Does anyone have a clue on LED lighting for the 850? I would love to have some LEDs in my car to offset the poor lighting in the cabin now. HOw fun would that be huh? Also does any know of any exterior puddle lighting for the 850?

 

There are a bunch of companies that make LED replacement lights for automotive applications (bulb sizes are in the manual). I forget the websites though, google should help you there.

I don't know of any puddle lighting kits availible. I'm sure that you could wire some LEDs into the same circuit as the lights that activate when the remote is used or the door is opened. Mounting would be your only issue.
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One problem with LED lighting is that you may not get more brightness than the conventional bulbs. Although LEDs (1W-5W) are bright, the beam pattern disperses and the cabin may not get as bright, but it's worth a try if you can find one that is well-designed. Lately some LEDs come with well-designed lens and they may work. BTW, Lexus LS600hL uses LEDs for the 3-eye low beams.

Also, watch out for polarity; LEDs will not light if polarity is reversed.


JPN

 

Our XC70 has the puddle lights in the mirrors. Maybe you could retrofit these to the 850. Might be spendy though

 

Whats the bolt patern? and Ill see how much mechanical or body there is to it and then go form there. I am sure electrical wouldnt be so bad.

 

i installed led lights in the dome light of my 03 jetta. they dont give out the same brightness as conventional at all. i did install "high output" led lights in my sidemarker turn signals and they look decent. i thought they be a lot better. oh well

 

vvme is a bunch of companies that make LED replacement lights for automotive applications (bulb sizes are in the manual). I forget the websites though, google should help you there.

 

hmm. There's one @ my local junkyard. I may just have to swing by tomorrow.

 

this what your looking for?

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/int...-tutorial.html

direct link to write-up

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...hp?f=1&t=35000

 

doing any converting from convention to LED on exterior lighting may be illegal. It is in virginia.

Code states all lighting must meet OEM spec, and can not exceed the OEM lumens output.

That is state law (could get a ticket, with big fine) and inspection stuff.

but thats just Virginia.

 

I use these......
eBay Australia: Buy new & used fashion, electronics & home d

They come with the ba9s adapter which is the same base as the existing globes. About 5 times brighter inside the car now when I open the doors. Well worth the 4 dollars

 

I put festoon LEDs in both my overhead and floor courtesy lights. It's just wonderful.

They were dirt cheap, under $2 each. I have a wagon and the rear ceiling light is a festoon style so it was just a swap and really a difference, big difference.

The overhead in the front I soldered leads to the bulbs (tricky to keep them from coming apart) and then connected to the panel.
Over the rear door I bought the one's with the B9 style adapter as by then I liked the way it looked and I knew how it would work and it was worth the $5 ea price to have a smaller board of LEDs and direct plug in, no soldering.
That's why the difference in the look of the front center LED's to the one over the rear door.
Since it's a flat panel in either case all the light goes down so it works well. The courtesy lights in the lower edge of the dash by the doors don't fit flat so they were each angled in so they pointed at the door at an angle and they do actually work for "puddle" lights too. But I read about someone using a flat led and two sided tape and wiring it into the circuit for the red light in the door jam you see when the door opens. I might try that one myself.

 

Here is the difference at night. The first one is my housemates 93 850 with normal interior globes, second and third is my 95 850 with the LED conversion:

 

With bifocals it's really a wonderful difference when you try to read print inside at night. Like the old days with maps !!
With the crisper LED white light it's easier to read anything and find things on the floor.

 

Here is where i get my bulbs...
http://www.superbrightleds.com
They have the best customer service ive come across for a bulb distributor so far.
Dead bulbs.... no worries..
ordered all the interior lights dash and cluster included all 30 something bulbs ran me just under $80..

Havent installed the switch and dash light yet but the cluster ones look great.

 

Where is "here" is where I get my bulbs

 

LED Car Lights & Bulbs, 12 Volt - Super Bright LEDs

these guys I have ordered from, good prices and fast shipping.

 

Yeah.... just saw that.... Wow what a moron...LMAO
Edited it with the link..

 

Not at all ,,,,, just not able to type as fast as you can think.

Been there,,, done that,,, still do

 

I thought id post this on as i have in the past found this website to be very very useful, so this is my way of thanking all the members that have solved my volvo problems, maybe help a few people out there with same problem as i had;
Long story short, its about LED lightbulbs for the interior of my volvo 850 estate, After researching bulb sizes etc.i purchased 4 Ba9s LEd bulbs 2 for the rear passenger and 2 for the front overhead dome. The front overhead dome ones fitted perfectly and worked straight away, the rear passengers ones fitted perfectly but didnt light. I looked into it and 'polarity of bulb to connector' came up, now it said that if you turned the bulb 180 degrees around it would light, maybe on the 'festoon' type bulbs but not the round bayonet ones. Thousand of traders are selling these ba9s round bayonet socket bulbs stating that you can get it working by turning it around? utter nonsense, it doesnt matter what way youll turn it, negative and positive will still be in the same position but a festoon bulb (which is the bulb type for the rear light) has end caps, one +, one -, turn it round to reverse poles and it will work, so, i purchased a blue LED festoon bulb to test this theory, popped it in, no joy, flipped it out, turned it around, joy. Theory proved. But... the only way i could get the rear passenger sockets to work with LED bulbs was either to re-wire the sockets themselves reversing the poles or look for non or reverse polarity bulbs.
I looked for days online with no joy, most companys either didnt have them or some said there was no such thing as a non polarity LED bulb.
The search continued, I was mainly looking in the UK as i didnt want to wait ages for them to be delivered, then i found one company that stated 'Through the internal bridge rectifier, direct DC- or AC operation is possible' so i telephoned them, they were very friendly and did agree that this could solve the problem but they were just as curious as i was to see if they did work, so on a promise that i could easily return them if they didnt, i bought 4.
Got them today (hence me posting this now), have fitted them all around, front and rear Ba9s sockets and they work beautifully. So,. these bulbs are definately Non Polarity, can work either way the socket is wired.
If only all the electrical LED bulb suppliers could state this about car LED bulbs! my search wouldnt of taken that long and this will stop people thinking about re-wiring there interior light sockets,
anyhoo heres the link to those bulbs, all in various colours and they are nice and bright.
LED filament lamp Barthelme 59091214 Blue Operating voltage 12 V in the Conrad online shop | 725904

Hats off to the Team at conrad for their helpful advice
Hope this info helps all that are puzzled by the 'front ones are working, why dont the other ones?' conundrum.