Chevrolet Spark Modification & Accessories


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DIY - Replacing LED bulbs - Incomplete

Today I have decided to take a bold step for a DIY after seeing Varun, SS80, Shantanu and others.

I wanted to get a LED for parking light and front indicators. I looked into the manual and removed the front light assembly as follows



Once I removed it I removed the parking light and Indicators as it is mentioned below

remove parking light and indicator.PNG

I had that as a sample and went to T.nagar usman road and first enquired in auto spare parts shop where he said LED bulbs will be available only at Car accessories shop. Then visited around 3-4 shops and found none of them has it except one. He showed two types. One type is with 14 SMD LED in all sides and another with LED lights on the top only. He said these two can be used for parking light which costs me around Rs. 300. I did not buy it since there is no other value to compare. But I got some fare idea about the LEDs after this visit.

I came home and searched on net and found the following LEDs for parking. Apart from parking light the same is used for the following also

  • Side indicators [2 Nos]
  • High mounted stop lamp [ 5 Nos]
  • Licence plate lamp [2 Nos]

there are two types of LEDs with different models.

  • One with lights on all sides
  • another only at the top

LED with Lights on all sides
20 SMD LED T10 Car Side Wedge Light Bulb Supper White, 12V Super white Light - pair.PNG

LED with lights on top only
$T2eC16N,!wsE9suw)kM+BQRPWS8V1w~~60_12.JPG

Now I am confused which one to use for my parking light. I think the first one would be the right one but technically I do not know whether it is correct or only the second to be used. Experts pls suggest me the right one.

And also when I was looking on the net I found the following.
10 SMD LEDs - Cost Rs. 250 Aprox - Per pair - White Color
10SMD Car LED PARKING Light Lamp 12V.PNG
T10 W5W Led Parking side light bulbs Honda Suzuki VW Nissan Hyundai 0.5W Pai.PNG

20SMD LEDs - Cost Rs. 300Aprox - Per pair - White Color
20 SMD LED T10 Car Side Wedge Light Bulb Supper White, 12V Super white Light - Single Bulb.PNG
20 SMD LED T10 Car Side Wedge Light Bulb Supper White, 12V Super white Light - Raw Power.PNG
20 SMD LED T10 Car Side Wedge Light Bulb Supper White, 12V Super white Light - Car front 2.PNG
20 SMD LED T10 Car Side Wedge Light Bulb Supper White, 12V Super white Light - Car Front 1.PNG

28SM LED - Cost Rs. 300 Aprox - Per pair - White Color
2pc BRIGHT 28-SMD White LED Parking Light Bulb Wedge Light 168 194 W5W 921 12V.PNG

10 SMD LEDs - Cost Rs. 250 Aprox - Per pair - Blue Color
2 pcs. T10 5 SMD 5050 LED Bulb 12 Volt DC Indicator, Parking, Pilot Blue Light 1.PNG
2 pcs. T10 5 SMD 5050 LED Bulb 12 Volt DC Indicator, Parking, Pilot Blue Light 2.PNG

In T.nagar they have told me no indicator bulb will be available in LED. Dont know how to get it.

Iam planing to visit G.P. Road, Chennai's car accesories market today or tommorow evening. If I could get it this kind of bulb for Rs. 150 per pair, I could get three pairs and replace it with Front parking light, side indicators and number plate bulbs. Let me see.

Before that I need advice from the experts which type should be used for every lights.

The following type of bulb is available in
Front Indicators Front and back
Backup lamp [Reverse lamp?]
bulb-present.PNG

For the above the following type of light might be required I think
bulb-new1.PNG
bulb-new2.PNG

I request some suggestions from the experts.

Thanks
 

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Dear Sethu,
i have used the wedge type LEDS, known as T5 (parking light, side indicator, high mount stop lamp etc). the one with SMD all over and SMD on front are good.

as for the cabin light i have 16SMD led bulb. bought all from ebay. don't have my camera with me i will get some snaps of the bulbs i have and post later
 
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Dear Sethu,
i have used the wedge type LEDS, known as T5 (parking light, side indicator, high mount stop lamp etc). the one with SMD all over and SMD on front are good.

as for the cabin light i have 16SMD led bulb. bought all from ebay. don't have my camera with me i will get some snaps of the bulbs i have and post later
Thanks for the info.

Can you pls explain what is WEDGE type LEDs.

What ever I have given in the pics are also from eBay and all are T10. I do not know the difference between T5 and T10. And also I do not know what is SMD?

