Wiring Advice Regarding LED Resistors

[Farhan]

Right all need some people who know there stuff about electrics abit. I ordered some canbus LEDs and im rocking resistors which are working fine but im unhappy the way they sit in the engine bay they get hot and i dont fancy them hanging outside the headlight caps.
What i wanted to know is if i use bullet connects and extend the cabling so i can place them safely in the engine bay somewhere would this affect anything with the resistor. Atm the resistor works fine im just concerned using a bullet connector on the wiring may cause an issue.

 

[Farhan]

just to add im wanting to extend the wiring so i can place the resistor somewhere safer away from plastics, Using bullet connectors will make it easier if a resistor becomes faulty later i dont have to sit and pull of the splice connectors instead i just unplug the bullet connector attach another and im good to go

 

[t8ups]

It Will Work what you are saying, i did this to an audi A8 i worked on a while back, extended the reistors down to where the fog lights are as there is a lot of metal there,, made some brakets and attached them to where the horn is held and when the car is moving it keeps it cool.

open up where your fogs are and its the perpect place.

hope that helps

 

[danb986]

It Will Work what you are saying, i did this to an audi A8 i worked on a while back, extended the reistors down to where the fog lights are as there is a lot of metal there,, made some brakets and attached them to where the horn is held and when the car is moving it keeps it cool.

open up where your fogs are and its the perpect place.

hope that helps

I don't think this is hijacking your thread Farhan as it might help you out too, but I apologise if it is.

Trups, tomorrow I'll be fitting the resistors I bought from you the other day. I was just wondering if fitting them behind the fog light plastic trim thing is a good idea for mine. I didn't know how waterproof they are and if there was enough space without them burning something. I was going to solder them into the original wiring and use heatshrink instead of the red scotchlocks as I think this'll be more waterproof, but are the resistors able to cope with the water coming through the front of the car in heavy rain on a motorway?

I PM'd Silky as you suggested, but I haven't had a reply yet and I wanted to fit them tomorrow.

 

[Silky-S3]

Hi Dan

Yes just pull off the grills with a strong tug and then remove the splash guides behind the grill, again just give them a tug, you will then see the two bolts to remove the fog lamp. Unscew them and disconect the plug from the back of the lamp. The wires to the fog lights are tough so I needed to slit the insulation to make sure the scotch locks went through both the wire for the resistor and lamp. You will know if you have a good connection as the resistor gets red hot when the lights are on.

With regards to mounting the resistors, I put them on the metal frame for the horn on one side and just left the other side to dangle in the airflow. Seems fine to me. Just keep them away from any plastic.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have anymore questions. Happy to help.

 

[mike foster]

Two answers in one !

Bullet connectors are fine to extend the lead length of resistors and will have no effect on their operation.

Second answer - resistors do not need to be waterproofed and should not be covered with anything. In fact any rain will only serve to help the cooling process ! The voltage is only 12 volts and will not beaffected !

 

[danb986]

Thanks guys!
I was just worrying that water might get inside the resistor and short it out. Although, to be honest, I don't know what's inside the resistors and just assumed they contain something that could be damaged by water ingress.

 

[t8ups]

its just a resistor inside the golf casing, and then its filled with a type of rubber conductor so its is more than waterproof. as said by silky, just place them to get some cooling and you will be ok.

 

[danb986]

I finally got mine done today and it went well. I took a few pics so when I get a chance I'll post up a little guide as to what I did. It's not the most exciting process in the world, but it might help someone.

 

[Farhan]

Thanks all for the help, I have fitted mine but im not really happy with the hanging out as they are. i looked around the bay in loads of places to sit the resistors but theres always plastic nearby. Double sided tape near the wings didnt give me total confidence.

i also used no more nails tape just above the fans where the chassis metal is but this worried me incase the resistor fell and got caught in there.

What im trying to achieve here is a permanent solution to fit the resistors in an area which is easily accesible incase they go faulty. By using bullet connectors which i have a ton of i can replace the resistor with ease.

Another thing is using these split connectors is good but undoing the connector is a nightmare as i had to undo it yesterday and getting the spliced wire out of the little metal bit was annoying. Obviously if you have to replace the resistor and retap the wire you will keep making slits in your DRL wire which i dont want to do.

This way i can replace with ease and not worry about it, I will have a look down in the fog area next weekend now and let you all know how i get on.

 

[danb986]

Farhan, I'm doing a mini-guide at the moment and there'll be photo's that show where I've mounted mine behind the fog grilles. Both are mounted on the horn mounting bolts and are a good distance from everything. The closest thing was the washer bottle on the drivers side, but even this was a safe distance.

 

[Farhan]

Farhan, I'm doing a mini-guide at the moment and there'll be photo's that show where I've mounted mine behind the fog grilles. Both are mounted on the horn mounting bolts and are a good distance from everything. The closest thing was the washer bottle on the drivers side, but even this was a safe distance.

Good stuff dan! Look forward to seeing the results, Was it easy routing the wires down? I was thinking of having the bullet connectors much nearer to the resistor aswell so incase a resistor intends to die its just a case of pop off fog grille, undo the bolt remove resistor replace with spare in boot and your rolling again.

 

[danb986]

Well mine was a bit easier. There weren't any wires to route down as mine were for the fogs, so it was all down there anyway. Behind the fog grilles is definitely a good place though, and easy to get to.