Upgrade the original halogen driving lights to LED what could be simpler

[iank84]

Thought I would Upgrade the original nissan halogen driving lights to LED what could be simpler.
Well one worked ok and the second one no go.
I will accurately measure the current draw tomorrow, the LED driving lights obviously draw more current than the originals. The wiring loom on the drivers side will not power up the new driving light. The passengers side cable does. faulty DL? swapped the same DL to the passengers side harness & works fine?
So the lhs wiring wont power the same DL but the rhs will?
Until I get to the bottom of it, I will just run both off the rhs. Wrong the voltage at the 2 driving lights in parallel drops to 11V.
I tried tracing back the lhs harness to its source without success. So wondering if someone with a workshop manual can tell me if the driving light cabling is run from a relay or is it powered by a module please and where it is physically. (it is able to run the original halogen just fine)

Ian
(must start looking options for a workshop manual. any info on getting one appreciated.)

 

[Phunk]

Flip the globe around. Unlike Halogens the LED's are polarity sensitive. Majority will only work if the +/- are correct.

I replaced my Parkers, Reverse Lights, Head lights, Fog lights, License plate lights and interior lights all with LED.

Didn't do brake / tail lights as they are kinda pointless to do behind the lens.

During the process I had the circuit active to make sure I had the polarity right when I was plugging in the new globes.

Edit: I remembered the headlights are H4, can't flip them around. Sorry!

 

[iank84]

thanks for the reply, polarity i've checked & correct.
suprised at how much these led driving lights draw!

 

[landmannnn]

There is one relay for high beam and one relay for low beam.
After each relay there is a fuse for right and left, so two relays and four fuses in total.

I think there is something else going on as LEDs take less current than halogens.

LEDs, unlike halogens, are sensitive to voltage drops, so maybe the fuses or relays aren't functioning correctly?

Do you get the same symptoms on low and high beam?

 

[iank84]

Thanks for that info, driving lights only enabled on high beam on this one.
Found the problem today, a dodgy pin in the connector for the drivers side wiring harness. I cleaned up the pin and reseated
The connector and it works ok now. These cheapo led replacements do draw more current than the original driving lights, (which surprised me) so must have been a higher resistance with the higher current. The connector was down towards the bottom of the radiator and hard to get at. The pin was discoloured so possibly getting hot when used. In the copy of the workshop manual I found I've not found any reference to the driving lights circuit (it does have hbeam low beam and fog lamp wiring diagrams) the driving lights would have come from Nissan I guess) I traced the wiring to a seperate relay mounted between the battery and guard, powered by a fuse directly off the battery, relay enabled from the high beam. Relay mounted on the drivers side guard near the bottom of the battery. Hopefully cured now.

 

[Phunk]

Thanks for that info, driving lights only enabled on high beam on this one.
Found the problem today, a dodgy pin in the connector for the drivers side wiring harness. I cleaned up the pin and reseated
The connector and it works ok now. These cheapo led replacements do draw more current than the original driving lights, (which surprised me) so must have been a higher resistance with the higher current. The connector was down towards the bottom of the radiator and hard to get at. The pin was discoloured so possibly getting hot when used. In the copy of the workshop manual I found I've not found any reference to the driving lights circuit (it does have hbeam low beam and fog lamp wiring diagrams) the driving lights would have come from Nissan I guess) I traced the wiring to a seperate relay mounted between the battery and guard, powered by a fuse directly off the battery, relay enabled from the high beam. Relay mounted on the drivers side guard near the bottom of the battery. Hopefully cured now.

Shouldn't draw as much as Halogens though? then again, they are pushing these LEDs to their absolute limit to get the lumens from them

 

[iank84]

Shouldn't draw as much as Halogens though? then again, they are pushing these LEDs to their absolute limit to get the lumens from

they claim to be 18000 lumen per pair
box says 37 x 5w leds each DL = 185W at 13V = 14.23A labelling on driving light says 10A current?
Measured current I cant do at present dvm playing up I will add the reading later.

 

[Erick]

One thing I have learnt from my experience of LEDs is u can’t trust any specification about lumens, wattage or anything else from the adverts. Some are just ridiculous though some seem to make sense.

