Replacing incandescent bulbs with cool LED alternatives?

[jimmyz80]

I've been doing some bulb swapping on my roadster and figured I'd just add to this thread instead of creating a new one. So far I've had success with the following:

Dome Light
I used a WLED-WHP6 from SuperBrightLEDs.com.
194 LED Bulb - 6 SMD LED Wedge Base Tower | Wedge Bulbs | Specialty & Automotive | Universal LED Bulb Finder | Super Bright LEDs | Super Bright LEDs
It fits into the dome light perfectly, and is a LOT brighter and whiter than stock. Takes about 30 seconds to install from start to finish.

Front Parking Lights
I bought a pair of bulbs off of Amazon that appeared to be identical to what I used in my dome light, but a bit cheaper.
Amazon.com: JDM ASTAR Extremely Bright 5730 SMD 194 168 2825 W5W T10 LED Bulbs,Xenon White(Brightest T10 Bulb in the market): Automotive
As far as I can tell these are basically identical to the bulb mentioned above for my dome light, although the metal housing is visually a little bit different. Originally I had tried some "CANBUS compatible bulbs here since I thought the car monitored the current draw on these, but those bulbs would overheat and flicker within 30 seconds of installing them into the housing. These non-CANBUS bulbs I linked to above seem to be reliable, but I just installed them tonight and can't say yet whether the car will throw any errors at me once I start driving with them.

The best way I found to swap these is the following:

1. Open the hood
2. Remove the black plastic cover that runs the width of the car in front of the cooling fans (it has the washer reservoir cap protruding through it). There are 8 plastic trim fasteners to remove with a phillips head screwdriver, and one 4mm hex/allen bolt to remove.
3. Once the cover is off, you can remove the rubber cap from the side of each headlight housing.
4. Twist the turn signal bulb and pop it out to give you access to the parking light bulb.
5. Reach in and upward with two fingers and you'll feel the little "spear" that the parking bulb is mounted in. There are two clips you need to squeeze with your fingers and pull to remove it. Some wiggling is necessary, since it looks like this particular bulb was never meant to be removed easily.
6. Swap the new LED bulb onto the "spear" and make sure it remains lit even if you wiggle it around a little bit. If it flickers, you might need to adjust the little contact wires on the bulb wedge to make sure they're contacting the contacts in the bulb holder "spear".
7. Do your best to re-insert the bulb and "spear" back into the hole you removed them from. It's a bit tight with the bulbs I used, but some gentile wiggling helped it all slide into place. One of mine snapped with with a positive click, and the other side just seems to be held in by friction. I don't know if the clip are worn out on that side or what, but the bulb seems to stay put regardless.
8. Reassemble the turn signal bulb, rubber cap, and plastic cover.

Total time to install should be less than 15 minutes.

License Plate
Over on the Model S sections of the forum, I saw people talking about bulbs produced under the name Abstract Ocean. They are a perfect fit for the roadster as well, and seem to work well.
LED Licence Plate Bulb Kit - Abstract Ocean
Originally I had tried some bulbs given to me for free from DDM Tuning when I bought my HID kit from them. Those bulbs flickered and failed within 30 seconds. Definitely stick with the Abstract Ocean bulbs, since they are MUCH higher quality. Someone should talk AO into selling a 3-bulb kit instead of the 2-bulb Model S kit. The 3rd bulb would work great in the roadster trunk.
These take about 2-3 minutes to install.

I have some front turn signal bulbs on order that claim to be error free, so I'll update this thread once they arrive and I've tested them.

 

[Chillout]

Thanks for telling me about the alternative way to replace the parking lights!
I thought the only way to do it was by removing the wheel and doing some gyneacologist-like finger twisting to reach the light.

 

[ibcs]

Thank you Jimmyz80 for the Dome light link. I'd replaced the others, but did not have a source on the last yellow light.

 

[jimmyz80]

Thanks for telling me about the alternative way to replace the parking lights!
I thought the only way to do it was by removing the wheel and doing some gyneacologist-like finger twisting to reach the light.

