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Converted to LED brake light bulbs, very happy

I already have LED clusters built by Bright Light tech (KIX). He used to modify the flasher to aleviate the hyperflash and the tail lamp out indicator and now I have both. He is no longer responding to any emails. I am just trying to find a solution.

BLT's been out, I was in high hopes for couple months hoping he'd make it back. I was looking forward to a Group Buy he was going to put on but it did not happen. That was supposed to be in 2013 February. No PMs since then.
 
Hi, all,

All of our other cars either have LED OEM brake lights or have been converted to LEDs over the years. So, moving our new 1991 NSX to LEDs was high on the priority list - we believe that the fast-responding LEDs are better for safety.

The project is complete, and we are very happy with the results.

We chose two sets of Putco Nova 1157 bulbs, in red. (We installed Putco Nova bulbs into our Miata and they have been bright and reliable.) Not bad for $71.87/pair:

http://www.amazon.com/Putco-1157-Type-Nova-Replacement/dp/B0042FVS9G

Installation was straightforward. As expected, we got the BRAKE LAMP error on the dashboard. Following the advice elsewhere on Prime and grounding the right-side white/green wire with a blue clip solved that problem. We didn't need to cut the wire.

The result: Nice bright fast-acting LED brake lights, quite a bit brighter than OEM incandescent, for under $150.

We left the third set of tail lights (the ones closest to the center of the car) as incandescent bulbs. We didn't see any benefit to changing those out.

Also: We purchased the "NSX Interior LED White Bulb Conversion Kit" from Euro Boutique - http://www.euroboutique.us/store_nsx_interior_led.html - and are again delighted with the results (though my back aches from bending/twisting to install the footwell bulb).

Those bulbs arrived yesterday and I installed them early this morning. My wife noticed instantly that the door lights were much brighter.

Not sure what to do next!

Operand I also changed out all of my exterior bulbs for LEDs but now when I have my lights to off(driving during the day) and I press the brakes its almost like the car things the parking lights are on since my pioneer radio goes auto dim and some of the dash lights come on and the front white parking lights come on like I turned my lights the the parking lights. When I remove my foot from the brake goes back to normal. Now I did do the short to get the bulb out on the dash to go out and have a 6ohm load resister on either side on the rear turn signals to stop the hyper flashing. Nothing I can find anywhere says anyone else has experienced this do I could really us everyone's help. Thanks for your time
 
Most of the bulbs I see are not CANBUS bulbs, though many of those are available. Superbright says don't use CANBUS bulbs in cars that aren't CANBUS. AFAIK the NSX is not a CANBUS design.

What exactly does a CANBUS bulb do in the NSX vs. regular LED 1157 bulbs?
 
Operand I also changed out all of my exterior bulbs for LEDs but now when I have my lights to off(driving during the day) and I press the brakes its almost like the car things the parking lights are on since my pioneer radio goes auto dim and some of the dash lights come on and the front white parking lights come on like I turned my lights the the parking lights. When I remove my foot from the brake goes back to normal. Now I did do the short to get the bulb out on the dash to go out and have a 6ohm load resister on either side on the rear turn signals to stop the hyper flashing. Nothing I can find anywhere says anyone else has experienced this do I could really us everyone's help. Thanks for your time

I just replaced all of my tail lights and license plate lights with CAN bus LED bulbs and this now happens to me too! When I depress the brake pedal, my front side marker lights illuminate and the dash lights dim/go dark until I release the pedal. I have not done the white/green workaround or used any load resistors yet. What do you guys suggest to rectify this?
 
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I did not have the problem you described. What I would recommend is to remove all the tail light bulbs and see if the problem occurs with no bulbs in. Then insert one at a time trying the brakes as each bulb is inserted. For the side markets I would do the same and switch polarity of the bulb to see if that helps.

One new bit of information from my original write up, the Flasher for older NSXs is different and has two shunts. Both have to be replaced.
 
I did not have the problem you described. What I would recommend is to remove all the tail light bulbs and see if the problem occurs with no bulbs in. Then insert one at a time trying the brakes as each bulb is inserted. For the side markets I would do the same and switch polarity of the bulb to see if that helps.

One new bit of information from my original write up, the Flasher for older NSXs is different and has two shunts. Both have to be replaced.

I will give that a try and see what happens. Will your flasher mod negate the need for load resistors? Does the flasher unit impact tails and stoplights too? This has turned out to be more confusing that I expected. Thanks for the help guys :)
 
I will give that a try and see what happens. Will your flasher mod negate the need for load resistors? Does the flasher unit impact tails and stoplights too? This has turned out to be more confusing that I expected. Thanks for the help guys :)

The flasher unit does not impact tails/stoplights. That's why you have to bypass the taillight sensor that is at the back of the trunk. But I have always wondered about what the point of load resistors or CANBUS bulbs is when they don't seem to satisfy the car system anyway.
 
Jamelvin is is correct. The tail/brake light circuit is independent from turn signals.

