Replacement bulbs in fog lights - LED/white/?
#16
09-16-2009, 12:40 AM
Reporting back with good news. 
Is it worth replacing the internal lights with LED's? So far, the answer seems to be yes. Read on.
I got my Porsche today (photos incoming on another thread) and immediately set to work on replacing the interior lights with LED's. The short answer so far is that it seems to work and it's definitely worth it, assuming the lights hold up over time.
Door/courtesy lights
The door lights are 194 type. I used the WLED-xHP5 type LED's here. The housing will not seat the brightest WLED-xLX LED's ... they are too long. It would probably be a simple matter to just tape in or bind the light into the housing because the light really just needs to stick into the housing, not fully fit inside, but then the WLED-xLX series is fairly directional and the lack of a reflector in the housing means all the light goes straight to the back of the door. So the 360 dispersion of the WLED-xHP5 is the way to go here.
Dome/reading lights
For the dome/reading lights, I was able to remove the housing. For the left and right lights, there is enough extra space so that WLED-xLX LED's do fit here, and the directional nature of the reading lights means that the beam angle is suitable as well.
The main center dome lamp is a festoon bulb ... the 4410-xHP12 fits this perfectly. The replacement LED was easily brighter than the stock bulb, so I don't think I feel any need to experiment with alternative bulbs here.
Footwell lights
Finally, the footwell also accepts 194 style bulbs. The footwell lights are relatively easy to remove, but the housing makes it difficult to get at the bulb inside. A metal housing is clipped onto the plastic shroud, which means you end needing to bend the metal very slightly to get the shroud out, which holds the bulb. It's not particularly tough or irreversible, just annoying. The good news is that the metal shroud serves as a reflector, and there is plenty of room to fit the slightly larger WLED-xLX LED's, so they work very well in the footwell lights, and using the WLED-xHP5's is not necessary.
Why do this?
The cool white LED bulbs are significantly whiter than the stock bulbs. The contrast is very striking and pleasant ... similar to how xenon lights look brighter and whiter compared to the dull yellowish color of regular headlights. LED bulbs obviously also run much coolor, drain very little battery power, and should pretty much never need to be replaced.
I also ended up doing something fun, which may seem ricey ... but I replaced the door and left/right dome lights with blue LED's, and the footwell and center dome light with cool white LED's. The blue lighting gives the car a pretty understated, but high tech feel at night as you get into the car, and the cool white lights are a no brainer swap and can be turned on for more practical purposes at my discretion, such as reading something. Having a choice of several colors (red/green/blue/amber) to accent the car is quite neat, to say the least.
Overall, I feel very positive about the bulb swaps ... it remains to be seen how this works out in the long term, and I have more than a few misfires on wrong LED types, but right now, it's looking good!
Is it worth replacing the internal lights with LED's? So far, the answer seems to be yes. Read on.
I got my Porsche today (photos incoming on another thread) and immediately set to work on replacing the interior lights with LED's. The short answer so far is that it seems to work and it's definitely worth it, assuming the lights hold up over time.
Door/courtesy lights
The door lights are 194 type. I used the WLED-xHP5 type LED's here. The housing will not seat the brightest WLED-xLX LED's ... they are too long. It would probably be a simple matter to just tape in or bind the light into the housing because the light really just needs to stick into the housing, not fully fit inside, but then the WLED-xLX series is fairly directional and the lack of a reflector in the housing means all the light goes straight to the back of the door. So the 360 dispersion of the WLED-xHP5 is the way to go here.
Dome/reading lights
For the dome/reading lights, I was able to remove the housing. For the left and right lights, there is enough extra space so that WLED-xLX LED's do fit here, and the directional nature of the reading lights means that the beam angle is suitable as well.
The main center dome lamp is a festoon bulb ... the 4410-xHP12 fits this perfectly. The replacement LED was easily brighter than the stock bulb, so I don't think I feel any need to experiment with alternative bulbs here.
