Installed LED fog bezel and LED switchback in 2016 CX-5

tomcat1446 said:

ah, yes, the DRL's I left them as the ugly yellow 9005's , I much prefer LED white for the DRL's
but safety trumps vanity and I like the brightness of the OEM high beams

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It'd be nice if you find a way to "move" DRLs from high-beam bulbs to your LED strips. I don't see this will affect the "safety" nature of the DRLs using your new LED strips. They look much nicer like many modern vehicles with LED DRLs. And you still keep those high-beam's for use.

yrwei52 said:

It'd be nice if you find a way to "move" DRLs from high-beam bulbs to your LED strips. I don't see this will affect the "safety" nature of the DRLs using your new LED strips. They look much nicer like many modern vehicles with LED DRLs. And you still keep those high-beam's for use.

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I was thinking the same thing. Is there a way (other than intentionally burning out the low filament on the bulb) to disable DRL? I agree that LED strips should suffice.

Wobbs91 said:

I was thinking the same thing. Is there a way (other than intentionally burning out the low filament on the bulb) to disable DRL? I agree that LED strips should suffice.

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The car manual states that the DRL can be disabled by the dealership.

Edit; because I'm an idiot.

viprez586 said:

Correct, it's controlled by the body control module.

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That doesn't make sense to me. It seems like that type of turn signal control would make it easier for Mazda to make the switch to LED turn signals (not so much aftermarket or DIY). I love the way LED turn signals look, IMHO it's the best thing on a car to have LED, and yet it's the least likely part of vehicle lighting to be equipped with LED as an OEM function, across all car makers.

I prefer to just trigger the fog LED bezel via the parking lights so it's always on, just leave the lights on park all the time, they turn themselves off anyways after the engine shuts down. based on tomcat's pictures it doesn't seem like the LED's give off a lot of glare at night , so why not take advantage of that and add more illumination at night via the fog LED's ,


if connected to DRL circuit, the fog LED's will turn off as soon as low beams are on and you'll lose the benefit of more lighting at night,

Driving around with your parking lights on just so you can have drl's in your bezels is about the lamest poser thing I have heard in quite some time.

freys said:

Driving around with your parking lights on just so you can have drl's in your bezels is about the lamest poser thing I have heard in quite some time.

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ok, point taken, but what about those owners with switchbacks ? if I'm not mistaken doesn't the parking lights have to be on for the white LED of the switchback to be on ?

then they turn yellow when turn signal is activated ?

blackcx5 said:

ok, point taken, but what about those owners with switchbacks ? if I'm not mistaken doesn't the parking lights have to be on for the white LED of the switchback to be on ?

then they turn yellow when turn signal is activated ?

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This is a false statement. The white replaces the dim yellow light that you normally have when your headlights are on but your turn signals are not. Just got mine in today

tomcat1446 said:

ah, yes, the DRL's I left them as the ugly yellow 9005's , I much prefer LED white for the DRL's

but safety trumps vanity and I like the brightness of the OEM high beams

in case I need to signal other drivers to let them in during merging or 4 way stops to let them go first

or to high beam slow pokes in the wrong lane.

I haven't seen a high and low current 9005 LED bulb , I don't think it can be done, so I just stayed with halogen 9005.

I'll take a pic tonight.

there are these zXe from Sylvania, but they are pricey, and nowhere near LED white, I might try if they're on sale

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

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Did you ever install an inline resistor to stop the hyper blinking of the turning signal? I found a link on Ebay but don't know if they're the right ones.

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

Wobbs91 said:

Did you ever install an inline resistor to stop the hyper blinking of the turning signal? I found a link on Ebay but don't know if they're the right ones.

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

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Wobbs91 said:

Did you ever install an inline resistor to stop the hyper blinking of the turning signal? I found a link on Ebay but don't know if they're the right ones.

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

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yes, those are the right ones: 50W 6 Ohms,

connect parallel to the black ground wire and turn signal wire (don't connect to constant 12V parking lights wire, it won;t fix the hyperflash and the resistor will get really hot),

see video, the CX-5 front turn socket has the three wire type,

sorry, I forgot which color is which on the CX-5 ,

like the video below suggests : probe with a multimeter and see which one has the varying voltage (12V - 0 - 12V - 0 -12V),

that's the one you want to connect to.

tomcat1446 said:

yes, those are the right ones: 50W 6 Ohms,

connect parallel to the black ground wire and turn signal wire (don't connect to constant 12V parking lights wire, it won;t fix the hyperflash and the resistor will get really hot),

see video, the CX-5 front turn socket has the three wire type,

sorry, I forgot which color is which on the CX-5 ,

like the video below suggests : probe with a multimeter and see which one has the varying voltage (12V - 0 - 12V - 0 -12V),

that's the one you want to connect to.

