Fog lights LED bulb replacement

[Nino sj]

One of my fog lights went out, I thought instead of replacing it with the stock H8 bulb is to try some of those LED bulb replacement. Something like 18 to 102 SMD (eBay). Any suggestions? Thanks guys!

 

[pro10is]

It's hard to find an fog light LED bulb that can match the brightness of an incandescent so LED's are best for side markers and such. They are getting better though, I experimented with a few. They appear very bright to the eye but the light doesn't illuminate as well imo. Also the price of LED's is still a bit high. I think LED's will be the future of lighting but for now they still have a way to go.

These look interesting although I have yet to try them out:
http://store.ijdmtoy.com/18-SMD-LED-Bulbs-Fog-Driving-Lights-Bulbs-p/led_fog_h11_sku48.htm

 

[Nino sj]

Thank you! and yes those were the ones i saw at eBay except they have more LEDs (102 i think) they were only $8.50 for the pair so i got them and will find out what they look like on. will post a pic when i get and put them on.

 

[fastfraser]

opcorn:opcorn:

 

[pro10is]

Thank you! and yes those were the ones i saw at eBay except they have more LEDs (102 i think) they were only $8.50 for the pair so i got them and will find out what they look like on. will post a pic when i get and put them on.

That's an incredible price, great find. Just hope BUDS doesn't have a problem with them. Changes in electrical resistance have been known to cause fault codes. But for that price it's worth experimenting.

Please let us know how it works out!

 

[Phil]

IF you're only looking for accent and style, they'll be fine. IF you're actually looking to light the highway... not so much. You'll notice that many of the LED sites either don't publish lumen specs or they burry them very well.


Sent from my iPhone7 using Tapatalk

 

[va2djd]

hi, as pro10is said you got the briteness but it dosent light up that mutch i try those bulb and if you try those 112 somting led it is to big to fit in it so i order the 18 led and i had to modify (grinde a bit) and i replace it for hid bulb and it mutch better.

 

[Firefly]

HD has been selling LED headlights for a few years now. Two of my buddies run them and love them. I can tell you they work really well and show up great. One of them runs the official HD branded LED's while the other bought aftermarket unit.

The ones I've seen on the HD site have projector lenes that look kind of like ours do-- so maybe that will help in beam focus.

While I love my HID's..... I'd really love LED's for headlights and fogs instead.

Magic Man (Evan) is the LED expert out here-- he'd know what it would take--- and considering he never came up with a kit to do it-- my guess is to do it right ain't gonna be easy--- or cheap.....

I found a Hella unit (our light units are Hella) similar to ours that is LED on their UK website-- but don't have much more info yet.....

If someone came up with a good LED kit for the Spyder headlights and fogs---- they'd sell like hotcakes.....

 

[Nino sj]

Fault codes?

Fault codes even in the case of fog lights? hmmm, i hope not. if that is the case I'm now scared to even try them . and what if i put them on and get a fault code, can just replace them with OEMs and reset or will i need to visit the dealership :shocked: Thanks guys!!

 

[NancysToy]

Fault codes even in the case of fog lights? hmmm, i hope not. if that is the case I'm now scared to even try them . and what if i put them on and get a fault code, can just replace them with OEMs and reset or will i need to visit the dealership :shocked: Thanks guys!!

You shouldn't generate fault codes with aftermarket foglights or lamps, but I can't say with absolute certainty. If you get a fault, and then replace the lights with OEM, the fault should clear...unless you damaged something in the process. Any faults remain in memory, and must be cleared by the dealer, but they should not cause Limp Mode or any other issues for you in the meantime, if they have gone inactive. Frankly, you have more danger of damaging the wiring, housing, or connectors than generating fault codes.

 

[bone crusher]

HD has been selling LED headlights for a few years now. Two of my buddies run them and love them. I can tell you they work really well and show up great. One of them runs the official HD branded LED's while the other bought aftermarket unit.

The ones I've seen on the HD site have projector lenes that look kind of like ours do-- so maybe that will help in beam focus.

While I love my HID's..... I'd really love LED's for headlights and fogs instead.

Magic Man (Evan) is the LED expert out here-- he'd know what it would take--- and considering he never came up with a kit to do it-- my guess is to do it right ain't gonna be easy--- or cheap.....

I found a Hella unit (our light units are Hella) similar to ours that is LED on their UK website-- but don't have much more info yet.....

If someone came up with a good LED kit for the Spyder headlights and fogs---- they'd sell like hotcakes.....

Fire,

Isn't the objective of fog lights to have a more yellow tint so that it cuts the fog better? I think too many people want bright white headlights and fog lights...this light tends to reflect off of fog...the fog lights should be more yellow, I thought?

