Tail light cable connections Punto 12+ for LED driver box

[htevents]

Hello all,

I couldn't find it with the search function, but I have the following question:

I would like to convert my brake and rear indicator light to LED. Not for the consumption, but for the lifespan of LED's.

Now I know that resistors and maybe drivers should be used to avoid the light warning and fast flashing dash lights, when indicating.

What I would like to know is if there is a connector on the inside of the rear booth, so I can build a "driver-box" with relays and resistors and insert it between the cable loom and the connector of the tail lights or is it on the inside just a long cable going to the engine bay, so I have to cut the cable somewhere and fix some connectors to them myself?

The same goes for the headlight cable loom. I want to bypass the wires to the low/highbeam, but insert the "box" for the DRL's, indicators and other lights.

Hope you can help me here.


NOTE: Before the illegal/legal discussion starts, I am from the Netherlands and if the color doesn't change (tail and brake should be red, indicators yellow/amber, front light yellow/white, etc.) it is road legal. Ofcourse without blinding people.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

You would need to cut into the wiring loom to splice in resistors or similar to convert to led without getting the warning lights.

It does get a bit iffy as you’re creating a failure point for your lights, so if something isn’t quite right you could find all your lights failing, having had a similar problem in the past on a car and having to drive with no headlights it’s not fun in the dark covering any distance without headlights. The other issue with led headlights is it might affect the beam pattern, not in an illegal way as you’ve already stated buy you might end up with less light on the road despite brighter bulbs

 

[htevents]

You would need to cut into the wiring loom to splice in resistors or similar to convert to led without getting the warning lights.

It does get a bit iffy as you’re creating a failure point for your lights, so if something isn’t quite right you could find all your lights failing, having had a similar problem in the past on a car and having to drive with no headlights it’s not fun in the dark covering any distance without headlights. The other issue with led headlights is it might affect the beam pattern, not in an illegal way as you’ve already stated buy you might end up with less light on the road despite brighter bulbs

Headlights are already done and are perfect. Perfect light image, clean line between light and dark, at the right height, etc. My question was about the rest of the lights, especially the tail lights.

I know I have to splice in resistors, but I want to take it to the next level.

Not just splicing the cables, but inserting a box with the resistors and heat sinks, but with connectors on both sides, so when returning it to factory state, all I have to do is remove the box, connect the two connectors directly to each other and exchange the LED's for normal bulbs.

But the importand question for me is if the tail light cable in the rear booth is only a long cable to the front of the car or is there a connector between the shot piece of cable comming from the light and going in to the car and from there it's going to the engine bay or is it a long cable from front to end with only a connector at the tail light end?

The next level will be the following: An intelligent Driver Box. In the case above, you only "fool" the light warning system, but it cannot detect a broken light (LED in this case) anymore.

My plan is to build an electronic scheme in the box, that will cut off the power to the LED and its resistor if the LED is broken, so the CANBUS will detect a power loss to the LED (brake light for example) and will stilll give the warning. If this will be low cost and easy to build, it can be produced on a larger scale, so more people can benefit from this idea.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

The way cars are built is that you have the engine bay loom, the dash loom, the floor loom then separately a rear light loom, in the case of the Punto the wires from the rear lights are unbroken and connect to the dash loom, going into the body computer. If you where to insert a “box” you’d need to do it at the rear lights or at the dash/body computer.

 

[htevents]

The way cars are built is that you have the engine bay loom, the dash loom, the floor loom then separately a rear light loom, in the case of the Punto the wires from the rear lights are unbroken and connect to the dash loom, going into the body computer. If you where to insert a “box” you’d need to do it at the rear lights or at the dash/body computer.

Thank you for this info. Are the connectors, fitting in the tail lights sold separately? That way I don't have to cut in the loom. If yes, what is the part number?