C5 Mk3 Replacement CANBUS LED DRL's

[vborovic]

I think the original HP24 halogen bulb is somewhere around 20-25 GBP per piece ... as for the warnings, I don't get any bulb warnings on my car ...

@ big - one question regarding your LED DRLs ... does it happen on your car, when locked, after you press the unlock button on the car, that the DRLs light up shortly (a single flash)? That's what happens on my car with my LEDs ... a side-effect ... but a cool looking one ... ...

[GiveMeABreak]

Don't know if anyone's found or posted info about these units before:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310873482871? ... EBIDX%3AIT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They are a plasma filled LED unit which is CANBUS friendly. Build quality is excellent. Only just fitted, so can't comment on longevity etc.
They are available in 2 sizes. Check the diameter in the original bulb holder to see if it's 13mm or 17mm. The link for the 17mm unit is in the ebay ad I have posted.
They seem very bright!

Anyone know why there are 2 sizes of the bulb holders (13 & 17mm)? Can anyone confirm whether there is one size for the Discharge Xenon headlights and one size for the standard Halogens? In either case can anyone confirm the size for the Discharge Xenons as I'm going to take the plunge and try these you have suggested as they look about the brightest bulbs (picturewise) that I have seen in what must be hundreds of internet pages looking for something up to the job!

[bigblackfalco]

The 13mm are for standard Halogen bulbs.
Larger 17mm size for the Xenons.
Shame they don't make this clear in the listings.
Mine are working excellently. Just done 1500 miles in the past 2 weeks and they're working great.

[GiveMeABreak]

Thanks for the info - however since posting I did have a go, but not enough room to manoeuvre with the Discharge lights as per my post on the other DRL thread!

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... 75#p461827

[GiveMeABreak]

Still on the lookout for some brighter LED DRLs than the 7.5W Crees listed on this thread and listed on ebay. Whilst searching came across these beauties from autoleds Poland. Described as for Citroen C5, they seem to pack a better punch at 25W, that's using 5 x 5W Cree XBD diodes and stated to be (quote from translation) the "'strongest" HP24W available at present.

Here's the link: http://archiwum.allegro.pl/oferta/zarow ... 90857.html

At 138,00 Polish Zlotis, that's about £23.98 for 2. Here's the crunch part - they don't seem to ship outside Poland

Anybody seen these available elsewhere?

[vborovic]

The wattage isn't that relevant, look for the lm/lux ... it is defined as 590 lm ... that's the same light output I got with my attempt at 7.5 W bulbs ... and still not enough for the real-life DRL application

[GiveMeABreak]

Appreciate it is all about the light output and I did look at that - but it is also difficult to make a judgement based on the claimed Lumens as some suppliers significantly overstate this on their products. Vborovic - also appreciate that you have undertaken a fair bit of research on this already!
I did a look-up on OSRAM's site to see what the output of his chip is and if I have the right one for the CREE XBD, they state that it is 139 to 136 lm per watt for white 6000k, or 309 lm at 3w max. power. So on the face of it, these would indicate about 1500lm for 5 chips @ 3W each. However if this is the case, it would seem that the supplier may have understated the lm as they show 3.08W in their grid with only 590 lm as you rightly pointed out!? I wonder if the 3W should be per chip as per OSRAM site - hence the confusion. If these were circa 1545 lm (5 x 309) then that would be more than adequate for the supposedly 900 lm of the original halogen HP24W. Here's the link to the OSRAM CREE Site:
http://www.cree.com/LED-Components-and- ... /XLamp-XBD
Am I reading this right?

[vborovic]

Just for comparison, these are one of the brightest aftermarket DRL kits available:
http://www.powerbulbs.com/eu/product/ph ... -9-drl-kit

Their light output is defined as 550 cd, which is roughly 650 lm @ 3 ft distance ... your math is wrong in a sense that the light output doesn't just get multiplied by the number of chips you set side by side (it would be wonderful if it actually did work this way). Handheld torches can create bright light by using these LEDs thanks to the design and additional lens, which the bulbs we're discussing here don't have (example: http://www.torchdirect.co.uk/1500-lumens.html ... notice the price tag)

[GiveMeABreak]

Well, I had a further 2 attempts to get these bulb holders out, but despite using some seriously Hi Tech tools to prevent dropping anything - it wasn't to be

They were so tight they wouldn't budge, despite trying the small pliers to try and get a grip! So decided to bite the bullet and rang up my local Citroen Dealer to get them to retrieve the bulbs for me via bumper removal and then to refit the bumper only. Now, putting great faith in the members here, I am hoping that getting the holders back in with the LEDs fitted will be easier by hand and won't require another dealer visit! The Service Manager did say they were pretty tightly sealed, but have greased the housing for me.

