 50 watt resistors - one on each side are needed.


I used the included 3M slices to put the resistor in parallel with the LED attaching first one lead:


And then the other:


Note that you're going to want to crimp these guys on as far away from the socket as possible to give you a bit more wire to work with when mounting these things. I popped my blinker on and it was once again at the normal steady rate. I left the blinker on for a couple of minutes and found that the resistor was quite hot - very uncomfortable to touch. Because of this I wanted to mount these things to a good solid piece of medal to act as a heat sink and to prevent them from bouncing around and hitting something I didn't want hot.

The legs coming out of the resistor are quite strong so I used them as points to wrap the tie wraps around.


And finally a close up of the results. I'll suffer with the blue Xenon high beams as they're hidden under the projector lamps from most view points.


The poor car isn't road worthy at this point as I've got the bumper half off in order to install a steel billet grill tomorrow.

itsjoshufocker

iTrader: (4)

thanks for this thread! i need help with my regulator install too... i hate the fast blinking..

juhko

Wow, quite a job. How much time did you have to put in?

Did you know it would be this big of a hassle when you first bought the LEDs or was it because of the fast blinking problem?

Kaitain

iTrader: (3)

Great post, thanks for the info, very useful.

I actually like the amber refelectors but my car is blue and the amber is a nice contrast to that color.

itsjoshufocker

iTrader: (4)

if you install these in the rear, do you think they will work the same? because i know getting to the rear is much easier than the front....

Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

The 3 ohm's can be installed anywhere. I took the front as the wires were easier to get to rather than in the tight/narrow rear. They also need "breathing" space as they heat up pretty hot. Mounting them to the steel support kept them out of harms way with plastic and other cables.

KShep

iTrader: (4)

Well thought out DIY write up. I lived with the hyper-flash for a while then had the resistors installed....but my LEDs flash amber....the LEDs in you pic flash white?

sp1kez

I saw a picture of a Z that when the headlights came on the white reflector strip (as seen above) also comes on. Have you done this or have any idea how or where to get them?

isugoo

iTrader: (6)

thanks for nice step by step guide.