VLED Triton V3 Amber turn Signal Install

UPDATE Front install found here: http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...E-INTENSIVE)&p=6348439&viewfull=1#post6348439

Hey All!

So I got a set of VLEDS Triton V3 Amber bulbs for both the front and the back, but decided to tackle the rear's first, as the assembly is easy to remove and work on. Well good thing! Since some light modding was required to the housing that will make it easier to see what's needed for the front. Of note, there is not a lot of room behind the tail lights of the 2013+ CX-9, it's molded in back there! With that, let's get underway! (Also, this is my first write up, so please offer suggestions if something isn't clear/could be clarified better )

Check out the product page for images of the system: http://www.vleds.com/v3-triton/bulb-system/amber/v3-a.html

So, first things first: A comparison of stock vs. the LED. Triton Left, stock on the right (Youtube):

http://youtu.be/gVlTSnYc6ho?list=UUDlNyir_sZHiGYerJxV0XLA

You'll notice the bulb is at least as bright as stock, but is much more crisp in it's activation. The Trition's come with their own load balancer, so there is no need to splice resistors to maintain flash rate.

Removing the tail light is as simple as two screws. Remove them and pull straight back on the assembly. A trim removal tool may help you pop it out of the two clips that hold the light in other than the screws.



So, popping out the stock bulbs and unclipping the wires on the back the assembly comes free pretty easily. Now the Triton’s are designed to be able to go in practically any application and come with a myriad of screws, collars, and gaskets to be able to use. However, one issue arose right away. The plastic surrounding the hole is raised in order to stop the stock bulb holder from rotating freely. However, the heat sink of the Trition bulb is too close to the screws in this situation to fit.





This will need to be shaved down for the new bulbs to be able to engage with the hole.



Here you can see the screw options of the bulb and the gasket installed.



And we will run into more clearance issues. Explanation: The Tritions also have adjustablitly into how far they stick into the housing/focus on the reflectors. However, due to how tight it is behind the assembly, this adjustment has to be backed all the way in so that the bulb/heatsink don’t stick out. As the adjustment lock (the orange part in the photo below) is usually on the tail end of the bulb, it has to live down by the connector, where it can’t be slid off due to the size of the plastic. However, I had a solution to prevent this from knocking around too much:



After shaving, we have the bulb in!



So the Tritions have these control boxes, that normally wouldn’t be a problem… If i had room… However, there is just enough to set it down below the assembly in a gap in the body and plastic of the bumper cover. Here I hard mounted it, and ran the cables from below it up around a white plastic spacer that was back there.



From this picture you can see the box mounted at the top, the white spacer in the bumper, and the triton cables coming out at the bottom.

So, again the triton system is very modular, so the adapter to the 7443 bulb in addition to the stock socket are kind of a long assembly (about 4”)… This needs to go somewhere, and not rattle around. So I decided to use some 3/4” pipe foam insulation I had lying around and wrap it around the connectors. This then got shoved down into the space between the steel of the body and the plastic of the bumper.



Everything wired back up, and the connector assembles snugged down into the bumper (shown in the left of this picture, the anodized orange part)



And the finished product:




Final Thoughts:

The light output is pretty impressive, I would says slightly brighter than the incandescent 7443 bulbs. Not crazy bright, but the activation is so much more crisp that they really grab your attention. Total time for both assembilies was probably about 2~2.5 hours, mostly because I had to figure out how to route everything, and I was in no rush/didn’t want to damage anything. Even with the shaved down plastic, I checked to make sure the stock bulb assemblies still work, and they do if I ever need to go back to stock. Final video of both bulbs replaced:

http://youtu.be/77IdbU4-f8Y?list=UUDlNyir_sZHiGYerJxV0XLA

Looks great, much more "Crisp" light in my opinion. Glad to see they blink at the same rate when replacing both. When you had one of eash, they were a little off.

Rawyzf said:

Looks great, much more "Crisp" light in my opinion. Glad to see they blink at the same rate when replacing both. When you had one of eash, they were a little off.

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Thanks @Rawyzf! Yeah, I noticed that as well. Since the bulbs have their own balancer I was wondering if it was just a slightly different system resistance than with both replaced. Also wondering if it will change when I replace the fronts to the same system. I wish the car came stock with LED turn signals, because these really look sweet. Those stock bulbs turn on sooooooo slow! lol

Awesome post, great job voldsom,

thanks for all your video, pictures, and time to write this up for fellow members.

definitely looks great, you can see the difference in refresh rate of the LEDS, it's instant on and instant off,

no lag like traditional bulbs, sure to get the attention of distracted drivers

avidien said:

Awesome post, great job voldsom,

thanks for all your video, pictures, and time to write this up for fellow members.

definitely looks great, you can see the difference in refresh rate of the LEDS, it's instant on and instant off,

no lag like traditional bulbs, sure to get the attention of distracted drivers

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Thanks @avidien! Yeah, I'm really pleased with them so far... I'm glad there was enough room back there for all the LED crap, I honestly wasn't expecting that tight of a packaging install for the components. Now if only Mazda had kept the tail lights LED like the 2007 to 2012 models, I would have an ALL LED rear end.... darn.

