Lotus Elan M100 LED Lighting

[BarryDalHerbert]

I have installed LED bulbs in most locations of my M100 S2 Elan.
The attached PDF tells all.

BdH
NSW Australia
Tue 18-Jul-23 10:53

[Tuga2112]

nice extensive document.

may be worth putting its contents in a wiki page.

i have my own things to say about LED and theres other people with prior experiences as well not all lamps can be swapped willy and nilly, and not all lamps that need resistors after swapping need them in the same way.
im pretty sure the information is already out there, all we need now is someone with the patience to update the wiki with a new entry and agregating the information already available.

dont look at me... im just the ideas men.

[jgbff7]

My S2 had LED side lights at the front when I bought it, but there is a problem. They are fine when only the side lights are switched on, but as soon as something else is switched on, such as indicators, they start fluttering.

For the MOT I have replaced the originals.

Is this a known issue?

John

[dapinky]

When I did mine a few years ago, I decided that using LED "bulbs" to replace the current units wasn't the best way to do things (although it is often the only way to do some of them... notably those in the rear units).

As I have Elise rear lamps, they are fairly easy to upgrade to LED units without changing the bulbs - but not a cheap way of doing things, so a bulb is possibly the best you can do....so, is it worth doing? I didn't think so as the OE Elise units are more than bright enough to be seen, and they don't affect my own vision when driving.

At the front I changed the sidelights and indicators to use 12v LED panels for the sidelight, and some strips of LED units for the indicators. I needed amber LEDs as I have clear lenses, but with a tinted lens you could just use white LED panels. I fitted ballast resisters for the indicators, but the sidelights are wired in directly.

They are far brighter than the OE lights and don't flicker...... I'm not well enough experienced to suggest what may cause it using a replacement 'bulb' unit.

[BarryDalHerbert]

That is certainly not the case with the LED replacement bulbs that I put in my S2 jgbff7.

Perhaps the LEDs are not receiving the full twelve volts, and so when the other lights are activated the LEDs become borderline to function correctly and start doing the blinky thing?

Years ago I had an Alfa Sprint. Four 5.75" headlamps. Pathetically feeble light output even with Osram Nightbreaker QH bulbs fitted. I probed a multimeter on the wiring at the bulbs, and it was less than 10 volts! I ran fatter gauge wiring in place of the scrawny stuff that the Italians had put in ten years earlier, and immediately got the full-fat 12 volts and the candles became headlights.

BdH
NSW Australia
Sun 30-Jul-23 22:59

[Tuga2112]

Is this a known issue?

its not an "issue"
the circuitry was designed to regonise when a short circuit happens and when it detects that it starts to flash very fast to warn the owner.

what happens is that LED lights have lower resistance than the original incandescent stuff. and you end up with so little resistance across the circuit that the old unit thinks theres a short.

theres 2 options there.
you can put a additional resistor in series with the new LEDs (what people usually do)
or
you can swap the relay to one that works with LEDs (which i assume if there is documentation of such GM replacement Pinky probably knows about it)

[dapinky]

Joao,

I think you're right, but talking about the wrong lights!

The OP mentions sidelights being the problem, not the speed of flashing of indicators (which does require a ballast resistor to sort out, as I tried 3 different relays supposedly suitable for LED indicators, and none of them worked).

[Tuga2112]

yes, seems i have confused the lights being described.

I Have installed LED strips as my sidelights. (i absolutely love the aestetic)
at one point they did flutter. but that turned out to be just a poor connection on the soldering i had done.
As far as your case, only reason for them to missbehave i can think of the top of my head would be poor grounding. (specially if the ground point is shared with the other lights that make it flutter)

[Hector2021]

I have long been a fan of replacing filament bulbs with led equivalents but only where i think it adds a plus to the benefit and aesthetics. So far i have only swapped out the interior lights, which have been a huge plus in my opinion, and the front side lights. Again, a nicer more visible and whiter light. I have thought about replacing the rear stop, tail and number plate lights but not got that far yet. My experience historically though is that the leds are not that good on quality and just dont last that long before they either fail completely, or one or two individual leds within the bulb start to dim or flicker.

[Tuga2112]

I have long been a fan of replacing filament bulbs with led equivalents but only where i think it adds a plus to the benefit and aesthetics. So far i have only swapped out the interior lights, which have been a huge plus in my opinion, and the front side lights. Again, a nicer more visible and whiter light. I have thought about replacing the rear stop, tail and number plate lights but not got that far yet. My experience historically though is that the leds are not that good on quality and just dont last that long before they either fail completely, or one or two individual leds within the bulb start to dim or flicker.

my experience is that LEDs dim over time and you dont really realise it.

I have 6 x2m long strips in my garage and after 3 years im alreaddy thinking of replacing because they are nowhere near as bright as originally. they have multiple thousands hours of use. but when you compare the light output to a new strip its very obvious they have lost a lot of their shine