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Understand. I will use a multi-meter to determine which wire is which. The seller actually got back to me as well. I already ordered the resistors.

tomcat1446 said:

ah, yes, the DRL's I left them as the ugly yellow 9005's , I much prefer LED white for the DRL's

but safety trumps vanity and I like the brightness of the OEM high beams

in case I need to signal other drivers to let them in during merging or 4 way stops to let them go first

or to high beam slow pokes in the wrong lane.

I haven't seen a high and low current 9005 LED bulb , I don't think it can be done, so I just stayed with halogen 9005.

I'll take a pic tonight.

there are these zXe from Sylvania, but they are pricey, and nowhere near LED white, I might try if they're on sale

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

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FYI I found this post...https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123856869-Disable-enable-DRL-No-tools-required!

Installing switchback resistors to fix hyperflashing

tomcat1446 said:

Not a big fan of the OEM double horizontal bars bezel above the foglights so I removed them and

Installed fog LED bezels $45/pair (ebay) in 2016 CX-5, these will not fit if you have the LED fog options, the diameters don't match

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

Removed 2016 OEM fog bezel and replaced with CX-5 LED bezel :

no shroud HID foglights from Mazda2 ebay:
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

they are properly aimed so there's no glare
these really light up the ground unlike my friend's tiny little 2016.5 LED fogs (those are laughable, hardly any illumination),

Installed LED switchback, need to install load resistor unless you don't mind hyperflashing
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

need to remove 3 panel fasteners and bend back wheel well plastic panel to access front turn signal bulb

video of switchback LED, these are the newer generation switchbacks so there's no white light when the yellow light flashes, the white light comes on like 2 or 3 seconds after the yellow light stops flashing, the white light does not come on at all when the yellow light flashes which is what most drivers want unlike the previous generation switchbacks.

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Hi, I received some requests to show how to connect the switchback resistors to prevent hyperflashing, here you go:


first thing, you need to get 50W 6 ohm resistor, readily available on Amazon or eBay, I added additional heatsinking because my work place has scrap metal that they don't need... the additional heatsink is not necessary but since it's readily available for me , I just used them.....



next you need to remove the fasteners by the wheel well and peel back the panel:




this shows the driver side after peeling back the wheel well panel, there's a metal bracket with hole perfect for mounting the resistor



this shows my heatsink assembly securely mounted to the metal bracket, with all my added heatsinking the resistor never gets hot after 5 minutes with constant left turn signal, it's warm but not hot, I don't think there will ever be a time, I will have left turn signal on for 5 minutes straight, 1 minute at most.....


here is the wiring diagram for the resistor on driver side, you only need to connect the resistor wires to the OEM yellow and black wires, leave the brown wire alone.



here is the passenger side bracket, there are some OEM screws already but there's still available hole for mounting:



here is my resistor heatsink assembly mounted on passenger side. Again with all the heatsinking the resistor is only warm, not hot after 5 minutes......



here is the wiring diagram for the resistor on passenger side, you only need to connect the resistor wires to the OEM yellow and black wires, leave the brown wire alone.






It really wasn't that difficult to install, I did had to solder some 14 gage wires to the short resistor wires to make then a bit longer, but overall not too bad and it fixed the hyperflashing and now I have both wihte LED DRL's and amber turn signals. Hopes this helps anyone who's looking to do this mod. Again, the additional heatsink I have is not necessary, you can mount the resistors direct to the CX-5 metal brackets for heatsinking and secure mounting rather than loose hanging in the air.

The purpose of the resistors is to trick the car that there's a OEM orange bulb there to prevent hyperflashing, the LED switchbacks use less wattage so the computer thinks the bulb is bad and thus hyperflashing to notify driver to change bulb....

I tried to just drive around with hyperflashing at first, but the dash sound was annoying and also my OEM incandescent rear turn bulbs were also hyperflashing because of the front LED switchbacks. I didn't want to attract police attention, so just better to add the resistors.

Note: I have a 2016, so I'm not sure if the wire colors are different for previous years, but use a multimeter to make sure... you don't want to connect to the constant 12V parking lights, only connect across the turn signal wire that has alternating 12V-0-12V-0-12V voltage.

Sidenote: I rolled up on a brand new 2016 with LED tailights and LED headlights stopped at a red light. When we were lined up bumper to bumper my foreground lighting with my HID headlights and HID foglights were definitely brighter and farther than the OEM LED's and slightly whiter in color. Driver actually looked over and had a puzzled look like his lighting was not at full power.
Not flaming the lucky owners with AFS LED headlights, just stating what I saw (I'll try to make a night time driving video and post it), also I didn't have the money in my budget for the $1000 upgrade. If i did have the funds, I would have gotten the AFS LED headlights. But if I did get the OEM LEDs, I would have definitely gotten the extended warranty, those LED headlights are expensive to replace, and just not sure if they will dim over time.

video of CX-5 HID's while visiting NYC:

for the LED tail lights, I see the price dropping on those, so will probably just swap out for $260
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

thanks for the nice write up on the hyperflash resistors Tomcat ! very useful.

