What have you done to your Freelander today

Today I did some experimentation,as I want to add DRLs to my facelift. I have some of the official LR spot pods that I want to fit. I have been playing with fitting high power LEDs onto the spot pods. I had a couple of new H7 LEDs that I didn't like in my headlights. The beam control wasn't good, so I never used them.
It occurred to me that I could cobble them into the LR pods as DLRs/ additional main beam lighting.
I have found that if I drive these LEDs at 800mA, they run at about 40% light output. The beam is quiet diverged, so looks ideal for a DRL. I need to work out how to fit the large cooling fan of the LED into the bumper. I suspect I'll need to trim the bumper armature a bit. I'll then need to work out the control circuitry. I want the lights at 40% power for normal DRL operations, but switch to main beam operation once the side lights are active.
Here's what today's experimentation has got to so far. I've got to work out how to fix the LED onto the light unit. I think silicon sealer might be my friend there.

Led test fitted into the light unit.
The LED visible through the glass lens, showing the emmiter position.

The LED burning at around 40% brightness.

A little update on my DRL tests.
I rigged up a quick brightness test, from an on coming vehicles point of view.
The LED in the lamp unit is running at 800mA or about 8Watts, give or take.
I think the brightness is acceptable without being blinding for others.

A little update on my DRL tests.

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looking good Nodge
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today .. cleaned the brake light switch ..
was getting the 2-amigos coming on intermittently when braking yesterday
a good clean with contact cleaner solved the issue

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Nodge68 said:

A little update on my DRL tests.
I rigged up a quick brightness test, from an on coming vehicles point of view.
The LED in the lamp unit is running at 800mA or about 8Watts, give or take.
I think the brightness is acceptable without being blinding for others. View attachment 123150

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I just hope it doesn't make you look like one of those prats who drive around all the time with only their fog lights on, just so others can see their car has fog lights.
DRL's need to look different from fog lights for that reason.

Alibro said:

I just hope it doesn't make you look like one of those prats who drive around all the time with only their fog lights on, just so others can see their car has fog lights.
DRL's need to look different from fog lights for that reason.

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I'm hoping that the 6000K colour and light position will make it look like DRLs and not fogs left on.

hd3 said:

looking good Nodge
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today .. cleaned the brake light switch ..
was getting the 2-amigos coming on intermittently when braking yesterday
a good clean with contact cleaner solved the issue

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Hi @hd3,

The lights are HDC and TC Control?
I have same problem. The lights came up, but when braking its normalize.

@ comdek

The lights are HDC and TC Control?

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yes
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I have same problem. The lights came up, but when braking its normalize.

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mmmmmm .. so when you brake the those lights remain 'off' ?
the usual cause is the brake-light-switch .. although i did a search and 'worn rear brake shoes'
came up as well .. why that should happen i don't know ..
i've had the problem before .. and replacing the brake switch solved the issue ..
i got the new type of switch which is far easier to remove and replace than the older type

cleaning is easy .. i just sprayed in some electrical contact cleaner via the small holes
next to the plunger .. filled the unit up .. shook it about .. repeated the process ..
issue solved ..

just looked .. my brake switch was changed to new type 63k miles ago ..
( 140k on clock now )

elec. circuit diagram shows one connection to the ecu and another to the brake lights
when the fault showed up originally .. ( TC and HDC lights ) .. my brake lights were not working

i don't know what else might cause the TC and HDC lights to come on ..
might be worth a forum 'search'
i searched for " brake light switch " initially .. that's when i saw the rear brake shoes being referred to ..

i figured my switch was at fault 'cause it occurred when braking ..
another stomp on the pedal caused the lights to go 'off' ..
then it would happen again but not always ..
cleaning the brake switch seemed the easiest .. and cheapest .. first attempt at a fix ..

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hd3 said:

@ comdek

yes
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mmmmmm .. so when you brake the those lights remain 'off' ?


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The lights come on intermittently, but turn off when I get off the brake.

From what I saw in the car manual, the HDC has a protection against overheating of the brake. I believe the brake switch has a 'normally open contact' (for brake lights) and a 'normally closed contact' (for TC Control). This 'normally closed' must be a bad contact and the ECU understands that the driver has had a good time with the brake hold on and there is the possibility of having brake overheating.

comdek said:

The lights come on intermittently, but turn off when I get off the brake.

