MBZ12

Sounds good. I'll keep an eye out. Thanks.

MBZ12

Oh and by the way, the 42mm fit but barely. Again, I have an '02 W210 so this may differ depending on your model year. If anyone is interested in the resistors let me know.

no_clue

That's odd! 02-W210 give no "defective lamp" w/ LED bulb? (that's good news for 00+ W210)

MBZ12

I too am still amazed. I purchased the resistors and all but don't have a need for them now. I'll update if there is a change but hopefully not.

yoram611

Hi Whitey , did you end up buying the 9 led bulb from the H.K. vendor ?

I just received mine today but have not installed it yet (didnt buy the resistors yet).
my car is a euro model with wide plates in yellow.

have you installed the 9 led ? how does it look , is it too bright ? if you have a new picture with the 9 led ,please post it.

Whitey

No Yoram, I've been reluctant to get the 9 LED festoons from the HK vendor because I think they're a bit overpriced - I am only paying Approx. USD2.50 each for my 8 LED ones. Also I doubt if 9 LEDs vs 8 LEDs is going to be such a big difference anyways.

The 8 LEDs are actually quite acceptable when outdoors in the dark though I am still a little dissatisfied that they are a bit patchy. If you look at my number plate, it is further down, away from the lights and thicker than the US plates which is probably why the entire height of the plate is not illuminated and has shadowy patches (i.e. a matter of positioning of the lights)....nonetheless, overall it looks fine and many people who have seen them have commented that they are miles better than the original halogens.

BTW Yoram, its perfectly fine to fit those LEDs in the sockets without the resistors - just that the warning lights will come on (they'll be gone once you put the resistors in or replace the halogen bulbs and restart the car)...why not slip them in a check out the light..maybe take a pic for everyone here for comparison?

yoram611

thanks whitey ,

I`ll try to do it soon

no_clue

I notice why it looks better on the U.S. plate after I saw a diplomate vehicle's original yellow plate.

The U.S. plate has reflective coating (like metallic finished), wherea HK plate is clear surface plastic.

Whitey

I think you've hit the spot but I also think its cuz the US plates start closer to the lights, so the light can "flow" better down the plate.

I recently got some brighter LEDs (still 8 LED)..looks even better now, but still a bit patchy

wallye320

can this method be used for parking lights , if yes what's the componant

thanks no clue for the help

no_clue

I am sure it can work w/ any light bulb that has current feedback to your car.

About parking lights, are you referring "city light"? (the little bulb that share same housing w/ high beam)

If so, then I will vote against it! NOT because the current issue, but from what I have learned that LED will fail around 150F. ( while using high beam, the heat produce by the bulb from H7 can easily push the housing temperature well into 200F range)

sanjm23

No Clue! Hot Damn that car is a beauty. I love the color. My brother had a cherry mettalic e280 german model. This is the first time I have seen your color. that was redone due to the accident?

I am slacking but the bulbs are finally in transit should be here tomorow. will send out pics. Been busy moding my subs. Did a clean install now instant bobbing head! ha ha

Hey whitey looks nice on the white bro.

Talk to you guys later. Oh I did order all the lights including turn and park and brakes and backup lights. Yes I am obsessive . I figure try it out and see how it goes.

wallye320

hello no-clue

yes I am referring to the city lights

in Canada we do not use the high beam at all unless we need to give a signal to someone otherwise not

even I never had to replace any high beam in any car I owned

so do you know what can be used

thanks inadvance

no_clue

I forgot how many watts consume by OE bulb. (I have change my headlight housing, and it use 194 bulb)

If the original OE city bulb using between 5W~7W, then you can get the 50 ohm 10W resistor to fool your system.
(however, I have no idea how you going to secure that resistor behind the housing via parallel connection - same style as the license plate bulb)

no_clue

tks

Yeap, a teenager rear ended me. (rear bumper, trunk, tail lights has been replaced)

Whitey

Some people may not like it, but its something different and matches my LED footwell and door pocket lighting - blue LED dash bulbs (I couldn't find any white ones)....

no_clue

WOW~ what type of OE bulb using on the instrument?

Whitey

Not sure what they're called but for my late 98, its 4 tiny bulbs (that look like the kind in the pic below) that light up the gauges. In fact, all my cluster's lights uses these. However, I note that it's different for 97's - which seem to use W5W's for the gauges and the tiny ones for the rest.

They look like the city light bulbs (W5W) permanently attached to their sockets but are about 1/4 of the size of the city light bulbs. The LEDs I found looked about the same, also with with the base attached. Cost: around USD10 for the 4.

no_clue

thanks~~ ...... seems like a fun LED project
Now I need to find the right resistor to convert 12V to 3.3V or depending on the LED I can get my hands on. (but I think I would like white one!!!)

Bmmer uses red
VW using purple
MB using natual amber...hmm........WHITE!!! .....yummy.

Oxygen

Hey guys, great thread.

I just did this mod on my MY2003 S500... looks fantastic. I could not use those big resistors that you guys used because they would not fit in the bay.

I also needed a resistor on each bulb otherwise they would not fire up.

Whitey

Newer MBs do have very bright and white dashes....and Civics use blue

No, I didn't need a resistor for mine - these bulbs are meant for a 12 V supply. If they're not available in the US yet, I'm sure the ricer shops over there will catch on real soon.

However, if you wish to convert 12V to around 3V, I believe 20-25 Ohm 5W should get you close but be warned that it does get VERY VERY HOT.

Whitey

Another success story! Lookin great...as expected..hee hee.

Resistors needed to fire them up? S class have a circuit that cuts off power if there is insufficient resistance? interesting....

no_clue

Damn thing about this town is everything is so conservative!!!!!!!
I have yet to see any store that selling LED bulb, nor wing, nor any cool gadget at all. Believed it or not, I have been in D.C. area for around 17 years, I have only see couple, yes only couple, "soup up" car on the road. (if anyone here are washingtonian, please let me know where to find cool auto accessories)

Oxygen

It is actually a little more interesting.

If you just put the festoons in there sockets with out any kind of resistors, they will flash like strobe lights every 2 seconds or so because the car will keep testing to see if there is a bulb there or not. Eventually it will give up the testings and display on the dash that the left and the right license plate bulbs are defective. Really smart car.

Whitey

Wow, I guess MB had to justify the additional costs attached to the W220..

Actually, I have tried on a W203 C without a resistor and that too started flashing the bulbs until they went dead! Must try the resistor thingy next time to see if that'll fix it. Thanks for the info Oxygen.