LED Switchback Turn Signal Install

[Cellbine]

Ok ya'll, This is my first video. Its a simple one, but you gotta start somewhere right?? right?

 

Dingo linked me these LED Switchbacks for turn signal lights. I purchased them and just got them in today. Sorry about the lighting, it started to get dark outside and there isn't good lighting in my garage. This is a really simple install. If you already know how to install them, then I hope this will help you decide if it looks good enough to install on your own Edge. Let me know what you think. I love them and can't wait to install other mod's like this!

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeChFaZqfHM

 

Here are a few different pics I took during the day and night.

One of my next projects is changing out my HIDs for brighter ones with kc300c's instructions. That will help my lights look more uniform.

 

[Weezer]

Thanks for sharing, and great job on the video.

[Dingo]

Every led bulb I have is substantially brighter than stock.

[whiteis33]

i have these same switchbacks.. mine only blink the white LEDs come on then turn off anyone know why thats happening? (they used to work fine on my Mariner and currently work fine on my buddys Taurus)

[Dingo]

Be more specific about their behavior, please.

[Cellbine]

Thanks for sharing, and great job on the video.

 

Thanks! Im glad that you enjoyed it.

 

You've done me proud cellbine. That is a great video. Give me your honest opinion on the brightness and noticability of the amber light output. Are they as bright as the OEM incandescent amber light? I haven't had much luck on my last few cars finding LED turn signal bulbs that perform well enough.

 

A bit off topic, but what program or web site did you use to create the animated transitions and text in your video. It really looked good.

 

KC, I think these lights are very bright. I am really surprised with how bright the white light is and the amber lights are brighter than the OEMs. At night time is where these lights really "shine". Im very happy with them and now I just need to upgrade my headlights to match the color.

 

As for what I used to edit my video, I used iMovie on my mac. We got a mac around christmas time for a business we are starting. We are building a Korean Cuisine cooking business to help people learn how to cook Korean food. I am using the mac to build the website, make youtube videos for our how-to videos, and process all the pictures I take of the food we make. Our website is not public yet, but you can visit the welcome page at www.pobmogo.com. We should be launching this summer.

[Cellbine]

Im going to work on a day time drive video so everyone can see what it looks like coming down the road.

[Cellbine]

(time for a shameless plug.... A set of my DRL vertical lights would finish of the look of your Edgge's front end :-)

Haha, agreed!! Did you get my last PM?

[RayoVac]

One of my next projects is changing out my HIDs for brighter ones with kc300c's instructions. That will help my lights look more uniform.

 

 

So you have stock HIDs? What are KC300's instructions? What is your plan?

[Cellbine]

So you have stock HIDs? What are KC300's instructions? What is your plan?

 

Yeah, I don't like how yellow they are. I'm going to upgrade them with KC's instructions you can find here. Ill also be upgrading my DRLs through him, sometime in the future. Hopefully sooner than later. But the HID upgrade is a bit cheaper upgrade I can tackle sooner. I just have to wait on shipping because I live in Germany.

[Cellbine]

Ok, so here is a video I shot, day and night time, of the LEDs. I uploaded to youtube in HD quality, but it seems to only appear in 480. Sorry if the quality is a bit low. We are going to upgrade our camera soon.

Its hard to see the LEDs at night with the headlights on because of the camera,

so we turned them off so you could get the full effect of how they look at night.

Notice the LEDs above the license plate? Thanks to kc300c, my Edge has an attractive rear end

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reu8pwEjzfk

[Dingo]

I prefer the undressing.

 

 

 

 

 

By that, I of course mean debadging.

[Bryan003]

I agree with dingo on the debadging i did mine looks much better! Just kept the ford emblems going to get the blacked out emblems soon

Edited April 7, 2012 by Bryan003

[jdf77]

I'm bit confused about these LEDs - or maybe it's just the way my lights are working here that it doesn't make sense:

 

Without any mods done on my 2011 edge:

- when I turn on my DRLs the lower long striped ones are going on - nothing else.

- With low beams these DRLs stay on plus the normal lights go on too.

 

Orange indicator bulbs only go on when I indicate and at no other occasion.

So now if I replace those original amber bulbs with the bi-LEDs they will be on when I turn on the LED?

Can't figure out why all of a sudden they should be on without any change on the wiring.

Can it be my lights are set different than in the US...or are this LED so smart to change the DRL habit?

[Cellbine]

Without any mods done on my 2011 edge:

- when I turn on my DRLs the lower long striped ones are going on - nothing else.

- With low beams these DRLs stay on plus the normal lights go on too.

 

Orange indicator bulbs only go on when I indicate and at no other occasion.

So now if I replace those original amber bulbs with the bi-LEDs they will be on when I turn on the LED?

 

Can't figure out why all of a sudden they should be on without any change on the wiring.

Can it be my lights are set different than in the US...or are this LED so smart to change the DRL habit?