 

[NancysToy]

Fire,

Isn't the objective of fog lights to have a more yellow tint so that it cuts the fog better? I think too many people want bright white headlights and fog lights...this light tends to reflect off of fog...the fog lights should be more yellow, I thought?

That used to be the thinking, but from the looks of what is on the market these days, it seems to have fallen out of favor. The real key to effective foglights is low, wide/flat beams. Due to the chosen location, the Spyder foglights would be marginal as far as height, and the projector beams sure don't shine flat and wide. The lights do help, but they are not really optimal as foglights go.

 

[pro10is]

Fault codes even in the case of fog lights? hmmm, i hope not. if that is the case I'm now scared to even try them . and what if i put them on and get a fault code, can just replace them with OEMs and reset or will i need to visit the dealership :shocked: Thanks guys!!

Without having the specs or the source code to BUDS I can't say for certain what specifically will set a fault code. LED lights have been known to cause problems on other vehicles that measure the resistance or current of the circuitry to determine if a bulb is burned out or other electrical fault has occurred. That's because an LED is a diode. A typical diode (without any other conditioning circuitry) will measure a very high resistance when reversed biased and very low resistance when forward biased, in other words in one polarity it will appear open and in the opposite polarity it will appear shorted. An incandescent lamp will have a set resistance in either direction. So LED lamps can easily confuse an on board diagnostic system which monitors resistance or current flow based upon OEM parameters. LED's usually have a current limiting resistor but it will most likely be different than the OEM bulb's resistance. Some aftermarket automotive LED manufacturers build in corrective circuitry to try to prevent the problem while others sell add on components such as this: http://store.ijdmtoy.com/H8-H11-LED-Bulbs-Error-Free-Decoder-Wiring-p/aa1029.htm

With the Spyder it's trial and error because BUDS is propitiatory. Other aftermarket products have been known to cause BUDS issues so just be aware it is a possibility.

 

[Firefly]

Fire,

Isn't the objective of fog lights to have a more yellow tint so that it cuts the fog better? I think too many people want bright white headlights and fog lights...this light tends to reflect off of fog...the fog lights should be more yellow, I thought?

Maybe with cars-- but I don't think so on the Spyder. The non-North American versions of the Spyder RS use the 'fog lights' as the low beams and the 'headlights' as the high beams. I don't think most out here really consider them as actual 'fog' lights -- but more as supplemental front lighting.

 

[NancysToy]

Without having the specs or the source code to BUDS I can't say for certain what specifically will set a fault code. LED lights have been known to cause problems on other vehicles that measure the resistance or current of the circuitry to determine if a bulb is burned out or other electrical fault has occurred. That's because an LED is a diode. A typical diode (without any other conditioning circuitry) will measure a very high resistance when reversed biased and very low resistance when forward biased, in other words in one polarity it will appear open and in the opposite polarity it will appear shorted. An incandescent lamp will have a set resistance in either direction. So LED lamps can easily confuse an on board diagnostic system which monitors resistance or current flow based upon OEM parameters. LED's usually have a current limiting resistor but it will most likely be different than the OEM bulb's resistance. Some aftermarket automotive LED manufacturers build in corrective circuitry to try to prevent the problem while others sell add on components such as this: http://store.ijdmtoy.com/H8-H11-LED-Bulbs-Error-Free-Decoder-Wiring-p/aa1029.htm

With the Spyder it's trial and error because BUDS is propitiatory. Other aftermarket products have been known to cause BUDS issues so just be aware it is a possibility.

Th the best of my knowledge, only the taillights/brakelights are monitored...and probably only on the Spyder RS. That monitoring allows some extra resistance, but does not allow low resistance LEDs without load compensation.

 

[Nino sj]

They don’t even work!

Lesson learned, cheep stuff, not only they didn’t light up on the Spyder, and this is after a pretest with a 9V, they don’t even fit well, cheap glue holding the thing together. I will continue experimenting with other types of LEDs and let you guys know

 

[Lew L]

Please note the dates on threads 1 through 16----------

Modern LEDs are great!!!! Plug and play, very bright. Baja Ron sells them as do others here.

Lew L

 

[rays hell]

Lamonster LED headlights and fog lights on my F3. No problems and I love them.

 

[Sspradlin]

I put these in my oem fog lights on my F3
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CTMT01G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I’ve had no codes show up on the buds.

The lower a arm LED’s are from eBay and have more orange look while the fog ones are yellow.
The fog lights do take some work to put on as the back is different from the factory ones.

I took a spring and cut off a couple coils and bent the ends out a bit to catch the pegs that held the original holder on. The leds on mine were h3’s.