LED Lights

Okay 1987 110 Turbo Diesel, Anyone any experience of fitting led lights (bulb replacements) for all except headlights (of course) so that would be:

  1. Front side lights
  2. Rear stop/tail
  3. Front and rear indicators Any problems experienced/tails of woe or jubilation Comments?
Reply to
Landnurse
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  1. The bulbs are expensive.
  2. Only use them if the bulb change is very difficult, like the brake lights on a 7 seat disco where you have to remove the seats to change the bulbs! ( Reason is that they have a very long life)
  3. The bulbs are intolerant of too high voltage and will blow.
  4. They will blow if exposed to heat, so don't use led sidelights within a headlamp chamber.

I use them on my boat as they have very low current draw which enables the solar panels to keep the batteries charged up and they are brilliant for that, but the current draw is not a problem on vehicles.

Don't forget to buy red ones from brake/tail lights otherwise you lose a lot of light if you use white ones through a red filter.

I wouldn't bother using them on vehicles other than above.

TonyB

Reply to
TonyB

TonyB uttered summat worrerz funny about:

A quick google groups search within this group will throw up more threads than you can poke a stick at. :-)

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

Hardly worth it for the indicators IMO and potentially a problem loading the flasher unit unless you get the corrrect wattage- Kato sports stop and tail leds they seem much brighter in dayulight than the normal bulb plus bulbs a are a royal tw*t to change on a seven seat Disco short of removing the side seat that said the n/s is very dim at the moment - waiting for a break in the rain to see why . The sidelights are also bright leds and exceptional, about the same brightness as series 1 mainbeam :-)

Derek Kato Disco 200TDi The telephone is said to be the curse of the modern age, I confess I didn't know Lucas made phones

Reply to
Derek

I hope your were not charged to take the seats out !!!

It can be done without taking the seats out in a matter of a few mins.

Reply to
Marc Draper

That is also my experience.

Reply to
William Tasso

I did have LED bulbs as front side light on my series 3 mainly for the extra brightness without melting the bulb holder. However they didn't last more than a few months before some of the LEDs in the bulb stopped working, were dim or flickered. Had the same problem with some I was using inside for the dashboard etc. Also had the same problems using them on a Jaguar X type and BMW 325. The only reason for the problems that I can think of is the LED's don't like voltage spikes and the aftermarket LED's don't seem to be made to withstand use on a cars battery, alternator system. The LED's supplied / fitted by car manufacture's must be made to withstand this as I've had no problems with them. I have now ditched LED's and using normal bulbs again.

Regards Liam

Reply to
Liam

Liam wrote: The

LED´s don´t like current spikes or overtemperature operation. Maybe sticking a Zener diode or transorb across the loom to the lights would fix it.

Steve

Reply to
steve Taylor

Really? On a 300 Tdi Disco? Love to know how. TonyB

Reply to
TonyB

Pardon my ignorance - I don't understand what difference the engine makes to changing a rear light?

Reply to
William Tasso

William Tasso uttered summat worrerz funny about:

Well a wild stab in the dark but did they change the interior trim between the 200 shape and 300 shape as they are so often refered? As in when the front end's got the face lift, there was also some jiggery pokery with lights as one had the Meastro van lamps..... not a clue if the later are the same or different.

I haven't had the pleasure yet but have a late 300 shape Disco.

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

Lee_D uttered summat worrerz funny about:

No screws to allow access here on the outside.

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

Ours is an 'M' reg - still have no real idea if that is a 200 shape or a

300 shape - all very confusing for those of us without any sort of 'D' regardless of whether it's adorned by 'T' and/or 'i' or otherwise :)
Reply to
William Tasso

that's correct - access is from inside and it looks like the seats should be removed, but anyone familiar with working under a dashboard will be able to contort their body to reach the necessary whilst using the fingertip eyeballs to 'see' what is what - if you get my drift :)

Reply to
William Tasso

I think they mean early shape with 200 Tdi engine as opposed to later front and interior trim with 300 Tdi engine (M onwards).

Martin

Reply to
Oily

I believe the 300TDi has a much larger light cluster at the rear Kato being a 200TDi and having the famous Maestro Van unit. The problems start with the tight fit between the trim cover and the rear seat supports once you have that off hopefully without breaking the fragile plastic you cannot actually see the upper ( stop/tail) light plug. The plug is inside the panel hidden and which you access from below with the seat half up .If they are tight it means either taking out the seat or removing the cluster by unscrewing the two retaining thumb screws.Replacing the plug in situ is also awkward as you need to feel to set the retaining lugs into the correct slots

Derek

Reply to
Derek

On or around Sun, 26 Nov 2006 23:08:00 -0000, "TonyB" enlightened us thusly:

I've done it. 'snot as easy as it might be but it can be done.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:56:17 +0000, steve Taylor enlightened us thusly:

The ones supplied for automotive use are, or should be, able to cope.

I've found Ultra LEDs 35-led version quite good.

As for flasher units, the electronic kind can be doctored, provided you can get the info on the chip - all you need to do is cut the "bulb out sensor" track on the circuit board.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Someone mensioned this to me before but I wasn't sure what spec component I should use. Any advice on what spec I should look for?

Thanks Liam

Reply to
Liam

It was Ultra LEDs 35-led version that I had trouble with, actualy all the leds I've had came from them some have been OK but most havn't lasted long.

Liam

Reply to
Liam

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