LED Lights

[crazyrog17]

From what I've read, I gather the Edge (along with many, if not all new Fords) has/have a lighting control module to take care of flashing. This may not work for the Edge and newer Fords then, but for the flasher to work, it needs enough electronic resistance to trigger the flasher. At the flasher, there is Power and Load (also, sometimes ground). If you connect one end of a resistor to the Load and the other to Ground, there'll be no need for a resistor in any exterior lights. Whether turning left or right, the resistor will allow the flasher to flash normally and will operate left and right correctly.

[canuckinaustria]

I am rewiring my tail lights (imported 08 Limited to Austria) to comply with ECE regulations. Anyone familiar in how to do this, as apparently, all I need to do is change some bulbs and do some rewiring... Thanks!

[its4myhonee]

(sigh).. i didn't check this site... ordered 6418 6 LED's for the plates... turns out when i opened them to be 194's styles....

 

where can i put the 6418s???... i can't get the back light off... grr...

 

my focus had 6418's... i wonder how they made the mix up

[t0etager]

I found a way to get the puddle lamps open with little effort and no destruction. Just get a little acetone and brush along the edge where the clear and black plastic meet, it dries quick so keep applying but not so much that it drips on the top of the lens (only takes about 5 or 6 seconds). It will soften the bond the two plastics have and you can get in there with a razor blade to cut it apart. The clear part has an 1/8in lip on it that slides into the black housing so you wont be able to cut through it just enough to separate the two. Then get a sharp putty knife and wedge them apart. wasn’t able to take pictures my sis is borrowing my camera. I used these 31 mm leds that i found on ledlight.com they have 20 forward facing leds on each one. You have to remove the reflector inside the housing and sand the leds down a bit (they were closer to 34mm) then bend the led holders out a bit and set them in. When you place the clear plastic back it will hold the led in place. They are very bright compared to the stock very nice to walk up to in the dark. Took a little tweaking but was easy enough maybe about 15 min all together. Oh and i just used some karzy glue to put back together the aceton should eat that up if/when the leds fail.

Edited August 22, 2009 by t0etager

[dadrett]

For U that remember Orion’s post #111, pg 6, this thread, about how the right license light points to right and “…looks like CRAP!!,” the solution I suggested in post #115 works. Start with post #111 & :read: from there. U’ve probably noticed that we get an e-mail notice only when post is first made to thread we’ve “subscribed” to, but not when edits have been made. Purpose of this post is to generate an e-mail notice to U subscribers.

Edited October 26, 2009 by dadrett

[Hurtman]

Received my package from superbright. Replaced all interior lights with red LEDS. Looks cool. The car is a 2009 Limited with the Redfire Clearcoat Metallic paint and black leather. Also replaced the license plate bulbs with white LEDS. I have the LEDS to do the puddle lamps, just have to make sure my wife is busy so she doesn't see me tearing apart the pods. Also did the HID conversion on the low beams. Not sure if I'm gonna do the highs. The HID lows are plenty bright.

Edited October 29, 2009 by Hurtman

[Hurtman]

Did the puddle lamps today with red LEDS. Took them apart with an exacto knife, just cut the glue line and they pulled apart with no damage. The LEDS I received from superbright were the same size (length) as the stock bulbs so they just snapped in. No bending the reflector. I checked to be sure everything was working by using a 9volt battery prior to sealing the units back together with a small amount of epoxy. Will snap them back into the mirrors when the wife gets home from work. Total time, 10 minutes, not counting the set time for the epoxy. Now all interior lamps and the puddles will be red LEDS. Should go nicely with the vehicle color.

[rob40wilson03]

ok, so i just read/skimmed this whole thread... im trying to get some LEDs for my girlfriend's 09 Limited and it seems like I've figured out which LEDs i need to order but i have a suggestion for everyone:

 

Get your LEDs from v-leds.com.... in my experience they sell MUCH higher quality and brighter LEDs than you can get on ebay or superbrightleds.com and most importantly, they all have built in resistors (not load resistors for flashing). After experimentation, I ended up with LEDs from them in all parts of my car (06 G35) and wont buy from anywhere else. I did receive one bad bulb from them but one quick email to them got me a replacement overnighted to me.

