Audi-Style LED lighting on Daelim S1

While hanging out in Jaycar a few months ago (why yes I do lead a very interesting life!) I took a look at their range of super-bright LEDs, and decided to try them out. My previous experience with Jaycar's automotive LEDs hadn't gone too well, with the pre-fabbed tail light I tried being far dimmer than the factory bulb. The new "star" type LEDs are in a completely different league, with a disc-shaped assembly about the size of a ten-cent coin and a tiny spot in the middle that lights up like a stick of magnesium. These high-powered LEDs are used by Audi in its expensive-looking headlight assemblies to replace the little parker lamps and let other drivers know your car is very high tech. I figured that something like that would work a treat on my high tech S1.

I started by pulling off the headlight cluster, which involves undoing six screws, and bringing it inside.

You can see the teeny bulb used for the standard position lamp, which doesn't do much of anything in terms of throwing light.

I cut the wiring to the bulb and soldered in the regulator, which I then mounted on a flat bit of the plastic behind the headlamp (A). I put in some resistors (B) to protect against any power surges that could kill the LED, as I have found that even with the regulator these expensive little lights can get fried very easily. The wires to the LED were routed through the rubber cap that sits behind the standard lamp (C).

All the soldered connections are covered with heatshrink tubing and the wiring was then taped to the factory loom to keep it from moving around and getting caught in anything.

The regulator is about $25, and can run up to 6 LEDs at 3 Watts each, but I've only given it a single Cree XR-E, the brightest of Jaycar's LED range, and at $40 each, the priciest.

I attached the LED to an aluminium mounting that functions as a heatsink (star LEDs can overheat unless they are stuck to a decent-sized lump of metal) and keeps the LED itself from getting damaged when attaching it to the headlight housing.

The standard parking lamp draws 5 Watts, my new setup would be about 2-3 Watts, but compared to the 55 Watts the main beam and high beam bulbs draw, it's not much power either way.

I put the front piece back on and fired it up...

Woo, look at me, I have something shiny! I'm gonna go trade some stocks and bonds!