I just bought my first real car and want to add some amber lights. I have a 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid - Touring Trim. I live down in Texas, and the only requirement for flashing amber lights is that they flash at the same time (i.e. no alternating strobes). Does anyone know how to integrate some amber lights into any of the existing lights? Furthermore, I'm considering trying to mount some lights on the front and/or back of the plastic fascia present on the stock roof rails.
Hey, I got a carbon fiber wallet too. Where'd you get yours? I thought it was off Amazon, but I cant find it! Might have picked it up in store somewhere.
I've put some alternating amber LED strobes in my OEM tail lights but that's in a MY18. I don't know what the tail lights look like on the previous gen.
I'm moderately happy with them but I also tinted my tail lights and recently bought even brighter ones. Once happy there, I'll be doing the same in front, if the front lamps have similar mounting features.
I've put some alternating amber LED strobes in my OEM tail lights but that's in a MY18. I don't know what the tail lights look like on the previous gen.
I'm moderately happy with them but I also tinted my tail lights and recently bought even brighter ones. Once happy there, I'll be doing the same in front, if the front lamps have similar mounting features.
Removing the tail lights I found some white plastic caps over channels leading directly into the lamp housing. Here's a horrible paint representation, the black cylinder was hollow when I popped the cap and it could accommodate a 3mm LED by default. The 3mm would also fit snugly into the hole directly in front of the channel, in the reflector.
I popped off the cap and used a drill to widen the channel and the reflector holes to accommodate 5mm LEDs. This caused a lot of mystery black plastic/dirt to make a mess inside the housing. My shop vac couldn't get it all and it stuck to the textured plastic but it settled over time. I first pushed the LEDs through the channels, butting the rim against the reflector and secured the wires by replacing the plastic cap.
Because of my tint, they weren't very bright. I've since changed LED twice and currently have a cluster of 3 5w, 5mm per mounting hole, that's four clusters all together. The cluster works well but I have even larger and brighter ones, 18mm 9w pre-wired LEDs, waiting for me to get around to installing. I fed the wires through the wire channel from inside the housing, so I wouldn't have to drill any more. The LEDs are held tight against the reflector because the white cap puts enough pressure on the taught wiring, preventing loosening. Initially, I had a DIY prepared but was embarrassed with the result so I never published. Perhaps when I put in my 9w bulbs, I'll clean it up and post.
I installed a fuse tap and ran power to a lighted switch that I installed in a vacant OEM slot next to the dimmer controller. Don't ask me to explain the work I had to do for my custom fit. It does protrude a little but it looks pretty good, considering I had to modify the blank OEM and the new switch to fit the hole. From there, the power went to my cargo area. I installed the strobe controller just inside the hatch door, under the trim, grounding on the hatch latch bolt. The pwr/grnd strobe wires are run under the trim and come out through the grommet that the OEM tail light wires come out of. I used liquid weatherstripping to seal the grommet, inside and out, and used a couple of 4 pin trailer harness connectors to connect the LED wires to the strobe wires. They're big but fit and I got them because they were $2 on sale at the time and I needed a single connector for power and 2 grounds per side. This means my lights alternate like this:
Because you can't alternate yours, you can use any simple dual pin connector or some generic bullet or quick connectors.
I haven't seen a non-alternating strobe LED strobe driver in person but this may be of use to you.
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