Electrical Front fog lamp bulbs
2nd Gear
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 64
Likes: 0
From: Bay Area, CA
Got the Hoen fogs and city lights the other week and installed them today after I detailed my car. The fogs are a huge improvement over the stock ones and pretty close match to the xenon headlights. I know some people aren't totally satisfied with the color match, but they're good enough for me and more than what I wanted. No more yellow/orangish fogs.
Fog Lights Hoen H8 xenonmatch:
http://www.hoen-usa.com/fog.htm
City Lights W5W:
http://www.hoen-usa.com/city.htm
The installation took me 5 minutes. Turned the wheels, popped the cap off, unclipped both lights. City light has one pressure clip and the fog light has two pressure clips on the sides. (Note: I don't think it's possible to get the bulb mounts out without unclipping the harness. There just isn't enough room to twist.) Once both wire harnesses are off I just twisted the bulb mount counter-clock wise. City light I just swapped the bulb in the mount, fog light I replaced the whole mount, which has the bulb in it. Plugged everything back in and so far so good. No bulb out warnings or flickering.
I would say it's a pretty nice mod, and not too expensive either, and extremely easy to do.
Fog Lights Hoen H8 xenonmatch:
http://www.hoen-usa.com/fog.htm
City Lights W5W:
http://www.hoen-usa.com/city.htm
The installation took me 5 minutes. Turned the wheels, popped the cap off, unclipped both lights. City light has one pressure clip and the fog light has two pressure clips on the sides. (Note: I don't think it's possible to get the bulb mounts out without unclipping the harness. There just isn't enough room to twist.) Once both wire harnesses are off I just twisted the bulb mount counter-clock wise. City light I just swapped the bulb in the mount, fog light I replaced the whole mount, which has the bulb in it. Plugged everything back in and so far so good. No bulb out warnings or flickering.
I would say it's a pretty nice mod, and not too expensive either, and extremely easy to do.
I think like you were, I'm fed up with my city lights (and fog lights - which I rarely use) looking really stupid compared to my Xenons.
Have you had any of the poor behavior that seems to have plagued other posters in this thread?
2nd Gear
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
From: Honolulu, Hawaii
I'm wondering if different car years play an issue here. As I don't see any reason why there would be a problem. The stock bulbs and the hoen bulbs look identical and they plug in perfectly. No hacking or modifying anything, which I like. Just plug and play.
can i request pics of the city lights. i ordered the led lights from them that i eventually pulled as they threw errors more and more daily!
are there any other CEL -less solutions. i HATE the dingy yellowish OEM bulbs!
are there any other CEL -less solutions. i HATE the dingy yellowish OEM bulbs!
2nd Gear
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Okay so I switched my FOB to unlock one door instead of both. Tested thoroughly and did what the other posts did and could not get it to set off a 'Check Light' warning.
and here's a photo of my lights(during the day):
and here's a photo of my lights(during the day):
those who are adamant about LEDs, Dan at Mach V has LED city lights complete with resistors.
http://www.fastmini.net/ledexli.html
http://www.fastmini.net/ledexli.html
those who are adamant about LEDs, Dan at Mach V has LED city lights complete with resistors.
http://www.fastmini.net/ledexli.html
http://www.fastmini.net/ledexli.html
2nd Gear
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 64
Likes: 0
From: Bay Area, CA
i took pillar's suggestion / advice (thank you!) and got the LED kit from mach v.
It looks like a simple enough replacement but I haven't had a chance to complete it. Hopefully this weekend.
Couple of LEDs, couple of resistors, and a handful of wiring crimper connectors.
Reverse light and stealth indicators (front and rear) already completed. Getting the reverse light in was the only PITA - it is almost impossible to get to, even with my teeny hands!
Will post results asap
It looks like a simple enough replacement but I haven't had a chance to complete it. Hopefully this weekend.
Couple of LEDs, couple of resistors, and a handful of wiring crimper connectors.
Reverse light and stealth indicators (front and rear) already completed. Getting the reverse light in was the only PITA - it is almost impossible to get to, even with my teeny hands!
Will post results asap
2nd Gear
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 64
Likes: 0
From: Bay Area, CA
Finally, I'm all done.
Stealth indicators (front and rear), xenon match fogs, led city lights, xenon match reverse light.
For those interested, here are the instructions for the LED city lights that include the resistors.
Davidoyo - have any luck?
You'll need:
Stealth indicators (front and rear), xenon match fogs, led city lights, xenon match reverse light.
For those interested, here are the instructions for the LED city lights that include the resistors.
Davidoyo - have any luck?
