LED Brake Lights

[spoke]

Originally Posted by Canada Kev

How is the heat on those LEDs in comparison to the bulbs? I changed my standard (55 watt?) bulbs to 35 W to eliminate any chance of their heat melting or distorting the plastic housing. I didn't personally have any issues, but I've heard others have. I often use them on the highway as daytime running lights, so they're on a lot.

As Pablo and Arne have mentioned, the heat is a lot less than the high-power lamps. I've run the LED board in the fixture for a few hours and the fixture was warm but not hot.

This weekend I plan to install the driver side LED foglight and run them on the car for some time. With only one LED installed, I did not want to turn it on without the other side lit up as well.

[Canada Kev]

Good to know. And I just noticed you said a a few posts back that they are running about 35C above ambient, so my bad for not paying attention...

[7783911]

Spoke

You should have the older style housings I sent you this week....good luck

[spoke]

Originally Posted by 7783911

Spoke

You should have the older style housings I sent you this week....good luck

I did get them. Thanks. I've run into a snag though. The metal bulb reflector seems to be glued to the glass lens. I need to open this up to add some LEDs. Any idea on how to separate the reflector and glass lens? I don't want to force something and break the glass.

[7783911]

Not sure I understand, the clear lenses is held on by the 2 small edge pieces via screws
Maybe post pictures of what your referring to?

[spoke]

Originally Posted by 7783911

Not sure I understand, the clear lenses is held on by the 2 small edge pieces via screws
Maybe post pictures of what your referring to?

I don't have the fixture in front of me now. Once the 2 attachment screws are removed and the 2 clamp pieces removed, the lens+bulb reflector and bulb come out as a unit. The bulb reflector is the piece which holds the bulb and is made of metal. This piece appears to be glued to the glass lens. I can't pull the reflector from the lens and I don't want to force it if they are glued.

[7783911]

The lens should be on its own

[spoke]

I've only tried to open one of the lens/reflector pairs and they will not come apart. I've tried pulling them apart and wedging a tiny screwdriver between the 2 without success. They're either glued or molecularity stuck together after 30 years. I'm hesitant to put any significant pressure on the boundary for fear of damaging something.

[7783911]

Do what you must
I realize there were risks going in
I still can’t visualize the issue except to think your talking about the back cover? Post some pics?

[spoke]

Assembling the 2nd set of foglights. PabloX was gracious enough to volunteer to install this set on his car. Hopefully it goes as well as mine did. The clips fit very well in the lens housing. This would be a good time to replace lenses if they are pitted. The ones on my '86 were badly pitted and blocked most of the light.

The heat sinks are drilled for attachment using a printed template. Very good results for a few boards. Being printed it's easy to replace them.

[PabloX]

Originally Posted by spoke

Assembling the 2nd set of foglights. PabloX was gracious enough to volunteer to install this set on his car. Hopefully it goes as well as mine did. The clips fit very well in the lens housing. This would be a good time to replace lenses if they are pitted. The ones on my '86 were badly pitted and blocked most of the light.

The heat sinks are drilled for attachment using a printed template. Very good results for a few boards. Being printed it's easy to replace them.

Looks great!

I have lenses in my shopping cart so I'll pull the trigger on those.

[7783911]

any luck determining if my donor fog lamp casings will work?

bob

[spoke]

Originally Posted by 7783911

any luck determining if my donor fog lamp casings will work?

bob

I have tried several times to pull the glass lens from the metal reflector with no success. Tried using a screwdriver to separate but was worried about applying too much pressure and damaging either piece. I will be in the office on Monday and will try applying heat then trying to separate.

[7783911]

i still am confused where the joined part is...is it the reflecter to the back of the housing?...the clear plastic front lenses remove a 3 pieces per lamp...post a picture so i can see what your referring to..and as I said...i knew the risk going in :-)

[spoke]

The greenish metal piece is the reflector for the lamp and seems to be glued or really stuck to the glass lens.

[7783911]

oh, i see now, i am sure i have had all three lens pieces out provisionally. but perhaps this is not oem which shows a single glass unit with gasket in the catalogue. maybe someone can identify what year this came off or if you can see a part number can you send to me? I still say go ahead and try but if the housing is diferent from others then i dont want you making the effort for a one off? I will post the pictures in the forum and ask around

[Canada Kev]

That looks like a replacement standard size headlight kinda like a sugar scoop E4 light upgrade, except, well, it's a fog light. The reflector might be factory bonded to the lens.

[spoke]

Originally Posted by Canada Kev

That looks like a replacement standard size headlight kinda like a sugar scoop E4 light upgrade, except, well, it's a fog light. The lens might be factory bonded to the lens.

Yeah I think you're correct about being bonded together. They definitely do not want to come apart. I've tried a little bit of prying without any movement. Will try heat on Monday.

[spoke]

Finally got a set of foglights ready for Pablox. Will ship out on Monday.

The 2 short corner clips will be attached. The longer ones will be installed in the lens, then the board placed on top of them and screws to secure the board.

One modification of the existing reflector is the bulb shield must be removed. I've done this by supporting the reflector with a couple pieces of wood and tapping out the shield in the 3 places where the shield has buttons holding it in place. As we move forward, I'll print and provide a fixture for supporting the reflector making its removal much more straightforward.

Now that I've had some time with my foglights, for future builds I think I'll go a bit more cooler with 5700K LEDs instead of these 5000K LEDs.

Once PabloX installs these and if there are no issues, I can order more boards and get these moving.

[famoroso]

Originally Posted by Canada Kev

I have mine wired up to operate exactly like how you are asking for. There may be other ways to implement, but this is what I did: pull out the headlight switch and move the GREY wire (this should be the fog light relay trigger power source wire) to pin 75. That wire is likely currently on pin 56. That's all there is to it.

If you reference the chart below, you will see that pin 75 is energized whenever the ignition is ON and the headlight switch is in any of its positions: off, first detent and second detent. This will allow current to run from the headlight switch to any wire connected to pin 75 whenever those conditions are met, thus the fog light switch gets power at those times. Then the switch can send that electricity to the fog light relay to turn on the lights.

I suspect the current situation is that your grey wire is on pin 56. This pin, according to my chart, is energized only when the ignition is on and the headlight switch is at the second detent. That means the car has to be on (or the key in the on position) and the headlights on for the fog lights to work.



I hope that helps.

One last note is that the headlight switch comes out pretty easily. On my 1987 car, just pop out the little plastic headlight symbol from the rubber knob of the headlight switch with a small screwdriver or other little prying device. Under that, if my memory is correct, there should be a small circular nut screwed over the switch shaft. That nut is maybe 3/4 inches diameter with two small holes on its face 180 degrees across from each other. As that nut is flat other than the two holes, you must use something in those holes to turn the nut. I used some small needle nose pliers and poked the two tips of the jaws in there and used them to screw it out. Once you have that off, the switch should pull out from under and behind the dash. Mine came out easily, but watch that you don't disconnect or snag any of the half dozen wires attached to it. Mover your wires you wish and then put the switch back in the reverse method of removal. Maybe test that all works according to plan before you replace it to ensure correct operation.

Nice write up. Thanks. Also, good to note that this would be an opportune time to add a fuse to the instrument panel / gauge lighting circuit.