Load resistors are not required for the tail/brake light provided you disable the tail light bulb out sensor described in my write up.

Turn signal load resistors are required to avoid hyper flashing UNLESS you modify the flasher. Be aware that load resistors get very hot and defeat some of the advantages of LEDs. My flasher modification is for a later design flasher. However I you read the thread my write up is in, another Primer successfully modified the older design. It is not hard, just time and patience. Good luck. You'll be pleased with the outcome.
 
Jamelvin is is correct. The tail/brake light circuit is independent from turn signals.

Load resistors are not required for the tail/brake light provided you disable the tail light bulb out sensor described in my write up.

Turn signal load resistors are required to avoid hyper flashing UNLESS you modify the flasher. Be aware that load resistors get very hot and defeat some of the advantages of LEDs. My flasher modification is for a later design flasher. However I you read the thread my write up is in, another Primer successfully modified the older design. It is not hard, just time and patience. Good luck. You'll be pleased with the outcome.

I am planning to go with LEDs all around (including the signals) so I'll order a new flasher unit to modify. I have an '02 so it should be the same design as in your excellent write up. I have done the brake sensor bypass which extinguished the "Brake Lamp" light. Now I need to exorcise the "demons" from the system. Thanks for the kind advice :)
 
I did not have the problem you described. What I would recommend is to remove all the tail light bulbs and see if the problem occurs with no bulbs in. Then insert one at a time trying the brakes as each bulb is inserted. For the side markets I would do the same and switch polarity of the bulb to see if that helps.

One new bit of information from my original write up, the Flasher for older NSXs is different and has two shunts. Both have to be replaced.

OK I just did the test that mcrider described above and here are my puzzling findings. With no bulbs installed, I do not have the side marker illumination/dash light dimming issue. When I installed all taillights, license plate lights and reverse lights there was still no issue. When I installed any of the stop/taillight (dual filament bulbs, in incandescent-speak) in any position, the problem manifests. Huh....what now? Any suggestions?

As I mentioned before, I did do the white/green wire grounding to bypass the brake lamp light.
 
Seems like if those are the problem bulbs it's worth trying another version, just of the 1157 brake-light bulbs. From mcrider's description above, it may be better to use bulbs that are not designed for CANBus cars.
 
Interesting. Since he lists the 1157-R26-CBT CAN Bus LED Red from Superbright in the BOM in his write up, it sounds like I should go ahead and get some of those bad boys on order. Superbright does say to NOT use Can bus on cars not designed for such though.
 
Did you try putting just one brake light bulb in at a time and testing? It could be just one is faulty that is causing the problem. I went with CAN BUS because they have a built in resistance that I was hoping would avoid having to bypass the brake lamp failure sensor. No such luck. I already had them and they worked so why change. I would speculate that you do not have to use CAN Bus.
 
Did you try putting just one brake light bulb in at a time and testing? It could be just one is faulty that is causing the problem. I went with CAN BUS because they have a built in resistance that I was hoping would avoid having to bypass the brake lamp failure sensor. No such luck. I already had them and they worked so why change. I would speculate that you do not have to use CAN Bus.

Yes, I did try them 1 at a time and in different sockets and the issue still manifested. I guess it is just an incompatible bulb issue. I should have known better than to go with Autozone bulbs but they were cheap and available. Guess I got what I paid for :frown: Oh well, Superbright LEDs are on order now. I'll let you guys know how things turn out with them.
 
Operand I also changed out all of my exterior bulbs for LEDs but now when I have my lights to off(driving during the day) and I press the brakes its almost like the car things the parking lights are on since my pioneer radio goes auto dim and some of the dash lights come on and the front white parking lights come on like I turned my lights the the parking lights. When I remove my foot from the brake goes back to normal. Now I did do the short to get the bulb out on the dash to go out and have a 6ohm load resister on either side on the rear turn signals to stop the hyper flashing. Nothing I can find anywhere says anyone else has experienced this do I could really us everyone's help. Thanks for your time

I just replaced all of my tail lights and license plate lights with CAN bus LED bulbs and this now happens to me too! When I depress the brake pedal, my front side marker lights illuminate and the dash lights dim/go dark until I release the pedal. I have not done the white/green workaround or used any load resistors yet. What do you guys suggest to rectify this?

I encountered the same issue when I installed 4 red 1157s I bought from amazon.

When no parking light on and pressed on brake, all my interior buttons light up, and the radio display/ CCU starts flickering.

Original thread: http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...-brake-pedal-and-radio-CCU-illumination-issue

I do not have the time to properly troubleshoot it. So I switched back to the regular bulbs.
 
Yesterday, I received and installed the replacement 1157's from Superbrightleds, as in mcrider's write up, and my problem went away :) There really seem to be incompatible bulbs out there. Be sure to do the brake lamp sensor bypass when you get more time to troubleshoot. Thanks to the primers who helped me out on this too.
 
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