vanbong84

hey so if you connect the polarity to the capacitor wrong it would pop and the light wouldn't come on is that correct?

Spec_Davis

Blue nice write up and I will be doing this mod this spring looks very easy to do now I have to order the parts.

bringtherain

so is there a version of the leds that are bluer? looking to switch out my oem ones with ones that would match my HIDs. might be hard since they dim at night >.>

blue00r6

depends how long you hold the capacitor on backwards. if its just a second it might not pop, if its more than a few seconds it will pop and then yes, it will be useless. depending on how/if the lights are connected, they should still come on, they will just flicker.

jimmythegreek

the 2012 LEDs are blue shade instead of white like the 2011s. Havent looked closely but I think they are different shape and size than the previous years, you gotta check for yourself.

jimmythegreek

It also depends on how you are wiring the LEDs. I have only had to use capacitors once when installing LEDs, ive done 6 sets now and 2 on Eclass. If you use a relay setup u dont need capacitors, this is a fact. If you are jumping off ur turn signals or the existing fog lights, you may need a capacitor, i only used them for sidemarker jump so far. If you feed them w 12volts straight there is NO NEED for a capacitor, they dont flicker

vanbong84

ok so i cut off the wire to my fog lights and hooked it up. i think the capacitor is on correctly since they didn't pop and i've been driving with it for the weekend and the lights are on. i do still have the flickering problem but its not even a big deal. it stays on for a really long time like say 20min-30 then the driver side goes out for like 5 seconds then come back on for another long random interval.

Launchstation

Greek is correct. I wired mine directly to the fuse box in the engine compartment. I used an unused fuse slot. I tapped into that and then ran an in-line fuse directly to the LEDs (in case of a short or accident). No flicker, no worries. Operates just like the 2011 at full brightness (minus the auto-dimming feature of course). I may tap into the fog light + lead so that the LEDs come on as part of the surround lighting feature. Haven't made up my mind yet.

PalladiumC300

What resistor do I need to get them to run dimmer for night time I've been playing around with the wiring and have a way to do it but every resistor I've used makes the led flicker like a strobe

chrlbake

Does anyone know which prong coming out of the led unit is + and which is negative?? Also how do you know the polarities on the two sides of the capacitor??

The guy at frys gave me a 50v capacitor and said that was fine that as long as you went to a larger volt it was ok... Is they true.. ( so I got a 100 microfarad, 50 v). Anybody have pictures of there capacitor setup/ wiring on the back of the led unit..

Thanks!!

vanbong84

i think if u look at the side of the capacitor you'll see ------ and its greyed out. thats the negative prong.

chrlbake

Does anyone know which prong going into the back of the led housing is + and which s. negative???

PalladiumC300

For anyone installing now you can tap the blue/black wire on your main headlight plug it has power on ignition only and I didn't need a capacitor off of that wire

pnoyworx

Thanks ^^^^

jimmythegreek

If you have a 2011 its the brown wire thats - and the green thats +

any capacitor has a black/grey stripe on the side if you look closely, thats the negative side. Depending on where you wire the LED from you may not need a capacitor. If you wire a high amp source there is no need, I recommend to EVERYONE here doing this mod to use a relay, its the best way and takes 5 minutes longer and is MUCH cleaner of an install. Just use the kick leg of the relay tapped to whatever u want the LED to come on from, this way u get no dash errors or under draw other lights in the car. Using a relay u need NO capacitors and it makes it much simpler to wire the LEDs. The trimmer plug is almost worthless IMO, they dont make a repair plug so what I do is solder right to the pins and slide the trimmer over to waterproof w a dab of die-electric grease. This works best overall.......

LandSeaAir

One thing and probably the only thing I would miss about my fogs is at night when I unlock the car and it lights up the ground.

I am wondering, do the LEDs light up the ground at all? Or is it very minimal?

I think the 2011s with the stock DRLs are programed to put the low beams on when the car is unlocked, I am wondering if a STAR technician could program an 08 to put the low beams on when you unlock it.

It seems like a lot of people have done this mod with wiring it to the fog light, with the capacitor, do you get any error messages when on or off?

blue00r6

the way mine are hooked up, they come on w/unlocking at night. and they definitely light the ground up

jimmythegreek

mine too. I have a double isolation relay setup now. They come on w the unlock and headlights (2011 thing) and are also on all the time full bright. they give off lots of light, I could prob run around w just them on and the headlights off and see pretty good, I would say the same as the fogs on my 2008 maybe a tad less. full brightness is great, looks so good at night too.....

Im not sure if they are getting error outs to the fog wiring, I never did one that way. Nobody I have installed for has wanted that look, then u have to have the parking lights on to pull the fog light out to activate. the 2011/2012 have them on solo, thats the look........

benzo-boi

Jimmy and Blue,

Would you guys mind elaborating how how your lights are setup? I've been wanting to do this mod for the longest time. I was contemplating between this or just getting the Sypder headlights with built in LEDs. I have the OEM Bi-Xenons on my car. Since it's not available yet, I think I'm going to do this mod instead.

I would like the exact same setup, where it's always on, full brightness, night or day and lights up when the car is unlocked.

I'm probably going to go the shop and get this done soon.

Any details on the wiring for my tech would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Thanks!!

LandSeaAir

If you look through this thread you'll see there's a lot of info on different setups.

benzo-boi

PalladiumC300, if I use the relay method and tap into this wire, will it delay or flash/blink upon starting the ignition kind of like what someone else descriped in one of the threads earlier?

Or does it just turn on and stay on?

PalladiumC300

I'm not sure if you'll have any issues using a relay setup when you tap that wire but I've had mine on that wire for 2 weeks now without any issues not using a relay so I'd recommend doing it how mines wired

chrlbake

How do you do this relay setup?? I've read this many times and can't figure out what I need to do.

I wired up a setup to my side markers today with a capacitor wired in parallel and the sidemarker light came on for a second this turned off. Dash board read "check front right parking lamp". The capacitor I used was from frys, its a 100 microfarad, 50v, the guy said the 50v should be jsut as good as what was mentioned earlier. Is this my problem?

I would like for these to come on with ignition and unlock just cant figure what wires to tap and what relay stuff to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated as my car is dis-assembled right now!!

PalladiumC300

I ended up buying a module. They now work like a factory 2011 with dimming but I have the option to go full bright by turning on my fogs. Teamapt.de makes the module you can get one for about 100 euro.

caligreenzzz

nice, been wanting to get some drl's...do you have a link for the module??? thx