Work has Started

[stuc]

Had a bit of time today so started putting my LED's in the inside and on the front. Waiting for some coming to light the side door opening up when the doors open.


LED side lights.



Footwell lighting both sides.


Rear interior lighting, remote control on/off and dimmer. Great for keeping an eye on the kids.

[MountainGoat]

Can you give us the low down on which leads that you used and where! I have been thinking of doing this on my Bongo for a long time but do not have a clue which types of leads go where. This should be very useful to the new owner of my Bongo who was very happy with the leads I fitted to the conversion lamps in my Bongo so he will probablly be even more please if he can replace as many of the original lighting equipment with leds. Hopefully there will be more colours available than just blue.

Tony

[stuc]

Hi Tony, for the footwell lights I used these but any of the led strips do the same job, its just I had these already.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-4-Unit-LE ... 56450b0691

Just took a feed from the light that lights the cup holder so they work when you switch the sidelights on.

For the rear lights I used these: They do come in different colours, but with the blue I can drive with them on and they are not too distracting.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-RING-LED- ... 5650da5618

They come with a control box which allows them to flash in different modes or dance with music but this broke so I just took the box off and wired them direct to a feed from the leisure battery through a remote controller which you can use to remotely turn on any 12v equipment.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wireless-Remo ... 564c2c87e0

[Northern Bongolow]

you may have trouble come testing time if the fronts are blue mate, are they as blue as they look in the pics.

[stuc]

you may have trouble come testing time if the fronts are blue mate, are they as blue as they look in the pics.

They are actually white but couldn't get a better pic as they are quite bright. So should be ok.

[rapiddescent]

If you are going to use LEDs, use the high power CREE xpg or xlm. There's a new one at 1600 lumens but it is not generally available yet.

There are things to think about.
1. the led colour temperature. Too low, and the bulbs look blue and will fail mot. Also, blue is not friendly to the eyes. I blame 10,000 years of humans and camp fires have tuned our eyes to the red spectrum. You can get warmer LEDs now but the market is full of crappy blue wavelength diodes.

2. Directional beam, I'm only now beginning to see multi-direction LEDs that will work in normal car reflectors. An led in the place of a normal filament bulb won't project properly. You can buy led lenses on eBay etc. Your mileage may vary (as they say)

3. In snow, an led bulb will give you a headache as the led works at a much lower frequency. This makes a strobe effect like an 80's disco.

I'm really pro led, I spent £750 upgrading every bulb to CREE led OK in my house and mountain biking have been using cree leds for many years.

[Simon Jones]

A lot of the Ring branded LEDs you get from Halfords etc have a disclaimer for good reason: "For off road use only". I've had an MOT failure before due to some 'white' LED sidelights being slightly too blue. It's worth spending a few extra pounds to get decent legal LEDs. I know you can always change back to conventional bulbs, or disconnect before your next test, but that wont always help you if you get pulled over by the Police at the side of the road.

[helen&tony]

Hi
Don't get conned when looking at ratings in Lumens...The T6 Cree chip that's the latest one, is rated anywhere between 1600 and 1800 lumens...BUT....BUT, that only equates to 7Watts output...the clever thing about it LOOKING brighter, is that the Cree chips deliver a colour that APPEARS brighter than a conventional bulb. I think that's where the catch is on DRLs...lots of folk selling them, but they ain't necessarily legal...I just bought a set that ARE EU compliant, and they will at least be a saving on bulbs. As far as I'm aware, there are only 3 firms selling EU compliant DRLs....I got caught out on forgetting my lights, so I'm rigging mine to go on with the ignition, and dim at night.
Cheers
Helen

[stuc]

Relax guys if they look good just fit them and take the chance, one life live it and all that.
I ride a bike with small plate, loud pipe, dark visor and hear all the stories but I have had no problems in the past and will face the consequences if I got stopped. A lot is how you deal with the policeman involved, most are decent blokes who will just point out that what you are doing is illegal and give you a chance to put it right.
May be different down south.

[Terri & colin]

That looks good, I can't wait to pimp mine.