T10 W5W Led Parking side light bulbs Honda Suzuki VW Nissan Hyundai 0.5W Pair
2 pcs. T10 5 SMD 5050 LED Bulb 12 Volt DC Indicator, Parking, Pilot Blue Light
2pc BRIGHT 28-SMD White LED Parking Light Bulb Wedge Light 168 194 W5W 921 12V
2x T10 10SMD Car bike LED PARKING Light Interior Bulbs Lamp 12V
20 SMD LED T10 Car Side Wedge Light Bulb Supper White, 12V Super white Light

I am planing to buy it directly from accesseries shop. If I could not find anything [sometimes it happens like that too[confused]] I will go with eBay. The unplugged head light assembly is still like that. so i cant wait for long time.

Kannan, How about that 28SMD LED. How about that for Parking.
 
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sorry sethu t5 was a typo it is T10.
SMD means "surface mount device".
in all the bulbs above they have SMD, SMDs are brighter and better than ordinary LEDs
SMD smd.jpg
LED
Pink5mmLED.jpg

in SMD LED the LED is surface mountable in the circuit board. hence quality will be more. and size will be smaller.
wedge type means the T10, in other holders we rotate the bulb after inserting it to the holder, in the wedge we just "wedge" in to the holder.

also please note that i had a problem with one particular 20SMD pairs, they turned blue when used for more than 20 minutes, when starting they are pure white but slowly turn blue.
so i changed them to 9 SMD (front only) type. i will post the pictures later. the cabin light also, i will pm you.
 
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Sethu,

Just follow the information from Kannan !![:)], I was just about to say the same thing to you. He is explaining perfectly !!
 
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sorry sethu t5 was a typo it is T10.
SMD means "surface mount device".
in all the bulbs above they have SMD, SMDs are brighter and better than ordinary LEDs
SMD View attachment 62700
LED
View attachment 62701

in SMD LED the LED is surface mountable in the circuit board. hence quality will be more. and size will be smaller.
wedge type means the T10, in other holders we rotate the bulb after inserting it to the holder, in the wedge we just "wedge" in to the holder.

also please note that i had a problem with one particular 20SMD pairs, they turned blue when used for more than 20 minutes, when starting they are pure white but slowly turn blue.
so i changed them to 9 SMD (front only) type. i will post the pictures later. the cabin light also, i will pm you.
Thanks for the detailed explanation about SMD/T10/Wedge. Actually I got scared when I saw the parking light after pulling it from holder that I had damaged. But I got relived after seeing the light shown by the shop wala.

Btw, I had already LED for cabin lamp. I do not know the no of SMDs in it. But I think it is brighter and pleasent inside the car. I have seen so many people stop and look into my car when the LED Doom light is on and then proceed.

Do you have any power problem since you have changed all the bulbs to LED? I asked this question based on the warning at the bottom the following details.

Kannan, today I will be going to buy the bulbs, atleast for parking light. pls let me know how many SMDs should be there in LED for parking light.

The following are the Bulbs specification in my sparky
bulb specifications.png
 
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Sethu,

Answer is well in your post itself !! See the WARNING, that's it !!

As far as you maintain the same wattage with any bulb in that place will not harm anything [:)]
 
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Sethu,

Answer is well in your post itself !! See the WARNING, that's it !!

As far as you maintain the same wattage with any bulb in that place will not harm anything [:)]
I have seen it and I was about to check the wattage for LEDs also, but unfortunately nowhere the wattage of LEDs are not provided. is there any default wattage for single LED? If yes some one pls let me know how to calculate it so that I can take care of the wattage.

But in that case, head lights are mentioned as 60/55. but I saw post saying ppls have installed 100/95 bulbs? will that not be a problem?
 
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I have seen it and I was about to check the wattage for LEDs also, but unfortunately nowhere the wattage of LEDs are not provided. is there any default wattage for single LED? If yes some one pls let me know how to calculate it so that I can take care of the wattage.

But in that case, head lights are mentioned as 60/55. but I saw post saying ppls have installed 100/95 bulbs? will that not be a problem?
@Sethu,

There is no default voltage for LED I feel, they come in different watts

Yes there will not be a problem if original is 60/55 and if some body installs a 100/95 bulbs till they blown off[clap]
 
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I have seen it and I was about to check the wattage for LEDs also, but unfortunately nowhere the wattage of LEDs are not provided. is there any default wattage for single LED? If yes some one pls let me know how to calculate it so that I can take care of the wattage.