Footwell lights
Finally, the footwell also accepts 194 style bulbs. The footwell lights are relatively easy to remove, but the housing makes it difficult to get at the bulb inside. A metal housing is clipped onto the plastic shroud, which means you end needing to bend the metal very slightly to get the shroud out, which holds the bulb. It's not particularly tough or irreversible, just annoying. The good news is that the metal shroud serves as a reflector, and there is plenty of room to fit the slightly larger WLED-xLX LED's, so they work very well in the footwell lights, and using the WLED-xHP5's is not necessary.
Why do this?
The cool white LED bulbs are significantly whiter than the stock bulbs. The contrast is very striking and pleasant ... similar to how xenon lights look brighter and whiter compared to the dull yellowish color of regular headlights. LED bulbs obviously also run much coolor, drain very little battery power, and should pretty much never need to be replaced.
I also ended up doing something fun, which may seem ricey ... but I replaced the door and left/right dome lights with blue LED's, and the footwell and center dome light with cool white LED's. The blue lighting gives the car a pretty understated, but high tech feel at night as you get into the car, and the cool white lights are a no brainer swap and can be turned on for more practical purposes at my discretion, such as reading something. Having a choice of several colors (red/green/blue/amber) to accent the car is quite neat, to say the least.
Overall, I feel very positive about the bulb swaps ... it remains to be seen how this works out in the long term, and I have more than a few misfires on wrong LED types, but right now, it's looking good!
Last edited by rkuo; 09-16-2009 at 02:23 AM.
#17
09-16-2009, 05:04 AM
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Natick, MA
Age: 51
Posts: 3,122
Rep Power: 162 
Reporting back with good news.
Why do this?
The cool white LED bulbs are significantly whiter than the stock bulbs. The contrast is very striking and pleasant ... similar to how xenon lights look brighter and whiter compared to the dull yellowish color of regular headlights. LED bulbs obviously also run much coolor, drain very little battery power, and should pretty much never need to be replaced.
Why do this?
The cool white LED bulbs are significantly whiter than the stock bulbs. The contrast is very striking and pleasant ... similar to how xenon lights look brighter and whiter compared to the dull yellowish color of regular headlights. LED bulbs obviously also run much coolor, drain very little battery power, and should pretty much never need to be replaced.
#18
09-16-2009, 02:40 PM
There are different color temperatures of LED's available, so you may find that other LED's are to your liking. I definitely felt the stock bulbs were too yellowish ... incandescent is typically a color temperature of 2700K or so.
The LX led's have color temperatures at 3300, 6000, and 9000 ... with 6000 being neutral.
The LX led's have color temperatures at 3300, 6000, and 9000 ... with 6000 being neutral.
Last edited by rkuo; 09-16-2009 at 02:47 PM.
#20
10-21-2009, 07:03 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: SoCal/Newport Beach
Posts: 220
Rep Power: 30
bulbs in tail light
Are there three differnet types of bulbs in the tail light housing? when you open them up they all look the same 9except one is orange)
Tail light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Rear turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Back up light
7506
7506ST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7506LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Tail light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Rear turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Back up light
7506
7506ST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7506LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Well, as I see total silence here, I found out it is seems to be H8 bulb, 35wt.
I even found web site for led bulbs,
http://www.superbrightleds.com/festoon.html
but it got plenty of options, even H3, H4, H7, HB3, HB4, H11, right - only H8 is missing. Will keep looking...
PS. As usual, Ebay has it all. WIll try GT_Thunder model as it was one of cheapest there. Will see.
Meanwhile - here is full list of bulb types for 2006 997.
Stay informed about new products from SYLVANIA. Sign up with one of our newsletters and let us help you with your needs.
