UPDATED- LEAF LED High-Beam upgrade

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OrientExpress said:
I would advise against replacing the turn-signal bulbs front or rear, because the turn signal lamps are monitored by a "bulb out" circuit, and all of the T10 LEDs bulbs on the market today will trigger a bulb out event. This is because of the low current draw of the LED bulb fools the monitor circuit into thinking that the bulb is defective. The only way to avoid that is to bridge the bulb power lines with a large resistor to fool the circuit.

On B-platform cars like the LEAF, a bulb out event is indicated by a rapid blinker relay sound (which is artificial) instead of a warning message.

I don't plan to replace the turn signal bulb, only the parking light that's in the same housing as the high beam, there is no problem replacing that one, is there? What about the fog light, can it be switched to LED too? Thanks.
 
hmmwv said:
I don't plan to replace the turn signal bulb, only the parking light that's in the same housing as the high beam, there is no problem replacing that one, is there? What about the fog light, can it be switched to LED too? Thanks.

Sorry, I did not fully understand your inquiry.

For the City (Parking) lights the wedge bulb I recommend are these from SuperBrightLEDS.Com. They are about $4 each, and fit great. Select natural white for the 6K version.

Here is what they look like installed:

leafledlights-01.jpg


For Fog lights, I have not yet moved from Halogen, I still use a Hella H11 bulb that has a yellow tint. But the advances with CREE LED assemblies have made H11 LED bulbs quite reasonable.

Here is one that is representative of the selection of CREE based bulbs on eBay. I recommend the smaller non-heatsink bulbs simply because the back of the Fog Light reflector is exposed to the elements.

$_57.JPG
 
I replaced all turn signal bulbs with LED like I have done on all my cars and I didn't get any bulb out lights but like all LED turn signal conversions I did have to do the load resistors which is pretty simple, think keeps them from hyper flashing. One thing I do like about the conversion is that there is no more yellow in the upper fixture when the light isn't flashing...
 
AutoHaulersinc said:
I replaced all turn signal bulbs with LED like I have done on all my cars and I didn't get any bulb out lights but like all LED turn signal conversions I did have to do the load resistors which is pretty simple, think keeps them from hyper flashing. .

Yes, the load resistors are necessary. One thing to be aware of with any load resistor installation is that the resistors themselves get very hot, so make sure they are not pressed against any plastic parts as the heat they generate can melt or distort the plastic.
 
OrientExpress said:
AutoHaulersinc said:
I replaced all turn signal bulbs with LED like I have done on all my cars and I didn't get any bulb out lights but like all LED turn signal conversions I did have to do the load resistors which is pretty simple, think keeps them from hyper flashing. .

Yes, the load resistors are necessary. One thing to be aware of with any load resistor installation is that the resistors themselves get very hot, so make sure they are not pressed against any plastic parts as the heat they generate can melt or distort the plastic.

I've noticed this with the smaller ones which is why I only buy the larger units that stay cooler. Shocking how hot the little ones get!
 
OrientExpress said:
Sorry, I did not fully understand your inquiry.

For the City (Parking) lights the wedge bulb I recommend are these from SuperBrightLEDS.Com. They are about $4 each, and fit great. Select natural white for the 6K version.

Here is what they look like installed:

For Fog lights, I have not yet moved from Halogen, I still use a Hella H11 bulb that has a yellow tint. But the advances with CREE LED assemblies have made H11 LED bulbs quite reasonable.

Here is one that is representative of the selection of CREE based bulbs on eBay. I recommend the smaller non-heatsink bulbs simply because the back of the Fog Light reflector is exposed to the elements.

Thanks a lot for the recommendation! I see it's listed as a 194 LED, is that the same connector as the T10/W5W listed per the LEAF manual?
 
OrientExpress said:
hmmwv said:
I see it's listed as a 194 LED, is that the same connector as the T10/W5W listed per the LEAF manual?

Yes, complete PnP

Great, I just ordered those plus the H9 high beam bulbs you recommended in your original post, the eBay seller just got them in stock again.
 
OrientExpress said:
hmmwv said:
I see it's listed as a 194 LED, is that the same connector as the T10/W5W listed per the LEAF manual?

Yes, complete PnP

OE, I received the bulbs and just got them installed, the parking light looks great, matches my LED low beam perfectly. However compare to the OEM bulb it seems that the LED bulb sticks out much farther, I know it's a longer bulb but it's so much longer and heaver than the halogen bulb that I'm really concerned that it may fall off the socket and into the lens. I wedged it really well inside the socket so the plastic kind of grabs the rubber sleeve on the LED bulb, but I'm still worried. I know the socket isn't extremely tight as the halogen bulb was pretty easy to remove, but as it's smaller and lighter it's less likely to fall off. Have you noticed this?

I also got my natural white dome and license plate lights replaced and they are really easy to do.
 
Yes, that LED bulb does stick out a bit more, but just make sure that it is firmly seated in the connector. Some have taken electrical tape and wound it around the base of the LED and the connector to hold it in. Road vibration is not an issue, but the bulb can be knocked out of the connector when it is removed if you are not careful. And if the bulb falls into the headlight assembly, then say good-bye to it.

Glad to hear that everything else is working out. I have also replaced just about every bulb in my LEAF with an LED save the turn-signal bulbs. That's because LEDs don't draw enough current, and set off the "bulb-out" circuit. This can be fixed by putting a bridge resistor in the circuit, but I figured that upgrading the interior, headlight, license plate, and side markers lamps with LEDs was enough.
 