Oh trust me, you still do....you just won't be elbow deep while doing it. LOL

 

[Chillout]

Oh trust me, you still do....you just won't be elbow deep while doing it. LOL

good

 

[ibcs]

I've been doing some bulb swapping on my roadster and figured I'd just add to this thread instead of creating a new one. So far I've had success with the following:

Dome Light
I used a WLED-WHP6 from SuperBrightLEDs.com.
194 LED Bulb - 6 SMD LED Wedge Base Tower | Wedge Bulbs | Specialty & Automotive | Universal LED Bulb Finder | Super Bright LEDs | Super Bright LEDs
It fits into the dome light perfectly, and is a LOT brighter and whiter than stock. Takes about 30 seconds to install from start to finish.

Front Parking Lights
I bought a pair of bulbs off of Amazon that appeared to be identical to what I used in my dome light, but a bit cheaper.
Amazon.com: JDM ASTAR Extremely Bright 5730 SMD 194 168 2825 W5W T10 LED Bulbs,Xenon White(Brightest T10 Bulb in the market): Automotive
As far as I can tell these are basically identical to the bulb mentioned above for my dome light, although the metal housing is visually a little bit different. Originally I had tried some "CANBUS compatible bulbs here since I thought the car monitored the current draw on these, but those bulbs would overheat and flicker within 30 seconds of installing them into the housing. These non-CANBUS bulbs I linked to above seem to be reliable, but I just installed them tonight and can't say yet whether the car will throw any errors at me once I start driving with them.

The best way I found to swap these is the following:

1. Open the hood
2. Remove the black plastic cover that runs the width of the car in front of the cooling fans (it has the washer reservoir cap protruding through it). There are 8 plastic trim fasteners to remove with a phillips head screwdriver, and one 4mm hex/allen bolt to remove.
3. Once the cover is off, you can remove the rubber cap from the side of each headlight housing.
4. Twist the turn signal bulb and pop it out to give you access to the parking light bulb.
5. Reach in and upward with two fingers and you'll feel the little "spear" that the parking bulb is mounted in. There are two clips you need to squeeze with your fingers and pull to remove it. Some wiggling is necessary, since it looks like this particular bulb was never meant to be removed easily.
6. Swap the new LED bulb onto the "spear" and make sure it remains lit even if you wiggle it around a little bit. If it flickers, you might need to adjust the little contact wires on the bulb wedge to make sure they're contacting the contacts in the bulb holder "spear".
7. Do your best to re-insert the bulb and "spear" back into the hole you removed them from. It's a bit tight with the bulbs I used, but some gentile wiggling helped it all slide into place. One of mine snapped with with a positive click, and the other side just seems to be held in by friction. I don't know if the clip are worn out on that side or what, but the bulb seems to stay put regardless.
8. Reassemble the turn signal bulb, rubber cap, and plastic cover.

Total time to install should be less than 15 minutes.

License Plate
Over on the Model S sections of the forum, I saw people talking about bulbs produced under the name Abstract Ocean. They are a perfect fit for the roadster as well, and seem to work well.
LED Licence Plate Bulb Kit - Abstract Ocean
Originally I had tried some bulbs given to me for free from DDM Tuning when I bought my HID kit from them. Those bulbs flickered and failed within 30 seconds. Definitely stick with the Abstract Ocean bulbs, since they are MUCH higher quality. Someone should talk AO into selling a 3-bulb kit instead of the 2-bulb Model S kit. The 3rd bulb would work great in the roadster trunk.
These take about 2-3 minutes to install.

I have some front turn signal bulbs on order that claim to be error free, so I'll update this thread once they arrive and I've tested them.

Concerning the Dome Light you said 30 seconds to install. Unfortunately, I'm passed my 30 seconds on trying to figure out how it comes apart.

Can you offer any suggestions? Does the plastic clear piece come out or is it the whole plastic surround that needs to be removed?

Thanks for your time,
---Kent

 

[jimmyz80]

Concerning the Dome Light you said 30 seconds to install. Unfortunately, I'm passed my 30 seconds on trying to figure out how it comes apart.

