LED brake, reverse, license plate etc... lighting upgrade?

[armoredsaint]

Anyone attempt at it so far?

 

Does the car give a lightbulb warning like the bulb is out because of the low voltage nature of LEDs?

[jmckinley]

Somebody on this forum tried LED tailights and they wouldn't work.  Probably need the special LEDs with built in resistors to simulate incandescent bulbs.

[armoredsaint]

thanks - i know on ebay and amazon they have the resistors with them, on other car forums i think people even had problems with it because they're cheap and over heated iirc?

[jmckinley]

Seems to be a wide variation in quality of LED bulbs out there.  Pick any supplier and the reviews run from "Burned out in 5 minutes" to "no problems".

 

Some have had problems with polarity on trailers and motor home interior and exterior lights. Since incandescent bulbs don't care about polarity, on some fixtures both wires are the same color and the RV manufacturers don't worry about it.  Then when you put in an LED, you have a 50/50 chance of reverse polarity and the LED won't work and people think they have a bad bulb.

 

I just bought a pair of 3157's for the extra sockets I installed in my taillights for towing the C Max.  Only $8 for two bulbs.  It'll be interesting to see if and or how long they work

[wab]

Seems to be a wide variation in quality of LED bulbs out there.  Pick any supplier and the reviews run from "Burned out in 5 minutes" to "no problems".

 

Some have had problems with polarity on trailers and motor home interior and exterior lights. Since incandescent bulbs don't care about polarity, on some fixtures both wires are the same color and the RV manufacturers don't worry about it.  Then when you put in an LED, you have a 50/50 chance of reverse polarity and the LED won't work and people think they have a bad bulb.

 

I just bought a pair of 3157's for the extra sockets I installed in my taillights for towing the C Max.  Only $8 for two bulbs.  It'll be interesting to see if and or how long they work

 

I ordered these for $12.99 for 2 BUT VERY bright.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008VJ9URQ/ref=pe_309540_26725410_item

one worked, the other I had to put pressure on it to get to work.

 

Same problem with the sockets I installed for the motor home.

They DID snap into place in the new sockets but not the cmax???

I stuck a toothpick in the problem one, it worked.

BUT I don't think I have a good ground from the back of the cmax to the motor home battery, when using the turn signal the other tail light blinks very dimly. The MH has led's.

Till I have more time I'm using incandescent 3157's.

 

These LED's are the brightest (68 SMD) I've seen.

As opposed to the license plate lights I installed, plus they stay on, but very dim, for a long time after all the other lights go out.

[jmckinley]

I'm pretty sure weak ground is my problem too.  Each turn signal looks ok, but if running lights are on and you hit the turn signal or brakes, everything dims some.  Ground wire is apparently adequate for one or two filaments at a time, but not three or four.  LEDs should cure the problem due to their lower current draw. 

 

Guess I should have run a bigger ground wire.  Live and learn, I guess.

[wab]

I'm pretty sure weak ground is my problem too.  Each turn signal looks ok, but if running lights are on and you hit the turn signal or brakes, everything dims some.  Ground wire is apparently adequate for one or two filaments at a time, but not three or four.  LEDs should cure the problem due to their lower current draw. 

 

Guess I should have run a bigger ground wire.  Live and learn, I guess.

 

Reading your remarks dinged my bell :worship: ding ding ding.

 

I grounded the new sockets per the etrailer.com video with a screw into the cmax fender.

THIS is not a proper ground for these leds, the cmax is a POOR ground as far as these leds are concerned.

This should be a closed circuit from the MH back to the MH and never touch the cmax ground.

The ground wire from the socket should connect to the white wire from the MH and not go to "ground" on the car... I hope... and will check ASAP

uuhh the next time we're at the MH.

 

THANKS

[jmckinley]

I was afraid of weird electrical interactions between the Motorhome and the C Max so I made sure my tail light wiring was completely separate including the ground wire. Problem is the ground wire is the same size as the other three wires but has to carry three times the current so is a bit undersized when all lights are on.  Hopefully the LEDs will solve the problem without me having to string a new ground wire.

