E60Cruisin'

Alright so here I'm making a thread for those who would like to install LED turn signals on your vehicle. I have a pre-lci with the Solaris chrome bulbs I got from trinity. I liked them at first as they eliminated the "egg yolk look and still looked amber. I recently got someone to drive my car and saw that the turn signals were very dim and dull looking so onto LEDs I thought.

Long story short I ended up purchasing a pair of SMD LEDs from ijdmtoy.com along with a pair of 50W 6Ohm load resistors. They were advertised as error free so I pulled the trigger after reading some reviews.

Enough chit chat onto the DIY...

First off, it is possible to remove the turn signal bulb sockets but I recommend taking the headlight housings completely off since you may have a bit of difficulty putting the sockets back in and placing the load resistors in their place.


So as you guys may know the bulb socket makes it somewhat difficult to wire the load resistors onto them.



I drilled holes into the socket so the wires could fit into the socket without breaking the seal it creates when turned into place.



Then I fed the wires through the holes and guided them out to the outside leading them to the tabs on the outside. Now the wires will be guided under where the bulb will sit to to make the wire movement easier, I pushed the bulb tabs back meanwhile I moved the wire into place.



I then pulled the outside tab ever so slightly and slid the wire behind it then folded it back across the front for soldering. I found this method making it easier to place the sockets back into the headlight housing since the first side I did I twisted the wire then soldered it on the tab on top of the front. It made it impossible to slide the socket onto the housing.


After folding it back across press the tab back into place.


Then solder away. Try to keep it low and flat as to not make it difficult for yourself to install the socket.(This was my first time soldering, go easy on me)



And that's it. Just make sure you push the wires all the way down in the socket so the bulb can fit properly and if you moved the bulb tabs back to slide the wire in, push them back out so that they add pressure to the bulb. I didn't have polarity issues or maybe I just got lucky both times ijdmtoy say that polarity is not an issue with their bulbs.

Just put the housings back in and place the load resistors somewhere safe as they do get very hot. I found some pockets for them right next to both housings leading into the fenders. I secured them there away from all wires.

So no error codes or hyper flashing. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I'd still like some with more SMDs though. They are definitely brighter than the Solaris bulbs though and color match my LED side markers. I was taking pictures on my phone hence the poor quality and when I got finished it got dark and cold so I'll post more finished product pictures later if you guys are interested. I didn't take any comparison photos however as I thought to do I DIY halfway through.

Now I know that LED turn signals can be installed without resistors through coding however not everyone has their own equipment or knowledge of navigation NCS Expert. I was initially going to visit John at Motorsports in NY but I had to make the trip and set an appointment. It sounded tempting however not the most convenient option. I haven't found any reputable places around me so I went ahead and did this for now. I plan on upgrading to LCI headlights and hopefully then I'll get all coding to eliminate LED errors to avoid resistors.

I am by no means a pro I just did what I could with the little knowledge I have on this but thought it may help those looking to do this themselves.

So finally I'm sure you've been wondering where and how much this costs. About $35.00. The lights alone were $27.00 for the 27 SMD Amber LEDs and an extra $4.99 for the resistors. (radioshack has some too I believe) $2.00 for shipping and that was it. I found a coupon code online so I got 15% off the total. You can google "ijdmtoy coupon" for the latest codes.
Here's the link---> http://store.ijdmtoy.com/27-SMD-S25-...s-p/20-204.htm

If you don't own a soldering iron, then of course you'd need to purchase or loan one. Shouldn't be more than $20.00.

I hope this helps and thanks for looking!

sanjsanj

Pics or it didn't happen!

E60Cruisin'

Alright so I finally came around to taking a picture and video(horrible ones at that) but it's something. I can upload better quality ones later if they're necessary.

They don't do the lights justice but you get the idea. They're definitely an upgrade and give the car a more modern look. The amber is deeper that the Solaris bulbs and match the side markers perfectly.

[IMG][/IMG]

From inside(brighter in person/behind a tinted window)
[IMG][/IMG]

sanjsanj

sweet! Nice wheels too!

Euronuts

Nice idea but you can now purchase LED turn signals with no load resistors and no errors,
ebay "LED infinity" is the store! They work great no complaints!

E60Cruisin'

Euronuts could you provide some pics of the output, wish I would have known this. I searched but never found anything about that.

sequaz

Great job bro... I will be doing it soon. Thanks for coming out with this awesome modification.

BMW-ALPINA

Looks great, but why not just remove the bulb check control for the turn signals instead?

sequaz

Did you change the side markers too? Led's??

E60Cruisin'

Ideally that's what I want however I'm not familiar with coding and the only person in the area which was about an hour away wanted nearly $200 for doing it. So I went this route as an alternative until I upgrade to LCI headlights and code out the errors for them as well as a few other mods.

Yes, bought from another member here whom got them from trinity. PNP