Ok so Iam think of getting some of these to create my own inline resistor / resistors. This way I don't need to cut the existing loom and it can sit between the cluster and the loom. 

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

Current flowing through a resistance = heat, if the heat from the bulbs was dissipated solely through the small connector pins you would quickly have melted connectors, thats exactly what happens when a connector makes a bad contact causing no end of problems.

 

I think the quest for having white LED lights even when they are coloured red and inferior to the stndard bulbs that they replace, when they wont be as reliable, when you have to add resistors to the connectors that will cause them to melt is folly.

 

I can see the sense of using LED's to save energy particularly in the house, office, public spaces etc but on a vehicle where you have to fit a shunt resistor and dissipate its heat there really should be some tangible advantage to fitting them.

 

Sorry if its not what you want to hear, I do have HID dipped headlights on my vehicle but they give me inproved visibility and I have worked tirelessly to make sure they dont dazzle others, yes the foglights may look yellow by comparison but I dont get to look at them and dont give a monkeys toss if others think they look naff, their attention like mine should be on the road ahead and not fashion.

 

I can understand fitting entire OE LED rear light clusters if they give an improvement in visibility or are at least equal to the existing ones, these LED stop/tail light bulbs seem to fall well short of the task, also many new cars I have seen might look stylish in the eye of the beholder but the rear indicator is now a tiny yellow patch drowned by a massive red LED array, they prosecute motorcyclists for fitting illegal smaller indicators yet some of the new vehicles I have been behind had much smaller effective indicators than them and they were drowned by what was around them.

 

Fashion seems to come before safety and common sense these days.

Yep, LED's allow the manufacturers a much larger scope for differentiation and customer appeal.

 

Not caring how others percieve what you drive puts you in the minority.

 

The desire for the very latest technology isn't going away anytime soon.

Sadly very true.

 

New car sales are already in decline, it would be a catastrophy for the manufacturers the majority were like me.

 

If they were how would the cars produced differ and of more interest to me how would the marketing and advertising differ?

 

How many decades has it been since a car advert actually told you anything about the car or even showed a car being used in a normal (whatever that may be) setting?

1 hour ago, silver1011 said:

 

 

Not caring how others percieve what you drive puts you in the minority.

 

 

 

There once was a time where it would have been my over-riding passion consuming my every waking thought.

 

I now know what a to55er wiser people knew that I was 😀

 

Trouble is I never had enough money to buy a new car, perhaps pseter power and the desire to retain some credibility with their moron offspring might have influenced what my parents bought, I doubt that they were concerned how others percieved them.

 

Having been on both sides I think its really a case of thinking how others percieve you whereas those with any sense or insight will not judge you on your car, more likely to judge you on how you imagine others percieve you.

I'd hope you were right, accessibility to brand new cars via no equity personal contract hire deals (PCH) seems to have reinvigorated the desire to be seen to be 'keeping up with the Jones's' more than it used to, it seems to have around here anyway.

 

Perhaps it is just me but more and more people are finding themselves locked into unaffordable PCH deals with brand new cars on their drive, instead of the 5+ year old Ford they used to have.

 

Manufacturers know what attracts their customers and how to get them to pay more. Speccing up any Skoda on their online portal in many cases see's the option to upgrade the already LED rear lights with increased functionality for hundreds of pounds.

 

Dynamic LED indicators being the current favourite. Take a look at the Range Rover Velar next time you're behind one when it is braking and indicating at the same time. I'm amazed it got type approval, they are barely visible.

 

The Range Rover Sport being almost as bad, the indicator uses the same LED light source tube as the tail light so that when it indicates the tail light is disabled, so in between the 'sweeping' indicators there is no rearward illumination on that side. Broken down at night with it's hazard lights on means no red rear illumination at all and complete darkness between each indication.

 

I am not sure who in the UK is responsible for ensuring vehicles registered here are safe, but as with those responsible for forcing safety-related recalls they need to grow a set and do a better job.

I think things are getting a little off topic...

 

@MRB007 - those connectors certainly look about right to me

Edited 12 January, 20206 yr by langers2k

That can happen when you ask "what do you think?" 😊

 

I would genuinely be concerned that some of the pins will have to dissipate 21 watts of heat energy.

Edited 12 January, 20206 yr by J.R.

10 minutes ago, J.R. said:

I would genuinely be concerned that some of the pins will have to dissipate 21 watts of heat energy.

 

Why would the pins need to dissipate 21W of heat?

 

The resistors will need to dissipate heat and should ideally be attached to a suitable bit of metal bodywork. Some of that heat will travel down the wires to the pins but I'd be surprised if it caused any issues...

11 minutes ago, langers2k said:

Why would the pins need to dissipate 21W of heat?

