These caught my attention. A high power LED 7507 signal light that draws 13 watts. That is a seriously bright LED.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2pcs-...item2c52d68f78

I wonder is this is enough power to avoid a bulbout warning? Seems like this would get rid of the egg yoke and enhance safety with a high degree of brightness and give you that quick response time all while saving power. I just wonder what the threshold current draw is for the bulbout warning?

 

I am getting closer to a way to pull this one off. The 7507 bulb is 21 watt, vendor says it will definitely need a load resistor. Just need a schematic of the rear lights so I can add a load resistor. This is one site I found that has what you need to pull it off. http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...sp=%2F1157.htm

Here is another
http://www.urban-neon-car-lights.com...sistorkit.html
(little pricey but easily replicated)

It looks like LED lighting is really the future. Check out these H13 LED headlights. Could this replace those cumbersome HID retro kits?

http://www.ledlight.com/h13-18-smd-5...ight-bulb.aspx

These simply need a load resistor jumpered from hot to ground on low and high beams and you are done. I wonder if these are as bright as HID? Even if they are somewhere in between Halogen and HID, price is right for testing. Who will be the guinea pig? Even if they are a little dim, just wait a few weeks and someone will come up with one with double the power for less!

Still skeptical and think LED's are for Christmas lights?

check this out
http://www.effled.com/high-power-led...c-106_139.html

I had no idea until I found this. They make LEDs that draw up to 300 watts right now! The picture looks like a cluster but that is not enough individual LED's to add up to that kind of power. I give it maybe another year and this is going to be the mod everyone is doing (replacing HID right now), and another year and it will be standard equipment. For now we can forget about plug and play for our cars for everything except the plate light, parking lights and maybe side markers. We need to add load resistors in parallel to keep the warnings at bay. Add them at the wiring level to keep the heat away from plastic lights and housings that could melt.

If Mini were smart they would let you select the bulb type in that menu system. That would open up so many possibilities.

 

For headlights as you're suggesting, they'll be much dimmer than halogens and way too dim to be safe (not even remotely close). At best, they might look like daytime running lights. There is a reason that LED headlights are available on only a handful of high end cars. For headlights, LED technology is only just getting there.

 

I don't doubt it right now but I think it is coming. Manufacturer's would love 5 watt headlights. It would reduce the size needed for the alternator, wire sizes get thinner, it looks great and they get to charge the same price!

There is something in it for us. I was behind a truck today who had retrofitted an LED turn signal next to his existing incandescent lights. The delay between the two was so large that I thought the LED was on it's own flasher or some kind of flip flop relay set up. It was a good half second for the incandescent to warm up! We all could use that half second when we hit our brakes. I am going to forge ahead with this project (except the headlight portion of course).

UPDATE: RKW was right. I just replaced a 50 watt H3 foglight in my SUV with a 26 SMD LED and it is way dimmer. The bulb is slightly too long so I had to tape over the end led because it interferes with a reflector, so some efficiency is lost there to avoid a short. I have seen others that may work better but I am about done with this project. Definitely go with a smaller number of larger LED's rather than a larger number of smaller ones if you have a choice. So for sure LED replacement at 50 watts is not there yet, there is simply not enough room. My LED turn signals which are 13 watt are about the same brightness as the stock 21 watt incandescent, it may be slightly dimmer in my application but they are brighter than stealth bulbs so it is in the zone. Down below in 04 MINi-s's pics the LEDs appear to be brighter than the incandescent bulb, could be the angle of view or that application. Turn signals are a little more directional than brake lights%2

Update #2: I found an aftermarket 7" round LED headlight that has been on the market for a few years. It uses 10 LEDs and is as bright as incandescent so they are there as long as the reflector is designed around the LED. Replacement bulbs will remain behind until they invent a spherical LED or some kind of wedge to mount the square type at a better angle.

 

They make LED side marker turn signals already... I think they sell them on Mini Mania...

 

I recently installed 3 watt LED's from superlumination.com in my rear turn signals and reverse lights. I used 8 ohm resistors without having to splice any wires. I just soldered onto the back of the bulb sockets. I haven't looked at the fronts yet, but I'm hoping I can do the same there as well. I just hate cutting up factory wiring. I paid $9 shipped on amazon.com for 4 resistors. For a 13watt bulb you would want to use an 18 ohm resistor, or the closest to that you can find.
Those 13watt bulbs you found must be ridiculously bright. There are two things I would be worried about though:
1. Unknown quality, but then again they're so cheap why not?
2. They will generate a lot of heat and they have no heat sinks. Even my 3 watt bulbs have heat sinks.

