[Se7enLC]

960 Lumen 12000k LED assembly for $6.30:

24-5630 SMD LED White Light Car Indoor Lamp (T10 / SV85 / BA9S 12W 12000K 960-Lumen DC 12V) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

FIts inside the light fixture just fine, puts out a lot of bright white light. The bulb adapter showed up broken and I had to re-solder it, but the assembly itself is well made. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. I tried to take comparison photos, but cameras mostly do light-leveling so it's hard to really tell. It's brighter, I know that much!

 

[Se7enLC]

In the past people have reported having to modify/trim for install. Any problems or is it plug-n-play? What about excessive heat? I too am interested in this mod.

No modification of any kind needed, I just plugged it in. The size of the assembly is such that I was able to use the included peel+stick to stick it in (there's a kind of a "shelf" of sorts inside the light fixture). Hard to describe, but if you pop the cover off the cargo light fixture, you'll see what I mean. I will try to remember to snap a couple more photos.

Not sure about heat. Incandescent bulbs get really hot for the amount of light they put out. I mean, they are basically a toaster in a glass bubble! LEDs are much cooler for the amount of light they put out.

This isn't an equivalent amount of light, though - it's the most light I could get for the same power.. If the specs for the LED assembly are to be believed, it's 24 diodes putting out 960 lumens and drawing 12W. The stock incandescent bulb draws 13W (unknown how much light it puts out).

I imagine heat / melting problems have more to do with how the LEDs are mounted and less to do with how hot they actually get. The original bulb gets hot enough to burn you if you touch it. But it has a lot of air space around it, so while the bulb gets very hot, the fixture/cover doesn't. If you were to just set an LED assembly in there loose and let it rest on the cover, I could see it being a problem. But so long as the sticky tape works to hold it in place, there will be some space around the LEDs - hopefully enough to keep it from melting anything!

I have an IR thermometer, I'll measure how hot it's getting.

 

[Se7enLC]

Cheap LEDs have been known for getting too hot, even hotter than their incandescent cousins.

Good LEDs run quite cool.

Ah, fair point! It's not so much the LED as the circuit to regulate current that are probably poorly designed / manufactured in those cases, too!

I haven't checked the temperature, yet, but nothing has melted or anything, and I know I've left the door open for 10-15 minutes at a time already while loading/unloading a lot of stuff. The lens cover didn't feel hot to the touch at all, either.

Here are some photos of the fit, as well. The photo with the LEDs "on" is interesting. The camera auto-adjusted the light down to that level. With the naked eye, you can't even see individual LEDs, you just see regret for looking directly at it The second photo is blurry, sorry. You get the idea, I hope.

 

[Se7enLC]

The price is definitely right for this particular mod, but the color is not. 12000K? No thanks batman...

Se7enLC, is the color really white? Or is it really blued out?...

It's REALLY white. Not blue at all.

Like the LED mods for heat, power, and longevity. Don't really like the soft glow of the stock hatch light. If you need a light back there, it probably ain't for the mood.

Exactly. The light is only on when I have the rear hatch open, and I want to see EVERYTHING back there as well as possible. I was basically shopping to get as much light as I could get for under 13W

Nice price on the link. When are auto manufacturers going to do away with incandescent lights in the interior? Cost should be down to make them affordable for the rear light assemblies on most vehicles IMO.

Especially if you consider that a large portion of the cost is stepping down from 12V. If car makers actually switch to LEDs throughout, they could do all the LED driving in one place, and just have simple LED bulb assemblies at all the fixtures.

Just the one issue with the solder on an adapter would make me wonder about the wiring popping off. My solder skills are shite.

It takes a long time to ship, but once I get the replacement for this broken one, I'll be able to tell if it was a one-off failure or a design problem.

Anyone know what are the replacements for the center dome and two front lights? Same bulb/adapter or a different one for the middle and the fronts? I would like to go all LED in the cabin if these LEDs don't run hot.

The center dome and map lights are "festoon" style. The front two are both 5W and the dome is 8W, IIRC. I bought some bulbs for those spots as well, but they haven't arrived yet, so I didn't review them. I intentionally downsized the map light to be only 0.5W so that it wouldn't kill a battery if left on accidentally. Once I get those bulbs I'll try them out and review them as well.