 

[iank84]

One thing I have learnt from my experience of LEDs is u can’t trust any specification about lumens, wattage or anything else from the adverts. Some are just ridiculous though some seem to make sense.

Yes agree totally. I finally tried these out tonight, they are bloody bright, how reliable time will tell.

 

[iank84]

Forgot to add so much so that I might as well ditch the hi beam lights as they are totally obliterated by the DLs

 

[Phunk]

Yes agree totally. I finally tried these out tonight, they are bloody bright, how reliable time will tell.

Mine have been kicking for a while now and definitely super bright.

I've aimed my headlights as far down as possible to not be a nuisance to oncoming traffic.

As for High-Beams, yep, pretty much irrelevant with the LED globes.

My ST didn't have fogs, so I installed my own housings and put really low lumen LED globes in there. I've now wired them up to the ignition and they run as my own retro pair of DRL's.

Before anyone chimes in, no, I've had no issue with the law on them being on.

 

[iank84]

G'day phunk I hadn't thought of using them for low beam as they are just too bright I think for general use. In the case of the high beam I'm thinking I will just use them with the on off switch & completely independant of whether high beam is on or off. (hope that makes sense)

 

[Phunk]

G'day phunk I hadn't thought of using them for low beam as they are just too bright I think for general use. In the case of the high beam I'm thinking I will just use them with the on off switch & completely independant of whether high beam is on or off. (hope that makes sense)

You can see into the future with the LED bulbs vs the Halogens.

Was driving through a bush part just last night with no streetlights, the cars in front of me looked like they were lighting up the road using a Bic lighter and my Navara looked like I had stadium lighting in front of me.

 

[Rhino1174]

Hi guys I fitted cheap eBay fogs to my nav during the week i dispensed the halogen globes that came with them fitted some led replacements I had from my old vehicles headlights now these alone are better than the original headlights even on high beam so once a man can find a bull bar or a nudge bar for Thai model that won’t cost me a second mortgage I have a set of 9inch led spot lights to go on it I guessing the sound of it a man won’t need headlights anymore lol

 

[Phunk]

Hi guys I fitted cheap eBay fogs to my nav during the week i dispensed the halogen globes that came with them fitted some led replacements I had from my old vehicles headlights now these alone are better than the original headlights even on high beam so once a man can find a bull bar or a nudge bar for Thai model that won’t cost me a second mortgage I have a set of 9inch led spot lights to go on it I guessing the sound of it a man won’t need headlights anymore lol

I got my nudge bar from Ebay, I think it was the Bosco brand and really cheap.

- this is the one: cost me $250

Mine is a VSK, but I find that generally it's easier to find MNT stuff!

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2828242...x+E0kV8TGyv0rfimrEaIt15dM=|tkp:Bk9SR9CIvJajYg

 

[iank84]

good you found one ok, other option i guess was the wreckers for the nissan nudge bar.

 

[Rhino1174]

I’ve tried every wrecker in tas no luck with nudge bar or bull bar and freight from mainland is the killer on most things on eBay can find a bar for $250 and $200 freight to get it to tas it becomes an expensive light mount at that price unfortunately I may as well save the $$1800 for a new steel bullbar and just be broke for another 12 mths lol

 

[Rhino1174]

I got my nudge bar from Ebay, I think it was the Bosco brand and really cheap.

- this is the one: cost me $250

Mine is a VSK, but I find that generally it's easier to find MNT stuff!

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2828242...x+E0kV8TGyv0rfimrEaIt15dM=|tkp:Bk9SR9CIvJajYg

I find it easy to get stuff for vsk in tas at wreckers no one seems to have mnt stuff I honestly wish I had looked into deeper before I bought I wouldn’t have got Thai model it has been nothing but hassles finding parts it’s like 100 Vsk to 1 mnt on road here I think not sure about mainland but tas sure don’t have many when I was looking for an engine I had a choice of 2 in tas for this and if was vsk could have had 20

 

[iank84]

Might pay to find one on the mainland and get some one to pick it up for you when they come over

 

[Rhino1174]

I’m certainly exploring all the options I got a factory nudge bar for a mnt but no mounting brackets and literally can’t get them anywhere and I went to local engineering company to see if they would make a set they told me it wasn’t possible without an original as a pattern just so frustrating at times