Write up for the front will be coming this weekend. I plan on installing them Saturday. Won't screw with taking the headlights out of car, which will make it a little more difficult to shave down. But at least I have all the room in the world up there to mount things.

voldsom said:

Thanks @avidien! Yeah, I'm really pleased with them so far... I'm glad there was enough room back there for all the LED crap, I honestly wasn't expecting that tight of a packaging install for the components. Now if only Mazda had kept the tail lights LED like the 2007 to 2012 models, I would have an ALL LED rear end.... darn.

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agreed, IMHO, the 2007-2012 LED tail lights seem to match nicer with the CX-9,
just FYI, mechanically, the old taillights do still fit the 2013+ models,
I bought some 2009 CX-9 tailights cheap off eBay, they do fit mechanically
BUT the electrical connectors are different, I asked the seller to include the electrical connectors
so I can splice them into my 2013, here's pic of my 2013 CX-9 with 2009 tail lights:

avidien said:

agreed, IMHO, the 2007-2012 LED tail lights seem to match nicer with the CX-9,
just FYI, mechanically, the old taillights do still fit the 2013+ models,
I bought some 2009 CX-9 tailights cheap off eBay, they do fit mechanically
BUT the electrical connectors are different, I asked the seller to include the electrical connectors
so I can splice them into my 2013, here's pic of my 2013 CX-9 with 2009 tail lights:

View attachment 209602

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Awesome!! Personally I like the smoked swoopy look of the 2013+ design, but it's great to know the LED model fits... I didn't realize there were actually two types, as I was riding in this morning I saw a CX-9 with the LED tails, but the brake/tail lights were on the bottom. It looks like yours the brake/tails are on the top?

Side note: I see you have LED reflectors in the lower bumper. I WANT!! Lol, that's on my mod list as well. Did you do it yourself or are they pre-made?

voldsom said:

Awesome!! Personally I like the smoked swoopy look of the 2013+ design, but it's great to know the LED model fits... I didn't realize there were actually two types, as I was riding in this morning I saw a CX-9 with the LED tails, but the brake/tail lights were on the bottom. It looks like yours the brake/tails are on the top?

Side note: I see you have LED reflectors in the lower bumper. I WANT!! Lol, that's on my mod list as well. Did you do it yourself or are they pre-made?

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Hi voldsom,

there are 3 different configurations of the CX-9 taillights, all are interchangeable mechanically
but you'll need to splice in the respective electrical connectors, see link below, note the 2010-2012 trunk lid red lights do not light up, Mazda cost cutting took out the bulbs on those

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123844371-picture-of-07-09-10-12-13-15-tail-lights&p=6339990&highlight=#post6339990

replacing them is really easy, you already showed how to take out the outer quarter taillights in this post, the trunk lid lamps are just as easy, just two nuts to loosen after you remove the plastic access panels: see here :



yep, I replaced the OEM reflectors with a universal LED strip (it's not specific to CX-9), see here:

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123841258-replaced-OEM-bumper-reflectors-with-brake-LEDs-in-CX-9-bumper-%28pictures%29&p=6306749&highlight=#post6306749

I had trouble with condensation, I had to dry them out and now they seem fine. also, just have to remember not to spray water directly at them when washing the car

these are the ones that will fit perfectly , but they are not plug and play,

had to mount them with a custom bracket I made behind the bumper

https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

NOTE: this mod is ONLY good for 2013+ CX-9's, if you look closely Mazda designers added a concave design element where the OEM reflectors are, all pre-2013+ models are smooth flush, so this mod will not work because the LED is straight and cannot bend to the contour of the flush bumpers of pre-2013+ models.

ha! I even commented on your post of the three brake light types... duuuuuuh!

Since you've had the reflectors out, do you think there is a way to separate the red and gray parts? I have a low profile (0.4" thick) 6" red strip led from my old 6 that I was thinking about sandwiching in there. How thick would you say it is? No worries if you can't remember, I might just try and pop one out. Did you just crawl under and shove your hand up past the exhaust?

and damn! I wish there was a way to give props for good posts on here... It's annoying to not be able to thank people simply or build up a reputation like every other forum I'm a member of...

"Since you've had the reflectors out, do you think there is a way to separate the red and gray parts? "

hahahhaha, that was my EXACT plan in the beginning !! I thought I could just separate them easily and add my own LEDS behind the reflector

now I have two junk OEM reflectors all cut up to hell LOL SEE PICTURE HERE



NO WAY to split them , Mazda ultrasonically welded the two parts together even in the middle sections!! not just the perimeter, it just cracks , don't even try it, learn from my mistake


You don't need to remove the whole bumper, just reach under the bumper
and get your hand between the bumper plastic and "styrofoam" shock absorber
and feel for that one screw holding in the reflector (just need to visualize where you hands are behind the bumper relative to the reflector location, then get a small thumb screwdriver and loosen the screw, give it a shot and you'll see how easy it is, you can always screw it back

Thanks @avidien! Saving me from having to buy ebay replacements! I really appreciate it.