Installing switchback resistors to fix hyperflashing

Nice work, tomcat1446! There're many people would appreciate your detailed instruction here and I hope you can spend some time to re-arrange your posts a bit and post a new write-up in the "How-To" section!

The resistor preventing hyper-flashing is installed in parallel with the LED to lower the resistance of the LED making it compatible to resistance of the incandescent bulb. This means you have to splice two OEM turn signal wires to make the added resistor parallel. Now I saw someone claimed the resistor can be installed in serial, hence no splicing is necessary but some connector adapters in most cases. Is this possible though?

yrwei52 said:

Nice work, tomcat1446! There're many people would appreciate your detailed instruction here and I hope you can spend some time to re-arrange your posts a bit and post a new write-up in the "How-To" section!

The resistor preventing hyper-flashing is installed in parallel with the LED to lower the resistance of the LED making it compatible to resistance of the incandescent bulb. This means you have to splice two OEM turn signal wires to make the added resistor parallel. Now I saw someone claimed the resistor can be installed in serial, hence no splicing is necessary but some connector adapters in most cases. Is this possible though?

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I may be wrong, but if Voltage =I (current) * R (resistance) ,
adding a resistor in series, it will increase the total resistance which will then reduce the voltage
being supplied to the LED and thus making it dimmer than it should be.

so yes, the fellow who put the resistor in series may have thought it worked, but he's not getting full brightness.

also, if connected in series, doesn't the resistor have to be connected on the 12V supply circuit not the Ground circuit, which would mean the LED sees all the heat aft of the resistor.


That's the beauty of the parallel circuit, current and voltage both flow equally and freely thru each parallel path,
so the LED gets full brightness.

the resistor is just a dummy load (like a virtual incandescent 1157A) parallel to the LED bulb because the LED is so efficient with low current draw causing hyperflashing.

the heat of the resistor that everyone describes is comparable to the OEM 1157A amber glass inside the housing, it's just that no one goes and touches the amber glass LOL, the LED produces very little heat inside the housing.

see below:

tomcat1446 said:

here is the passenger side bracket, there are some OEM screws already but there's still available hole for mounting:

here is my resistor heatsink assembly mounted on passenger side. Again with all the heatsinking the resistor is only warm, not hot after 5 minutes......

here is the wiring diagram for the resistor on passenger side, you only need to connect the resistor wires to the OEM yellow and black wires, leave the brown wire alone.

Click to expand...

this worked like a charm , thanks tomcat!! the switchback is so cool, white LED for DRL then it switches to amber during turns then switches back to white LED after turn is complete. also you were right after pulling back the wheel well panel, that bracket with a hole is a perfect mounting location/heasink for the resistor, I didn't have access to scrap metal like you, so I just mounted the resistor direct to the car chassis. I have a 2016 non-LED also and the wire colors match exactly like yours, going thru all the posts it looks like for previous years prior to 2016, the wires are different and also it matters if you have the tech package LED headlights or not, it's best to get a multi-meter and confirm which wire has the alternating voltage for turn signal......

Installing switchback resistors to fix hyperflashing

blackcx5 said:

this worked like a charm , thanks tomcat!! the switchback is so cool, white LED for DRL then it switches to amber during turns then switches back to white LED after turn is complete. also you were right after pulling back the wheel well panel, that bracket with a hole is a perfect mounting location/heasink for the resistor, I didn't have access to scrap metal like you, so I just mounted the resistor direct to the car chassis. I have a 2016 non-LED also and the wire colors match exactly like yours, going thru all the posts it looks like for previous years prior to 2016, the wires are different and also it matters if you have the tech package LED headlights or not, it's best to get a multi-meter and confirm which wire has the alternating voltage for turn signal......

Click to expand...

So how do you "move" the factory hi-beam DRLs to your "switch-back" LEDs which are wired for parking/side-marker/turn-signal lights from factory?

m8te said:

The car manual states that the DRL can be disabled by the dealership.

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I installed a LED surround bezel(around my foglights) on my 2014 GT non-TECH and since these fog light LED surrounds have become my new DRL's I removed fuse #51 (which disengaged the halogen DRL's but not the highbeams) as I didn't want my new LED's AND my old halogen DRL's on at the same time. My LED's also dim when I turn on my lowbeams or highbeams.

Now that I've resolved the yellowish DRL issue I'd like to take the next step and update both my lowbeam, highbeam and foglight bulbs in that order. With the unfortunate short life of the "hotter burning" halogens(Sylvania Ultra and Phillips Crystal Vision Ultra for example) that many have complained about, I'm thinking that they may be a waste of money if I'd have to replace them every year or so. With the poor beam distance(despite a much whiter light and longer lasting bulb) of many/all LED's that several other forum posters have commented on it would seem that HID's may be my best option. BUT, is this the case for all 3 lights.

For those of you who have replaced any of these bulbs(particularly in the non-Tech CX-5 model) I'd be interested to know what your recommendations are for brands and types for each of the 3 applications(lowbeam, highbeam and fog light), particularly that are "Plug and Play".