OG Wagon

My OEM 92 Civic fogs have been having an issue. When I bought the Civic a couple of months ago, the fogs did not light up at all. I replaced the bulbs with some Nokya Hyper Yellow bulbs, and they lit up fine, no problems. At that same point, I installed an LED headlight conversion, some Cree(type) LED headlights (H4 size) that I bought off of Ebay.

Two problems:

1. The fogs have stopped working, and the relay under the dash makes a loud buzzing sound whenever I hit the fog light switch on. It will cause the headlights to shut off. I then have to turn off the fog lights to stop the buzzing, and then flick the headlight switch off and on again to turn the headlights on again. Is there, perhaps, an in-line fuse in the fog harness that I could check to see it it’s burnt? If so, where is it? Any other ideas for what is causing the problems and relay buzzing?

2. They are headlights are flickering in their voltage. Not on & off, just dimming randomly in voltage. Also, the high beams will not stay on. I can pull the headlight stalk back, like to flash someone, and they will ignite the high beam LED’s full blast (which looks beautiful, by the way). But when the stalk returns to its normal position (and the blue high-beam indicator light is on the dash) the lights return to just one-led being on, which is the illumination for when high’s are not on.
It should also be noted that I have a known issue with my combination switch. It was causing intermittent light/voltage flicker before installing the LED’s. I plan to take it apart and clean the contact points, as per a DIY tutorial I found a few links down from this post.

It should also be noted that everything (fogs and LEDs) worked perfectly for about 45 minutes after install on my commute to work. Then, the buzzing relay came….
I’ve tried replacing the relay with another known-good relay. This did not fix my fog issue. I’m not sure if all of these problems are interrelated or not. I am guessing they could be, but are likely separate issues.

With LED bulbs being so new, there is just not a lot of documentation out there.

I’d appreciate any help that anyone could give me.

** I’m also open to bypassing the OEM fog wiring, where-as I have to have my low beams on for them to function. If anyone could spread some advice on that, I would appreciate it! Ideally, I’d like to run the Hi-Beam LED’s and Fogs at the same time. **

**In case anyone was wondering, the LED’s look sweet, but they are not as bright as xenons or halogens. The output color is a very pure 5300K-ish hue, similar to a Silverstar, but a bit more blue. I have a 30W kit. So, Running the Hi’s with the fogs would be my best solution for lighting output. I understand they are now producing 40W kits from the same manufacturer***

Hawkze_2.3

Sorry, but those LED headlight bulbs are ONLY meant for use as DRLs (daytime running lights), not headlight replacements.

I would replace all your bulbs with some OEM parts in order to fix your issues.

OG Wagon

^^ Thanks for your reply.

But these are the (newer/re-designed) CREE-type headlight bulbs. They also have a reflector shield built in. It's my understanding/research that the older type (2013 models) were cheap and would not work as headlight bulbs. These units are newer, have their own fan. Basically, not "cheap Ebay crap".

They are extremely high quality. Like, belong in their own museum display case, high quality. I don't think (at this point) that the lights themselves are to blame. Now, is it compatible with my Civic's electrical/relay system?... That question remains to be answered.

*Edit: I have the (newer) 30W version of these bulbs, from this seller:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261522004171

Hawkze_2.3

Why does it need a reflector 'shield'? A normal bulb has 360° of illumination...

If you want real high quality check out VLEDs or The Retrofit Source.

Broken English + ridiculous claims = cheap ebay parts. From the listing:

"We have plenty of inventory, If you want to wholesale,just free to contact us by the E-mail. we will give a great deal to you.and we also can send the package via international express,like UPS, DHL ,Fedex and so on. we think we can help you keep down the cost of shipping.Because we have a good cooperation with international cargo agency. free to contact us ,cheer !!!!

Buy With Confidence!
*30 Days Money Back
*If you are not satisfied when you receive item, please return it within 30 days for a replacement or money back.
*If item is defective in 7 days, We will send you a replacement without extra charger, Or offer refund after we receive the defective item.
*Packages keep items sensitive information private and mark with 'gift' try to avoid probable taxes.
*All questions will be answered within 1 business day via Ebay message .