Why wouldn't they? The 21w has to go somewhere, and there isn't always a heat path to a lump of mild steel provided...

Perhaps its my failing eyesight, it looked like an in line connector to be plugged straight in, perhaps the terminals are to replace the existing ones in the connector in which case why is it not just spliced in upstream?

 

My perhaps incorrect assumption was that the resistors would be right beside the terminals.

25 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Why wouldn't they? The 21w has to go somewhere, and there isn't always a heat path to a lump of mild steel provided...

 

Even if they aren't connected to metal bodywork (which I would suggest), there will be some heat lost by the resistor and the wiring. There are also two wires so worse case would be 10.5w per pin and likely much less in the real world unless you try really hard to insulate the wiring and resistor.

 

13 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Perhaps its my failing eyesight, it looked like an in line connector to be plugged straight in, perhaps the terminals are to replace the existing ones in the connector in which case why is it not just spliced in upstream?

 

My perhaps incorrect assumption was that the resistors would be right beside the terminals.

 

It's a pair of terminals to allow the OP to add resistors without cutting or splicing into the existing wiring.

 

Although they could put the resistors right next to the terminals, I'd hope they would heed the advice given about ensuring there is sufficient wire to attach them to something large and metal

OK so its just a pair of terminals allowing someone to remove the existing contact pin, I'll assume its female, put it into the supplied male terminal which they crimp to a wire which they solder to a resistor (hopefully they understand the wattage needed and the need to heatsink it) which they solder to a wire which they crimp to the supplied female terminal which they put back into the original socket.

 

And then do that for the stop, tail, indicator, brake and fog light feed for each side plus probably the number plate light as well (got blinded by the reflection from a rear number plate the other night).

 

Seeing as this sort of job is the first one that a totall inexperienced DIY owner does (well it was for me when I was young!) through misguided priorities, that releasing the existing terminals requires skill & experience & ideally a puprpose made tool, to crimp the new terminals safely will definitely require a very expensive dedicated terminal crimp tool (not the red/green/blue types) plus soldering etc and making the whole package insulated whilst heatsinking it (a contradiction) I dont look forward to buying a vehicle that has had all the rear lights changed to LED's unless they use OE clusters and looms as you have, seen too many wiring looms destroyed by radio and alarm fitters and they were supposedly pros.

@J.R. you're normally on the money but just take a moment to look at the connectors!

 

They are clearly a pair, one female and one male with the appropriate crimps. This will allow the creation of a loom to go between the existing wiring loom and rear cluster connector. There will be no need to de-pin anything. I agree that a dedicated and correct crimp tool would make the job easier but careful use of pliers plus some solder should be fine in this instance.

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea of load resistors, especially when better options exist but if done correctly, it should be perfectly safe.

Easier said than done, I learned las week that I have end stage glaucoma in the left eye (my reading and close vision eye) and will be having an emergency Trabeculectomy operation in a private hospital on Wednesday in an attempt to save what little vision remains.

 

I had to refit an errant pin to a connector on a storage heater this week, I knew that there would be a small tang needed lifting but even in bright sunlight with reading glasses I could not see it, I used to work on connectors much smaller all day long in poor lighting without glasses 🙁

 

I had to cut the wires from both connectors and use butt crimps, it was a known dodgy connector and had been giving trouble for years, I was the first to find out why.

Now I know what they are I am going to buy some to make a better job of where I have had to splice the sensing wires for the trailer relay into my rear light clusters, I removed one yesterday to look for the foglamp bulb holder and found that the bound up loom was a tight fit to withdraw through the aperture in the sheet metal, those connectors using my proper dedicated crimp tool that has not been used for a long time will give me a nice little post operative recovery project.

So to the OP my apologies, now I know what the connectors are and how they are to be used it is definitely the best solution available to you and can be returned to stock if required.

 

Do you have an AliExpress part number or description please?

Well this post got hijacked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

@langers2k Iam going to order the connectors and a few resisters but what should the DIY look look like. I guess I will have to have a resister going from each live feed to the earth.

 

In the image you will see the brown cable which is the earth in pin number 3

 

Edited 14 January, 20206 yr by MRB007

Hi All,

 

At last I have had the time to create the loom that sits between the car loom and the cluster but I have hit a problem.

 

Need a different pair of eyes and advice can you smart people take a look.

 

 

 

Edited 24 March, 20206 yr by MRB007

That looks like you've put a resistor in series rather than parallel? I didn't have the audio on so I'm not sure what's happening with all the grounds either.

 

This is what you should be aiming for, hopefully it makes sense and my MS paint skills get the points across:

^ Spot on Langers; I just watched it with sound on, and you're exactly right about what needs changing, and how.

Well second time around and BINGO!!!! It works all errors have gone form the rear clusters thanks for your help folks.