Has anyone successfully upgraded any/all of their exterior lights to LEDs? I'm trying to figure out what the best way to do it is, but the tail lights are all reverse polarity and it's going to be annoying as hell to do resistors everywhere unless I can find a way into the DICE programming.
2008+ 9-3 SC LEDs
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Well that's my bad for not checking if this particular car has DICE or not. I just assumed it did like my 9-5.
Regardless... Unless you're talking about LED frequency or turn signals; I have no idea why you think my lights would blink. The problem is mostly bulb out warnings.
When the car is off, any LED's will blink for about 5 minutes. They will also blink while driving, while the bulbs are turned "off". An example:
I put some 194 LED's in the city lights, the little bulbs that go in the high beam spot, under the actual high beam bulbs. When they were switched 'off' while driving, they would blink. When the whole car was turned off, they would blink for 5 minutes. I didn't care about the blinking when parked, but while driving that was unacceptable. They where borderline strobing, which is a great way to get in big trouble with the police, and/or confuse other road users. I've since put the incandescent bulbs back on there.
The car pulses each bulb on a regular basis to test them. If memory serves, it's PWM at work(pulsed width modulation). A low voltage signal is sent out to measure resistance. If the resistance is too high or low, it'll inform you a bulb is out via the SID. The voltage is low enough that it won't light up an incandescent bulb, but more than enough to briefly light up LED's.
EDIT : Mimmi beat me to it while I was typing, lol!
I put some 194 LED's in the city lights, the little bulbs that go in the high beam spot, under the actual high beam bulbs. When they were switched 'off' while driving, they would blink. When the whole car was turned off, they would blink for 5 minutes. I didn't care about the blinking when parked, but while driving that was unacceptable. They where borderline strobing, which is a great way to get in big trouble with the police, and/or confuse other road users. I've since put the incandescent bulbs back on there.
The car pulses each bulb on a regular basis to test them. If memory serves, it's PWM at work(pulsed width modulation). A low voltage signal is sent out to measure resistance. If the resistance is too high or low, it'll inform you a bulb is out via the SID. The voltage is low enough that it won't light up an incandescent bulb, but more than enough to briefly light up LED's.
EDIT : Mimmi beat me to it while I was typing, lol!
That definitely isn't happening with the DRL bulbs on my TurboX.... I just get the bulb out message.
But supposing the both of you are right, this still sounds like a problem that can be worked around with typical resistors at the very least. I'd still like to find a way to get whatever is doing the checking to shut up.
But supposing the both of you are right, this still sounds like a problem that can be worked around with typical resistors at the very least. I'd still like to find a way to get whatever is doing the checking to shut up.
But can the right resistor cause it to act like the incandescent bulbs were still in?
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Apparently not, but the correct relay can. The issue is, some relays will actually trigger and click on each pulse, so it's trial and error to find one that does not.
The best way to do it is to stay with decent incandescent bulbs.
Lights function is not to be bright as hell in some strange spectrum, but to provide visibility for you and drivers around.
Our lamp housings have been designed for incandescent bulbs with specific spectrum and light emitting source location. Any LED there would be out of spec and housings wouldn't direct the light as they supposed to, making you more dangerous on the road and/or just making your SAAB look ricey.
Also, I would prefer to change a bulb once in a few years, but have a working dead bulb warning, rather than getting a ticket or even rear-ended because LED just died silently.
Really, is there any single benefit with LED on a road-legal SAAB?
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In that case, sell Saab ASAP, you will save much more money.:lol:
Lol. It's not just Saab. It's every car with drl and halogen bulbs. Was thinking of getting the HID conversion kit. But I honestly feel like I could get led lights working.. however the ones on eBay are really big.. it's weird
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I bought out a home depot clearance lifetime supply of 750_ clear and amber osram longlife bulbs, and then no more burnt out since. So problem solved on that front. Likewise, I installed longlife Phillips headlight bulbs from the UK. Also have a lifetime stockpile of them, due to a shipping error. Wouldn't you know it? Now that I have an inventory, nothing burns out.
You can get LEDs working, just told you how. Definitely not for headlights, just your smaller bulbs. For headlights you go longlife or hid.
You can get LEDs working, just told you how. Definitely not for headlights, just your smaller bulbs. For headlights you go longlife or hid.
I honestly have yet for any other bulb to burn out except for the low beam H7 halogens... -.-
I was gonna order some on ebay, pack of 10 for 10 bucks. That I can afford xD. However, I have no idea how long they would last.. Also, would a 100 watt be too much?
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