LED fog light and marker light upgrade complete

For as well as I feel the Leaf has been engineered, I was pretty surprised to see my SV model fitted with 55 watt halogen (x2) fog lights. Did they forget this car was electric?

Retrofitsource.com was blowing out BMW X5 LED fog lights for a fraction of the retail price. I paid $60 shipped, versus BMW's astronomical $600+ retail price. I knew from experience that these fog lights feature an extra wide beam pattern; CLICK HERE to see the beam pattern on someone else's pickup fog light retrofit.

I started by baking the BMW fog lights in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees to soften the lens gasket, then I removed the LED modules and heatsinks from the BMW housings.


Each module has one LED facing up and one facing down. What I like about this design is oncoming traffic does not get blinded by staring directly at an LED emitter; all the light is indirect with a cutoff effect similar to what you find in an OEM HID projector.

I then fitted the modules inside the stock Leaf housings, so it still uses the Nissan fog light mounts.


I am a little embarrassed to post my hackery, but whatever, I have done this sort of thing many times on 4WDs where the lights get submerged and so far they are all holding up.


Now that the fog lights and the headlights are the same color temperature, I need to deal with the 3000K parking light bulbs. I swapped the bulbs out for Osram LEDs.

Here's the before picture:


And clearly this is the after:


Now all of the lighting is around 5000K in color temperature.


The new fog lights draw 8.4 watts each, as opposed to 55 watts each for the stock fog lights.


This was far from plug-and-play, but I am very happy with the end result. The Leaf now has 100% LED forward lighting, probably like it should have from the factory.

probably like it should have from the factory.

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Agreed!

Do you have a link for the Osram LEDs used to replace the parking light bulbs?

HERE is the link for the same product on Amazon.

And here's a picture of the box--I bought mine at a local autoparts store.

It says 6000K, but strangely, it matches the 5000K headlights really well.

My original intent with the LED fog lights was to make them daytime running lights, but so far I haven't figured out how to wire them so I can turn them off with a switch. I can feel the fog light relay clicking inside of the main PDM box between the battery and the driver's fender, but the relay might be built into the circuit board as opposed to being a discrete relay. (I need to look closer because the green relay inside there feels like it could be clicking, but I have to look into it more.) If anyone knows how to do a "foglights on without the headlights mod," let me know.

Note the UK models use the fogs as DRLs.

asimba2 said:

Note the UK models use the fogs as DRLs.

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Any know if they have a module that is installed for UK and Canada vehicles to do that :?:
Part # :?:
Can you buy it in US, or do you have to order from Canada dealer, like spare tire bracket can only be ordered from Australia dealer :?:

asimba2 said:

HERE is the link for the same product on Amazon.

And here's a picture of the box--I bought mine at a local autoparts store.
...
It says 6000K, but strangely, it matches the 5000K headlights really well.

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These just plugged in? Amazon reports that "this does not fit your 2013 Leaf".

jlv said:

These just plugged in? Amazon reports that "this does not fit your 2013 Leaf".

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According to THIS the Leaf uses 2825 bulbs for both the license plate lights as well as the parking light bulb. It was plug and play in my 2013 Leaf.

Thank you! I'll get a set of those.

Now if there was only a simple LED solution for the fog lights. I like results of yours, but it looks like lots of work that might not be applicable to my leased Leaf.

E.g., would these H11 LED replacement bulbs work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-Super-White-High-Power-H8-H11-H9-7-5W-LED-2014-Car-Headlight-Fog-Lights-Bulb-/310990501218?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3ALeaf&hash=item48687a7562&vxp=mtr#vi-ilComp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

jlv said:

Thank you! I'll get a set of those.

Now if there was only a simple LED solution for the fog lights. I like results of yours, but it looks like lots of work that might not be applicable to my leased Leaf.

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My Leaf is leased too, but for a $60 investment, I'll get a couple of years of use out of them.

TimLee said:

Any know if they have a module that is installed for UK and Canada vehicles to do that :?:
Part # :?:
Can you buy it in US, or do you have to order from Canada dealer, like spare tire bracket can only be ordered from Australia dealer

Click to expand...

And there's the million dollar question. I would love to just pop a relay in there and have it work, but I'm not sure if the wiring is actually there. I want these as DRLs, so I would appreciate any info this forum has on this issue.

This has been discussed for the past couple of years. The wiring is missing on US LEAF's. I have asked on more than one occasion if somebody with a european or Canadian LEAF that has the Nissan manuals could post wiring diagrams. All I got was deathly silence. There are also several engineers on here who regularly hack various systems in the car. Nothing helpful from them either.

The UK Leafs actually have two bulbs in their fog lights, a standard 55w bulb and a 13w wedge bulb that is used as the DRL. (Coincidentally my new LED fog lights are far brighter and only pull 8.4w.) So even if the wiring was there, our fogs lack the additional bulb.