 

Thanks Tintman, Nice hearing from you again. Do you have any pics of that install. That sounds exactly where I am going with this. I am curious what it looks like both dark and illuminated. Do you solder the resistor to that screw out bulb holder? It might be even easier than I thought if that is the case.

You are right about the quality and the price. From what I can tell the domestic equivalent costs about 63.00. So I feel plenty brave about trying these out. And so far what doesn't work so well on the R56 works just fine on the R53 since it doesn't monitor the bulbs. The only down side is shipping takes so long from Hong Kong. I still haven't received my shipment yet and I have been talking this mod up for feels like weeks!

 

I've ordered from that vendor (warden_jp2002) and other LED vendors in Hong Kong, and actually been pleasantly surprised at the shipping time (about 7-10 days to San Francisco). Any delay will most likely come from customs, not actual shipping.

When installing LEDs, always check how they compare to the original bulb. First install on one side only and leave the other side stock. Compare the two sides' brightness and viewing angle outside on a bright day (most any bulb will seem to be reasonably bright in the dark). The lamp fixtures have lenses and reflectors designed for the light pattern of filament bulbs. How well they work with a particular LED replacement bulb will be on a case by case basis.

 

3 watt parking light mod worked with no bulbout I'll have a new pic up in a few minutes

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150407088286&ssPageNam e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I think you are right about the brightness RKW While it is impressive how bright they are (you can make them out on the wall if headlights are on), but this times 10 would still not be as bright as halogen headlights. On the other hand it may be quite different in a reflector assembly. I ordered H-3 LEDs for a foglight in my SUV which appears to be about the same wattage size as this one above. I'll do one at a time and will let you know how that turns out.

WardenJP didn't make it yet. (don't order during Chinese New Year and you will be fine)

 

Any pictures of the bulbs installed in your MINI???

 

I ordered a pair of those 13w LEDs for my rear fogs (now brake lights) yesterday. They should be very bright considering the wattage.

 

I love those 3 watt parking lights. (I just tried to attach a photo, if it doesn't come through check my gallery). My turn signals haven't made it yet. Shipping is almost 4 weeks from Hong Kong.

13 watt rear fogs would be ungodly bright. I have to see that! I haven't hooked mine up yet because I am dreading pulling the dash apart only for the dealer to charge me $200.00 for reprogramming a $100.00 option. But I am sure I could tap another 13 watts into the front fogs and be done with it.

What type of bulb was that in the rear fog? Also how do you like that Alta intake?

 

As I said, I've ordered from them before. I believe they use airmail and 4 weeks is very long even for HK. I would e-mail them about it.

For your parking light LEDs, you'll need to keep an eye on their longevity. Parking lights stay constantly on for long periods, and the self generated heat can burn them out prematurely. This is a common problem with plug-and-play replacement LEDs because there isn't enough room for proper heatsinks.

 

Parking lights are so over-rated......... (check out my gallery)

I'm trying to find super bright led's for the front turn signals.
04Mini-S, let us know how those 13W bulbs work out for you. There's a possibility you might not even need to wire in any resistors.

 

The bulbs were shipped out yesterday so it may be over a week before I get them. The bulbs for the rear fogs are 1156. I know 13W will be VERY bright, but after almost being creamed by a Grand Marquis when some bright person decided to completely stop on the on ramp, I feel this is VERY necessary! I will post pics when I install them. As for the Alta, I personally like the whistling and hissing. You can for sure hear the air sucking in. That supercharger whine is really loud too !

 

I gotta get me one of those CAI's for both cars. I can't even hear the turbo on the 09 JCW and I know what I am missing on the 05 MCS. I used to have a Nissan Frontier V6 Supercharged with an intake. I got in all kinds of trouble listening to that whine. Good deal. I'm going to do that LED mod in the rear fogs. Hook up will be a piece of cake and I can avoid the stealer.

RKW, I just got some load resistors from Warden JP this evening. I'll ask him about that other shipment. If I am lucky it will make it tomorrow. I'll keep an eye on the LED's and check them for heat. So far my plate leds stay cool to the touch. I have a non contact thermometer so maybe I'll take some measurements and report back.

 

A note about heat and LED's. LEDs are generally very efficient and put out light instead of heat. Many LED's, even high end designer bulbs add resistors so that a single bulb can avoid bulbout warnings in a wide range of applications, some have voltage regulation to reduce flickering. Resistors get so hot because they consume all of the power they draw by changing electricity into heat. As RKW expressed above, heat is the enemy of electronics. So if we can, we want to avoid on board load resistors or keep them as small as possible.

As LED technology rapidly progresses, larger LED chips that consume more power are becoming available. These are as efficient as the smaller ones as far as light output goes and draw quite a bit more power without too much heat. They draw enough wattage so that we can replace 5 watt bulbs now and not worry about a bulbout warning! (I'l let you guys know how the 13 watt LED's flash when they come in).

