Improving the Boot Light and License Plate Bulbs

[acerboo]

"almost" makes sense

Pic would clear it up and I wouldn't mind having bash at this myself,

same here but afraid have no idea at all what the above means!

[m44rrt]

Count me in m44rrt

[rus]

not to p*** on anyones fire here but i ordered a set of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT last week, arrived today and have just fitted them. fit nice and securely and even pass through the housing hole. will see how they last.

[mmm-five]

not to p*** on anyones fire here but i ordered a set of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT last week, arrived today and have just fitted them. fit nice and securely and even pass through the housing hole. will see how they last.

They're sidelight bulbs. This thread is about registration plate bulbs.

[rus]

i know that but surely the side light bulbs are the same as the reg plate ones? t10's?

[daveg]

They do fit, but only have 1 LED facing down. The other is facing up into the black plastic housing.

I am biased of course but the LEDs at the beginning of the thread have 6 LEDs (same ones) facing down. The ones on eBay also have load resistors for use where the blown bulb indicator is triggered by a low current LED bulb. This makes the get very hot (I have tried that exact set) and they don't need to since there is no blown bulb detector on the licence plate bulb circuit.

[mmm-five]

i know that but surely the side light bulbs are the same as the reg plate ones? t10's?

Sorry, was getting confused with my M5 plate bulbs which are like this...


Z4 ones (side & reg) are of course these...


I regularly had to replace the M5 bulbs so knew what they were like - wrong picture came to my mind

In fact, my Z4 reg plate bulbs are RDash ones (did cost £40 though) - and they do replacements for courtesy lights and such...

[rus]

ok thats fair enough comment, did they last though on your car or did they pop?

[aquazi]

not to p*** on anyones fire here but i ordered a set of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT last week, arrived today and have just fitted them. fit nice and securely and even pass through the housing hole. will see how they last.

Also you are paying £10 for one LED, for an extra £5 you can get 6 times as many LED's.

I am very tempted to get a set now... but was a real ball ache removing my lights in the first place not sure i can be bothered to go through that hassel again - but your lights look so damn nice

[mmm-five]

ok thats fair enough comment, did they last though on your car or did they pop?

Been on about 6 months now and seem to be fine - although I don't tend to see the rear numberplate when I'm driving at night, so all it probably does is help the cameras/police see who's 'making progress'

[sbtwister]

What's the pinch for shipping to the States? If it's not too bad - I'm interested!

[Starscream]

Any updates for pics of the back yet

[powerontap]

OK how much to build me a set and ship to Canada? Thanks

[daveg]

Sorry for the delay - been very busy lately and just haven't had a chance to grab a photo of the back of the LED bulb yet. I've also added it to the first post:

[daveg]

Using similar bits to the license bulbs I decided to upgrade the boot light as the stock one is crap. Parts required:

1 x Thin 30 SMD LED Strip
1 x 4x21 Hole Vero-Board
1 x Rectifier Diode
1 x Optional in-line connector

Again the diode was there to protect the LED strip from blowing if it is connected the wrong way round.

To start make a little 501 sized plug to go into the original light housing, with a diode and track break. Connect this to the LED strip with a suitable length of wire. I used an in-line connector for ease of installation and removal. I also used some heat-shrink to keep the two wires neatly together.











The LED strip was held in place under the lip on the top of the boot 'entrance' using a hot glue gun. The wire is then routed down the metal lip, past the control to lower/raise the extra boot space and behind the carpet to the original bulb housing. The wires and LEDs are completely hidden. I love using hot-melt glue as it's not messy, sets quick and can be simply peeled off at a later date if needed. Quite hard to take a photo but this should give the idea:



The hot-melt glue wasn't applied too well and looks a little messy but fine by me since it can't be seen. Some before and after photos:





Much better - can finally see where things are in the boot now!