2006 PORSCHE 911 (With HID (high intensity discharge) headlamps)
Low beam headlamp
HID-D1S
High beam headlamp
H11
H11ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen
H11XV XtraVision Halogen - The Brighter Light
Parking light
2825LL
Front turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
2827
Rear turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Tail light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Stop light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
High mount stop light
Assembly
Fog/Driving light
H8
License plate
6418
6418LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Back up light
7506
7506ST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7506LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Front sidemarker
2825
2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Map light
3886X
Dome light
6411
Step/Courtesy light
2825
2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Trunk/Cargo area
6411
Under hood light
6411
___________________________
-------------------------
2006 PORSCHE 911 (With halogen capsule headlamps)
Low beam headlamp
H7
H7SU Silverstar ULTRA for Ultra Night Vision - The Whitest and Brightest Halogen
H7ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen
H7EB EcoBright - Your Environmental Choice
H7XV XtraVision Halogen - The Brighter Light
H7CB Cool Blue Halogen - The Whiter Light
High beam headlamp
H9
Parking light
2825LL
Front turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
2827
Rear turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Tail light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Stop light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
High mount stop light
Assembly
Fog/Driving light
H8
License plate
6418
6418LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Back up light
7506
7506ST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7506LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Front sidemarker
2825
2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Map light
3886X
Dome light
6411
Step/Courtesy light
2825
2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Trunk/Cargo area
6411
Under hood light
6411
I even found web site for led bulbs,
http://www.superbrightleds.com/festoon.html
but it got plenty of options, even H3, H4, H7, HB3, HB4, H11, right - only H8 is missing. Will keep looking...
PS. As usual, Ebay has it all. WIll try GT_Thunder model as it was one of cheapest there. Will see.
Meanwhile - here is full list of bulb types for 2006 997.
Stay informed about new products from SYLVANIA. Sign up with one of our newsletters and let us help you with your needs.
2006 PORSCHE 911 (With HID (high intensity discharge) headlamps)
Low beam headlamp
HID-D1S
High beam headlamp
H11
H11ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen
H11XV XtraVision Halogen - The Brighter Light
Parking light
2825LL
Front turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
2827
Rear turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Tail light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Stop light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
High mount stop light
Assembly
Fog/Driving light
H8
License plate
6418
6418LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Back up light
7506
7506ST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7506LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Front sidemarker
2825
2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Map light
3886X
Dome light
6411
Step/Courtesy light
2825
2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Trunk/Cargo area
6411
Under hood light
6411
___________________________
-------------------------
2006 PORSCHE 911 (With halogen capsule headlamps)
Low beam headlamp
H7
H7SU Silverstar ULTRA for Ultra Night Vision - The Whitest and Brightest Halogen
H7ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen
H7EB EcoBright - Your Environmental Choice
H7XV XtraVision Halogen - The Brighter Light
H7CB Cool Blue Halogen - The Whiter Light
High beam headlamp
H9
Parking light
2825LL
Front turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
2827
Rear turn signal
7507
7507AST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7507LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Tail light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Stop light
7528
7528LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
High mount stop light
Assembly
Fog/Driving light
H8
License plate
6418
6418LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Back up light
7506
7506ST Silverstar Signal Lighting: Complete the Look: Crisp, Clean, Style
7506LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Front sidemarker
2825
2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Map light
3886X
Dome light
6411
Step/Courtesy light
2825
2825LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp
Trunk/Cargo area
6411
Under hood light
6411
#22
10-22-2009, 04:49 PM
mkaraoglan,
From my notes on redoing my tail lights (or trying to) ... this is on a 997.1 Targa 4.
tail/reflector light - bottom middle, red light. 1157 BA15 red works. Pins are not offset. Can't figure out why dual intensity is needed here.
Tail/brake (bottom inner, red) and tail/rear fog (bottom outer) - BAZ15d or 7225. Similar to 1157, but pins are offset and 1157 will not fit.
Reversing light - (top middle) White PY21W ... or BAU15s or 7507 single intensity. Similar to 1156, but pins are offset and 1156 will not fit.
Turn light - (top outer) PY21W ... or BAU15s or 7507 single intensity. Similar to 1156, but pins are offset and 1156 will not fit.
My LED tail light retrofit was kind of a bomb as only one light was 1156/1157 style and I can't find any euro style high power LED bulbs.
