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Brand new, AMG sport package, 19" AMG wheels, 4 wheels drive (4Matic), powered seats, navigation, and a lot more. Only 450 miles. Serious buyer only.
Very presumptuous and rude. I don't have to explain to you, but the only reason I considered selling was because it doesn't have led. But that's really not your business, is it? What is your problem? Why did my changing the lights bother you? Too much time on your hands and decide to **** people off for fun? Or is it just your nature?
believe it or not, can be done with with regulating the current. Exactly how, I don't know.
Sorry, have to totally disagree with you there. Drive a LED with too many amps and it's dead. You can marginally affect the color temp of a LED by increasing voltage, but you won't get a white emitter turning blue (i.e. emitting in the 500 nanometer wavelength) and then back to white. If you've changed the output of the LED to such an extent then you've destroyed part of the phosphor balance inside the led and that damage will be permanent - closely followed by diode failure.
I'm not sure how much work you've done in the past with high powered LED systems, so don't take my advice the wrong way, but If you've wired those array chips into a pure 12V supply without any PWM and current limiting circuitry then it won't take long before something overheats and blows up. Drive current and thermal management on high output chips like that is a tricky business. Vehicle systems are notorious for unregulated circuits; your best hope is that whatever you've wired into is a balanced power circuit but the only way you're going to know that for sure is if you have a logging multimeter and tested it. You're much safer to integrate your own stable DC power supply.
Anyway, I admire your ingenuity and wish you the best of luck. Keep us posted on how things behave over time. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask - I'm more than happy to pass on any knowledge I've picked up over the many years that I've been building DRL and lighting systems.
Sorry, have to totally disagree with you there. Drive a LED with too many amps and it's dead. You can marginally affect the color temp of a LED by increasing voltage, but you won't get a white emitter turning blue (i.e. emitting in the 500 nanometer wavelength) and then back to white. If you've changed the output of the LED to such an extent then you've destroyed part of the phosphor balance inside the led and that damage will be permanent - closely followed by diode failure.
I'm not sure how much work you've done in the past with high powered LED systems, so don't take my advice the wrong way, but If you've wired those array chips into a pure 12V supply without any PWM and current limiting circuitry then it won't take long before something overheats and blows up. Drive current and thermal management on high output chips like that is a tricky business. Vehicle systems are notorious for unregulated circuits; your best hope is that whatever you've wired into is a balanced power circuit but the only way you're going to know that for sure is if you have a logging multimeter and tested it. You're much safer to integrate your own stable DC power supply.
Anyway, I admire your ingenuity and wish you the best of luck. Keep us posted on how things behave over time. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask - I'm more than happy to pass on any knowledge I've picked up over the many years that I've been building DRL and lighting systems.
thanks for the advice. It was just my guess based on my observation. I am anything but an expert on LED :-) btw, when you said the led would blow up, you don't mean like exploding, do you? that would be a safety issue
I'm not sure how much work you've done in the past with high powered LED systems, so don't take my advice the wrong way, but If you've wired those array chips into a pure 12V supply without any PWM and current limiting circuitry then it won't take long before something overheats and blows up. Drive current and thermal management on high output chips like that is a tricky business. Vehicle systems are notorious for unregulated circuits; your best hope is that whatever you've wired into is a balanced power circuit but the only way you're going to know that for sure is if you have a logging multimeter and tested it. You're much safer to integrate your own stable DC power supply.
Shouldn't the PWM be built into the LED module itself? It would be odd if not otherwise. Second, I don't think the diode voltage is exactly 12V supply. Normally, it should be lower.
btw, when you said the led would blow up, you don't mean like exploding, do you? that would be a safety issue
No.. just figuratively speaking. If its spectacular you might hear a pop and see a puff of smoke . They do get extremely hot though - never underestimate the ability for a high powered diode to set something on fire.
Originally Posted by solarflare
Shouldn't the PWM be built into the LED module itself? It would be odd if not otherwise.
