LED Brake Lights

[RSBob]

Thanks Spoke for the analysis. Your analytical ability with watts and ohm resistors is something I obviously lack.

Just a thought about brightness of Spoke's product. I really hate following my wife's newish A6 at night because the LED brake lights and center light are so beastly bright. They are so miserably bright I am surprised they are legal. (Solution, she can follow me.). Anything Spoke sells at the level of a P cars rear lights certainly can't be ticket worthy or as blinding.

[wcover91]

Hey Spoke,

I now have your LED boards installed all around on my 83' 911. Here are some photos from my recent rear turn signal and reverse light install.







I have noticed something a little weird going on since I installed the last bits. I was wondering if you could provide some insight as to what might be happening. It's quite difficult to explain so I made this table to hopefully help.

[spoke]

Bill,

This behavior is pretty common when the stock flasher unit is replaced by EP26. The issue involves the 4th terminal of the flasher and the way Porsche designed it back in the day. This may be your issue or not since I've seen all kinds of different wiring on 911's and 914's.

Explanation:

For some function or reason, Porsche designed the tachometer turnsignal indicators such that each one was tied to Left or Right turnsignal and the common between the 2 indicators was driven by the 4th terminal of the flasher usually called K, C, or C2.

See below schematic from a 914. Some 911 years are like this. Notice the common wire of the tach indicators goes back to flasher terminal K.





Now when you upgrade to exterior LEDs (mine or aftermarket units), the OEM flasher will hyperflash and can be replaced by EP26. EP26 does not drive the common wire to the indicators.

So what happens is when you put a turnsignal on, both dash indicators will flash at a low intensity and will lightly drive the opposite turnsignal LEDs like you have observed. Again, the dash indicators are driving the other side's LEDs since they are a very light load.

Notice how C2 on EP26 doesn't drive anything; it's an open circuit.



The solution for this is simple: Disconnect the common wire at the tach indicators (tape it up for safety) and add a pigtail to ground the common connection like shown below.



If indeed your dash indicators are flashing together, this is you issue. If not, we need to keep looking.

The pigtail has been used many times (my 914 has the pigtail) and is easy to make and install. Here's an example of the pigtail.



And the pigtail installed on the tach indicators.






BTW, if this is your issue, when you add the pigtail, you'll find the dash indicators now flash for the wrong side. You will need to swap the bulbs L<>R. Cheers.

[wcover91]

Spoke,

Thanks for the quick and detailed response!

However, both of my dash indicators are not dimly flashing as stated. The green indicators are working properly. I do notice that they both flash for a instant when i disengage the turn signal though. I will go ahead and try the jumper method and report back on my findings.

[Uwon]

Finally some pics of Spoke's great LED parking, brake, marker and signal lights.
I'm so happy to be seen at night. Got to tell you all that these pics do not do justice. The actual light density is full with great color and for some unknown reason I did not have to get a new turn signal relay.

X

X

Cheers,
Johan

[dbspeed]

Hi All,

Here are some photos and a quick preview video from my LED install from spoke. Super easy install, clean and the highest quality, I love them! Highly recommend!









Install pics here: Upgrade standard bulbs to LED for aircooled Porsche | Wide 911

[wcover91]

Spoke,

I just wanted to let you know I tired the jumper wire fix you mentioned and it worked exactly as you stated. Thanks for the great product support!

[914Ravi911]

Originally Posted by spoke

Bill,

This behavior is pretty common when the stock flasher unit is replaced by EP26. The issue involves the 4th terminal of the flasher and the way Porsche designed it back in the day. This may be your issue or not since I've seen all kinds of different wiring on 911's and 914's.

Explanation:

For some function or reason, Porsche designed the tachometer turnsignal indicators such that each one was tied to Left or Right turnsignal and the common between the 2 indicators was driven by the 4th terminal of the flasher usually called K, C, or C2.

See below schematic from a 914. Some 911 years are like this. Notice the common wire of the tach indicators goes back to flasher terminal K.





Now when you upgrade to exterior LEDs (mine or aftermarket units), the OEM flasher will hyperflash and can be replaced by EP26. EP26 does not drive the common wire to the indicators.

So what happens is when you put a turnsignal on, both dash indicators will flash at a low intensity and will lightly drive the opposite turnsignal LEDs like you have observed. Again, the dash indicators are driving the other side's LEDs since they are a very light load.

Notice how C2 on EP26 doesn't drive anything; it's an open circuit.



The solution for this is simple: Disconnect the common wire at the tach indicators (tape it up for safety) and add a pigtail to ground the common connection like shown below.



If indeed your dash indicators are flashing together, this is you issue. If not, we need to keep looking.

The pigtail has been used many times (my 914 has the pigtail) and is easy to make and install. Here's an example of the pigtail.



And the pigtail installed on the tach indicators.






BTW, if this is your issue, when you add the pigtail, you'll find the dash indicators now flash for the wrong side. You will need to swap the bulbs L<>R. Cheers.