 

OK, so what I think I need to buy for my lady:

 

License plate: 194/168 x 2

Rear courtesy: ~39mm festoon (HOW MANY?? not my car, cant go out and check, is it 3?)

Front map/dome: 2825 or equivalent (how many?)

 

thanks guys... you're help is gonna earn me some "thoughtful boyfriend" points

[Lex Talionis]

License plate: 194/168 x 2

Rear courtesy: ~39mm festoon (HOW MANY?? not my car, cant go out and check, is it 3?) x3

Front map/dome: 2825 or equivalent (how many?) x2

 

see above

 

while your at it, do the cargo area bulb of course, also a festoon, x1, also 39mm - I did one that had 9 LEDs on it in square to really fill that bulb space and throw light

[Lex Talionis]

and most importantly, they all have built in resistors (not load resistors for flashing).

 

correct me if I am wrong, but there are different resistor options that are useful..

 

what they sell have resistors, but according to them, that is to address polarity issues in case you install them wrong to polarity. that is nice, but as I see it.. no much of a big deal as youo just flip them around and viola.

 

resistor issues I see that are more valuable are those that smooth out load/curent variations - something that could fry a bulb - and they do not mention that and I think that is the more key issue to address for resistor son LED bulbs

 

lastly, I am not sure these 2 are the same or separate types of resistors.

[Hateonhaters]

can someone please post and have some pics of all the interior an exterior lights that can be change with LED's with the part#, and web site you got it from. and if any difficulty occurred..... Thank You.

[Lex Talionis]

can someone please post and have some pics of all the interior an exterior lights that can be change with LED's with the part#, and web site you got it from. and if any difficulty occurred..... Thank You.

 

at the risk of sounding rude, everything you seek is in this thread. many times over

 

links to buy from, photos of bulbs, bulb sizes, install stories, etc etc

 

just search or read through

[MJ5150]

can someone please post and have some pics of all the interior an exterior lights that can be change with LED's with the part#, and web site you got it from. and if any difficulty occurred..... Thank You.

 

Like Lex said, it's all in the thread. I dug around and found what I needed. There are several places to buy LED's from...eBay, superbrightleds, oznium, and so on. The part numbers are all the same, so you don't have to buy it from the same place someone else did.

 

-Mike

Edited December 21, 2009 by MJ5150

[MJ5150]

Alright, here is what not to buy for your map lights up front. They only cost me $1.87 shipped, so no big loss.....

 

2X White T10 168 194 501 LED Side Light Wedge Bulb SMD. Those are not bright at all, much darker than the factory bulbs. They give off a cool blueish tint, but that is all. I am going to go order some more on eBay and try them out. It looks like I'll need ones with more than one LED and the LEDs point in different directions.

 

I'll post pics when I find the right ones that look good and light up the area as well as or better than the yellowish factory bulbs.

 

-Mike

[Lex Talionis]

I will add, based on what MJ5150 said, I never do single bulb LED.. I always buy multiple bulb LED. Those single bulb are pretty well known weak. My map/license plate bulbs are like 5 LED for example.

[jpeckinp]

Lex,

 

You still having problems with the map lights and Plate lights going bad? I have another plate light with 3 of the 5 led's out and a map light that is flashing all the time.

[Hateonhaters]

at the risk of sounding rude, everything you seek is in this thread. many times over

 

links to buy from, photos of bulbs, bulb sizes, install stories, etc etc

 

just search or read through

 

i have read tru the form and saw all the post about the parts but I was thinking it would be a little easier to read if its on 1 post so we dont have to re-read the same post again and again. thank you.

 

 

***EDIT***

 

This is what I was talking about. Found this on Sylvania Web Site. Just seach for ur vehicle make and year on the drop down menu.

