# DIY: Foglights converted to LED DRLs



## PerL (Jan 9, 2001)

The foglights in my A6 are a joke. Well, were a joke, is the right thing to say. They were pretty useless, about as efficient as a pair of candles. Since DRLs are mandatory in this country, I thought I might as well make them some more efficient, since I use the foglights as DRLs anyways.
So, off to a hardware store and buy components. I bought a ton of 10 mm LEDs, these are described as "Ultra white", and are rated at 3.2 volt and 20mA. I also bought 150 ohm resistors and universal circuit boards.
With the help of a small saw, I cut the circuit board to fit inside the fog light housing, after I removed the ellipsoid light unit, of course.








The forward facing side of the circuit board was covered in a sheet of black vinyl, to give the lights that dark look.








The LEDs were then soldered to the circuit board, with 4 circuits, with 4 LEDs on each circuit. At the end of each circuit, the kathodes (negative legs) were soldered together.








The four 150 ohm resistors were soldered to a separate circuit board.








The resistor board were then soldered to the 4 anodes (positive legs) of the 4 LEDs in the bottom row.








Regular cable connectors were soldered to the positive and negative cables, this allows me to connect these lights to the original wiring inside the fog light housing, and gives me the option of returning the lights to stock, if needed.








The finsihed LED light, ready to be installed in the fog light housing








Finished light installed in the fog light housing. It is simply held in place with a lump of butyl on the extending tab of the main circuit board.








The LEDs inside the housing, behind the stock sandblasted lens. (yeah, I know, bad pic)








Comparison of LED light (right side of picture) and stock halogen fog light (left side of pic)








Closeup of LED light








Both lamps converted to LED








The LEDs have a more blue tint than the original 4300k HID xenon bulbs, I guess the LEDs are in the 6000k range.


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## Snowhere (Jul 27, 2007)

*Re: DIY: Foglights converted to LED DRLs (PerL)*

Not too bad. How is the light output at night? Or, are they strictly for daytime driving lights now? My only concern would be how the board and hold up to driving conditions. Did you dab any butyl in the other corners? If not, you might want to consider as it would serve to isolate it a bit more from vibration.


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## PerL (Jan 9, 2001)

*Re: DIY: Foglights converted to LED DRLs (Snowhere)*

The lights are strictly for daytime use, hardly any useable light at night. That was the problem with the fog lamps as well, so I really had nothing to lose when converting them to DRLs
As for vibrations and stuff, the boards are a pretty tight fit, I don't think they will come loose, and as for the solder, well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see how they hold up over time.


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