Very interesting. This was happening on my 914 even before I installed the LED lights. Thanks for the solution. I will try it next time I take me dash apart.

[boxcarracer]

Just wanted to bump this up and thank Jerry for the great product and customer service.

[PabloX]

Another bump for this product. At this point my '86 3.2 is almost all LED for exterior lighting. The three brake lights and front signals/running lights all came from Spoke. The rear signals are the Philips LEDs, which I'll rate as quite good but not as dramatic as Spoke's LEDs.

The headlights are now H4s with Cyclops 3800 lumen H4 LEDs, which I'm very happy with.

I love my 911 in part because it's not modern, but this is one place where modernization is the way to go.

[A horse with no name]

Hi...+1 there for all of Spokes LEDs'.

Re your headlights... I thought that Cyclop H4 LED's were more for motorcycles.
Please tell me more.

Thanks in Advance!

[PabloX]

Originally Posted by A horse with no name

Hi...+1 there for all of Spokes LEDs'.

Re your headlights... I thought that Cyclop H4 LED's were more for motorcycles.
Please tell me more.

Thanks in Advance!

You're welcome.

They're H4 bulbs and there's really no difference between automotive or motorcycle in this case. That said, the LED bulbs won't necessarily work well in all headlight designs that use an H4 bulb. Based on what I could find, they work better in designs where the reflector is more or less round.

Anyway, I've had them for a couple of years now and I'm very happy with them.

[RDM]

Spoke supported my rear foglight install project by providing a mixed set of reverse lights, left one red and right one white. Using a 2-stage defroster switch plus the existing wiring in the car, I was able to install a rear foglight without drilling holes in the rear valence.

No worries on those foggy mornings now. Thanks Spoke!



With both the LED reverse light and rear fog on. Plenty of light here.

[spoke]

Uh–oh, the smoke escaped from D84 on this front turnsignal board. D84 is a transient voltage suppression (TVS) diode used to protect the white running LED blanking circuit from overvoltage.

D84 did its job and did protect the blanking circuit. However D84 died in the process and became a short circuit and blew a fuse on the vehicle. I had an extra set of assembled boards in stock so was able to get the new set out very quickly. After replacing D84, the board works as designed.

This was the first board returned with damage and forced me to detail my guarantee. Here are the details:

0-6 months: Repair/replace damaged components including PCB; I pay for return shipping up to $25USD. I pay for shipping back to customer. This will take care of any infant mortality failures.

7 months to 2 years: Repair/replace damaged components including PCB for free; Customer pays for return shipping. I pay for shipping back to customer.

First 2 years guarantee is firm. Beyond 2 years I don't want to make any firm commitment although I will likely repair/replace damaged components including PCB for free. Customer pays all shipping.

[spoke]

Originally Posted by RDM

Spoke supported my rear foglight install project by providing a mixed set of reverse lights, left one red and right one white. Using a 2-stage defroster switch plus the existing wiring in the car, I was able to install a rear foglight without drilling holes in the rear valence.

No worries on those foggy mornings now. Thanks Spoke!

Looks great Dru. I was hoping you would post some pics of your reverse/fog LEDs.

One thing though and it might just be the angle of the pic above, it appears the brake boards are flush with the lens cover. In general, the brake and reverse boards need to be as close to perpendicular to the centerline of the vehicle for maximum intensity directly behind the car.

Below is a pic of my 930's brake board. Notice how the inside (towards center of the car) of the board is much further away from the enclosure edge than the outside. Your boards may be mounted like this now but I couldn't tell from the pictures.

[RDM]

Originally Posted by spoke

Looks great Dru. I was hoping you would post some pics of your reverse/fog LEDs.

One thing though and it might just be the angle of the pic above, it appears the brake boards are flush with the lens cover. In general, the brake and reverse boards need to be as close to perpendicular to the centerline of the vehicle for maximum intensity directly behind the car.

Below is a pic of my 930's brake board. Notice how the inside (towards center of the car) of the board is much further away from the enclosure edge than the outside. Your boards may be mounted like this now but I couldn't tell from the pictures.

I will have another look to be sure. When the picture was taken, everything back there was loose.

It was foggy this morning!

[RocketWrench]

Got mine up and running today... very happy with them....

[scotricker]

I have the running lights set to on all the time, so I got the white run lights with amber signals LED boards. I didn't quite like the idea of totally clear lenses, so I made custom
two tone run/signal lenses like this:

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by scotricker

I have the running lights set to on all the time, so I got the white run lights with amber signals LED boards. I didn't quite like the idea of totally clear lenses, so I made custom

two tone run/signal lenses like this:

Did you do this so they automatically come on or do you just pull them on via the normal operation on the traditional headlight switch?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[spoke]

Christmas sale at spokeworks-led until the end of December.

All products are 15% off.

There are several '74-'89 front turnsignal boards and brakes with round LED pattern with GREEN PCB on deep sale of 50%.

Merry Christmas and thanks for your support.

SPOKE