In my Plate LED project I found a supplier that made LED's with no load resistors that did not trigger the bulbout warning. I just verified the temperature after a 30 minute commute using a non contact thermometer and verified by hand. My plate lights were 61 degrees, cool to the touch. The surrounding plastic was between 57 and 59 degrees. I checked my 3 watt, 13 LED parking lights. Those too were about 61 degrees surrounding and in the fog light housing was 57 degrees.

Quick note about rear fogs: my outmotoring kit for my 09 JCW fogs uses 194 style bulbs (it is a much larger bulb but the holder is 194 style). I found some even larger than my 3 watt parking light specials that I am going to get. Splicing in 3 watts to the 35 watt front fogs wont require any larger fuse. And the best part is I don't need to butcher my dash to put that toggle switch in. Should look cool. I'll take pics if this stuff ever ships!

Last update, RKW was more on the mark regarding LED heat dissipation than I gave him credit for. But still my tests show (at least in my application) most of the heat is probably coming from resistors not the LED. Looks like 212 degrees is about the threshold for reduced life and it is easy for a poorly sized load resistor to get up that high. As LED's get brighter they generate their own heat and this is indeed a big problem. Check out this article on LED's. http://www.designnews.com/article/45...21&rid=2394022

 

Got the LED bulbs today, almost two weeks from Hong Kong. I'm using them in the rear fog light sockets. They are a bright as the regular bulbs during full sun. However, if you use these in the turn signal socket, you will get hyper flash, so a resistor is needed for each side. These bulbs will light up the entire turn signal area, I will get a set of ambers and a pair of resistors next. I will post pics shortly.

 

Here are a couple of pics I took around 6p central.

With running lights...


Just brake lights...

 

I got mine today too! I installed them one at a time. If I only install the front drivers side, I get a normal flash and no bulbout (got me all excited!). Then I installed the passenger front and I get hyperflashing and a bulbout on both sides. I went ahead and did the rears, same flash rate. I would say the brightness is the same as a 21 watt incandescent bulb and is an amber/yellowish color, instant on looks good. when off it is completely stealth. They are 10 times brighter than my silver painted stealth bulbs so I think this is a good mod. Next I need to tap into the correct wires with 6 ohm 50 watt resistors. It may work with only one set.

Nice pics 04Mini-S! Now I see where those 1156's go. My rear fogs are in the lower panel and the bulbs look like 18watt malibu lights. In fact the wattage is about the same so I bet that is what they are. I am sure the LED's will way outpower the incandescent lights in that application, looks like your pics prove it.

One more update: I am still waiting for resistors to come in from Warden JP2002. But Tintman may come thru with another mod for me to try in the mean time using smaller resistors in the bulb sockets. Meanwhile I did find a way to live with the bulbout warnings and keep them from happening while you drive. During the first 5 seconds after start up the computer sends a low level current to all external lights. If you have any LEDs they will flicker while this is happening. It is that time when the computer is scanning for bulbouts. If you turn on both turn signals (and what ever else is giving you the warning like HID conversions etc) during this scanning period all bulbout warnings will be cancelled until you turn off the car. Drive in peace!

 

Smoke05s, here is how I wired my resistors directly to the bulb sockets. I wrapped the resistors in thermal exhaust wrap and then friction tape. The resistors are epoxy glued to the taillight assembly. I still have a bulb out for my reverse lights. My turn signals flash quickly for 2 seconds during first use, but then it's normal for the rest of the drive.
Can you post some pics of those 13W LED's lit up? I really want to see how bright they are. Perhaps a comparison shot?

 

I sent you a movie of them today taken at noon. The difference in brightness side by side is obvious. My stock bulbs are painted, so head to head with unpainted stock bulbs it would be much closer in brightness. But you still have the egg yoke problem. With this LED, and by the way these were 40.00 for the set so not that cheap on these, but you get stealth, instant on and comparable brightness to stock and I like the color better. When I get my sockets finished hopefully I will take care of all the bulb outs and drop the hyper flashing. I get 4 warnings for each signal now and 1 low beam. Hopefully I can get rid of that last lowbeam warning tomorrow.

My LED rear fog bulbs came in too. I am just going to tap into my front fogs and be done with that one.

Do you have LED back up lights? I would like to see what that looks like if you do.

 

Hey Smoke05S may I see that video as well?

 

Just sent you a pm. Do it in the next 1/2 hour and I will send tonight

 

hey smoke, do you think those 13W LED bulbs would be bright enough to use as brake lights? I would love to add LED brake lights to my jetta, right now i just have LED running taillights as i have never been able to find a drop-in LED that was bright enough (ie safe enough) to be a brake light.