The LED lighting thread

[Sea Ranch]

This (below) is what I'd put in my Plus 2 (when I win the lottery )

Seriously, I have recently concluded that some night time driving will be part of our touring and I believe these Holley RetroBright 7" LED headlights will be installed.

(I also recently completed the switchover to LED for the 8 gauges in the Plus 2S facia. Now I can read them at night )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9erKnbHQK0

[TBG]

Oh and I have fitted modern LEDs in my current headlights and mounted the drivers just behind on the bodywork - plenty of room to do it. The result is fantastically bright beams up and down with a really good cut off on dipped. D

[stugilmour]

Interesting video Veg. Those look pretty good at under $200 each. Probably pretty similar to Hella or Bosch halogens and look plug & play.

I also went with Classic Car LED’s. Excellent supplier with a somewhat lame web site. I managed to figure my overseas order without phoning, which was great.

The interior lighting is fantastic, can actually read a map. I actually added a dimmer from a modern car to the gauge lamps, which in my car use more modern wedge style bulb sockets. Colour looks great with the Plus 2 dash.

I now have two LED bulbs in the front sidelight housing with Federal amber lenses. Bright enough to be an excellent Day Time Running Lights.

Rear lamps are also excellent. Top tip from Classic is to get amber or red bulbs as required, which totally prevents the weird pink colour when you mash the brake.

As mentioned above, you will need a replacement LED compatible flasher relay(s), which in my case was actually the biggest PITA with the upgrade. I simply forgot where I put the single relay (custom Spyder loom) when I rewired the car. Turned out to be positioned right at the ash tray, but turned out to be a dash out job. You can avoid a flasher change with giant eBay resistors in series with each turn signal bulb, but in our fibreglass cars there does not appear to be a safe way to mount them.

I went for the Classic Car LED’s headlamp bulbs, which I installed in my 7” Hella halogen glass lense & bucket assembly. Pattern and brightness seems good, but not a giant improvement from halogen. Seems to draw a heck of a lot less, but have not checked with an ammeter. Note the LED bulbs had a rather large black box attached, which I managed to fit into the Plus 2 headlight bucket. Biggest issue I have with the Plus 2 headlights is mine vibrate like crazy and I may need a new bucket to get better adjustment.

I also have a pair of PIAA halogen driving lights mounted behind the grille, similar to the above photo. I originally wired them to come on with the high beam. They actually added very little practical light, probably because they are mounted so low.. I now have them wired to a dash switch to use as a a DTRL setup, which seems to work OK. They are also wired as a flash to pass, but this feature only works if you have them switched off as running lights. My conclusion is they are OK for flash to pass but with the two LED bulbs in the front sidelight housings as running lights they are probably not required.

Classic Car LED’s seemed a bit spendy with shipping and all, but very happy with the results.

HTH

Stu

[h20hamelan]

Sea Ranch, the retro bright lights get great reviews.
I was considering it all, RoadSafetyBC is apparently cracking down on cars that are not stock with LED headlights.
Who really knows what the truth is, but I would guess there is legislation already or there will be.
Doesnt stop you from putting on HiD or LeD in other front facing places.
Or wait for them to tell you, or ask ICBC etc…?

I prefer the HiD projectors, and LeD for wide close-up.

[Sea Ranch]

Hi, Stu and everyone

Wish someone would market a properly designed LED replacement for the Lucas Square 8 driving lights in the Plus 2S cars. These Lucas lights showed up on everything from Rolls to Shelby Cobras and Mustangs. But aren't much good. Love to get some serious lighting from them without having to switch to some other type of rectangle light.

BTW, Stu . . . another advantage of the S model are the factory driving lights which are excellent DRL

Christmas greetings . . .

[trw99]

Try Better Car Lighting. Gil is by all accounts most helpful and knowledgeable. He does Rolls Royce too!

https://www.bettercarlighting.co.uk/ind ... t&catId=48

Tim

[stugilmour]

Veg, good point on the S model driving lights as DTRL’s. I used to routinely use the fog lamps on my Esprit as DTRL, although the bulbs didn’t last terribly long. I considered mounting some of those but the thought of modifying the Federal body shell intimidated me.

One idea I had seen on the interweb for using the PIAA driving lights (or similar halogens) as DTRL’s. The two lamps are wired in series for the DTRL configuration, which dims both of the halogen filaments. Was thinking I could still have flash to pass by changing to parallel wiring and having both filaments momentarily at full intensity. Don’t think this trick works with LED’s though. I think my Dodge minivan used this wiring.

I ended up just using the PIAA’s at full intensity and have never been flashed. They are aimed fairly low and well below the centreline of the headlamps.