 

 

2009 FORD Edge

 

Low beam headlamp

H11 <----- Stock

H11ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen

H11XV XtraVision Halogen - The Brighter Light

 

High beam headlamp

9005 <----- Stock

9005SU Silverstar ULTRA for Ultra Night Vision - The Whitest and Brightest Halogen

9005ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen

9005EB EcoBright - Your Environmental Choice

9005XV XtraVision Halogen - The Brighter Light

9005CB Cool Blue Halogen - The Whiter Light

 

Parking light

3157NALL <----- Stock

3157AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style

 

Front turn signal

3157NALL <----- Stock

3157AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style

 

Rear turn signal

4157LL <----- Stock

 

Tail light

4157LL <----- Stock

 

Stop light

4157LL <----- Stock

 

High mount stop light

LED <----- Stock

 

Fog/Driving light

H11 <----- Stock

H11ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen

H11XV XtraVision Halogen - The Brighter Light

 

License plate

6418 <----- Stock

6418LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp

 

Back up light

921 <----- Stock

921ST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style

921LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp

 

Rear sidemarker

194 <----- Stock

194LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp

 

Map light

2825 <----- Stock

2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp

3886X <----- Stock

 

Dome light

578 <----- Stock

 

Step/Courtesy light

2825 <----- Stock

2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp

37 <----- Stock

Edited December 26, 2009 by Hateonhaters

[MJ5150]

i have read tru the form and saw all the post about the parts but I was thinking it would be a little easier to read if its on 1 post so we dont have to re-read the same post again and again. thank you.

 

Alright, I am only doing my interior lights. I can only verify these are the correct bulbs for a 2010 Limited....

 

Up front map lights: T10, 194, 168 wedge type. Any of those numbers will work to search from.

 

Rear cargo light: 39mm or 42mm festoon type. The 39 is perfect, the 42 is a little snug, but fits. The 36 will fit, but it was way too loose for my liking.

 

Backseat dome/map lights: 36mm festoon type. 39 will fit, no go on the 42's for me.

 

Do not buy single LED bulbs, they will not be bright enough or have enough "spread" to light up anything beyond what is directly below them.

 

I bought all of my bulbs on eBay. Seller vleds has a good selection, but a bit pricey. Most of mine came from 360infinite-usa. They shipped the same day I purchased. Seller hi-etech is a good guy as well from what I can tell.

 

**Disclaimer**...I am not associated in any way with these eBay sellers, just letting you know how it worked out for me. I do not make any claims on their behalf or promise your experience will be the same as mine if you purchase from them.

 

-Mike

Edited December 25, 2009 by MJ5150

[MJ5150]

I ended up going with these for the map lights up front: 8 LED T10 Ultra Bright Wedge Bulb 194 158 T10 SMD.

 

These LEDs are really bright. As Lex said, this little mod does make a BIG difference to the appearance inside the car and as you walk up to it. It is definitely brighter inside. I don't think there is more light per se, but the bright white makes it look like more. Classy is a good word to describe it.

 

But I will warn you, the ones I linked to above are not simply plug and play. These exact bulbs are a hair shorter than the stockers. So, I had to make a couple modifications. It wasn't a big deal if you are handy with tools and small components. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on what worked for me and what to watch out for if you buy these.

 

First, I went down to Radio Shack and picked up a couple T10 wedge housings that were just a little longer than the ones I got. A package of five was a dollar. Once I put the LEDs in the new base, the contact wires did not wrap around the base of the wedge enough to make contact with the bulb holder on both sides. I had some spare LED's from another project laying around, so I broke off short pieces of contact wire and folded them over the base. Once I got that out of the way, I was good to go.

 

If you don't want to hassle with what I did, make sure the T10 wedges you buy are longer than 2cm.

 

-Mike

Edited December 27, 2009 by MJ5150

[MJ5150]

Oh hey, here is a picture taken with my cell phone camera. It is a very crisp and bright white, far from the dingy yellow we are all used to. It is pitch black in our garage, and the flash has been turned off on the camera....