But in that case, head lights are mentioned as 60/55. but I saw post saying ppls have installed 100/95 bulbs? will that not be a problem?
Hi Sethu, you can install led's. It looks good as well as save the power.

Usage of led's in tail lamps for long hours will not make them melt, the heat generated from led's are very less.

If you install 100/90 in head lamps in long run your head lamp will fade also minute cracks will be developed in the glass and reflector. But in old cars (like mine) as the head lamp is made up of metal and glass no issues I am running with 90\100. [;)]
 
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But in old cars (like mine) as the head lamp is made up of metal and glass no issues I am running with 90\100. [;)]
@ Sethu,
what varun says is perfectly correct. newer plastic reflectors are not good when used with high wattage bulbs.

As far as LEDs are concerned, the power consumption is very low.

with SMDs as low as 0.5 W while a normal T10 bulb consumes 5W (4.5 W difference) so you can assume how much power is saved.
i am using LED as given below
1. 2 X Parking lamp
2. 2 X side indicators
3. 2 X number plate
4. 4 X high mount stop lamp
5. 1 X cabin lamp (front)
6. 1 X cabin lamp (rear)

so using 12 SMD LED bulbs (total 6 w instead of 60W, not that we use all of them at one time)

led.jpg
1. led used for cabin light (this one is low on the light output)
2. gives much light but after some time turns to blue (may be my bad unit)
3. single SMD, gives good light with the front lens
4. same as above gives blue light (i used this to get Blue eyed boy effect later removed as advised by FJ CRUZER, as night visibility is poor.
5. 4 smd gives good light
6. single 5050 SMD led without lens, medium light (but one of mine fused on the long run)
7. a DIY interior lamp made from 2 units, got another so not using it
8. T10 wedge lamp 5 w OE
9 OE cabin lamp

Please note that LED uses different technology so that heat generated is less and it gives a long life time ~50000 hrs.
All the above LEDs are spares. right now in my office Audit is going on so i have brought files to home and working on it. (logged on to TAI to unwind[:)], once this is over i will take photos of the bulbs in my car and then post in my ownership thread, i haven't updated it for a while)

I have only done T10 LEDs till date, now planning to purchase the twisting type and replace indicator, reverse, tail lamp, fog lamp etc.

Also LEDs come in various color temperatures
pure white gives the CFL like color (cool daylight)
warm white gives you the incandescent bulb like feel (my rear cabin light is this)

cabin.jpg
a cabin light replacement

if you are purchasing cabin light led, please measure the distance between the points, for me the front light was 31mm and rear light was 36 mm

led1.jpg
purchased this LED to fit in the car, but waiting for a suitable place inside the car. this is a high power 3 W led 12V and with lens so that the light is focused.

As for the headlights, i used Philips Extreme Vision bulbs, Xenon (normal halogen bulbs use other gases). i have taken snaps with and without the Extreme vision, once my audit is over i will post in the ownership thread. don't expect miracles, (i did not go for 100/90 basically because of what Varun said, and i didn't wanted to mess up with the electrical. as for HID my uncle who is DMVI is strictly against it[frustration] he won't let me do any mods, i have installed the IceCool Shield without telling him. he had me rip off my sunfilm (lightest green and looked like OE tinit). now i have to install 70VLT garware next week as the heat is too much on sunny days. and planning to use nail polish remover as Lucas suggested to hide the printing).

@Sethu,

There is no default voltage for LED I feel, they come in different watts
A normal LED has a driver voltage of ~3.6V, our car's electrical is 12V. so to reduce the voltage the manufacturers use either a resistor (with single SMDs) or use multiple LEDs in series (or both). the power rating varies we have LEDs ranging from .25W to 30W (out door use only) these high power LEDs require proper heat sink.
1.jpg
2.jpg
 
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I have seen it and I was about to check the wattage for LEDs also, but unfortunately nowhere the wattage of LEDs are not provided. is there any default wattage for single LED? If yes some one pls let me know how to calculate it so that I can take care of the wattage.

But in that case, head lights are mentioned as 60/55. but I saw post saying ppls have installed 100/95 bulbs? will that not be a problem?

Dear Sir,
Regarding the wattages of LED, the LED's run on 2.4 to3.5 volt DC and wattage is minimal so is ignored.

If we use 4 LEDs (3volt) in series it will run o 12v supply and will consume less than .5W

SMD Led's consume less current as compared to normal LED.

For Eg. A 38 SMD T10 bulb consumes only 1.9W
 

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