What I have done though, whilst waiting for the LEDs to be delivered, was to drill a couple of small holes into the tightening fin of the bulb holder using the trusty Dremel (arrowed in yellow below) - I'm then going to attach a small cable tie through each to make a ring-pull. Hopefully, if I ever need to replace / upgrade the bulbs again, I will be able to pull these out a lot easier after turning the torx a quarter turn! One further suggestion - I used a small screwdriver to carefully slide out the small metal contact tabs from the bulb holders (you can also see these in the picture below). I then carefully pushed each of the 'V' contact strips together to ensure that they will securely hold the pins of the new bulbs when inserted and maintain a good contact. They are easily slotted back in again. I didn't want to go through all this if the bulbs were going to work loose or have bad electrical contacts.



Roll-on delivery of bulbs, and hopefully a resolution next week!
Note - as you can see, these have the pink coloured seals not the blue ones - not sure what the difference is.

[bigblackfalco]

Well, I had a further 2 attempts to get these bulb holders out, but despite using some seriously Hi Tech tools to prevent dropping anything - it wasn't to be



They were so tight they wouldn't budge, despite trying the small pliers to try and get a grip! So decided to bite the bullet and rang up my local Citroen Dealer to get them to retrieve the bulbs for me via bumper removal and then to refit the bumper only. Now, putting great faith in the members here, I am hoping that getting the holders back in with the LEDs fitted will be easier by hand and won't require another dealer visit! The Service Manager did say they were pretty tightly sealed, but have greased the housing for me.

What I have done though, whilst waiting for the LEDs to be delivered, was to drill a couple of small holes into the tightening fin of the bulb holder using the trusty Dremel (arrowed in yellow below) - I'm then going to attach a small cable tie through each to make a ring-pull. Hopefully, if I ever need to replace / upgrade the bulbs again, I will be able to pull these out a lot easier after turning the torx a quarter turn! One further suggestion - I used a small screwdriver to carefully slide out the small metal contact tabs from the bulb holders (you can also see these in the picture below). I then carefully pushed each of the 'V' contact strips together to ensure that they will securely hold the pins of the new bulbs when inserted and maintain a good contact. They are easily slotted back in again. I didn't want to go through all this if the bulbs were going to work loose or have bad electrical contacts.



Roll-on delivery of bulbs, and hopefully a resolution next week!
Note - as you can see, these have the pink coloured seals not the blue ones - not sure what the difference is.

OK, I promise I didn't laugh at the technical string!
Once they've been out and greased, I promise they will be easy hand removal next time. I wouldn't worry about the keyring things. Will probably just get in the way.

[GiveMeABreak]

Well bulbs arrived, but still had to carefully cut away the little plastic stumps on the inside base of the holder, as they wouldn't allow the LED bulb to fit tightly enough.

Managed to get them both in - although before tightening up I did start the car to see if they came on - but nothing, so using my super ring pull technique idea I managed to get them back out easily enough and check they were seated well enough. Seemed OK, but same thing, so I then realised that I needed to tighten back up with the torx to engage the contacts. Once tested, got them both back in and tightened within 10 minutes.

Well - what an experience - I'm now formally off suicide watch although my forearms look like David Carradine's after branding himself with the Dragons from the coals off the 70s 'Kung Fu' TV series!
Anyway Pics below - taken in the sunshine. They look as I had hoped they would and think the 7.5W LEDs were the best available option. I used the 13m ones for reference.

Now - I'm looking at the HP19W Angular Lighting bulbs as the next project - but think I may need resistors on these according to Planete Citroen - and only once I've had my skin grafts! - Thanks to all for their help here

[Stickyfinger]

Looks good, but I have to say I will go down the remove the bumper road when I have one of mine blow...

[Sunderas]

Fantastic job you've done!

[ozzdownunder]

What is the procedure for removing the front bumper bar, any detailed instructions/videos/diagrams/pics would be appreciated. tx

[GiveMeABreak]

What is the procedure for removing the front bumper bar, any detailed instructions/videos/diagrams/pics would be appreciated. tx

I answered you previous post on the other thread you started about indicator lights:

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... 79#p627079

You said you wanted to replace indicators and queried about the bumper - which as I said does not need removing for indicators. If it's for DRLs on a 2011 X7 - you don't have the same type of fitting (from 2011 they already have LED DRLS and you can't change these).