From what I saw in the car manual, the HDC has a protection against overheating of the brake. I believe the brake switch has a 'normally open contact' (for brake lights) and a 'normally closed contact' (for TC Control). This 'normally closed' must be a bad contact and the ECU understands that the driver has had a good time with the brake hold on and there is the possibility of having brake overheating.

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The ABS ECU monitors both the NO and NC contacts on the brake pedal sensor. So it will show a fault if either set of contacts fail. The brake lights only use the NO contacts to illuminate them.

The HDC doesn't actually know the temperature of the brakes. It simply calculates the brake temperature with information taken from the accelerometer ( hill gradient), wheel sensors (for speed) and time HDC has been operating.

I suspect that the temperature monitoring is to keep the ABS pump motor from overheating, more than the actual brake discs themselves.

I believe the brake switch has a 'normally open contact' (for brake lights) and a 'normally closed contact' (for TC Control). This 'normally closed' must be a bad contact and the ECU understands that the driver has had a good time with the brake hold on and there is the possibility of having brake overheating.

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this is the info i have (attached pic)

although that mentions a hall effect ..
which i thought was the little device next to the brake switch
which i assumed wasn't connected as i don't have cruise control
( there be wires connected but i've never tried to see if they connect to anything )

i didn't know about the brake overheating business ..
as normally i've no use for HDC ..
although tried it once just to check it out

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hd3 said:

i don't know what else might cause the TC and HDC lights to come on ..
might be worth a forum 'search'
i searched for " brake light switch " initially .. that's when i saw the rear brake shoes being referred to ..

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Any of your wheel sensors not working will cause it as well. Happened on the wife's Freelander. Was the rear nearside wheel sensor. A very cheap and easy fix although I have a friend who did the code read for me to find that out.

Colonial said:

Can you give me some feed back when you've dealt with the IRB please.

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Dealt with, but nothing of use to you, I suspect.

Leak was most fresh under the auto box, particularly near the level check plug. Plug was tight, but when I did a level check it was about 500ml over full.

Cleaned up the plug and put a new aluminium washer on it, leak has gone.

Also IRB rear output is snug, not sloppy, so nothing to do there.

Finally mounted the fire extinguisher. It's been rolling around the back in its box for months! I looked at beneath the front seats but felt it was a bit of a squeeze and in an emergency [ aka panic ] it might be hard to fumble it out...

This is cool - but in an emergency, I've often wondered whether the back door will open as it needs leccy to open. If any cables melt or something happens to the battery, then the door will simply say "computer says no" - and carry on filing it nails.

GrumpyGel said:

This is cool - but in an emergency, I've often wondered whether the back door will open as it needs leccy to open. If any cables melt or something happens to the battery, then the door will simply say "computer says no" - and carry on filing it nails.

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I would have mounted it lower in the boot or in the passenger footwell. That fire extinguisher will become an unguided missile in the event of an impact.

Nodge68 said:

I would have mounted it lower in the boot or in the passenger footwell. That fire extinguisher will become an unguided missile in the event of an impact.

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Good point Nodge. I was thinking the same as Grumpy regarding the boot door refusing to open in an emergency but hadn't considered the safety implications.

Alibro said:

Good point Nodge. I was thinking the same as Grumpy regarding the boot door refusing to open in an emergency but hadn't considered the safety implications.

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I've seen it happen Ali. I picked up a van from an RTA where the fire extinguisher that was fitted to the mesh behind the seats had broken loose. It went through the van's windscreen, over the vehicle the had hit the van, embedding itself in a parked cars windscreen 50 yards up the road. So I'm always very weary of any kind of heavy object at the rear of a vehicle.

Flying Scotsman! said:

Stripped front calipers to try and get rid of stinking smell. Took caliper soff and pistons were free but bottom sliders were both stuck.
Looks like rubber sleeves have swolloen and are loose. They were both bound up in the holes.
Trimmed them back so they were a good sliding fit but expect to need new sliders sooner rather than later!

Oh, and changed the pollen filter. I think it needed doing!View attachment 122740

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Glad the new filter arrived ok

Nodge68 said:

I would have mounted it lower in the boot or in the passenger footwell. That fire extinguisher will become an unguided missile in the event of an impact.

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GG & Nodge = Good points. I'll have another think about the mounting point. Accessibility-wise it's fairly easy to get from the back seat... It's visible for someone to access if I'm unable... but potentially is that unguided missile. I looked at lower down beneath that same site but the plastic liner curves slightly making mounting trickier.

Replaced front brake pads and replaced the rear two exhaust rubber hangers.
Feeling chuffed!