LED'ing the prado and wiring the Rear Fog Lights

[McBAIN Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close McBAIN]

edit - 2nd Jan 08

moved these pictures around again and again, thought rather than updating this page i'd just point you in this direction

edit 27th March 08 - changed the subject it stands out in a search on fog lights.

[embi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close embi]

Looks great ...where did you run the wires?

[embi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close embi]

Then you need to move to VIC. We dont go over the pits every year.

(which I think is wrong by the way. We should be made to)

[McBAIN Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close McBAIN]

QLD only require a roadworthy on change of ownership...

well that's my experience anyway..

at the end of the day it's connected behind the bumper with male and female connectors so easy to disable if needed... and i'm considering putting a switch on them in with the jack so i can kill them if anything requires it... they are not extremely bright, but i was concerned that a cop may class them as fog lights and gimme a ticket!

wiring - butterfly clips behind the left tail light, runs through behind the light down to where the jack is, then (and i don't like this bit), comes out behind the rubber seal and is exposed for about an inch before going down behind the rear bumper. splits behind the left light and heads off to the right light..

i ran them both off the one because i couldn't work out how to get from behind the bumper to behind the brake light internally, so if i had to expose it i wanted only one..

i'll grab another closeup photo in the daylight tomorrow..

[jeff s Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close jeff s]

I like it.
I dont think you would have a problem.

Some trucks (when I think their owners go over board) have tail/ brake lights completely across the bottom, side, top of their rearends.

When dual wheel carriers are fitted, thats where the rear lights are put.

No problem in my book.

Jeff.

[Guest Close Guest]

they are not extremely bright, but i was concerned that a cop may class them as fog lights and gimme a ticket!
.

Sadly your right.

I was speaking to a good friend of mine who just happens to be an automotive engineer and spends his days travelling the world.
He designs mirrors & lighting for most of the top end car manufacturers.
We were discussing why they didnt light up said lights in my Prado and he said its illegal and doesnt meet AUS ADR ruling and could be defectible by a know it all cop.
A lot of cars come in with blanked off lights as they dont meet the Aust rulings.

Wheel carriers require extra lighting as the tyres block the view of the original lights from original viewing angles, thus extras needed to meet the ADR's again.

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

Well done McBain, that's awsome - I've been considering doing something like this myself but other mods have been getting in the way. :lol:

I agree that I don't think compliance will be an issue, remember the 90 series Prados and their lower repeater lights, this was because the stock lights on the D pillars were too high for the ADR requirement at the time. Obviously the ADR has changed looking at the back of a 120.

Finding good quality LEDs is a challenge. I've had a couple of bad experiences already. I'd be interested to hear how they fare in the long term.

I don't think there is any other way to run the wires, given the harnesses for the rear fog lights are stowed in the same area.

Well done again,

Drew.

[McBAIN Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close McBAIN]

cheers!

i think it looks bloody good! i would like to have them work as brake lights too... that'd be the next project... but at the end of the day, probably not for a while yet!

your right though Drew, finding good LED's is the challenge...

[spence Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close spence]

Rear Fog Lamps

G'Day People. First post, so i better make it good...
I have just completed this mod and it looks fantastic!!! I bought some red LED wedge lamps similar to the stoppers from BRIGHTLIGHTS.com.au off eBay. The MOD took an easy couple of hours and two (maybe 3) sherbets.
After removing the lights from the bumper, I drilled a 20mm hole in the back of the light and made up a holder out of a bit of plastic with a slot to pass the globe through the silastic'd the whole lot in. Drill work done and one sherbet down...Very easy
Next was the wiring. Removed the LH rear light assy, located the tail and stopper circuits soldered in the wires and passed them down through the vent at the side of the bumper. Ran the wire accross the inside of the bumper and connected up the lights. Wiring done ans No. 2 sherbet gone...
Testing time... Stand back and hit the shocko. BEWDIFUL!!!! absolutely freakin' excellent. No too bright at night. Had a flat footed mate from the TOG check them out and he reckons no problems. so long as they are not any brighter than the original tails.
Put the car back together and demolished number 3 sherbet (or was that 4?) waiting for it to get dark to celebrate the handy work.
very excellent. Very easy... Very cheep at about $25.00 all up including LEDs, wire, heatshrink, coreflute.
I have another to do in a few weekends, so I will take photos and post them.
Spence

[clifton Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close clifton]

Hi All,
I know this is an old post but rather start another well you all know. I want to mod the inoperative Fog lights to become stop and tails does anyone know where I can get (2ea) W2.5x16Q Wedge lamp bases/holders I will try the local wreckers but would prefer new items.

