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Anyone have any experience with LED light upgrades? I've ordered a kit fo my interior XJS lights. Jus wondering if anyone had any good/bad experiences.
Windigo, I am in the process of upgrading the lights in my Jag to LEDs. Granted, I am doing it the hard way by buying individual LEDs and matching them to the specific application. So, I am probably not the best person to be asking for specific manufacturers that offer quality products. But I can tell you that from what I have seen, plan on spending about $15-20 a bulb for things like brake lights/backup lights, etc. They are not cheap. So, look at the "temperature rating" of the LEDs. You don't want to get much above say 7000K if you are wanting a white light or putting a white bulb in a lens that is going to get colored (ie, brake lights). Ideally, you want to stick around 5000-6000K. That will give you your "pure white" light. You go higher and it will start turning blue on you and in the case of the brake lights, can reduce the light being emitted because the lenses are trying to only let the red part of the white light through. You start tryign to shine say blue light through and you will find that your lights are going to get dim and look really funky.
As for interior lights, have fun. There's a ton of the bulbs in there and the one thing I will caution you on is finding LED bulbs that have a very wide viewing angle. If you get some with a narrow viewing angle, in applications like your dash, you can end up with a situation called "spotlighting". You will get spots of bright light and no light else where. So, being able to get the light spread around will be key.
If you need more info, let me know and I will do some more looking in your specific area of need.
Thanks for the info. I did purchse a kit for the interior from faster jags. I wish I had the time to go around and research LED lights. I jus hope they did the proper research into the lights. : )
id like to mention in her in case someone mentions it I order LEDS off ebay and did all the research.
I have 3 of the 4 jag manuals and it lists all the lights in the car.
i found a website and figured out which leds i needs.
you can easily convert the whole car but for now I just order all the festoons used in the interior, trunk, and tag lights, and the gauge set. They will arrive soon and I may make a rightup for it.
I can't recall exact pricing but it was pricey due to the kit I got. I got the kit for the entire interior including dash and all other interior instruments. Install was easy, and that was very surprising. No broken brittle plastic! Lol. So after I got all lights in the dash was bright and like new, very bright. The interior lights made the interior look cold and clinical and really wasn't to my liking so I ended up putting the incandescent bulbs back in, which warmed my cream colored world back up. I would recommend the kits for all the dash/instrument panels. Made a huge difference.......the cold interior lights.........not so much. IMHO
I've done LED upgrades to the dash lights in two XJSes. I think it took me all of 30 minutes from start to finish both times. I bought mine from v12s.com, don't recall how much they cost, but it made a big difference.
Will I be able to see the warning and turn signal lights during the day?
u shld be able to see those with the old lights if they are any good. though yo ucan never really see the turn signal lights lol the steering wheel blocks them.
i replaced mine out of necessity and just upgraded. If you can't see your signals or warning lights during the day your old lights are pretty much toast.
Made mine way brighter. If they aren't bright you may want to take the dash lighting panels off, which is easy, and do some cleaning of lenses. That also make s a big difference. The LED won't burn out for eons as well!
I have really dim warning lights on my 1995 XJS convertible. I really need to upgrade or replace bulbs. How hard is it to get access to that area? I am also thinking about going to LED headlights. Any electrical issues doing so? Will the euro lights accept those bulbs and not blind oncoming traffic? I've had this car for a little over a year. This is my first JAG. I appreciate any thoughts you have!
07-28-2009, 09:38 AM