So I guess another way to go about it would be like you did, with a whole new replacement LED bar, but maybe one more weather sealed to avoid condensation. Obviously dimensions would have to be checked, but VLEDs does have anodized aluminum all-weather light bars:

http://www.vleds.com/accent-lighting/rigid-bar/aluminum-bar-light-striplight-3-chip-15-led.html

thank god someone actually tackled this project for the turn signals. i never thought about shaving down the socket. my brake lights fit in without any hesitation and was too lazy to try with my turn signals. my problem is that I own the version 1 V3 tritons and would need to purchase something to stop the hyperblinking and to find room in the taillight. Good stuff Sir!

metsfan999 said:

thank god someone actually tackled this project for the turn signals. i never thought about shaving down the socket. my brake lights fit in without any hesitation and was too lazy to try with my turn signals. my problem is that I own the version 1 V3 tritons and would need to purchase something to stop the hyperblinking and to find room in the taillight. Good stuff Sir!

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Haha! Glad it helped someone out @metsfan999. I tackled the front signals this past weekend and I'll post a write up to that later on. It has better pictures too, because I knew what I had to do, so I knew when to take photos.

UPDATE! Now that all 4 turn signals are the VLED Triton system, there actually is hyperblink (even though there are SUPPOSED to prevent this). This doesn't occur in 4-way/hazard mode, but does when only the left or the right signal is applied. I was under the impression that all the Triton's they sold now should prevent this, but it seems like when only two LEDs are being activated there is not enough resistance in the system. I need to reach out to VLEDS and see if there is something to be done, because that's why I went with this expensive a$$ system in the first place (that, and they are insanely bright).

More Photos/Videos to come!

voldsom said:

UPDATE! Now that all 4 turn signals are the VLED Triton system, there actually is hyperblink (even though there are SUPPOSED to prevent this). This doesn't occur in 4-way/hazard mode, but does when only the left or the right signal is applied. I was under the impression that all the Triton's they sold now should prevent this, but it seems like when only two LEDs are being activated there is not enough resistance in the system. I need to reach out to VLEDS and see if there is something to be done, because that's why I went with this expensive a$$ system in the first place (that, and they are insanely bright).

More Photos/Videos to come!

Click to expand...

So upon further reading, the system has 5 amp fuses that come with it, but were not installed in the built in fuse holders. However, according to the product page, these are what activate the built in resistors in the control box! So I will try installing those and report back!

voldsom said:

So upon further reading, the system has 5 amp fuses that come with it, but were not installed in the built in fuse holders. However, according to the product page, these are what activate the built in resistors in the control box! So I will try installing those and report back!

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W/O Resistors:

UPDATE 2 Yup, the included resistors fixed the problem. No more hyper flash
Video of what it looked like before I installed the resistors:

W/ Resistors

Edit: I was going to post about changing relays to electronic ones, but another thread stated that there are no flasher relays and the flash is controlled by the body computer.

jimbowski said:

One way around fixing "hyper flash" is to replace the stock flasher relay (which is probably thermal operated) to a electronic operated one. This remove any "hyper flash" since the rely works by a timer instead of heating up from the load on the system.

Adding resistors into the led system to fix "hyper flash" takes away half the benefit of led swaps anyway. The car will still have a load on the electrical system like it has the old bulbs in it.

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Hey Jim,

That is indeed the ideal way of changing the flash rate on a vehicle, but the CX-9 doesn't use a flash relay from what I've found researching it. A lot of investigation went on in this thread on the subject:

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...ED-turn-signal-question&highlight=flash+relay

I can indeed confirm, especially with the LEDs ,that there is no-audible relay click to be heard on the vehicle; and in fact the noise in the cabin is from the same speaker that chimes when your seat belt is off, the key is present, etc. (As a test, drive around with your seatbelt off for a minute and activate the turn signal --> no clicking from the dash, even thought the indicator is flashing on there).

So, instead of going the outboard, resistor-splicing method, I went with a more premium product that has the circuitry built it. Yes, I'm not getting the benefit of reduced load on the system. However, I wasn't really looking for that as the benefit of the LED bulbs in this circuit, because I'm also not adding any load to it (i.e. more bulbs to flash when I turn, etc. Not like reducing the load when you add/splice tail lights to become brake lights like I did on my old 6).
I still get the benefit of brighter than incandescent (hard to get an exact number, but I've heard this system is about 100 lm brighter than a stock bulb), super crisp/attention grabbing activation (to match the mirror LEDs), and a clear housing (no orange in the rear, front looks high end - even with the stock reflector uglying up the housing).

(drinks)

are the front bulbs 7443 as well? Ck or standard?

metsfan999 said:

are the front bulbs 7443 as well? Ck or standard?

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Just saw your question @metsfan999... Dunno if you're still wondering, but they are 7443A standard bulbs (amber).