Inside the Valenti LED tail lamps

Last week I have reveived a set of the Valenti tail lamps. My company RTEC Sport Tuning is an official dealer for japanese car parts and we already sell some parts for the Prius. Since the EU cars do have a red foglight in the left taillight, we are interested in how easy this can be modified, so they can be sold in Europe too. This means that the white reverse LEDs on the left taillight must be replaced by bright red ones.

In fact the Valenti tail lights have a screwed on back face what makes it easy to get access to the LED circuits. I have attached some pics that show the rear already taken off.

Some findings:

• The quality is good. The clear glass has on the side a lesser nice production left over, but I believe it is not visible when mounted. Without that quality would be very good.
• The backplate and connector are not sealed. It may be a good idea to do so to prevent early corrosion (at least in our area)
• Each little PCB consists of two flux LEDs in series with one small SMD resistor for. Each one is mounted with one screw. The solderings are very good.
• The LEDs lens are 3mm diameter, but the wholes would also accept 5mm ones. I can't see any manufacturer or number on them.
• The turn light LEDs have one high power resistor as a ballast (no relais inside) in parallel to prevent hyper flashing. People with a LED compatible relais will not need it but it doesnt do any bad.
• The four "light tubes" are white blurred plastic pieces. On each top and bottom is one LED mounted with silicone. This is why all pics of the testers do show the tubes being more bright on the top and bottom.
• The LEDs can be replaced by one that is good in de-soldering. Since the LEDs are not SMD and the PCB are single sided this is not too complicated. I'm ordering some very bright red LEDs these days and will change the 10 LEDs asap. I will add pictures when finished.

All in all, the Valenti tail lights are a good deal (price in the US must be right for you PCers). They come very well packed with japanese instructions. But the pictures tell you all you really need to mount them. The list-price in Japan is Yen 38'000 for one set (without shipping), street price Yen 34'000.

Greetz from Switzerland
Rob

 

In fact the white plastic pieces are one molded part. By removing the LEDs and a few more screws it can easily be liftet.

I think it is possible to paint it, although one should only paint the top surface with a clear color and not the sides (top and bottom) where the LEDs are located. Since the LEDs are already red I'm positive that painting them with a thin clear red layer should not dim them much if any.

And of course, any modification or just open the rear housing voids their warranty.

Note: All the refectors and housing under the clear cover are chromed plastic. The differences between the units are only the color of the clear cover. So one could even paint the bars (or using a film) of the CC to get a very unique look.

I haven't figured out yet how to add some red LEDs to the sidewall to get the sidemarkers like the stock ones have. It's pretty delicate to drill holes there. Electrically it wouldn't be a problem at all.

 

I thought that in the US the cars must have some kind of red or amber sidemarkers at the rear (also reflectors?). The Prius and my previous Caddy CTS have the LEDs in the taillights facing to the sides (yours too in the pics). Also my 94 Z28 has some red ones at the side of the bumpers. We don't have to have these in Europe but I thought they are necessary in the US, probably to get the DOT approval.