ElectricCleetus said:
I'm thinking about putting red LED lights in the tail and brake lights... the incandescent bulbs look a little weak there, and like driving with my parking lights on pretty often. Any one else do this mod? I'm wondering if this will need a load resistor to not trigger an error. Thanks!
I did. I also replaced the rear turn signals. I used the super-bright Triton LEDs from http://www.v-leds.com.
Totally worth the price. Any other LED will disappoint you, and just look like lame little "dots" in your lamp housings, especially in the daylight. Tritons are blindingly bright (brighter than the original bulbs) and are daylight visible.
No resistors were required from the brake lamps. I received no in-car warnings. However, the signals did require resistors in order to make them flash at the correct rate. Again, I received no in-car warnings, but the lower resistance (of the LED bulb) fools the car into thinking the bulb has failed, and so it flashes the signal faster (which I suppose "is" a warning -- many cars do this).
Another way (in many cars) to fix the fast flashing is to replace the flasher module with one that is controlled logically and whose flash rate is fixed (rather than by "analog" circuits that are based on a capacitor whose discharge rate is controlled by the correct bulb resistance). Unfortunately, the Focus flash logic is embedded in some computer board somewhere and you can't replace it. And, even though it is digital logic, it actually
simulates the fast flash rate (of an analog flasher) when a low resistance is detected. Arrg.
I haven't done the front signals yet (tricky, because they are embedded in the headlamp units), but plan to.
