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Euroheadlight Relay/Wiring Issues, and LEDs





Allyn wrote:

>> (incidentally, I switched to LED indicator lamps from
>
> www.superbrightleds.com for almost all of my running lights; blinkers,
> taillights, brake lights, even the euro city light can be replaced with
> an LED.
>
>> A set of special resistors can rectify this situation. )
>
>
> Cameron,
> can you give us some details on the type of LEDs you bought (i would 
> imagine LEDs with a very wide angle/very good diffuser would be 
> required for this application. also, what parallel resistance value 
> did you settle on? how many LEDs did you mount, and in which 
> assemblies did you mount them.
> ...sounds like a really cool idea, please indulge us.
> Al 

Okay, indulge mode ON:

Virtually all my running lights have been replaced with LED fixtures:

Front Turns - Amber Dual-Contact Bayonet Wide Angle 24-Cluster 1157 
Style (these are brand new, and I love them; wide and bright! )

Front Turn Running Lamp (specific to the Euro Turn lenses, I believe)  - 
Amber Wedge Base Wide Angle Single LED Inverted Cone T3-1/4 (#194/168) 
Style

Euro Headlamp City Light (not the headlight bulbs themselves, obviously) 
- Cool White Medium Angle Single LED 9mm Single-Contact Bayonet Base 
BA9S Style

Fender Sidemarker Lights (hella eurospec lenses)  - Amber Wedge Base 
Wide Angle Single LED Inverted Cone T3-1/4 (#194/168) Style

Rear Turns - Amber Single-Contact Bayonet Narrow Angle 12-Cluster 1156 
Style (these are older, APC brand and they are not as impressive)

Rear Tail - Red Single-Contact Bayonet Wide Angle 19-Cluster1156 Style

Rear Corner Running Lamps - Amber Medium Angle Single LED 9mm 
Single-Contact Bayonet Base BA9S Style

Rear Brakes (incl. modified/jumpered euro"fog" lamps wired to work as 
2nd brake lights) - Red Single-Contact Bayonet Wide Angle 1156 Style 
(one or two are older 12-cluster APC bulbs, the newer ones are 19-cluster)

Hatch Brake  - Red Wedge Base Narrow Angle 4-Cluster T3-1/4 (#194/168) 
Style (new lamps are now also offered in 6-and 9-cluster arrays)

Reverse/Back-up - Cool White Single-Contact Bayonet Wide Angle 
19-Cluster1156 Style

Dome Light - Cool White Festoon-Base 4-Cluster  (new lamps are offered 
in 6-and 9-cluster arrays; the one I have is quite a bit dimmer than the 
stock incandescent it replaced.)

Insrument Cluster Lamps - Blue Twist Lock Single-LED T1 1/2 (#73/74) 
(these are tricky to make practical. First of all, the Twist Lock is a 
different design than the stock OSRAM  unit, so these will install, but 
the fit won't be as secure. If you are changing the color of your 
instrument cluster illumination, you'll want to remove the stock green 
color filter/diffuser and replace with white frosted drafting mylar...if 
you don't use a diffuser, then at night your instruments will be bright 
at the top and unreadable at the bottom.  Since the fixtures I bought 
were end-emitting LED lenses, you'll also want to make the light box of 
the instrument cluster more relective; I painted the inside of mine 
silver.  The Digital clock is especially tricky because it is not 
back-illuminated as it appears.  It uses a clear plastic light guide to 
direct illumination onto the face of the clock via its sides.  This 
design depends on the radial illumination of a standard incandescent 
bulb.  Since the LED units are end-emitting only, you'll need to come up 
with a way for the LED illumination to reach the Light Guide... I 
created a cheesy foil  "box" that reflects the light so that it reaches 
the guide, and it seems to do the trick.  It looks like 
superbrightleds.com now sells a squared, side emitting LED bulb without 
the twist-lock; I may try fitting one of these bulbs into the original 
OSRAM sockets to see if  this improves the setup.)

I am running one pair of flasher resistors; two pairs would flash the 
lights at the stock rate, but I rather enjoy the "hyperflash" as it 
would seem to make the turn indicators stand out more.

Still need LEDs for rear license plate lights.

Electrical Systems are not one of my strong points, so I'm not sure what 
you mean by deciding on a resistance value.  I just bought the lamps and 
installed them the same way as a stock bulb.  Superbrightleds.com has 
all the technical specs on their automotive products, though, if you are 
interested.

HTH

- Camron from Vancouver, WA USA
   '86.5 Black 16V 2.0L