The Putco kit (p/n 980721) contains all 4 LEDs. You got me curious about the temps, so I turned on the center and cargo lights and left them on for about 15 minutes.

So are those temps with the LEDs, or the stock bulbs, then? Did you take the measurements with the covers on or off? I only have a cheap harbour freight thermometer, but I'm sure it'll be accurate enough for this.

 

[Se7enLC]

Just tested out some temps. It's maybe 50F outside right now. I left the light on for 10 minutes or so and got the temp of the cargo light up to 80F. Barely feels warm to the touch if at all. I call it a win!

 

[Se7enLC]

I just got the Map and Dome LEDs in the mail. They seem to work great! Advertised as being 0.5W and 65Lumen and 6500K

SV85 31mm 0.5W 6500K 65LM 6-SMD LED White Lights for Car (Pair / 12V) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

Drivers side is the LED, Passenger is the stock bulb.

The bulb might be a little longer than the stock bulb. It was easy to fit it into the map light, but the dome light it was a little tighter. The metal arms may have bent a little to get it in, but it fits.

 

[Se7enLC]

I would still suggest brand-name products. They do fit properly.

Truth. It does fit the map lights properly, however, I just didn't buy the one that fits the dome light because this one fit "close enough".

This bulb is 31mm, not sure what the stock bulb size is, I think it was 28mm?

EDIT: Correction: I thought all 3 bulbs (both maps and the overhead) were 31mm because of a post I read here:
http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...ing-interior-lights-led-bulbs.html#post350606

I'll throw my calipers on the stock and replacement bulbs to see if I can find the discrepancy. I'm guessing that the map lights ARE 31mm, which explains why they fit fine, but the dome light is shorter in length. If that's the case, it's definitely not the product that is to blame - it clearly states 31mm.

 

[Se7enLC]

I ordered and installed the LED that the OP links in the first post. After a day and 3 uses the adapter socket that plugs into the car melted and the light stopped working. There was very very slight charring.

No damage to the socket as I was able to plug in the OEM bulb and return to stock.

Just a heads up and would appreciate any other suggestions for a brighter LED panel back there. When it worked, it was awesome.

Ack! Just came back to this thread and saw that - sorry to hear it! The one I got actually arrived broken, and it looked like the adapter was just made with very very thin conductors. I fixed mine by soldering on 0.1mm header pins. I've been using it for months and have had no problems. But I'm guessing that if I'd stuck with the adapter as it was designed I might have burned mine out, too. Do you have any photos of the adapter and where it melted/charred?

I should probably not recommend this LED module to others unless they are willing to mod their adapter like I have. That being said, I'm still really happy with my light module (been a few months now with no problems).

 

[Se7enLC]

I have ordered those recently (your link Se7enLC) but, after reading this, why not just totally bypass the bulb adaptor and connect it directly to the incoming wires in the dome cluster? Do you know what gauge the wires are from the LED panel to that bulb adaptor? If they are less that incoming OEM wires, they can be wired (soldered) straight from the LED panel with the same wire gauge....

Sure, if you wanted to modify the dome light fixture, I don't see why you couldn't do that. I was much more willing to modify a $6 LED module knowing that I could always swap in a normal bulb at a later date. Plus I could do the work on a table inside rather than trying to work in the roof of the car.

The wires from the LED module to the adapter are thin, but sufficient (I'd estimate 22-26GA or so, but I don't have it in front of me). It's the adapter itself that has very thin conductors. Not the wires - but the metal prongs that stick out to make contact in the bulb socket. They are like filament thin and break easily.

Here's a closeup of the adapter: http://i.imgur.com/bduYys8.jpg
You can see a thin metal prong on one side. There's one on each side of the adapter (well, there should be - on the one I got, one of the prongs was missing). The prong is really thin and breakable. You can bend it and pull the wire right out of the plastic housing (so you just have two wires with thin pieces of metal soldered to the end. I soldered a better piece of metal to both wires, pushed them back through the adapter, and bent them back down. I would much sooner recommend that mod than modifying the dome light fixture in the car.

 

[Se7enLC]

I think when I get home today I'll pull the bulb out and inspect it just to make sure I'm not seeing any melting/charring. I wonder if other adapters can be sourced that are made better.