[jpark]

When I see how it goes (and when I actually finish it!), I'll let you know for sure!

 

[jpark]

I just ordered two Osram LED modules, two 2010 Escape tail lamp sockets, and two 2008+ Sable tail lamp harnesses, so this project is a go for me now, too.

The LED modules were only $38 each. Again, for some strange reason, they're much cheaper when you order them directly by their part number.

If this works as well as I'm sure it will, I may make them for the Fusion, too.

 

[tang]

I bet they would... they'd look better in a 2010 Fusion!

 

[jpark]

So would amber turn signals and clear lenses.

:cuss:

I have several sockets leftover from a 2002 Mountaineer tail lamp assembly that I bought on ebay when I had my Explorer. The upper socket is the socket Ford uses on almost all cars and trucks that have a stop/tail/turn lamp, and it's the same one used on the 2008+ Escape.

So I took apart the center socket (which has a different collar and indexing pins) to see how the gray collar is connected to the socket body, and to see if I can use the connector portion of it to plug into the Escape's factory harness. This would make the entire project plug-and-play, so that I can unplug the LED module and sell it when I eventually sell the Escape. The gray socket collar, connector/housing, and pins are all separate parts, so this project should be easy.

I'll have pictures of the parts later.

 

[Domain]

That video looked amazing. I wish I could do this to mine, but I lack the technical expertise to pull it off - I love it if for nothing else than the fact the bulbs light faster.

 

[jpark]

Never underestimate yourself.



My parts just shipped. I'll post pics when they arrive.

:yahoo:

 

[tang]

eace:

 

[jpark]

UPS says that today is D-day. I am SOOO looking forward to this.

 

[jpark]

Here's one of the Mountaineer sockets and the internal parts. This was the brown stop/tail/turn socket (on the 2002-2005 Mountaineer, black was a tail only 3157, and green was a reverse 3156). Yes, I did hack the socket housing, because I didn't need this socket for anything other than testing, and I wasn't sure how the collar was secured to the housing. At one point, I thought that the collar's sides were snap-fitted into the housing, but it's actually laser-welded inside the upper part of the housing.

Direct image link: http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg10 ... G_0500.jpg

Now that I know how the gray collar is secured, I can remove it from each black socket without destroying it and the socket housing. I'm going to use the housing as the connector to the factory wiring harness, and the gray collar will be slip-fitted and sealed over the smaller collar of the LED module. The wiring leading to the LED module's connector (from the Sable harness I ordered) will be soldered to the socket housing's pins, and I'll fill the entire cavity with epoxy to seal it. Plug-and-play.

I'll have pictures of the new parts when they arrive.

 

[jpark]

The parts are here!

:yahoo:

One of two sets of the Osram L1224R LED module and the 2008 Mercury Sable tail lamp wiring harness (note their part numbers):

Direct image link: http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg10 ... G_0517.jpg

Here's a close-up of the Osram LED module:

Direct image link: http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg10 ... G_0503.jpg

Here are the sockets and connectors on the Sable harness. From left to right: 3157NA turn signal socket, 921 reverse lamp socket, Osram L1224R LED module connector, and the connector to the Sable's integrated LED side marker:

Direct image link: http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg10 ... 0507-1.jpg

Yes, folks, the turn signal socket on the wiring harness has the same collar and index points as the 2008+ Escape's stop/turn/tail socket:

Direct image link: http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg10 ... G_0509.jpg

It didn't take long for me to figure out the connections.
"Tail" (dim) circuit (sure enough, the LEDs are pulsed, and the flicker is amazing):

Direct image link: http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg10 ... G_0510.jpg

"Brake" (bright) circuit (holy wow, even in daylight, the red washes out the rest of the picture; this module is BRIGHT!!!):

Direct image link: http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg10 ... G_0511.jpg

I'm glad that I didn't order the extra sockets. The Sable wiring harness is definitely the harness you want to order if you take on this project, although the large socket is hard-wired to the harness (no connector). If you want to use the socket as a connector to the Escape's factory stop/turn/tail socket, you'll need to buy the Escape sockets; otherwise, you can hard-wire the LED module connector directly to the Escape's wiring. I'm still planning on using my Mountaineer sockets as connectors. Either way, the harness socket collar is exactly the same as the Escape's socket collar, so when it's hollowed out and bonded to the LED module, it will fit perfectly in the Escape's tail lamp assembly.

More later...

 

[tang]

The last paragraph really confused me... so I will just wait for the pictures.

 

[jpark]

You can be confused? Is that even possible?

:lol:

 

[tang]

You'd be surprised what driving through the night like I did can do to a person. :lol:

 

[jpark]

I can imagine. Or maybe I can't.

:bill:

Well, this project has hit a major snag, and it's my fault for not looking at the reflector portion of the tail lamp assembly.

The Osram LED module won't fit in the flat area used by the current socket. The LED module is larger in diameter, and the Escape's reflector actually goes backwards around about 50% of the lamp. I'll put up pictures tomorrow to show you what I mean.

If I go further with this, my options include buying a pair of 2008+ Tribute tail lamps (which use the same sockets but don't seem to have the strange reflector design of the Escape assembly) or grafting a pair of Taurus X or 2006+ Mountaineer reflectors into the Escape's tail lamp assembly. The Tribute tail lamps would also require exterior rear red reflectors somewhere on the bumper cover, since rear red reflectors aren't part of that tail lamp assembly.

I may also adapt the LED modules for the Fusion.

 

[tang]

The Osram LED module won't fit in the flat area used by the current socket. The LED module is larger in diameter, and the Escape's reflector actually goes backwards around about 50% of the lamp. I'll put up pictures tomorrow to show you what I mean.

I know what you mean. I had to get creative with my installs... as a result, one's still being held by heavy duty electrical tape wile the other one is legitimately glued in.... not the bulb, but the connector piece. I think, as a result, my setup results in a not-as-bright light... but it is still brighter than the original bulb's flare. The way the LEDs work in the Taurus X, Sable, Mountaineer, and Malibu make me think that this type of set up is only good in clear lenses and not colored ones like the Escape. There seems to be some strange washout when the sun is out. One solution I'd like to avoid thinking about for now is darkening the tail lights somehow. The other was getting a set of Tribute lights. A place in St Cloud is selling a pair for $150 off a wrecked vehicle... not sure if I'm ready for that yet.

 

[jpark]

It's not that the lens blocks any light from the LED module. With the assembly tilted (and not fully inserted into the opening, the light doesn't hit the reflector at the right angles, and the majority of the light ends up angled back and sideways instead of straight back. If these were centered in the opening, they'd be just as bright as the Taurus X/Mountaineer/Sable/Mustang lamps.

Sooo, I disassembled one of the modules (pictures later). It's a very simple design of a plastic housing and o-ring, light pipe and reflective cap, a circuit board for the LEDs (containing the electronics needed to pulse the LEDs on the "dim" setting), and an aluminum backplate with a small amount of thermal paste (which makes the plate double as a housing and as a heat sink for the LEDs).

Here's where it gets interesting. I found the exact LEDs that Osram uses inside the modules. Each module contains only four of these LEDs, and the light pipe and reflective cap both do the work of amplifying the light and reflecting it downward into the tail lamp reflector.

Red: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... -1315-1-ND

Yellow (actually more yellow/orange): http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... -2551-1-ND

Osram also makes these LEDs in blue, green, what they call amber (more orange), and three types of white (cool, warm, and neutral).

Anyway, they're rated to run at 140mA (0.14A), maximum 200mA. These LEDs pump out insane amounts of light (Osram lists one of their applications as "traffic signalling"). Like Tang said earlier, Osram rates the Ford LED modules at around 4.8W (full brightness). Car voltage can get as high as about 14V, so 4.8W / 14V = 0.343A, or 343mA total current draw. That means that Osram runs each LED at about 86mA, well under their rated operating current, and that's why Osram can claim that the module will last for the life of the car.

So here's my latest plan, and this will take some engineering on my part. I'm going to try to design my own circuit board using only the four LEDs (with Osram's recommended pad layout to make sure that heat won't be a problem), fit it inside a standard (and hollowed-out) Ford light socket, cut the light pipe and a small portion of the LED module housing to fit over the custom board, and re-use the current circuit board in another housing (minus the LEDs) with a short harness.

Also, now that I know how the Osram modules are assembled, and which LEDs they use internally, I can change the LEDs to any other color.

And here's one more theory that I have. These modules don't trip the hyperflash circuit (which happens when one bulb burns out). But in new Fords, that circuit is not a sum of both the front and back bulbs. Instead, EACH bulb is monitored for current draw by separate transistors. That may mean that an Osram module can be used in the front and in the back with no hyperflash. I haven't wired the modules to test this yet, but if it's true, I could have LEDs front and back, and twice as bright as the standard bulbs.

Step one: order a bunch of the red and amber Osram LEDs from Digikey. In fact, as Tang already knows, I'm designing a circuit board for the inside of the high-mounted brake lamp, and it will contain 24 of these LEDs.

I'll try to explain all of this later with pics, in case I've lost anyone.

 

[tang]

Sign me up. I hear ya loud and clear... durp, read.

I wonder if the bulbs would fit no problem in the front signals.

 

[jpark]

No, the front signals also have almost no room around the factory socket.

Those would also require some kind of custom socket. Also, while the opening has the same 3-tab index, the socket connector isn't angled - it's straight back.

Back to the drawing board.

:cuss:

 

[jpark]

Here's an idea for the rear lamps: the L1230R used on the 2010 Mustang. I'm trying to find the part number now. The extra 6mm would probably clear the back of the Escape's reflector and allow the socket to fit perfectly into the opening. The collar adapter would need to include a 6mm spacer.

So now I may order a pair of L1230Rs and connectors and play around with them.

 

[jpark]

Here are a few more pictures of the Osram LED module.

A few posts earlier, I figured that Osram ran each LED at around 86mA. Four of the red LEDs in series and running off of around 14V would require a 56-ohm resistor. Sure enough, there are two pairs of 56-ohm resistors (1W) in series and parallel, or 56 ohms at 2W.

Since Ford uses high-side FETs to drive both the front and rear turn signals (and rear stop lamps), voltage spikes don't really make their way to the lamps. And now that I know exactly which LEDs are used, and how Osram designed the drive circuits for the module, I can also design a simple drive circuit (but with no low-brightness pulsing). I may still use the Osram circuit board to drive the LEDs, but my circuit would fit on one board, and inside the Ford socket:

Here's the disassembled Osram module. The goo on the aluminum plate is thermal paste.

Here's the circuit board. Why so complicated? The circuit contains a voltage regulator, a failure-detection circuit, and a circuit to pulse the LEDs when only the "tail" circuit is on. The LEDs actually blink on and off about 240 times each second, and they're on only about 5% of the time. This is why they look dim, but the flickering makes the car more visible at night (although some people can't seem to see the flickering). You can also see the pads for the three-pin connector on the right, and the four-pin connector (used only by GM) on the left.

Here are the Osram LEDs.

Here's the Osram LR-G6SP LED used in this module. You can actually buy these separately. http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... -1315-1-ND

Here's the Osram LY-G6SP amber LED. You can actually buy these separately, too. http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... -2551-1-ND

Here's the inside of the LED module's light pipe. The LEDs fit inside the round lip, which also acts as a spacer to the circuit board. The LEDs have silicone seals (not epoxy), so they can't have any vertical force applied to them.

Do you see what I might do? The area around the light pipe's inner lip/spacer lip can be trimmed to fit inside a hollowed-out Ford socket, with the custom circuit board behind it. This also allows me to adjust the height of the top of the light pipe so that directs light at exactly the same angles as the standard bulb. Then I can use the same socket that Ford uses in any lamp assembly.