Plug and play LED lights solution! No hyperflash and no brake lamp error!

white98sh

white98sh

Experienced Member
Joined
29 October 2013
Messages
414
Location
NJ
As a recent owner, I was surprised to find that our 25 year old cars don't have an easy solution to retrofit LED lights in the tail lights, brake lights, turn signals, etc... There were 2 solutions I found which involved disabling the bulb-out notifications.

Hyperflashing/hyperblinking is a safety feature to let you know a bulb is out. One solution was to disable that safety feature by modifying the flasher relay: http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...ure-Solution?p=1881347&viewfull=1#post1881347

The BRAKE LAMP light in the instrument cluster is another safety feature that some disable by grounding out a particular wire: http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/158884-Converted-to-LED-brake-light-bulbs-very-happy

Now there are ready-made sockets with load resistors which allow using any LED bulb. I found mine on eBay for a few bucks each.
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On the left is the 1156 single filament bulb with resistor harness. The right is the 1157 dual filament which uses 2 resistors (1 for each circuit).

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This is without the brake pedal depressed. Guess which side has the LEDs :)

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Brake pedal depressed. Pic doesn't do justice to the LED brightness.

Best of all, NO HYPERFLASH, NO BRAKE LAMP error and 100% reversible.

Depending on the harness you buy, you may need to shave a couple of nubs off the ebay socket to get the bulb to seat in the taillight. Sorry I don't have a pic of this but once you compare the two it will be apparent what needs to be shaved. Also, the resistors should be mounted directly to metal to dissipate heat. I have ordered up some heat-conducting mounting tape which should do the trick.

Next up I will try the front turn signals. Should be similar process although mounting the resistors might be a challenge.

If this helps you, please post in this thread and let us know!
 

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looks good! can you take some more pics during the daylight etc? also how many harnesses in total do you need for this?

also any pics of the different single filament vs dual filament?
 
Hey guys I will take some more pics tomorrow. You will need 1 harness per bulb. I bought 2x 1156 for the rear turns and 4x 1157 for the brake lights. Including red LEDs the total cost was around $90. I also got 2 red 194 LEDs for the tail parking light. I opted not to do the reverse lights yet but probably will down the line.
 
some pics of how and where you mounted all the resistors would be nice too!
 
Just to clarify you are using the built-in resister harnesses only on the turn signal and dual function brake lights? Since the reverse light and the ones directly next to it don't require a special harness to avoid the warnings or issues. You can simply change out those bulbs directly with an led of your choosing without issue. Same goes with the front clear corner lights next to your front blinkers.

Interested to see how it works out and how hot the resister gets. Lets see those pics!
 
texmorales said:
Just to clarify you are using the built-in resister harnesses only on the turn signal and dual function brake lights? Since the reverse light and the ones directly next to it don't require a special harness to avoid the warnings or issues. You can simply change out those bulbs directly with an led of your choosing without issue. Same goes with the front clear corner lights next to your front blinkers.

Interested to see how it works out and how hot the resister gets. Lets see those pics!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! I hadn't tried the other bulbs yet, only changed the turns and brake lights with harnesses.

Here's a vid of the LEDs in action, results will depend on which type and brand you go with.

https://youtu.be/kgOhbQbnG0c



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nice conversion. How do the led's look in the day time? I've seen some led's that are very dim in bright light situations.
 
Jinks said:
Nice conversion. How do the led's look in the day time? I've seen some led's that are very dim in bright light situations.
Click to expand...

They look fine. They use a CREE bulb which is very bright. Most of the questions about the actual LEDs vary by brand. I am not saying the bulbs I got are the best, but they work fine and are better than stock in brightness and response. If anyone finds better bulbs please let us all know.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Just a heads up. The load resistor is connected in parallel with the LED bulb to increase the electrical load in the LED circuit (makes it look like a conventional filament style bulb). If the LED fails, the resistor still remains connected and may cause the bulb failure detection circuit to become inoperative because it is still sensing the resistor current. The small drop in current caused by the LED failure may not be enough to trigger the bulb failure warning circuit. It would be easy enough to test by just popping one of the brake LEDs out and applying the brakes to see whether the detector still works. Whether mal operation of the bulb failure detector is an issue for you is your decision. Just something to be aware of.

The load resistors are typically 6 ohm 50 W units.

http://www.be-electronics.com/product_p/rh0506r000fe02.htm

You can get them in less than case lot quantities for about $6 Cdn. I think there are Ebay sellers who buy volume and can then sell for less. About 4 years ago the local industrial electronics vendor brought in a case of 1000 of them specifically for the 'stylin dudes' and was selling them for about $4 - 5. Worked out great for me because they were the perfect rating for use as injection resistors with some low impedance injectors that I was installing on another project car.

The kits with the pigtails make for an easy install and have the advantage of leaving the stock wiring harness unmolested. However, if you are prepared to tap into the wiring harness, the install would be relatively easy without requiring the adapters. When the lights are on, the resistors are dissipating quite a bit of heat (14v x 14 v)/6 ohms = 33 watts. They can get hot. This probably won't be a problem for the signal lights which are cycling on and off. However, if you are in slow traffic and repeatedly applying the brakes and staying on the brakes at a long traffic light, the brake light resistors are going to get hot. Don't mount them on plastic parts or allow them to come into contact with anything combustible.
 
Old Guy said:
Just a heads up. The load resistor is connected in parallel with the LED bulb to increase the electrical load in the LED circuit (makes it look like a conventional filament style bulb). If the LED fails, the resistor still remains connected and may cause the bulb failure detection circuit to become inoperative because it is still sensing the resistor current. The small drop in current caused by the LED failure may not be enough to trigger the bulb failure warning circuit. It would be easy enough to test by just popping one of the brake LEDs out and applying the brakes to see whether the detector still works. Whether mal operation of the bulb failure detector is an issue for you is your decision. Just something to be aware of.

The load resistors are typically 6 ohm 50 W units.

http://www.be-electronics.com/product_p/rh0506r000fe02.htm

You can get them in less than case lot quantities for about $6 Cdn. I think there are Ebay sellers who buy volume and can then sell for less. About 4 years ago the local industrial electronics vendor brought in a case of 1000 of them specifically for the 'stylin dudes' and was selling them for about $4 - 5. Worked out great for me because they were the perfect rating for use as injection resistors with some low impedance injectors that I was installing on another project car.

The kits with the pigtails make for an easy install and have the advantage of leaving the stock wiring harness unmolested. However, if you are prepared to tap into the wiring harness, the install would be relatively easy without requiring the adapters. When the lights are on, the resistors are dissipating quite a bit of heat (14v x 14 v)/6 ohms = 33 watts. They can get hot. This probably won't be a problem for the signal lights which are cycling on and off. However, if you are in slow traffic and repeatedly applying the brakes and staying on the brakes at a long traffic light, the brake light resistors are going to get hot. Don't mount them on plastic parts or allow them to come into contact with anything combustible.
Click to expand...

thanks for the detailed info. I will be mounting the resistors to metal using heatsink tape, hope it will be enough to dissipate the heat. I did buy all the parts to make my own harnesses only to find out later that it has already been done by some enterprising people.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

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