It would be nice to know where the fog light relay is located though. With that knowledge, one could hook up a relay so power is provided whenever the car is in ready to drive mode, but the lights could be selected on/off from the stalk mounted switch by triggering the additional relay. That's not hard. Anyone know where the fog light relay is located?

I just got back from vacation and finally got to replace the parking lights with the LEDriving bulbs... it looks spectacular.

jlv said:

E.g., would these H11 LED replacement bulbs work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-Super-White-High-Power-H8-H11-H9-7-5W-LED-2014-Car-Headlight-Fog-Lights-Bulb-/310990501218?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3ALeaf&hash=item48687a7562&vxp=mtr#vi-ilComp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Can just replacing the fog lights with these H11 LEDs work?

jlv said:

I just got back from vacation and finally got to replace the parking lights with the LEDriving bulbs... it looks spectacular.

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Nice. Did you order the same Phillips bulbs I used? I used to have the Phillips bulbs in my ICE car's license plate lights, but they were too bright. They are perfect in the Leaf because the emitter points forward and puts out lots of light.

I bought some similar to the pic below to go into my ICE license plate lights and found that the Leaf uses the same 2825 bulb, so it got a set too.

jlv said:

Can just replacing the fog lights with these H11 LEDs work?

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I thought about going that route but was afraid the glare would be too much for oncoming traffic. The LED lights I use have a cutoff shield and do not produce glare.

asimba2 said:

Nice. Did you order the same Phillips bulbs I used?

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I used the Osram-Sylvania bulks you linked here.

asimba2 said:

I thought about going that route but was afraid the glare would be too much for oncoming traffic. The LED lights I use have a cutoff shield and do not produce glare.

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I went back over your write-up and I see that now. There's a large jump in complexity and cost replacing the whole assembly as you did, though, but I wouldn't want to be blinding anyone.

jlv said:

I used the Osram-Sylvania bulks you linked here.

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Sorry, that's what I meant...Osram, not Phillips.

I went back over your write-up and I see that now. There's a large jump in complexity and cost replacing the whole assembly as you did, though, but I wouldn't want to be blinding anyone.

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I noticed that my 2013 Leaf uses a Valeo branded fog light. Then I noticed our 2012 Acura TSX uses a Valeo lamp that appears to be exactly the same. Then I started noticing Ford Focus and other cars all have the exact same fixture. To make a long story short, the company I purchased my BMW LED fogs from is now making an LED fog light that appears to be a direct retrofit for those Valeo lights that many cars use. I noticed our 2012 Acura TSX is listed, so I'm about 95% sure they would be a direct fit for the Leaf as well. The mounting tabs look identical. They aren't cheap, but what is.
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/led-lighting/morimoto-xb-led-fog-lights-type-s.html#.U7r7trGPMuI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So Advance Auto Parts seems to have the same LEDs, very similar price, but has a 35% coupon, which drops the price of 4 bulbs to $33.77 (coupon code WD28, 35% of $50+, expires July 12). But the package picture on the Advance Auto Parts website looks a little bit different (no reference to 'cool led', and the 1W is replaced with ???W), but specs seem to match:

Amperage: 0.07
Base Diameter: 0.425 in
Base Type: W2.1x9.5d
Bulb Category: Automotive
Bulb Configuration: T3-1/4
Bulb Type: LED
Bulbe Quantity: 1
Color Temperature: 6000 K
DOT / SAE Approved: Yes
Glass Color: Clear
Glass Diameter: 0.425 in
Lumens: 55 lm
Overall Length: 1.1 in
Rated Life: 1000
Voltage: 13.5 v
Wattage: 0.95 W

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Does anyone see anything wrong with these bulbs?

asimba2: I see several Nissans listed on the TRS website, but no LEAF. Since you had a chance to get a close look, how sure are you about the brackets matching? I would be willing to spend the money, as long as they were a straight swap (would prefer the BMWs if I had to hack them anyways).

lion said:

asimba2: I see several Nissans listed on the TRS website, but no LEAF. Since you had a chance to get a close look, how sure are you about the brackets matching? I would be willing to spend the money, as long as they were a straight swap (would prefer the BMWs if I had to hack them anyways).

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I can't say they are definitely a straight swap, but they appear to be the same light. Here is the Leaf/Valeo light:


Here's a guy that put the same BMW LEDs inside his Ford Focus Valeo lights (which appear identical to the Leaf lights)


and here's the retrofitsource ones:


My bet is they will be a direct swap, but I'm not 100% positive. Those Focus lights look identical to the Leaf lights and our 2012 Acura TSX, and both the Focus and the TSX show up on the retrofitsource compatibility chart, so I'd say it will probably work.

I think you are right, found a set on eBay, with good pics: