Drew_ML

Oh duh, of course you're right. I was thinking of voltage. Thanks for the correction

Drew_ML

There are two slight hotspots in the middle of the lens, however, the reflector is still utilised nicely and the entire brake lamp portion of the lamp is illuminated. The colour is also much more intensely red, as the LEDs are red themselves whereas the incandescent bulbs that are used are clear.

Jens C320

If one of the LED's burn out, does it trigger the "lamp out" warning on the info display?

vadim

LEDs never burn out under normal conditions, unlike incandescent bulbs. You can burn them, of course, by applying very high voltage - but this is a purely hypothetical situation in a car.

Jens C320

Yes, I do understand that...but in the case that the LED should burn out, would it trigger a message on the info display? Ever since I've driven cars with "smart displays" I've never checked the lights on a car and let the computer tell me. Before I go ahead and get the LED lights for my C320 Touring (which I hopefully get soon...) I want to know if I should check the rear lights periodically or if I can trust the display.

amdeutsch

You are dealing with a double-edged sword here. LEDs draw very little current. Now, this replacement will have numerous LEDs and then you have your load resistor. This resistor will use up most of the current in this scenario.
It will all depend on how close to the edge you are within the tolerance band. On the low side and you could. On the high side you won't because you are moving towards the low side.
Since there are multiple LEDs in the assembly I doubt you would need to be worried and be checking it all the time. LEDs come in different sizes. Therefore you could have an assembly with a whole lot of little ones or you could have one with just a few.
Find out how many LEDs will be in each assembly and evaluate it from there.

Just my $0.02.

vadim

Yes, you should check like once every 50 years or so.

Drew_ML

LOL, I think that I'd agree with that. It is extremely unlikely that the entire LED bulb will crap out. I think that the worse case scenario is that, one LED may dim a little more but not fail completely. Since there are 15 LEDs in all, that will only make a minute/imperceptible difference.

Oh BTW, vadim, since the coupe uses a vertical bulb for the brake lamp, I was thinking that formymercedes.com's Red snake light LEDs may do the trick instead. I bought a couple of these for another purpose and they are similarly bright as the LED bulb's LEDs. Since they're simply LEDs with pre-wired resistors and a two foot long lead, one could somehow wire them into the bulb socket (and load equaliser) and position them into the lamp assembly. This will save you the need to customise a lighting rod.

SKIDZ

Hey, how's everyone do'n? It's so cool to see how so many of
you all are into LEDs. It looks to me like there are a lot of
people knowledgeable about LEDs.:p :p I could use some
new ideas for use of LEDs.

kkboy82

hey Skids,

I tried to use the search function to search for the instructions for the modification of the lights in the exterior rear view mirror, could you please tell me where you posted the instructions or maybe post it here?
thanks a lot!!

Jim Banville

It looks like a LED/light manufacturer needs to design an LED replacement "bulb" that has an outside row of LED's that face towards the reflector, to avoid hot-spotting. Seems fairly simple to do

oggle

Drew_ML, are you affiliated with formymercedes in any way?

Drew_ML

Heh, nope, absolutely not. Just a very happy repeat customer

Drew_ML

There will still be a hot spot since the LEDs facing backwards will appear brighter than the light that is spread out by the reflector. It's the same thing that happens with an incandescent bulb except that the bulb's filament is not quite as bright.

3pointedSTAR

You mean something like this? The guys at www.ledtronics.com does wonders with LEDs.

I think the point of this design is to spread the light better rather than for heat dissipation.

The picture is of a brake/tail.. they also have just brake

3pointedSTAR

Is it just me or do these mass produced resistors ( http://www.liean-gimn.com/products/l/11.htm ) look amazingly like the load equalizers that "are specificially designed by the manufacturer of the LED bulbs to complement the bulbs and to dissipate the heat effectively" ?


Cheers

amdeutsch

Yup they look very similar to the pic Vadim posted. As I stated in my previous post I believe it is just salesman talk to a customer thereby justifying his prices. One can find these power resisitors from varying sources. I think the reason Drew calls them 'load equalisers' is because thats what he was told by Jerry at formymercedes. Now I can understand Drew buying them from Jerry because when he bought the LED lights he added the resisitors and the shipping charge probably didn't change that much ($1.00 maybe) if at all. I made a few calls in my town and found that I definitely can find them just as cheap if not cheaper here. And any tax will be less than a shipping and handling charge.

vadim

Of course these "load equaizers" *are* mass produced resistors, what else are they? There is no rocket science involved here, everything is very basic, within a high school physics course.