You'll need:
- Utility knife
- Scissors
- Electrical tape
- Pliers
- (Maybe) wire stripper.
- A good light to light the tire well. As you work on it.
- Do one side at a time; turn the wheel OUT to get the most room.
- Remove the access cover
- Reach in and find the lamp holder and turn it -- I think it's counterclockwise when viewed from the rear. It turns about 1/8 of a turn and can be a little tough to get going. If you have trouble with leverage, try coming in lower, e.g. lie down and reach up towards it.
- Pull the holder out and swap the lamp. The lamp is polarized but will plug in either way. You can look at the diode markings and figure it out, but it's easy enough to just plug it in and see if it works. If just left the light dangling in the tire well and tried the lights.
- The car should report that the light is out (because the resistor isn't in place yet and the LED lamp doesn't draw sufficient current for the sensor). The light should come on though.
- Now you need to connect the resistor, it goes in parallel with the lamp, which means one end connects with each wire leading the to lamps. This is where having good light really helps.
- The wires leading to the lamp are wrapped with electrical tape / shielding. We need to remove a few inches to get some working space.
- Using the utility knife, give a tiny slit to the bottom of the electrical tape -- near the lamp, there is probably a little room to work with. Just a tiny slit, you don't want to nick the wires.
- Unwrap the electrical tape a little to get a grippable portion, then pull it away to expose about two inches, snip off the electrical tape you don't need any more.
- At this point, you should have a dangling lamp holder with LED lamp and two wires leading to it. On ours, one was brown, the other black - they had some other stripes on them too, but I don't recall the colors. It's not important though.
- We got some connector clips - I wasn't thrilled with them, but got them work. They're red plastic with a clasp and a connector blade. The idea is you feed the wires, close the clasp and the blade cuts and makes the connection. Note that on channel of the clip is through, the other has a barrier. The through channel is for the lamp wire; the barrier one is for the resistor.
- For each wire:
- Straighten the wire a bit so it's easier to work with.
- Rock the clip so it's over the lamp holder wire.
- Feed the resistor wire into the channel with the barrier -- make sure you go the long way so the blade will cut that wire. If the hold is tentative, use a bit of tape to hold it together while you work.
- USING pliers, carefully push the blade through -- I found this made a connection much easier than using the clips own clasp.
- Put a bit of electrical tape between the leads -- don't seal it, this is temporary.
- Check the lights to make sure they work and the warning indicators go off.
- Now close the clasps and wrap things up with some electrical tape so it's secure. Make sure to keep it flexible enough so the lamp holder can move freely from the wire bundle.
- Look closely at the lamp holder. On the side there are two little nubs -- one is slightly larger than the other. The lamp will only go in one way, and this is why.
- From the back, those notches go at northeast and southwest (I think).
- Feed the lamp through - you can actually see it fairly clearly from the front of the car if you have a decent reach.
- It should go all the way through; if it seems like it rocks a bit too much or isn't in all the way, try rotating 180 degrees and see if you can get it in further.
- Tighten it with a 1/8 clockwise turn. It should click into place.
- Replace cover.
I tried it, but because I am such a noob when it comes to electrical wires and stuff like that I could not do it. I was actual going to ask you for some install/completed pictures as I am more of a visual person.
2nd Gear
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 64
Likes: 0
From: Bay Area, CA
I'll try and get some posted this weekend. I do have some, but not for each step, but it "should" help a bit
2nd Gear
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 64
Likes: 0
From: Bay Area, CA
I will also reiterate, that the red plastic connectors we got were really quite difficult to use. I ended up hard-wiring one side as it was so tough.
Hey, I'm just a girl with absolutely no upper body strength whatsoever!
Hey, I'm just a girl with absolutely no upper body strength whatsoever!
That's fine. Pretty much any pictures would help at this point.
Converted my front markers/city lights to very nice pure white LEDs, at a fraction of the cost and headache. Picked this up on ebay...built in resistors so no error codes, and less than $12.00 a pair. I can snap a couple of pictures if you'd like.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT
3rd Gear
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 239
Likes: 0
Anyone know if these would work?
http://www.amazon.com/NOKYA-All-Dire...=38JAVDFJ23BFF
I'm thinking about getting these for the eyelids, and the nokya H8 yellows for the fog lamps.
I'm thinking about getting these for the eyelids, and the nokya H8 yellows for the fog lamps.
http://www.amazon.com/NOKYA-All-Dire...=38JAVDFJ23BFF
I'm thinking about getting these for the eyelids, and the nokya H8 yellows for the fog lamps.
I'm thinking about getting these for the eyelids, and the nokya H8 yellows for the fog lamps.