 

Hey JD,

 

My Edge is US spec and I can tell you this. When I turn my parking lights on, the DRLs (vertical LEDs) come on and my OEM turn signal amber lights come on and stay on. Then once I used my turn indicator, the turn signals would blink and then turn back to constantly being on after the turn was complete.

 

I replaced those OEM amber turn signal lights with these switchback LEDs. For simplicity, the switchback lights are designed to work like this. When you turn your lights on, or just the parking lights on, a current is supplied to the LEDs which turns the white LEDs on. The white is the constant color that is displayed. Then when you use your turn indicator, it sends an additional current down the line to those LEDs, which intern triggers the LED to stop displaying white and to blink amber. Then, after the turn is complete, the white color is constantly displayed again. There were no wiring changes that I had to make. They were simply "plug and play" LEDs. If your Edge is European spec, then I don't know if they are wired the same (maybe someone else on the forum has that answer).

[jdf77]

Hey JD,

 

My Edge is US spec and I can tell you this. When I turn my parking lights on, the DRLs (vertical LEDs) come on and my OEM turn signal amber lights come on and stay on. Then once I used my turn indicator, the turn signals would blink and then turn back to constantly being on after the turn was complete.

 

I replaced those OEM amber turn signal lights with these switchback LEDs. For simplicity, the switchback lights are designed to work like this. When you turn your lights on, or just the parking lights on, a current is supplied to the LEDs which turns the white LEDs on. The white is the constant color that is displayed. Then when you use your turn indicator, it sends an additional current down the line to those LEDs, which intern triggers the LED to stop displaying white and to blink amber. Then, after the turn is complete, the white color is constantly displayed again. There were no wiring changes that I had to make. They were simply "plug and play" LEDs. If your Edge is European spec, then I don't know if they are wired the same (maybe someone else on the forum has that answer).

 

 

Thanx for the quick respond.

So it's how a suggested it would be. They made a few mods on the car before I got papers and I think light was on of the topics on a short list. Orange lights for sure are not allowed for DRL. Guess they changed that as indicator only.

But with these LEDs i would get more DRL and a happy road office with white DRL lights and orange indicators. Think I'll go to the garage an tell them to undo that flashlight behavior and then put the LEDs in -

So you answered my question - and Ive the answer to your forum one - thanx n happy long easter weekend

[Cellbine]

Glad I could help. Happy Easter to you too! Good luck with the LEDs.

[mikeblake710]

link to where you got the leds???

[Cellbine]

link to where you got the leds???

 

LInk was in the first post, here it is again:

 

Switchback LEDs

 

[DSofT]

LInk was in the first post, here it is again:

Switchback LEDs

30 yellow LEDs at 2 lumens each... It's 3 times less then stock turm signals, that produce approximately 180 lumens. Are you sure your turn signals are visible at daytime?

[mikey100]

I made the change on our 2011 Edge. Thanks to Dingo. Love the "new look."

 

Besides our here in the "country" no one has seen Switchbacks" before ..... so a couple people think I'm "cool" for once. LOL !

 

Y'all play nicely now ! Y'hear ? ! .......... Mikey Lulejian - Lake Oconee, GA

Edited April 9, 2012 by mikey100

[Dingo]

30 yellow LEDs at 2 lumens each... It's 3 times less then stock turm signals, that produce approximately 180 lumens. Are you sure your turn signals are visible at daytime?

Yep.

 

[DSofT]

Yep.

Danke! Definitely much dimmer than stock, but acceptable. I used to make turn signal bulbs with three OSRAM Golden Dragon LEDs on aluminum heatsink, 80 lumens each LED. The brightness was pretty close to stock bulbs.

[The Outrage]

30 yellow LEDs at 2 lumens each... It's 3 times less then stock turm signals, that produce approximately 180 lumens. Are you sure your turn signals are visible at daytime?

 

The 3457 bulb is a higher lumen variant of the 3157. It produces ~38 lumens when using the lower wattage filament and ~500 lumens when using the higher wattage filament. I noticed a difference when switching to 3157 bulbs on the Edge (~38 / ~400). I swapped the stock bulbs back in place to provide sufficient lighting of the rather large reflector. Even compared to the 3157 incandescent bulbs these LEDs seem much dimmer in the posted videos.

 

3457 specifications:

 

http://genet.gelight...ODUCTCODE=22525

 

3157 specifications:

 

http://genet.gelight...ODUCTCODE=17172

Edited April 10, 2012 by The Outrage

[frozennuts]

I wish that I had heard about these bulbs before I had to modify my 08 to be legal in Finland, which was to drill and insert small 5W white bulbs to headlamps and move the parking lamp wire so that parking lights are white.

 

This would have been so much easier and I still may do this as headlamps look a little small at night during the winter as the original amber lambs that come on with headlamps only flash now. This mod will make the headlamps look wider at night. But no need to hurry as we are almost in the 24 hours of daylight up here so headlamps never come on (only DRL's) and it will be September before any darkness again.