valdeztke

Mine went out 3 times in 4 weeks

tomc8at

Did I just hear a Coffee spew... LOL

WWK888

4 year old thread???

spinkick

Would you rather he create a new one and get yelled at for that too?

SilverGhost

Where do you buy bulb grease? is it to keep corrosion from eating up the metal socket?

JoesC5

I replaced my DRL/signal bulbs with white LED bulbs. The LED units draw very little current so you want damage the sockets by overheating. They should last forever. If you want to keep the amber lights, consider the LED "Switchbacks". When you go to the LED units you will get hyper flashing but installing a 6 ohm 50 watt load resistor in parallel with the LED bulbs will put them back flashing at the normal rate. Some prefer the faster flashing.

wjnjr

Hey JoesC5:

I'm doing the LED DRL swap this weekend, where did you mount your load resistors?

JoesC5

I mounted the load resistors in the lower area where the fog lights are. I spliced on 12" long 22 gauge wires to the leads on the resistors so they would be long enough to reach the DRL sockets. Connect the two leads from the load resistor to the two outside leads going to the bulb socket connector. Take a small pair of scissors to trim back the tape wrapped around the leads about an inch or more.

It's a little difficult to locate but there is a slot where you can feed the wires through under the headlight housing. I took a 4" long piece of 3/4" ID heater hose and slit it lengthwise and slipped it over the wire bundle that is above the fog light housing. I then used the nylon tie wraps to secure the load resistors to the heater hose. That way, if you do need to use the emerg flashers for an extended period of time, the load resistors heat won't damage the wire bundle. The LEDs can be installed in both directions. If they don't turn on at first, remove and turn 180 degrees and reinsert to get the polarity right. Plan on removing the front wheels to give you plenty of access to the lower opening.

wjnjr

Good info, thanks!

One more quick question:

Any problem with the resistors vs the plastic tie wraps?

Here's why I ask: The BCM activates the same circuit for DRLs as for turn signals or flashers. That's the "bright" side of the turn signal/parking light/DRL 3157 bulb socket. (on my '09 at least, other C6's similar?) This means in daylight w/ DRLs on the load resistors will be on continuously. Not harmfull to the resistors but they will generate some heat. Anyone know how much? Like a light bulb probably. I'm sure the heater hose will be OK but what about the plastic ties?

timd38

I have LED bulbs and didn't put any resisters in and that was about 4 years ago.

wjnjr

And your point is?

BTW, it's spelled "resistors"

Knob Jockey

If you have 'Switchback' LED's and want the white LED's on while driving and the Amber LED's for turn signals, the only way to achieve this look is to use the parking lights (or headlights and/or foglights).

If you run with the DRL's on then the amber LED's will be on and the the circuit in the LED 'lamp' that turns off the white LED's will also be 'on'.

This switch part of the LED 'Switchback' system may fail prematurely and is why some manufacturers warn against running their LED's in DRL mode.

You are correct that if you run this way the load resistors will be on all the time and get very hot. You should use resistors with integral aluminum-finned heat sinks. You can also get an aluminum resistor mounting plate that adds additional cooling surface (check out V-LED's online).

You may want to consider mounting the load resistors in the engine compartment where they can get lots of air. You need to extend the cables and feed them through the existing holes/grommets.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but it is an old one.