My plug and play LED light upgrade

russap5 · 9th January 2010, 00:42

First, thanks to whattheheck for being a pioneer in this area.
Second, before ordering any bulbs please remove your current ones and measure them! Many E39 have different size bulbs for no apparent reason..
Third, measuring allowed me to get bulbs that are ALL plug and play. No soldering or cutting away plastic. No alterations.

Now I realize people have soldered and cut away in order to fit 2 bulbs for the brightness, but I contacted autolumination/superlumination (same place) and got the brightest bulbs I could in the correct sizes I needed. I find that every light is plenty bright, except for the lower one in the trunk, which for me was a spade type 194. This one I may mess with to replace with a bigger bulb.

Here is what I needed, and most likely what you will need:

All bulbs are $9.99 and if you use superlumination.com, orders over $100 get 10% off with coupon code "10percent"

(2) trunk (44mm and 194 type spade)
White/type 194/T10 Wedge/ "SMT Tower II" 9 LEDs
White/44mm/ "9 SMT LED Festoon"

(2) c-pillar (44mm)
White/44mm/ "9 SMT LED Festoon"

(1) visor (44mm)
White/44mm/ "12 SMT LED 360 High Flux"

(4) footwells (39mm)
Blue/39mm/ "9 SMT LED Festoon"
-- I found these TOO blue for my liking. See pics below.

(1) glovebox (39mm)
White/39mm/ "9 SMT LED Festoon"

(4) map lights (ba9s)
White/type BA9S/ "5 SMT LED ba9s"

(2) Tailights (39mm) special chip
White/ "3 Chip SMT LED" w/ warning cancellation
--- I did not change these, but this is what you would need if you want to do yours.

SMT LED 360 High Flux - the 44mm will actually come with 12 LEDS unlike the one shown

9 SMT LED Festoon - used in the majority of the car

Type 194 spade bulb for my trunk (some will only need 44mm festoon, check yours before ordering)

Type BA9S for map lights. This is the biggest that will fit.

Sorry for the crappy pics, i'll get a dslr one of these days.

Thanks for looking! Easy easy mod. Just swap bulbs!

mmzcee · 9th January 2010, 01:25

No errors?

Are you running license plate LEDs as well?

looks great.

russap5 · 9th January 2010, 01:33

No errors at all. I don't think the interior lights can cause errors. I didn't do the license plate lights as I said before. I don't see the need to illuminate my plate any more than it is..

mrjoe60 · 11th July 2010, 03:03

how did you do the map lights? not the middle map/dome light but the little ones on each side?

Hdhntr23 · 11th July 2010, 03:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrjoe60

how did you do the map lights? not the middle map/dome light but the little ones on each side?

+1

mrjoe60 · 11th July 2010, 03:54

guess there called reading lights....anything plug in play? i want them red..

timmay77 · 11th July 2010, 14:46

Very nice. Superlumination is a great company to work with. I used their LED's throughout my whole car including the license plate bulbs which do not through codes.....

Great work!!

Kevin The Clean 1 · 12th July 2010, 22:56

russap5,

This is a nice small project that I still need to complete/try out on mine someday. Thanks for providing some pictures...

russap5 · 13th July 2010, 00:44

Man it took a long time for people to look at this thread.. Thanks for the kind words!

The map lights are just plug and play like the other bulbs. As in my first post, this is the bulb to use:

Type BA9S for map lights. This is the biggest that will fit.

HmmmM5 · 19th July 2010, 17:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by russap5

First, thanks to whattheheck for being a pioneer in this area.
Second, before ordering any bulbs please remove your current ones and measure them! Many E39 have different size bulbs for no apparent reason..
Third, measuring allowed me to get bulbs that are ALL plug and play. No soldering or cutting away plastic. No alterations.

Now I realize people have soldered and cut away in order to fit 2 bulbs for the brightness, but I contacted autolumination/superlumination (same place) and got the brightest bulbs I could in the correct sizes I needed. I find that every light is plenty bright, except for the lower one in the trunk, which for me was a spade type 194. This one I may mess with to replace with a bigger bulb.

Here is what I needed, and most likely what you will need:

All bulbs are $9.99 and if you use superlumination.com, orders over $100 get 10% off with coupon code "10percent"

(2) trunk (44mm and 194 type spade)
White/type 194/T10 Wedge/ "SMT Tower II" 9 LEDs
White/44mm/ "9 SMT LED Festoon"

(2) c-pillar (44mm)
White/44mm/ "9 SMT LED Festoon"

(1) visor (44mm)
White/44mm/ "12 SMT LED 360 High Flux"

(4) footwells (39mm)
Blue/39mm/ "9 SMT LED Festoon"
-- I found these TOO blue for my liking. See pics below.

(1) glovebox (39mm)
White/39mm/ "9 SMT LED Festoon"

(4) map lights (ba9s)
White/type BA9S/ "5 SMT LED ba9s"

(2) Tailights (39mm) special chip
White/ "3 Chip SMT LED" w/ warning cancellation
--- I did not change these, but this is what you would need if you want to do yours.

SMT LED 360 High Flux - the 44mm will actually come with 12 LEDS unlike the one shown

9 SMT LED Festoon - used in the majority of the car

Type 194 spade bulb for my trunk (some will only need 44mm festoon, check yours before ordering)

Type BA9S for map lights. This is the biggest that will fit.

Thanks for looking! Easy easy mod. Just swap bulbs!

Great info. I see that you listed 1 bulb (White/44mm/ "12 SMT LED 360 High Flux") for the visor above (for pic 1). What bulb did you use for the 2 round lights underneath the rear view mirror?

Are there 4 lights in the rear (not sure what they are called, but 1 round and 1 trapezoid shape on each side)? I see that you listed 2 bulb for the c-pillar ((2) c-pillar (44mm) White/44mm/ "9 SMT LED Festoon"). Did you replace the bulbs for all 4 or just 2?