Got bored, fitted LED sidelights!

[Birchy63]

Thought i'd just make a post to better describe what happens when fitting LEDs to a Vectra C..... With video/image to follow.

I had some LED bulbs lay about from when I changed the courtesy light.

I popped into Maplins to pick up some high power (10Watt) resistors and scotch locked them across/parallel to the bulb holders, tested they would stop the bulb warning light (which they do) and measured the temperature of them, they reach nearly 100°C so have to be placed outside the headlamp unit and away from metal work (unless you want a short circuit/blown fuse).

The LEDs flash alternately exactly 16 times each when you lock the car. They MIGHT also flash when running in daylight conditions, but this would be unnoticeable and Im always one of the first to turn on my lights anyway.

The flashing isn't too bad, like I say it does stop permanently after 16 flashes. The heat from the resistors is slightly worrying, but any plastic nearby should be rated far higher than 100°C, so again no issue...

I might worry if by some stroke of bad luck a Police officer saw me park up at night with 2 pure white lights (looks slightly blue at night) flashing alternately. It also occured to me that some special brewed up chav might be stupid enough to think it was a Police car and do some damage.....

Im sure neither will ever happen though and they're a ton brighter than the standard bulbs!!
Tempted to keep them on as DRLs

Note
I wouldn't recommend replacing the stop/tail lights as the resistor value needed to stop the warning lights could mean temps well in excess of 100°C.... You really don't want that in the boot of your motor!!

[Big Dave]

Instead of resistors, why not use the original bulbs but hidden somewhere?

[Birchy63]

The original bulbs would have been more difficult to fit and the contacts are too flimsy to solder to, so id need a spare bulb holder x2. They also get very warm (too warm to touch)....

The flashing would also still occur too


Resistors are 47p each from Maplins

[Derek Mc]

I thought of using original bulbs spliced into the loom before it hits the headlight at the connector side?

[Birchy63]

Bulbs/resistors, both will work the same way....

But don't cut the loom/wire insulation!

Pick up some scotch locks.....



Any hardware store/DIY shop should have them.

[mucklestone]

Scotch locks are OK for DIY but are no where near as good as soldering. They are also almost never the right size so they end up cropping a few strands in the process as well!

[Birchy63]

These are the correct size, I have a selection of different sizes

I've got a proffesional Weller soldering station and a portable, neither would get in behind the light unit without damaging something in the process :/

I soldered some 16/02 to the cropped resistor legs with high temp solder (good for 210C, where normal solder = 180C), probably not necessary! but this was before id measured the heat output from them!
Then scotch locked wire to wire.

Defo can't get an iron in there without removing airbox though.... Other side is easier.
Just getting a pair of pliers in to squish the scotch locks was hard enough! lol


Im going to post images/video to show how they look and how they flash.... I spent age's trying to find out exactly what happens as all the descriptions I found on the web have been quite vague. So the exact results will be here for all to see.

[Big Dave]

Ah, scotch locks, or to give them their proper name:- botch locks.

Never a reliable method of connecting wires together.

[vectra_c_wannabe]

i was pondering about the flashing the other day, could you not fit a capacitor before the led's?? that way the capacitor would fill up with the vecs "bulb check circuit thingamybob" and hence not light the led's? there would be a small delay when switching led's on while the capacitor fills up but it wouldnt be huge delay as the capacitor doesnt need to be that big!?!?! am i completely wrong on this??

[Birchy63]

^^ thought about that, but a capacitor would just "absorb" the check pulse and cause warning errors.

The only way I can see of stopping this completely is to replace the bulb with a relay and feed the LEDs directly from the battery, a relay would not have time to switch during the pulse. But this would involve hacking up the loom and quite honestly probably isnt worth he hassle.

At the moment im quite fond of the flashing 16 times when I leave the car, it's a bit "different" lol

I just don't yet know if it does this when the ignition is on and the lights are off. I suspect it will, but im too busy cropping video's (see other thread) right now to go back down the garden and check