Using LED's for Car Numberplate Lights

[Steve Walker]

Greetings -

An intemittent fault on my numberplate lights (2002 Stilo) led me to dismantle the assemblies today. Once all the green corroded 'fungus' was scraped off the terminals, there was practically nothing left. Completely crumbled away!

I'm guessing Fiat will want at least £20 for two full assemblies, and anything in a scrapyard is likely to be on the way to the same condition. And probably best to expect that it'll all need doing again in 4-5 years. So I'm thinking of just snipping the incoming wires and soldering on an LED or two instead, eg item 7625540117 on eBay.

- Can anyone offer advice on pros & cons, and especially on how many 125,000 mcd LED's would be needed for similar effect to a traditional 12v 5w incandescent bulb?

- If it's more than 1, do I wire them in parallel (eg each with it's own resistor) or in series (eg one resistor feeding a cluster)?

- Am I right in thinking there's no significant heat output, and the LED's could be simply attached with hot-glue or a double-sided sticky pad?

Thanks in advance for all thoughts - I know there are auto diy groups but I prefer to call upon the wider knowledge, creativity & wit of uk.d-i-y!

Best wishes - Steve

[Andrew Sinclair]

In message , Steve Walker writes

What about something like item 8070604890 on the bay of plenty? Granted you still have the electrically dodgy fitting but solder (or a couple of holders cannibalised from a pair of interior lights from a breakers yard) and epoxy would bet around that..

[Steve Walker]

Thanks Andrew - I hadn't seen the ready-made packages when I searched (there's a couple of other types at 8070232547 & 8069698123). They do look ideal - no worries about resistors & luminosity, only the connection to worry about.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Why not simply solder connections to the original type of bulb? It's not like they blow very often...

[Steve Walker]

I didn't think traditional bulbs would last well if they weren't carefully mounted - LEDs seem to be immune from vibration?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Traditional bulbs aren't anti-vibration mounted either.

[Brian Reay]

A while since we had a Fiat but, in general, we found the spares cheap. Not like Renault!

Brian

[Steven Briggs]

In message , Steve Walker writes

Biggest problem is you'd then have un-approved (to the relevant automotive standards) lighting. Possible legal implications.

Anyway, just had a look in my copy of the Fiat parts database, Stilo number plate lights £5.05 ea, inc VAT. May be a little more now, as my db is a couple of years old.

BTW, well worth obtaining the workshop manual and parts db, widely available on fleabay.

[Steve Walker]

Thanks Steve -

Is that the e-learning CDROM where you have to choose English every time you open it? I've got that, but I've never seen a part lists or db. It's a separate disc presumably?

One minute of searching later...... £3.25 BIN, Ker-ching!

Thanks again, that's a definite bonus from this episode!

[Andy Dingley]

Try

[Steven Briggs]

Yep, its called eper. Takes a bit of time to get used to the navigation, V (body/trim) & M (engine) version codes etc. Some items can be a real pain to find, brake pads for example, its not at all obvious there's a tiny link arrow in parts table at overall brake assembly level, that takes you down to another level of detail, bingo pad part numbers. You can also cross reference back where else a given part if used, thus if its likely to readily available through motor factors etc.

[Steve Walker]

Thanks Steven - it's apparently in the post now, so I'll look forward to that.