Our High-quality, high-power 20W 2400LM LED car headlights made by the United States imported CREE chip (As is known that the current CREE chip for the global best quality, performance is better than Samsung chips), aluminum alloy accelerate the heat dissipation , and the bottom cooling fan to better heat dissipation.


Features:
1:Fully aluminum housing, perfect heat dissipation design;
2:High power Top Cree -XML2 LED, 20W per bulb,
3:High luminous efficacy Flux: 2400LM, high reliability
4:Wide-range voltage, constant current control, anti-interference circuit design
5:200% brighter than your stock Halogen headlights
6:Beam Angle 360 degrees
7:Low Power Consumption.
8:Easy installation, just plug and play.
9:Up to 30,000 Hours Service Life.


Automotive LED headlamps advantages:

LED lights than traditional halogen energy, more power.

Xenon lamp brightness and proximity , but the LED lights light up without delay, to enhance road safety. Instant start no strong currents impact , effectively protecting the car comes with a battery , improving battery life of more than 30%.

Fast cooling , the appearance of the most advanced design , thermal structure ingenious and reasonable.
Less warranty, power driver with wide voltage constant current mode , the car can respond to a variety of voltage instability , the effective protection of normal use Led efficient and simple structure , fewer components damaged, repair the probability is very low , compared with HID ballast repair lower than 80% .

Heating temperature is low , protect the car . Xenon working temperature up to 800 ° -1000 ° , the main reason for the car ignition .
LED car headlights simple structure, fewer parts than xenon lamps, significantly lower than the xenon lamp failure rates !
Automotive LED headlamps color temperature balancing. The Xenon bulbs in the same color to clear , about 6000K.

Packing include:
2x High Power H4 LED CREE Bulbs
2x LED drivers Wiring Harness
2 years warranty service
30 Days Money Back

Notice:
1. As a safety precaution, make sure that the car has had time to cool down properly before starting the installation process.
2. Put the vehicle into park or make sure it is securely in gear.
3. Make sure to have the ignition turned off and the keys removed.
4. Be careful to avoid burns, especially when turning on or off the vehicle?s lighting.
5. Be careful to avoid crushing or cutting the bulbs. Also make sure to not touch the bulbs with your fingers, as this will cause blotting.
6. Fully examine the connection of the contact points, ports and the wires as faulty connections can cause lighting problems.
7. Make certain that the end of the bulb does not come in contact with the interior light shield of the headlight when adjusting the bulb.
8. You will be required to drill a 25mm hole into the back of the resin or rubber headlight cap.
9. When connecting the bulb and the step-up transformer, do not connect the wrong electrodes.
10. Do not connect the incorrect electrodes when putting power through the step-up transformer"

Hawkze_2.3

This is an example of how you get functional LED headlights from Ebay:

2014 Toyota Collora s Headlight LED Projectors Set LED Control Units Retrofit | eBay

OG Wagon

Happy to report back here that I did solve my problem!

I went out this morning to put the stock halogen bulbs back in, thinking that would solve the problem. It did not.

So, as a final resolve, I removed the headlight/turn signal combination switch for a good clean an re-greasing. It wasn't too bad of a task, and was actually quite fun/interesting to disect and re-assemble. Put the combination switch back in the vehicle and voila! Everything works now. Excited to put the LED headlights back in at the house. I bet they work perfect now.

Solved:
- Headlights back on; full force, no flickering
- Hi-Beams stay on when engaged (don't revert back to low beam)
- Fogs come on; no more relay buzzing.

What happened (I think): When I first test drove the car, I noticed an issue with the lights wanting to flicker. I jiggled the stalk, and they started working just fine. At that point, it was an occasional issue. But, as with all issues, they always get worse. I believe it was a mere coincidence that when I installed the LED lights the headlight switch was just about on it's way "out" of being functional. The connections inside were so badly corroded that it only let a limited amount of voltage to the headlights. However, (again, coincidentally) the LED's take such a low amount of wattage that they actually did fire and function...just not well. As a result, they didn't send a strong enough signal back to the fog relay to tell the fog system that the headlights were on. The fog relay got a half-strength voltage/signal, and rattled like crazy trying to decide what to do (ha!). When I went to install the halogen bulbs today, the voltage issue was much more obvious, as their wasn’t enough voltage to power the needs of the OEM halogen bulbs (even though the LED’s halfway worked on the voltage being sent, which is a testament to their lower than OEM-spec current draw!).