OrientExpress said:
Yes, that LED bulb does stick out a bit more, but just make sure that it is firmly seated in the connector. Some have taken electrical tape and wound it around the base of the LED and the connector to hold it in. Road vibration is not an issue, but the bulb can be knocked out of the connector when it is removed if you are not careful. And if the bulb falls into the headlight assembly, then say good-bye to it.

I'm glad this is noticed by others too, what I have done is dab the socket where it meets the plastic sleeve on the LED with some super glue, and then reinforced it with electrical tape. It's pretty snug now. I'm mainly worried about road vibration as I take extra care installing and removing the bulbs.

However my ordeal apparently isn't over! When I was installing the high beam bulb I discovered that one of the adapter cable (from bulb to the OEM harness) is the incorrect one! The two poles are two far apart so it can't be plugged into the harness. I'm gonna have to contact the eBay seller see if he can send me another one.

Also, I think my dome light bulb is way too dim, it's "3022-NW4: Natural White" from superbrightleds.com. Is there another one that you recommend that's significantly brighter? The one I got also seem to concentrate the light on a dot on the lens, I'd prefer one that's more evenly distributed.

Thanks
 
The LED dome light that I use on our LEAF is a 4 emitter festoon, but unfortunately, I don't know the details on it. It's a bulb I pulled from my bench stock, and I don't know where I got it from. This one is plenty bright, and is a 6K natural light color. See if you can find something in Superbrightled's catalog that looks like this one.

leafleddomelight.jpg
 
I bought a couple of 12 LED festoon bulbs to replace my dome and cargo lights. Since my previous weak bulb was 30mm I thought the 31mm wouldn't be a problem. Boy was I wrong, the OEM bulbs appear to be 28mm. I had to bend the contacts to make them fit, but I sure hope I don't have to change it often as the contacts may break off if I bend it a couple more times. Too bad eBay only has 6000k white ones as the the old one is 4500k natural white that fit my LED map light much better.
 
For those of us who are leasing, and want a cheap, non-invasive, Plug & Play way to improve the high beams, I offer this: I bought a pair of Philips "X-Treme Power" H13 bulbs for abut $25 on Ebay. I sure didn't buy them for the awful name name (or the brand) but because reviews were surprisingly good, and $25 with no real work isn't a big risk. The result? There is no visible improvement in high beam effectiveness under city conditions (meaning lots of street lights), but when I got on a dark county road that I travel often, there was a modest but definite improvement. I used to reflexively switch on the High beams on that road, but then give up and go back to the nice bright Low beams. The new bulbs, which look the same as the OEM units except for a polished, reflective end cap, appear to add just enough light "volume" to somewhat fill in those dark voids we have gotten used to seeing with the High beams on. The result is still poor by modern standards, but at least my High beams are once again usable for something other than signaling to other drivers that theirs are on.

It's worth noting what most of us have already noticed: those Nissan headlight units do a *terrible* job of putting the (high beam) light in the right space, while keeping it out of the treetops, and the new bulbs just make that more obvious.
 
First, thanks all for the guidance, pictures and reference links. I used the suggested LEDs to perform the mod. One hr on the left an 10 min on the right. Took a few min to interpret the instruction manual and test fit the bulbs. I'm curious about the solution of drilling hole in the bulb cap. I simply used the rubber adapter boot to install the lights as shown in the manual on the H13 pages. O-ring on bulb at base of bulb comes off and rubber boot provides plenty of friction to keep bulb stationary. With the bulb inserted thru the boot, the flexible boot seals between the bulb adapter collar and heatsink and has ample coverage for the hole that the dust cap would have covered. The cup and wires that pass thru remain intact and simply plug to the bulb heatsink using the adapter cable. They can be arranged nicely next to each bulb position to stay organized.
The resulting beams are slightly blurred at the top cutoff and may be adjusted slightly downward if preferred. Its very important to observe the positioning of the pins and slots on the bulb body and plastic collar to match large/small slots for correct bulb hi-low placement. As was mentioned, the passenger side seems to be clocked about 30deg diff than drivers side. I also put a SMALL amount of silicone grease on the front face of the bulb heatsink so it would be easier to twist while compressing the rubber boot between it and the bulb inserted thru the white adaptor collar.
 
It looks like the H9 kit is now available for under $40. Tempted since I will change jobs and the roads to the new work place will not be illuminated.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/371469609244

Will this work the high beam on a 2011 SL with LED on the low beam?
 
I just finish installing the LEDs and drive around for 10 minutes. It is a bit foggy out and it does seem to have an unusual pattern. I took the 2015 (LED low beam) out too but the fog is not ... stable to compare. It looks to me that the 2015 has similar coverage and patterns, but because of the lower output irregularities are not so visible. Is it true that H9 stock has 2100 lumens and the LED 3600? Also important: is is legal?
 
I purchased a set from the link 3 posts above - seller "cenn2010" on eBay. The first light went in easy and looked lovely, but the second light wouldn't plug in and I'm back to the halogens.I think it has a manufacturing defect that prevent the wire pigtail from plugging into the headlight; it looks like there is excess solder inside the socket. The seller has been slow to respond and suggested they refund me $5, which is useless as it leaves me with only half a set of headlights. I'll update when I hear back from them next.
_____
Update: Do not buy from "cenn2010". He tried to rip me off. with the defective headlight. I was able to get a refund (via paypal) eventually.
 
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