LED DRL's and 3rd Brake Light

[jHamshaw]

Living as I do in the murkiness of Norfolk (even on good days such as last week you're in and out of shadows all of the time on the best roads) and on the basis of if you can't beat 'em, join 'em with all new cars since March 2011 being fitted with them as a legal requirement, I'm trying out some LED DRL's on my new (to me!) S2. Whilst fully appreciating that many of these can look downright awful, I wanted something that looked right, and was fully reversible. I went for a set of these (they're all over eBay at present - look for "Mercedes Style DRL's") which are only 15mm high, fit the outer grille apertures almost perfectly (admittedly upside down!), don't block too much airflow and, best of all, are fully reversible/removable :-

Fitting pictures (wired with a relay so on with ignition, and off when sidelights/headlights switched on for MOT compliance) :-

DRL's Off

P6040013 (Small).JPG (72.78 KiB) Viewed 4658 times

DRL Detail

P6040014 (Small).JPG (64.34 KiB) Viewed 4658 times

Dusk pictures (difficult to photograph bright LED's - they either over or under-expose) :-

DRL's On

P6040017 (Small).JPG (58.41 KiB) Viewed 4658 times

DRL's On

P6040021 (Small).JPG (68.33 KiB) Viewed 4658 times

To compliment these I wanted a 3rd brake light, having great faith in these over the years on other cars since their introduction. Again, I wanted something discrete and reversible so used a piece of self-adhesive LED strip, with the LED's mounted to project sideways :-

3rd Brake Light Off

P6040015 (Small).JPG (72.58 KiB) Viewed 4658 times

3rd Brakelight Off Detail

P6040016 (Small).JPG (57.87 KiB) Viewed 4658 times

3rd Brakelight On

P6040019 (Small).JPG (68.93 KiB) Viewed 4658 times

3rd Brake Light On

P6040020 (Small).JPG (52.07 KiB) Viewed 4658 times

Comments welcome - I do appreciate that this is probably a "Marmite" project but it's all reversible and the safety aspects are what matter to me....

[RayD]

It looks very good Jim,

Is the LED strip the same as I used on here?

Ray

[jHamshaw]

It looks very good Jim,

Is the LED strip the same as I used on here?

Ray

Hi Ray, and thanks!

Not quite the same strip : cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230578471945

[Enright]

Very, VERY good job. Well done.
Normally I hate aftermarket lights, but I think they look really impressive.

[trig]

Although the Elan is over 20 years old it does not look it,, and the odd modern enhancement doesn't look too out of place..Like it

[cliff]

Undecided on the DRL's but really like the brake light.

[jHamshaw]

UPDATE - both DRL units have now failed - one with water ingress, and one with a burnt out LED - I can no longer recommend these units from a quality standpoint - shame as they fit so well!

/Off to find replacements as the wiring and relay are still good....

[a5gcd]

UPDATE - both DRL units have now failed - one with water ingress, and one with a burnt out LED - I can no longer recommend these units from a quality standpoint - shame as they fit so well!

/Off to find replacements as the wiring and relay are still good....

Have you found a replacement yet?

[jHamshaw]

UPDATE - both DRL units have now failed - one with water ingress, and one with a burnt out LED - I can no longer recommend these units from a quality standpoint - shame as they fit so well!

/Off to find replacements as the wiring and relay are still good....

Have you found a replacement yet?

Yes :-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150535320910

[tweetdriver63]

UPDATE - both DRL units have now failed - one with water ingress, and one with a burnt out LED - I can no longer recommend these units from a quality standpoint - shame as they fit so well!

/Off to find replacements as the wiring and relay are still good....

Have you found a replacement yet?

Yes :-

IMG_0210 (Small).JPG

IMG_0211 (Small).JPG

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150535320910

I have similar ones on my car. I don't have them wired as DRLs though, since they really don't put out enough light to be of any use in the daytime (at least, not the ones I got). I have them spliced into the side marker lights to add to my visibility (others seeing me) during those times when I don't need the headlights on to see, but have the marker lights on to be seen.

[jHamshaw]

That's illegal/an MOT failure in the UK!

[rip]

Which is crazy. There are a lot of mad things creeping into the UK's MOT.