LED replacement bulbs, 2008 S60

[JNavas]

As incandescent bulbs burn out, I'm trying to replace them with LED bulbs.
My criteria: direct replacement, no modifications, no CAN bus issues.
Thus far I've found two I can recommend:

Parking lights, front

Sylvania LED Mini Bulb 168
O'Reilly Amazon
Double the brightness (but not too bright), white light, direct replacement without modifications of any kind. Makes the car much easier to find in a parking lot with the remote.

Backup lights

iBrightstar Newest 9-30V Super Bright Low Power 1156 1141 1003 BA15S LED Bulbs white
Amazon eBay
My Amazon review: "Used a pair of these to replace the backup bulbs on my 2008 Volvo S60, and the result is outstanding. Double the brightness, white light, direct replacement without modifications of any kind. These are the ones to get, highly recommended!"

[JNavas]

~~~ LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER BUT NOT TESTED ~~~

Turn signals

AMAZENAR 7507 Extremely Bright Amber / Yellow Non-Polarity Canbus Error Code Free LED
(Claimed brightness is about 3X standard incandescent bulb, guessing it's more like 2X.)

UPDATE: AMAZENAR may have a white version of this bulb (that might be suitable
for brake light and/or read fog light) in the April 2018 time frame.

[mrbrian200]

The OE 7507 incandescent bulb is 25 watts and about 280 lumens. 1500 lumens is more like 5x. That's way too bright and could blind somebody directly behind you, particularly at night.

The turn signal bulbs are monitored.
Our cars are more sophisticated about this and look for the correct rated current load across the bulb while it is lit so as to catch a weak connection in the wiring, lamp socket, or a dim/damaged filament. The 'resistor' in aftermarket LEDs may not satisfy our cars as the resistor is usually designed to pass a trickle current below the LED's forward voltage drop rating so that (other cars not Volvo) don't see an open circuit during a low voltage continuity check. Most people looking to switch to LEDs on these change out non-monitored bulbs but end up leaving monitored bulbs alone. Monitored bulbs are: rear parking lamps (the message on the DIM confusingly calls these "Lamp: Position"), stop, turn, and forward low/high beams.
Note the side marker lamps at the outside edges of the head and tail lamp assemblies are not monitored.

[Georgeandkira]

An MVS suggestion:

Is there any interest or benefit in establishing a "catalog" of MEMBER PROVEN LED replacement lamps?

Make it a sticky, obviously, and include date, brand, product number, lamp location, lamp numbers which they replace and member's username.

"Categories" or column headings could include: Interior, Exterior, Monitored, Non-monitored, Branded, White-box non-branded.

Notifications of "meltdowns" could save members a lot of woe.

[JNavas]

An MVS suggestion:
Is there any interest or benefit in establishing a "catalog" of MEMBER PROVEN LED replacement lamps?
Make it a sticky, obviously, and include date, brand, product number, lamp location, lamp numbers which they replace and member's username.
"Categories" or column headings could include: Interior, Exterior, Monitored, Non-monitored, Branded, White-box non-branded.
Notifications of "meltdowns" could save members a lot of woe.

Agreed, great idea.

[JNavas]

[1]The OE 7507 incandescent bulb is 25 watts and about 280 lumens. 1500 lumens is more like 5x. That's way too bright and could blind somebody directly behind you, particularly at night.
[2]The turn signal bulbs are monitored.
[3]Our cars are more sophisticated about this and look for the correct rated current load across the bulb while it is lit so as to catch a weak connection in the wiring, lamp socket, or a dim/damaged filament. [4]The 'resistor' in aftermarket LEDs may not satisfy our cars as the resistor is usually designed to pass a trickle current below the LED's forward voltage drop rating so that (other cars not Volvo) don't see an open circuit during a low voltage continuity check. [5]Most people looking to switch to LEDs on these change out non-monitored bulbs but end up leaving monitored bulbs alone. Monitored bulbs are: rear parking lamps (the message on the DIM confusingly calls these "Lamp: Position"), stop, turn, and forward low/high beams.
Note the side marker lamps at the outside edges of the head and tail lamp assemblies are not monitored.

1. Alas, lumen numbers are not a good guide (part of why you rarely see them specified for major brands). Brightness depends on age, beam angle, reflector, lens/diffuser, etc. Beam angle is particularly important with LED bulbs, which generally use multiple small chips in arrays pointing in various directions, often with quite different brightness in different directions, which may or may not be affected by reflector and/or lens/diffuser. And claims are often exaggerated by sellers of LED bulbs. So there's no good alternative to actually trying replacement LED bulbs.

2. Yes, some bulbs are monitored on the CAN bus (CAN Bus LED Bulbs – FAQ) and others are not.

3. No, Volvos are not "more sophisticated" than other comparable cars.

4. Yes, add-on load resistors may or may not work, depending on a number of factors.
Again, there's no good alternative to actually trying it.

5. Yes, many people do take the easy way out.

Other important LED bulb considerations include polarity, heat dissipation, water resistance, and base design.

My objective is to provide clear information on what does work.
And I measure actual brightness with a light meter.
Do you have any such information, or are you just spreading FUD?

[matthew1]

An MVS suggestion:

Is there any interest or benefit in establishing a "catalog" of MEMBER PROVEN LED replacement lamps..,

This subject does lend itself to your idea, George. Thank you.

[mrbrian200]

There are a lot of misleading statements on that retailer's FAQ page.
But that is because most vehicle owners do not really understand most of this stuff or how any of it actually works.
So they dumb it down into terms that are easier to understand, but often technically incorrect.

The only bulbs that communicate data directly over the CAN network are newest OE supplied LED and HID ballasts in vehicles that were originally designed specifically them.

Incandescent bulbs do not communicate directly on the CAN network. An analog lamp control circuit essentially probes the lamp circuit for continuity, over or under current. Data communication is limited to between computer control boxes - such as between control circuit that trips an input on a SOC inside the CEM that then generates a digital message over the CAN network which the DIM reads to display a warning message. In older cars before CAN, lamp out warnings were triggered by a 100% analog circuit, a typical example:

LO.JPG (45.82 KiB) Viewed 4530 times

In a P2 originally equipped with incandescent bulbs, a similar circuit would exist inside the CEM or REM. But instead of directly lighting a warning lamp, the output of this analog circuit, labeled "LED 1 (Red)" triggers an input on a computer chip. That chip generates CAN data. Not the light bulb that's out or incorrect.

[JNavas]

There are a lot of misleading statements on that retailer's FAQ page.
...
In a P2 originally equipped with incandescent bulbs, a similar circuit would exist inside the CEM or REM. But instead of directly lighting a warning lamp, the output of this analog circuit, labeled "LED 1 (Red)" triggers an input on a computer chip. That chip generates CAN data. Not the light bulb that's out or incorrect.

Yes, but the page, which is essentially correct, doesn't actually say that.
How about we just stick to what works (or doesn't work)
and leave out the extraneous meta-discussions?

[Jonboy74]

An MVS suggestion:

Is there any interest or benefit in establishing a "catalog" of MEMBER PROVEN LED replacement lamps?

Make it a sticky, obviously, and include date, brand, product number, lamp location, lamp numbers which they replace and member's username.

"Categories" or column headings could include: Interior, Exterior, Monitored, Non-monitored, Branded, White-box non-branded.

Notifications of "meltdowns" could save members a lot of woe.

YES PLEASE!