Gave up on the above made my own LED sockets out off 3/4"BSP male to 19mm irrigation fittings, potted the 3157 Stop Tail LED,s in with No Acidic wet area silicon, good soldering job plenty of heat shrink let set, packed rear of assy with selleys ALL-Clear silicon let set perfect. Drilled out rear Fog Light Light assy's with pilot drills then Good quality 25mm hole saw on "Slow Speed", sanded holes to smoth, blow out assy's with compressed air, insert 3/4 BSP lamp holders into fog lamps using non acidic silicon again as a WP seal, made up a good wiring loom fitted up using existing trailer wiring grommet inboard, wad punched spare outboard grommet fited up loom, fitted WP fittings to both fog lamps and loom and Happy with outcome.

Will post some pics soon.

My Stop/Tail Led Assembly on 8hr test:

[PradoGXL08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradoGXL08]

HI All,

McBain - How are the LED's performing??

Are the bottom Rear lights only fog lights operated via a switch or are they wired as Parkers and Brake lights?

What LED Globe did you use for that??

Also you mentioned in your link the following:

i should have bought the T104LED2P for the front, much brighter design.

Were they in Yellow and White??

Please advise as I would like to do the same thing to my GXL.

I did something similar to my last 4WD (not with LED's)- Nissan Patrol, but in Reverse.
The lights in the body weren't all wired du to ADR rules, so I fixed that problem.

Stuart

[McBAIN Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close McBAIN]

G'day PradoGXL08,

thought i'd copy in the PM i just sent you as i've had a few ask..

"G'day mate, they work great, i just upgraded the front park lights also but i haven't put any pics of that up yet, it took me a few goes to get ones that were bright enough to do what i wanted.

ended up getting these here they are the high brightness ones, i wouldn't muck around with any others. i've tried a lot of them and they either didn't last or were far from bright. even the ones with 5 smaller LED's ended up having 4 of the 5 blow within a few days.

The rear "fog lights" are wired in on the park lights. though i'm still toying with the idea of changing them over to be powered off the brakes.. but at the moment they are on when the lights are on. If you check out the writeup there is a picture of the lights i used and a link to where i got them from, although they item has probably been removed of ebay..

did a little searching though my emails and found the receipt, he's got an ebay store and still looks to sell them, check this out here

these are the ones i got here

all in all fair bit of mucking around to find good ones but i think i've got a good set now.

"

[damonat Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close damonat]

has anyone tried or trying to change all globes in their prado to LED's?
i've done repeaters, headlight parkers, b/bar parkers, and number plate lights.
i'm now up to changing over all the single and double T20's + T15's.
just not sure if the flasher can is a load sensing or non-load sensing.
i may just end up having to change flasher can over to an LED flasher can
and be done with it .
just thought i'd ask

[McBAIN Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close McBAIN]

has anyone tried or trying to change all globes in their prado to LED's?
i've done repeaters, headlight parkers, b/bar parkers, and number plate lights.
i'm now up to changing over all the single and double T20's + T15's.
just not sure if the flasher can is a load sensing or non-load sensing.
i may just end up having to change flasher can over to an LED flasher can
and be done with it .
just thought i'd ask

i changed my rear indicators and it worked fine. though the bulbs were crap so i took them out.

the brake lights and rear fog lights have been going strong for 12 months now.

front park lights are a pain though. i've tried about 5 different types of LEDs and they just keep blowing. found some good bright ones, but still have short lifespan. one of these days will try find some better quality ones.

[McBAIN Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close McBAIN]

Re: LED'ing the prado and wiring the Rear Fog Lights

Continuing on this theme i noticed one of the ARB bar park lights had blown a few weeks ago.... again.... and figured given it's a pain in the backside to change them over each time they decide to blow that it was time for LED's!

picked up a few sets similar to the ones Chippy has from Autobarn on their boxing day 20% off sale, they were around $18 each pre discount.

sitting around last night watching crap on tv and decided it was time for a late night install!

part 1 of the install here!

i need to pull them out and fix a few things up, the screws are a bit long and push up against the standard indicator covers. so the front plastic doesn't fit flush, so I'll either chop the screws back, or remove the plastic covers off the standard lights to gain some room. Can't take out too much though as they are not actually fixed to anything, just sandwiched between the internal and external housing!