Upon removing the switch, I had melted plastic around the shroud RIGHT by where the headlight contacts are. The contacts (one especially) had old (and now) burnt grease caked on them, and were not allowing for a good contact.

I cleaned everything with a q-tip and alcohol. I hit the stubborn spots/grease with a small flat-head screwdriver, chiseling away the old goo. Once clean, those spots got wiped down with a paper towel, then alcohol wiped and dried.

Once all was clean, motion parts got WD40 treatment. Then all electrical contact points got some grease. I used “Bulb Grease” since it was what I had on hand. I know “Di-Electric” grease is most appropriate, but again, that’s what I had.

OK, so in case anyone else has a similar issue, hopefully all of this can help you.

Thanks to everyone for your input. Looking forward to getting the LED lights back on and seeing what they can REALLY do!

OG Wagon

Hey guys,
Re-installed the LED bulbs today, and they work flawlessly! Very happy that (so far) this issue seems to be resolved for me.

Perhaps the switch will need to be replaced at some point. However, I'm now very familiar with the 92-95 combination switches, so a future swap and/or re-build should be much easier at this point. I'm very glad that removal of the steering wheel is not required, as it is on other Honda's (Accords, specifically) from this era.

LED's I purchased are here

These are, indeed, a full plug-and-play "conversion".

They are very "new". I don't pretend to be an expert on LED headlight conversions by any means, but here is what info. I have to offer/share at this time:

1. Amperage used/required is lower than standard halogens

2. Output is slightly less than halogens. The difference is negligible though. The LED headlight bulbs that came out about a year ago on Ebay were low output units, and had output similar to DRL's. Once you start looking around, these units are easy to spot out. Once more info. comes out on these newer units, it will be more obvious that these new kits are suitable as stand-alone headlight bulbs. The key: look for the cooling fan unit at the back of the bulb. If it doesn't have this, it will not be a standalone headlight unit. . They kits with the fans are, of course, much more expensive than the DRL-type bulbs ($15 versus $80-100).

3. Output looks a lot "cooler"/modern than halogens

4. No projector is required. No need to "retro-fit" a projector, such as with xenons

5. Near instant turn on. No wait time for ballasts to fire, as with xenons

6. Wiring/Connections are simple. Not multiple connects as with ebay xenons. As a result, less potential connection issues. Blows Xentec connections/system away.

7. Military grade construction. So beautiful, they belong in a museum. Must see/hold to really appreciate. Pictures don't do these units justice. Thing of beauty, for real.

8. More expensive than (Ebay) HID's. Paid $80 versus $30 for a Xentec.

9. Prices appear to be rising, not lowering. So, hurry and get "on board" before this craze intensifies.

10. LED wattage ratings are lower than halogen, but equal higher. So, a 20W LED kit equals the output of a typical 55W halogen bulb. My kit ordered was 20W. However, this was discontinued, and a newer design that was a 30W set was sent to me. Now, same company offers 40W kits. I'd go for these, if I could.

11. Hi/Low, dual fitment bulb. One LED fires for low-beam. Flicking on high-beam activates the 2nd LED. The cutoff is also higher for the hi-beam. The design is very well engineered.

12. Color is a "cool white" w/ a hint of blue. About 5500K on the Kelvin scale. Think of a very pure, intense, Silverstar bulb. No glare, like a (non-focused/projected) xenon bulb.

13. Fans are built into the backside of the unit. These cool the xenons. Unsure at this point if they run all the time, or just intermittently when the bulbs reach a certain temperature.

14. My bulbs are "CREE-type" LED's. They are knockoffs, essentially, of the CREE bulbs. But, are supposed to be great quality.

15. Shipment time took about 10 days from China. Seller was very professional and was a great communicator.

So far, highly endorse them. A great way to get an upgraded look w/o having to (1) get a high-intensity halogen bulb with a low life ; or (2) Xenon "upgrade" that is temperamental at best, and looks terrible unless appropriate projectors are retrofitted.

Hope this helps!

Hawkze_2.3

How long do you expect the life of these bulbs to be?

tasco

Can you post pics of the light output and a pic of the back of the bulb? I am curious how far it sticks out.

OG Wagon

Pics now up on first post of Official LED Headlight thread, in this same forum/section