Can you offer any suggestions? Does the plastic clear piece come out or is it the whole plastic surround that needs to be removed?

Thanks for your time,
---Kent

The whole thing pops out. Just carefully slide a flathead screwdriver under one of the shorter sides of it, and pry lightly. One side seems to pull out easier than the other, so you may need to gently try both sides.

 

[delavandaag]

I am facing problems in removing the plastic trim fasteners that hold the plastic cover under the hood in place. To turn the trimmers with the screwdriver I have to apply some pressure on the screwdriver/trimmer. However, that pressure causes the trimmers to pop in again or not to come out at all. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Thanks, Dela

 

[slcasner]

The whole thing pops out. Just carefully slide a flathead screwdriver under one of the shorter sides of it, and pry lightly. One side seems to pull out easier than the other, so you may need to gently try both sides.

Emphasis on the "gently". It is easy to break the plastic latches that hold the light module in place. How do I know?

 

[jimmyz80]

I am facing problems in removing the plastic trim fasteners that hold the plastic cover under the hood in place. To turn the trimmers with the screwdriver I have to apply some pressure on the screwdriver/trimmer. However, that pressure causes the trimmers to pop in again or not to come out at all. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Thanks, Dela

Make sure you use a screwdriver big enough to fit the fastener, so you can loosen without applying much pressure. The plastic screw part will back out easily and then you can pry the remaining "bushing" part of it out of the hole. Don't drop anything either or you may never get it back haha.

 

[Chillout]

Oh trust me, you still do....you just won't be elbow deep while doing it. LOL

Oh this was a piece of cake compared to going from the wheel-side... This time I didn't have to keep my head in the dirty nasty wheelwell and I could actually see what I was doing!
Thanks so much for this guide.

Also, I think the leds posted here are awefully expensive. I can get LEDs at dx.com for just couple of dollars/euros. That way you can just order 10 or so, in case on of them fails... and still be cheap :
http://www.dx.com/p/t10-1-5w-30lm-l...-clearance-lamp-2-pcs-12v-159438#.VOoAi9t0yM8

 

[dhanson865]

License Plate
Over on the Model S sections of the forum, I saw people talking about bulbs produced under the name Abstract Ocean. They are a perfect fit for the roadster as well, and seem to work well.
LED Licence Plate Bulb Kit - Abstract Ocean
Originally I had tried some bulbs given to me for free from DDM Tuning when I bought my HID kit from them. Those bulbs flickered and failed within 30 seconds. Definitely stick with the Abstract Ocean bulbs, since they are MUCH higher quality. Someone should talk AO into selling a 3-bulb kit instead of the 2-bulb Model S kit. The 3rd bulb would work great in the roadster trunk.
These take about 2-3 minutes to install.

I have some front turn signal bulbs on order that claim to be error free, so I'll update this thread once they arrive and I've tested them.

AO sounded nice until they said they matched the OEM color temp. I'd rather have something in the 3000K to 4500K range preferably not at either extreme. I'm assuming the OEM is 2700K but I'm not sure.

 

[jimmyz80]

AO sounded nice until they said they matched the OEM color temp. I'd rather have something in the 3000K to 4500K range preferably not at either extreme. I'm assuming the OEM is 2700K but I'm not sure.

They're not color matched to the ugly yellow incandescent color. They're a pure white color with no hint of yellow or of blue, so I'd guess somewhere in the 4300-5000K range.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh this was a piece of cake compared to going from the wheel-side... This time I didn't have to keep my head in the dirty nasty wheelwell and I could actually see what I was doing!
Thanks so much for this guide.

Also, I think the leds posted here are awefully expensive. I can get LEDs at dx.com for just couple of dollars/euros. That way you can just order 10 or so, in case on of them fails... and still be cheap :
http://www.dx.com/p/t10-1-5w-30lm-l...-clearance-lamp-2-pcs-12v-159438#.VOoAi9t0yM8
View attachment 72985

Awesome, I'm glad it was easy! The reason I posted the bulbs I did, is because every time I've bought cheap LED bulbs they've lasted all of about 60 seconds before they failed. I've had much better luck with the pricier brands who tend to care about their reputation. The listing you posted also shows bulbs with only a 30 lumen output, so they'll be less than 1/3rd of the brightness of the ones I listed. It makes no sense to swap in LEDs when they aren't at least as bright as the incandescent bulbs being replaced.