 

 

-Mike

Edited December 27, 2009 by MJ5150

[Lex Talionis]

Lex,

 

You still having problems with the map lights and Plate lights going bad? I have another plate light with 3 of the 5 led's out and a map light that is flashing all the time.

 

I never had issues with map bulbs.

 

had several issue with license plat bulbs which are the SAME as the map bulbs yes, but only an issue in the license plate location.. go figure

 

well, just recently, I had the same issue. the license plate bulb starts to flicker. I was like not again. but this time, I pulled the bulb and hooked it up to 9v battery. worked perfect, went back, flickered, back to 9v it was perfect. So, I just did some cleaning of the wire leads and pushed it back in and reseated the bulb and viola... it worked

 

so, I might have prematurely tossed bulbs that were good, but just maybe corroded leads. so, I still had them and tested the last bad 3 and it turns out, I saved 2 and 1 actually had dead bulbs in it.

 

so, not exactly sure what the issue is/was 100%, but now I will not be so sure to assume they are bad when they start to flicker. maybe pull, clean leads, reseat.

[Vandeleigh]

Well I got the LEDs I could of used 39 mm LED Festoon Bulbs in all the back 3 in the map and dome light and one in the cargo .. I went off the spec in the manual. But I ordered 36mm LED Festoon Bulbs. I also have the wedge ones I installed and took back out. They look great but at night you can see a Tiny small light emitting from the center led. Not sure if that is normal for those bulbs

 

I am thinking of seeing if I can of getting 39mm 239 C5W Xenon White 8 LED Festoon Bulb 12V cause the ones I have only have 6 LEds

 

The crazy thing is I put the stock ones in but pull one out and put in stock one back in it shut the low emitting light off ?

 

Since the LED is more sensitive to voltage, it has that slight illumination where an incandescent bulb would not begin to light up. I'm told the best way to avoid this is to make sure any LED has a resistor built in...most wedge LEDs do not have resistors (maybe none of them do, no expert personally).

 

At least this is the knowledge I gained when converting interior of my Passat to LEDs.

[Vandeleigh]

This thread is very informative. Thank you to those that have contributed to it, giving us all the information you've learned/found along the way. I have not read the entire thread from start to finish, but am pretty sure I have clicked on each page at one point or another.

 

That being said, I just wanted to share photos of the swap on my front interior (map/dome lights). Items I used in this swap:

- WLED Miniature Wedge Base bulbs with High Power SMD LEDs - 360 type (2)

-plastic interior pry tool

-15 minutes

 

Here is a comparison photo I took to show the dramatic difference:

 

For the front you will need 2 - wedge LEDs. If you have research even a small amount, you will quickly learn there are tons and tons of variations and sellers of these. I purchased these from superbrightleds.com (fast shipping, great service, great product):

 

I read that some people have done the swapping of the bulbs leaving the housing in their vehicle, but given how easy it is to remove the entire housing I prefer to just remove it. Then you can take it inside and swap the bulbs w/o doing the entire swap working over your head and risk breaking a bulb while using a pliers to pull the old bulbs out.

 

Once you have the housing pulled out, you will see there is only 1 electrical connection to remove. Then you can take the entire housing in your home, or over to a table to work on it:

 

Flip housing over to begin removeing plastic lens by starting on the sides:

 

Then move to the 2 pegs on the front of the plastic lens:

 

Then remove the reflective aluminum housing around the bulbs so you can simply pull old bulbs out w/your fingers:

 

Swap out incandescent bulb w/LED *In this photo I have left the aluminum housing out to make the bulb position easier to see in the picture. Do this with one bulb, then plug the housing in and open your door to confirm the LED illuminates. If it does not, flip bulb around and try again. The aluminum housing needs to be put back in BEFORE you put LEDs in for last time, because the top of the LEDs will not fit through the whole for the old bulbs. Also, just push LED in until you feel it being "snug" in the slot:

 

That's it...pretty much just do the steps backwards and enjoy the new lights!

 

I purchased the festoon bulbs for the rear interior bulbs and may do a brief write-up on that, too.