From my notes on redoing my tail lights (or trying to) ... this is on a 997.1 Targa 4.
tail/reflector light - bottom middle, red light. 1157 BA15 red works. Pins are not offset. Can't figure out why dual intensity is needed here.
Tail/brake (bottom inner, red) and tail/rear fog (bottom outer) - BAZ15d or 7225. Similar to 1157, but pins are offset and 1157 will not fit.
Reversing light - (top middle) White PY21W ... or BAU15s or 7507 single intensity. Similar to 1156, but pins are offset and 1156 will not fit.
Turn light - (top outer) PY21W ... or BAU15s or 7507 single intensity. Similar to 1156, but pins are offset and 1156 will not fit.
My LED tail light retrofit was kind of a bomb as only one light was 1156/1157 style and I can't find any euro style high power LED bulbs.
#23
10-22-2009, 05:04 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: SoCal/Newport Beach
Posts: 220
Rep Power: 30
When you say it was a Bomb. Do you mean that it was a pain? But you basically found all the led versions, right?
Thanks for info!
Marc
Thanks for info!
Marc
Last edited by mkaraoglan; 10-22-2009 at 06:16 PM. Reason: typo
#25
10-22-2009, 06:57 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: SoCal/Newport Beach
Posts: 220
Rep Power: 30
Sorry to be obtuse, but do you mean our bulbs need to be offset which means that the pins cannot be acrossw from each other but need to be at a 45 degree to each other?
thanks
marc
thanks
marc
#28
07-08-2012, 05:35 PM
I am just now starting to investigate about H8 LED bulbs to replace front halogen fog bulbs.
I purchased these from SuperBrightLeds.com: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...WHP.htm#photos
Not too impressed with build quality. The base of one of them unglued during installation. Also, one of the 3 tabs is a bit too wide, so had to trim it. There is no error code (with one of these LEDs bulbs and one halogen; waiting to get replacement bulb to find out if they give error code when using two of these LED bulbs). Price: $24/pair.
I also found these H8 LED bulbs which seem to be brighter. They use brand name USA LEDs and are $50/pair. I have not tried these; please post if you have tried them. They mention about possible need to use resistors to avoid error message. Not sure I want to install 100 watt resistors which will get very hot.
I purchased these from SuperBrightLeds.com: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...WHP.htm#photos
Not too impressed with build quality. The base of one of them unglued during installation. Also, one of the 3 tabs is a bit too wide, so had to trim it. There is no error code (with one of these LEDs bulbs and one halogen; waiting to get replacement bulb to find out if they give error code when using two of these LED bulbs). Price: $24/pair.
I also found these H8 LED bulbs which seem to be brighter. They use brand name USA LEDs and are $50/pair. I have not tried these; please post if you have tried them. They mention about possible need to use resistors to avoid error message. Not sure I want to install 100 watt resistors which will get very hot.
#29
07-08-2012, 07:25 PM
Flying Cat,
I installed LEDs throughout the car this week while on vacation. I bought mine from Maxspeed Motorsports and had zero issues. They seemed to be of high quality, but time will tell. The link is below.
http://www.maxspeed-motorsports.com/coolwhiteleds.html
The total cost for the whole car LED package (21 bulbs) was $119.95 plus $6.95 for shipping. They also sell them individually for whatever application you need. They really look nice on the interior. I did not do the fog lights as I have the Rottec LEDs on the front. The Maxspeed LEDs really update the look of the car. Good luck.
I installed LEDs throughout the car this week while on vacation. I bought mine from Maxspeed Motorsports and had zero issues. They seemed to be of high quality, but time will tell. The link is below.
http://www.maxspeed-motorsports.com/coolwhiteleds.html
The total cost for the whole car LED package (21 bulbs) was $119.95 plus $6.95 for shipping. They also sell them individually for whatever application you need. They really look nice on the interior. I did not do the fog lights as I have the Rottec LEDs on the front. The Maxspeed LEDs really update the look of the car. Good luck.
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