 

For the same reason, I did not run a charge wire to the C Max battery to keep it charged and suffered dead car battery every day I towed.  Thanks to another forum member, I now use the manual Shift Brake Interlock override so I can get it into neutral without leaving the car in the accessory position which leaves way too many electrical gizmos running.

[armoredsaint]

how is this related to towing a trailer? ;)

[wab]

Does the WARNING on pg 243 of the owners manual apply to the Hybrid C-Max?

[zhackwyatt]

Does the WARNING on pg 243 of the owners manual apply to the Hybrid C-Max?

Absolutely.  Although I think folks are talking about towing the C-Max behind a motor home, not towing something with the C-Max.

[armoredsaint]

so it seems like there's no good solution in LEDs for us currently? 

[otbiker]

I installed LED license plate lights with no problems. W5W / 194 bulbs. Not canbus monitored, so any bulb will work as long as it is a "wedge style" bulb.

[ScubaDadMiami]

so it seems like there's no good solution in LEDs for us currently? 

Put me on the list for this one.  I still can't believe that they didn't put LEDs on the first model release.

[armoredsaint]

Put me on the list for this one.  I still can't believe that they didn't put LEDs on the first model release.

 

 

would it be weird that i was willing to forego heated leather seats for LED stop/turn lights - it's just something about LEDs that I like on cars a lot, maybe it's that instant-on effect.

[xanotos]

Any new update on solutions to adding LEDs? Thinking of adding LEDs to all the rear lights, but have bad memories of dealing with flickering lights after car turns off on last car.

[armoredsaint]

Any new update on solutions to adding LEDs? Thinking of adding LEDs to all the rear lights, but have bad memories of dealing with flickering lights after car turns off on last car.

 

 

Unfortunately none so far, I haven't bothered with it. I did the LED upgrades to the license plate lights and puddle lights.

 

I was looking at the new fusions and they even have the projector lamps, why can't the C-Max have it originally?

[salsaguy]

fusion is a more expensive car and higher luxury status car (or so they want you to believe) even though the cmax is a $30k+ car.

they usually put the LED front and rear lights on the top of the line car in the company.

[CarpeNivem]

I put LED lights above the license plate and in the rear cargo area. I haven't any SERIOUS problems.

I did have one problem, but I don't consider it serious...

First, though, in the cargo area, to be clear, absolutely no problems at all, and the illumination back there looks fantastic now. If nothing else, I absolutely suggest you do this.

Alright, moving on, the license plate lights, they look great, and haven't produced any error message or errant behavior, BUT, it is a little weird how they remain on, even after you've turned off the car. They're suuuuper dim, but they're still on, as if there's residual electricity in the line or something, which wouldn't be enough to illuminate a traditional light bulb, but is just enough to light up an LED, albeit just barely. They will completely turn off eventually, but it takes several minutes (I don't know exactly how many). I'm not worried; they're not wasting any more electricity than was already flowing through the wires anyway; you can just see that electricity's presence now, is all. And, as I said, I really can't emphasize this point enough, just SO, SO barely.

When the car is actually on, and the license plate lights should actually be illuminated, they look beautiful. I, too, really prefer LEDs, and wish the car had been outfitted completely with them from the factory. I'm surprised it wasn't, but oh well.

[xanotos]

Just wondering, so the only bulbs that need to be canbus are the rear turn signal lights???

[ArizonaEnergi]

I put LED lights above the license plate

How did you get these lights out and open? I tried carefully prying one from the short ends and it came out a little and loose but I could not see how to get it further out or remove the clear cover. Unfortunately now it won't fit tightly back in, so a tab or something may have broken but that's a different problem.

[CarpeNivem]

I had to use a relatively long and thin flat head screwdriver. It needed to be inserted what I would describe as "further than reasonable" in order to disengage the locking tab. Speaking precisely, how far was that? Uhmm, about an inch, maybe? I forget. But, yeah, it was definitely weird. Not really difficult, but not really easy either.

[ArizonaEnergi]

Thanks, I'll try a longer screwdriver.

[CarpeNivem]

^ and thinner. It's very important it be thin!

[WNY]

Just replaced my LIcense plate lights with LEDs since one was burn out and slightly broken lenses for some reason. The new ones came as a set with housing and a pigtail plug, they just plug into the socket where the old bulb was, 5 min installation. Definitely Bright!