Quick adder I meant to include above. I installed a third brake light, using a lamp housing from an E28 BMW five series sedan. The slope of the Plus 2 rear glass matches the housing quite well, and it all looks kind of period correct. I figured the high mounted brake light is a great idea on such a low car, and most drivers now expect to see one I suppose.

I also added two self contained LED courtesy lights in each leg tunnel. Easy to wire under the dash and makes entering the car at night a lot better. I left them as the pure white shade as that is all I could easily find locally.

Tim, thanks for the link to Better Car Lighting. I am going to try one of these map lights

https://www.bettercarlighting.co.uk/ind ... ductId=244

I have experimented with a similar warm white LED strip light tucked between the dash and plastic console. The idea is to provide enough ambient light up the dash to see the switches on dark moonless nights in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately my current setup puts glare on the inside of the windshield glass, so not so good. I was trying to find something hooded like this map light.

Sorry for the length. Solidly into winter here, and fiddling in the garage for another several months waiting for spring….

Stu

[Sea Ranch]

Quick adder I meant to include above. I installed a third brake light, using a lamp housing from an E28 BMW five series sedan. The slope of the Plus 2 rear glass matches the housing quite well, and it all looks kind of period correct. I figured the high mounted brake light is a great idea on such a low car, and most drivers now expect to see one I suppose.

I like that brake light housing, Stu. Does look a good angle. I have an oval motorcyle LED taillight stuck onto the back of the package tray on my car. Does the job (wired with a programmable flasher unit to get a second of flashing before it goes solid red). But not exactly fitted into the slope of the rear screen, by no means.

We've had snow around here (Surrey) for the last week, and that means salt on the roads. I have to content myself with warm-ups and runs up and down the driveway!

Randy

[smo17003]

I have also used Better Car Lighting for my LED lighting. I have also fitted Gil's push button hazard warning kit
https://www.bettercarlighting.co.uk/ind ... ductId=753
I used a Sprint dashboard, second hand via Ebay, with the spare hole for the brake fail warning lamp on my S4. I had to enlarge the hole to 19mm to take the hazard switch, but I think it looks quite good. I'll try and post a photo. He also does toggle switch versions if you prefer to hide the switch under the dash.
And I also fitted Gil's flasher sounder https://www.bettercarlighting.co.uk/ind ... ductId=546
I have it stuck on top of the plenum chamber which helps to give it a very loud "click".

Mike

[DamianB]

Another recommendation here for Gil and his Better Car Lighting LED products.

https://bettercarlighting.co.uk/

Gil supplied me with all the parts and the clear instructions I needed to replace my side lights, indicators, instrument, dashboard and headlamp bulbs with LEDs, including new relay and indicator sounder unit. When I got stuck he emailed straight back with advice.

It was all very straightforward on my S3, and the improvement in lighting is terrific. + I tell myself that I can now run more slack in my alternator drive belt, and save my water pump too. Wins all round.

[Sea Ranch]

+ I tell myself that I can now run more slack in my alternator drive belt, and save my water pump too. Wins all round.

This is very interesting to me. Are you saying that if you adjust your alternator belt slack enough, it will only turn some of the time? Or slip some times? I'd like to hear your thoughts (or anyone's) on this.

I run my car's belt slack, but I assume it's always turning and that if it slips, I'll "hear" about it.

[baileyman]

For a third stop lamp I got one of these from TTR:

https://www.subesports.com/lifeline/rai ... 21-100-011

I do't think they still have it. Since the car is road only right now I wired it up parallel with the stop lamps. It's unavoidably brilliant--you know for sure I'm on the brakes. John

[TBG]

Quote " I tell myself that I can now run more slack in my alternator drive belt, and save my water pump too. Wins all round."

You don't have to worry about any of that if you have a twin crankshaft pulley. D

[Sea Ranch]

Don't want to be guilty of pulling this thread too far away from LED Lighting.

But having 2 pulleys does not change the fact that you still need very carefully adjusted light tension on the water pump pulley. 2 pulleys would allow different tensions on the two pulleys; I get that. If I were modifying the pulleys and drive setup, I'd be putting on a toothed system. But each to his own.

What I am interested in (and what the thread is about) is the idea expressed by DamianB that with less draw on the alternator due to LED install, he can run less tension on the alternator/water pump pulleys . . .

[mbell]

Less draw means less force needed to turn the alternator to generate the required power. Less force means in theory you could run the belt slacker and there still be enough friction to turn the alternator.

Personally I doubt you can optimize belt tension to that level, unless you're prepared to live with a certain amount of belt slip at times.