Depends how you define the LED module. A PWM can sit anywhere but it would make sense to design things in such a way that a module would contain associated electronics (e.g. PWM, amperage and voltage regulation, heat monitoring etc) so it can be replaced in one easy go rather than have to troubleshoot separate parts.
Originally Posted by solarflare
Second, I don't think the diode voltage is exactly 12V supply. Normally, it should be lower.
Yes, diode voltage would very rarely be exactly 12V. You need to know the specs of the LED you're using. High powered chips like that are built up by using arrays. The voltage required to drive them depends on that configuration and this can be anything from <3V to >34V.
And the work continues...The tail lights seem to be much easier to work with. It's just a matter to redirect the pins since the connectors are different.
Huyuci,
If you still have one of the lights out, can you take a good picture of where the bumper and the fender meet near the trunk? The place where the dealers have to adjust to fix the light/bumper alignment issues. Thanks!
Huyuci,
If you still have one of the lights out, can you take a good picture of where the bumper and the fender meet near the trunk? The place where the dealers have to adjust to fix the light/bumper alignment issues. Thanks!
you mean taking a pic with the light housing out? ahh...I just put them back in :-( sorry. But from what I saw, it's all metal and part of the car body. Nothing they can adjust. What I'm guessing is they're removing the lights and repositioning them a bit. I think that's all they can do. Personally, I don't mind, as nobody is gonna come that close to inspect it.
And the work continues...The tail lights seem to be much easier to work with. It's just a matter to redirect the pins since the connectors are different.
Do you know the features and colors of the cable in the new connectors. What color what function? Number must be different for the right and left sides.?
Do you know the features and colors of the cable in the new connectors. What color what function? Number must be different for the right and left sides.?
Well, the plug on the LED tai lights has a different shape from the non-led connector. The number of pins is also different. And there's no reference anywhere online I could find. So, I had to follow this painstaking process called trial and error :-) to find out which pin is which on both the connector and the plug.
Pardon my ignorance but what exactly did you do to the taillights? Can you show me some before and after photos?
Oh, I didn't have the premium pk, so the tail lights just have the curve line as you can see on the left light, as opposed to the double U-like shape on the right
Oh, I didn't have the premium pk, so the tail lights just have the curve line as you can see on the left light, as opposed to the double U-like shape on the right
Gotcha! Funny thing though...I kinda like the look of the poverty spec tails, they mimic the DRL.
Gotcha! Funny thing though...I kinda like the look of the poverty spec tails, they mimic the DRL.
The problem is if you don't have premium pk, you won't have that arc DRL But it's good for you, though. If you have it and you like it, then you won't have to go thru too much trouble like I do to change it :-)
The problem is if you don't have premium pk, you won't have that arc DRL But it's good for you, though. If you have it and you like it, then you won't have to go thru too much trouble like I do to change it :-)
I've got the premium pkg and the advanced lighting pkg and although I like the taillight arc that you originally had I also don't have the desire to mess with my lights to make them look like yours used to. Nice job on the upgrades though.
I just bought a CPO c300 that comes without the lighting package.
Can you help me to upgrade it?
What things should I buy? I really don't understand.
Thank you.
Man, I can't tell you how many people have emailed me asking for direction on how to do this. I really want to help you guys, I do. But as much as I want to, the truth of the matter is that it's not as easy as buying the correct lights and then install them as many of you were asking me. There's so much work involved that if I lay it out everything in details, I can bet that most of you will just move on. And then if some of you don't do it right or something happens to the car, then you'll come back and blame me. Even some LED experts here on this board said I was daring, and it was indeed. It's not for the faint of heart.
06-24-2015, 06:07 PM
. They do get extremely hot though - never underestimate the ability for a high powered diode to set something on fire. 
That's hilarious. Cops might pull me over to tell me that "Do you know one of your tail lights is out?", and I'll be like "Which one?" 
