My back up lights in my LED rears are white.

 

Hehe Thanks!

 

Just read all 700+ posts, here are my cliff notes.


"Dectane" lights are an LED tail light that resembles the 09+ 997.2 updated look, but fits 997.1 generation. They are named Dectane after one of the first popular dealers to sell the lights. It turns out that the lights are mfg'd by a Taiwanese company named DEPO, despite claims that they are German made. DEPO Part # D48-1901P-AE-CR.

"Dectane" light housings resemble OEM closer than Rottec, but Rottec lights up closer to OEM style with a "C" where Dectane lights up as two opposing "C's" until the brakes are hit, then it closes the "C." Apparently negligible to most in this thread, preferring Dectane over all. Red Crystal, or Red and White are the preferred style. Comments have said that blacked out "smoked" housings appear "ricey" close up. A third syle with the white reverse light portion smoked is also available, however no pictures are posted in this thread.

Dectane's website allows you to purchase the lights for shipping into the US, but once the order processes, the truth comes out that they will not ship to the US; taking a long while to get a refund and so on.

Orange Tuning (OT) sells these lights for 449 Euro+shipping (~600USD shipped) depending on Euro strength. Contact Frank directly for ordering, as their website won't allow selection of U.S. to ship too. Shipment from Germany to your door averages about 10 days, give or take a couple days. Canadian shipments tend to take a little longer, and get charged anywhere from 20$ to up to 100$ in one situation, for customs. Most people went this route for their lights, up until 11/11, when Djork introduced speedstersource (seen below).

Carlightpro.com originally was quoted as the only US dealer of Dectane about a year ago, selling the lights for around 850$ a set, and still does. Their biggest contribution is their how to video on their website. Set the standard for install vid's.

Lumen Automotive Company in Hong Kong sells the lights the cheapest, (around 439$), but will only sell in lots of about 10-50. You can try to get a set for "sample purposes" if you want to be a lying ***.

(BEST OPTION)
fish123@speedstersource.com was mentioned by board member Djork as being based in California, and now sells Dectane lights on eBay for around 599 shipped as seller fish123 (as of 11/11); however, email Fish321 directly and try mentioning Tony Vu (Djork), and you supposedly can get them for the all time lowest price so far, of 550 shipped for red/crystal lens (as opposed to smoked, which apparently are cheaper due to demand.)
(/BEST OPTION)

http://www.maxzone.com/maxzone09/default.aspx was mentioned to be a DEPO distributor in the US, but it seems no one has tried that route and posted about it.

Technical: Depo (aka Dectane) lights come with a set of resistors that you can connect to the rear of the lights to avoid "check rear tail lamp" messages. It has been mentioned that this is only for "older" Carrera's, and may not be needed on all. So far, it would seem that 2005 & 2006 cars need to install these resistors into the rear terminals on the lights. The problem occurs when you install the lights without the resistors, and try and turn on your rear fog lights - causing an error message.

Removing stock lights: Only unscrew the "middle" philips head screw on each light, as the other two "outside" screws are for the bracketry. Basically, only one philips screw holds your tail lights on the car.

Installing: when installing the housings, route the rear wiring loom/harness over the upper portion of the back of the light, as previous installers have noticed that the light housing may sit on top of this loom, causing the pointiest end of the light hosing to not sit flush with the body of the car. (Pointiest, as meaning the sharp outside end of the outer lens.)

Total install should take no more than 10 minutes.

That is all.

 

Wow....lots of info...glad I got my LED's already!!

Well done!!

 

Nice write up Equinox!

It's helping me with the selection rear LEDs...I'll check out speedstersource but man, $500+ is so expense for "lights"

Ok...question, whats your recommendation on front LEDs in terms of vendor to purchase from?

 

Cargym.com sells plug and play DRLs for the 997, and has for a while. Cargym is a front of Lumen Automotive Group, the main wholesaler of DEPO's parts. Their cargym.com website sells for quite a high margin so they do not under cut their dealers they sell LOTs too. You most likely will be able to find a dealer of these DRLs for about 550 shipped, but Cargym doesn't want to under cut them, and sells them at about 580. Note, the DRLs that everyone sells are not actually made by DEPO, only the tail lights.

I talked to Fish at speedstersource, and he advises me that he does not stock these DRLs, but that "DEPO is developing them at the moment." I would wait for the DEPO's part, given the quality of their tail lights. He says they will take "a few months" however.

 

Thanks Equinox nice summary! Your like a porsche parts "rain man". But in a good way!

can I take you to the blackjack table?

 

Looking for a stock left rear 05-08 tail light in good condition. Anyone want to sell theirs cheap after replacing with LEDs, let me know.

 

07 available only as a set...not only one. Make me an offer.

 

I have a set. PM me.

Jon

 

I see a vendor on Amazon is selling a version that looks like the RotTec lights for $460 with free shipping.
I bought my RotTecs second hand and love them for how they look when lights are on compared to Dectanes.

So this seems to be a pretty good price!

 

I purchased my from the vendor GT Racer on EBay for $515.00 These are the DEPO ones.

 

Rep points to Equinox for the write up.
Here are some side by side of the Dectanes vs factory vs Rottecs. Been through all three... Currently on Dectanes. They match the .2 the closest, when not braking, and as we are used to the factory look they seem to be the less after market looking...







All taken after a nice bath... Note the changes, 22mm rear spacers, vs 16mm rear spacers and H&R drop...

 

You're an inspiration to school kids everywhere... Rep points for Reading! ...And thank you for the summary.

 

Bought a set from fish123@speedstersource.com, set arrived in less than a week exactly as promised.

Install is very easy, just need the phillips screw driver to remove the middle screw, then pull out on the lip right by the screw hole. You only need to pull out about 1/2 inch before the unit comes loose and you can wiggle it out. Note that the front is held in by a horse shoe shaped bracket that locks around a bolt similar to when you use a hammer claw to pull out a nail. You then just need to slide the plug off a braket holding it to the hold housing (dectane unit does not have this). To unplug, you just press down on the raised rectangle on the car side of the plug. You know you can pull it a part when you hear the click when you press down. Then reverse everything and your done.

Doing it a second time, probably could get it done in about 90 seconds a side. Took me longer as my dumbass dropped a screw into the engine bay. So I simply unscrewed two of the bolts on the underside and pulled out on the body panel and the screw fell right out (thank god).

Fit is perfect, quality looks oem. Competely worth the costs.

Cheers,
James