Trouble with LED Fog Lamps

[vt_maverick]

The xenon and Malibu bulbs are both a little larger than the OEM bulb, but they use the exact same wedge base so they fit just fine. If you go to Home Depot and look for 18W Xenon wedge base bulbs you'll find exactly what you need.

P.S. The xenon and Malibu bulbs look almost exactly identical, so I had to make sure I put each bulb back in its original packaging as I was swapping them through for pics. They do have a text label printed on the glass, but otherwise they look the same.

[Riff Raff]

The xenon and Malibu bulbs are both a little larger than the OEM bulb, but they use the exact same wedge base so they fit just fine. If you go to Home Depot and look for 18W Xenon wedge base bulbs you'll find exactly what you need.

Good info, VT. Based upon your photo's, I'm leaning towards the brighter Xenon, as opposed to the less bright Malibu. After a quick search on the HomeDepot website, I found the exact item. Below is the Home Depot info:

Brand: Lithonia Lighting
Wattage: 18 Watt (12 volt)
Type: Xenon, Wedge-Base
Count Per Package: Two(2) Each
Model Number: UCX 2LP M12
Manufacturer Number: 290713
Internet Number: 100626333
Home Depot Price: $16.96 (2-Pack)



EDIT: Here's the story--- so; after seeing the Xenon lamps on the Home Depot website, I then drive down to my local Home Depot to make my purchase of the Lithonia Xenon's for $16.96 (2-Pack... or $8.50 per each bulb). I can't find the Xenon's anywhere in the store, but immediately see the 18-watt Malibu's for only $4.97 (4-Pack... or $1.25 per each bulb). I speak to the Home Depot salesman, and he informs me that the Lithonia 18-watt Xenon's are available "on-line only" at the Home Depot website and are not carried in any Home Depot stores throughout the USA.

OK; let me get this straight-- you want me to pay $8.50 per bulb for the Xenon's, jack-up my credit card bill to make an "on-line" purchase, still have to pay my state sales tax since there is a Home Depot in my state, pay additional shipping charges for delivery, plus wait for a week for them to finally be delivered??? WTF??? Or, I can buy the in-stock 18-watt Malibu 4-Pack for only $1.25 per bulb using cold cash, then go home and immediately install them in my VX fog lights and still have two(2) spare bulbs to put in my glove box. It doesn't take a genious to quickly figure out that the 18-watt MALIBU lights is the only way to go!!! I just installed the MALIBU lights in my VX fog lights, and they look simply stunning!!!

[vt_maverick]

Riff - Was doing some research and just noticed your edit to this post. Very weird, I couldn't find the Feit bulb on their website either so HD must have discontinued it sometime between when I bought it and you researched it. But as it turns out Lowe's does carry the same bulb in their stores. Here's the link:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_90663-75774-...eit%20Electric

So now you can go out and pick yourself up a set of xenon bulbs instead! That way we can both have a 4-pack of Malibu bulbs wasting away on our garage shelf!

I got both the Malibu and xenon bulbs at Home Depot. The xenon bulbs were made by "Feit Electric" and cost $4.95 each (ouch). The Malibu's were $4.95 for a 4-pack (xenon cost hurts even more now). Depending on vendor, the LED + protector solution will probably run around $30.

Good info, VT. Based upon your photo's, I'm leaning towards the brighter Xenon, as opposed to the less bright Malibu. After a quick search on the HomeDepot website, I found the exact item. Below is the Home Depot info:

Brand: Lithonia Lighting
Wattage: 18 Watt (12 volt)
Type: Xenon, Wedge-Base
Count Per Package: Two(2) Each
Model Number: UCX 2LP M12
Manufacturer Number: 290713
Internet Number: 100626333
Home Depot Price: $16.96 (2-Pack)



EDIT: Here's the story--- so; after seeing the Xenon lamps on the Home Depot website, I then drive down to my local Home Depot to make my purchase of the Lithonia Xenon's for $16.96 (2-Pack... or $8.50 per each bulb). I can't find the Xenon's anywhere in the store, but immediately see the 18-watt Malibu's for only $4.97 (4-Pack... or $1.25 per each bulb). I speak to the Home Depot salesman, and he informs me that the Lithonia 18-watt Xenon's are available "on-line only" at the Home Depot website and are not carried in any Home Depot stores throughout the USA.

OK; let me get this straight-- you want me to pay $8.50 per bulb for the Xenon's, jack-up my credit card bill to make an "on-line" purchase, still have to pay my state sales tax since there is a Home Depot in my state, pay additional shipping charges for delivery, plus wait for a week for them to finally be delivered??? WTF??? Or, I can buy the in-stock 18-watt Malibu 4-Pack for only $1.25 per bulb using cold cash, then go home and immediately install them in my VX fog lights and still have two(2) spare bulbs to put in my glove box. It doesn't take a genious to quickly figure out that the 18-watt MALIBU lights is the only way to go!!! I just installed the MALIBU lights in my VX fog lights, and they look simply stunning!!!