 

[jimmyz80]

I just returned home from some traveling and installed the front turn signal bulbs I had ordered. They install using the exact same access steps as the parking lights, and are very easy to change. None of the acrobatics that are required for the parking lights. So far I haven't seen any errors pop up on the VDS from the turn signal bulbs, but I've only tested them out in the garage. It's messy outside right now, but hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance to go driving and see if I get any errors. Here's a link to the bulbs I used. They are very expensive, but they are also VERY bright, and appear to draw enough current to not make the VDS throw bulb-out error.

High Power 50W CREE 7507 LED Bulbs | Turn Signal or Back Up Lights

Note: Make sure to get the Amber colored bulbs, NOT the white ones.

 

[heychubs]

I've been doing some bulb swapping on my roadster and figured I'd just add to this thread instead of creating a new one. So far I've had success with the following:

Thanks for posting info about your LED swaps! I've ordered and replaced the front parking light, which wasn't horribly hard. I think the hardest part was trying to put the parking lights back into their housing. I do have a couple questions. I replaced the dome light with the ones you suggested above, but they would not turn on. When I put the original bulbs back in, they worked fine. Do you think I got a defective LED bulb?

Also, the license plate lights came in a 2 pack, but the rear license plate only took one bulb. Your post makes it seem like it should take both bulbs? Did I miss a bulb somewhere back there?

 

[jimmyz80]

Thanks for posting info about your LED swaps! I've ordered and replaced the front parking light, which wasn't horribly hard. I think the hardest part was trying to put the parking lights back into their housing. I do have a couple questions. I replaced the dome light with the ones you suggested above, but they would not turn on. When I put the original bulbs back in, they worked fine. Do you think I got a defective LED bulb?

Also, the license plate lights came in a 2 pack, but the rear license plate only took one bulb. Your post makes it seem like it should take both bulbs? Did I miss a bulb somewhere back there?

Glad the information has been useful.

For the dome light, I don't think polarity matters so I don't think it's possible to put it in backwards or anything like that. It still might be worth rotating it 180 degrees in the bulb holder though. Also check the little wires on the part of the bulb that slides down into the bulb holder. It's possible one of them is pushed off to the side a bit, and may not be contacting the metal in the bulb holder. You may need to use a toothpick or something as you're sliding the bulb in, to keep the wires aligned with the contacts on the bulb holder. Sort of a crappy design, but all the LED bulbs seem to use it. Also you said "bulbs" a few times. Does your dome light actually have more than one bulb in it?

What year/version is your roadster? Mine is a 2.0 and the license plate has two separate bulb housings for the license plate. One on the left side of the plate and one on the right side of the plate. Maybe the new 2.5 body panels only used one?

 

[heychubs]

Glad the information has been useful.

Good suggestions, I'll try that for the dome light tonight. There is only one dome light, I think I typed the (s) because these LEDs all look alike.

Oh, interesting. I have a 2010/2.0 too. It only has a single bulb housing, and only uses one bulb, centered above the license plate. I guess I'll use the spare bulb for my trunk light. woohoo.

 

[jimmyz80]

How weird. What production number was your roadster? I wonder if they transitioned from one bulb to two, or from two bulbs to one.

 

[heychubs]

#678, so it looks like they went from one to two bulbs.

 

[heychubs]

For the dome light, I don't think polarity matters so I don't think it's possible to put it in backwards or anything like that. It still might be worth rotating it 180 degrees in the bulb holder though. Also check the little wires on the part of the bulb that slides down into the bulb holder. It's possible one of them is pushed off to the side a bit, and may not be contacting the metal in the bulb holder.

I think I got a dud. I had ordered a few spares, and the next bulb I tried, worked.

How do you like your turn signal LEDs? Are they as bright or brighter than the bulb it replaced? That may have to be my next purchase...