[LittleBeast]

I used to be a big supporter of Autolumination stuff, but all their stuff starting blinking after only a few months, so I started looking at other products and companies and I have found that pretty much the only LEDs worth their money are: V-LEDs
www.v-leds.com

[Riff Raff]

I have found that pretty much the only LEDs worth their money are: V-LEDs
www.v-leds.com

Ryan--- thanx for sharing the website link!!! Yes, the V-LEDs website has some pretty cool LED bulbs in many different colors. However, for a 194-series LED bulb (wedge-type) that fits in our factory VX fog light housings I have some negative concerns, they are:

194-series (wedge-type):

o $10 each per LED bulb versus $1.25 each for the 18-watt MALIBU.
o Low Brightness Output Wattage for LED (2-Watt & 5-Watt) versus 18-Watt High Brightness Output for MALIBU.
o The 194-series LED bulbs are mostly used as showcar "marker" lights and do not project a viable projector light beam onto the road surface versus MALIBU has 18 watts of illumination power to be "projector" beam in VX fog light housings that illuminate the road surface.
o LED's may require a seperate "recifier" be added within the wiring circuitry in order to operate versus MALIBU is simply plug-n-play incandescent like OEM without any modification to factory wiring/circuitry.

For me, I'll stick with the much cheaper and much brighter plug-n-play MALIBU 18-watt bulbs without any of the circuitry hassles that sometimes come with LED's.

[vt_maverick]

I agree with the points below, and can definitely see why someone would want to stick with brighter incandescent bulbs.

o $10 each per LED bulb versus $1.25 each for the 18-watt MALIBU.
o Low Brightness Output Wattage for LED (2-Watt & 5-Watt) versus 18-Watt High Brightness Output for MALIBU.
o LED's may require a seperate "recifier" be added within the wiring circuitry in order to operate versus MALIBU is simply plug-n-play incandescent like OEM without any modification to factory wiring/circuitry.

For me, I'll stick with the much cheaper and much brighter plug-n-play MALIBU 18-watt bulbs without any of the circuitry hassles that sometimes come with LED's.

I will disagree with this statement however. Neither LEDs nor the Malibus/Xenons are "viable projector light beams." If your goal truly is additional illumination in support of driving, you'd be much better served to buy real fog lights and fit them into the OEM fog lamp recess. The work recently done by yellowgizmo99 is a good example of a more "viable" lighting option.

o The 194-series LED bulbs are mostly used as showcar "marker" lights and do not project a viable projector light beam onto the road surface versus MALIBU has 18 watts of illumination power to be "projector" beam in VX fog light housings that illuminate the road surface.

[etlsport]

Ryan--- thanx for sharing the website link!!! Yes, the V-LEDs website has some pretty cool LED bulbs in many different colors. However, for a 194-series LED bulb (wedge-type) that fits in our factory VX fog light housings I have some negative concerns, they are:

194-series (wedge-type):

o $10 each per LED bulb versus $1.25 each for the 18-watt MALIBU.
o Low Brightness Output Wattage for LED (2-Watt & 5-Watt) versus 18-Watt High Brightness Output for MALIBU.
o The 194-series LED bulbs are mostly used as showcar "marker" lights and do not project a viable projector light beam onto the road surface versus MALIBU has 18 watts of illumination power to be "projector" beam in VX fog light housings that illuminate the road surface.
o LED's may require a seperate "recifier" be added within the wiring circuitry in order to operate versus MALIBU is simply plug-n-play incandescent like OEM without any modification to factory wiring/circuitry.

For me, I'll stick with the much cheaper and much brighter plug-n-play MALIBU 18-watt bulbs without any of the circuitry hassles that sometimes come with LED's.

Yes, the LEDs are much more expensive, but they also match HIDs much better as far as aesthetics are concerned. This is important to some of us, I have tried many many options both incandescent and LED to match my HIDs.

As far as your light output concerns, its not as extreme as you make it sound. The 18w on the malibu bulbs is not a measured light output, its a measure of how much power they draw. Incandescent bulbs are only about 12-25% efficient so they are probably on par with the higher quality LEDs as far as light output is concerned. The way the front of our factory housings are etched, you will never get a "beam" of light out of them anyway just as VT pointed out

[LittleBeast]

Neither LEDs nor the Malibus/Xenons are "viable projector light beams." If your goal truly is additional illumination in support of driving, you'd be much better served to buy real fog lights and fit them into the OEM fog lamp recess.

Exactly, our factory fogs were never intended to project light at all just simply act as a "parking light" really, I thought that was obvious. The LEDs are desirable because of their matching color to HID bulbs in our headlights, purely cosmetic. I have Hella Micro DE fog lights with 6K HID bulbs in them for fogs and they are bright enough to drive in total darkness without the headlights on.

Did you install their resistor / "LED protector" kit? I wonder if a power spike might have caused the problem. Could be that the V-LEDs have a protector built into the bulb.

You are correct, almost all of V-LEDs products have the protectors built in, hence the quality and reliability of their products is greatly increased.

Yes, the LEDs are much more expensive, but they also match HIDs much better as far as aesthetics are concerned. This is important to some of us, I have tried many many options both incandescent and LED to match my HIDs.

As far as your light output concerns, its not as extreme as you make it sound. The 18w on the malibu bulbs is not a measured light output, its a measure of how much power they draw. Incandescent bulbs are only about 12-25% efficient so they are probably on par with the higher quality LEDs as far as light output is concerned. The way the front of our factory housings are etched, you will never get a "beam" of light out of them anyway just as VT pointed out

Exactly

[vt_maverick]

I used to be a big supporter of Autolumination stuff, but all their stuff starting blinking after only a few months, so I started looking at other products and companies and I have found that pretty much the only LEDs worth their money are: V-LEDs
www.v-leds.com

Did you install their resistor / "LED protector" kit? I wonder if a power spike might have caused the problem. Could be that the V-LEDs have a protector built into the bulb.

Food for thought...