Copied and pasting my original write up, cause this question gets asked a lot. Some edits as well, but here's the LED Tail Lights I did. Been on the car year and a half now:
To start off, I am not liable for any damage you do to your own lights trying to do this yourself.
As promised, here's least what I did to make LED lights, something cool anyways...... The grey wire on the harness is your positive, and the yellow is your negative, least on my 05 R. I am currently still trying to figure out the resister, as the bulbs tested at 1.5ohms. So this is still in progress. I also have to redo the passenger side to match now.
So, to start, I removed the 4 10mm nuts, and removed the rear light.
I took a heat gun, and cracked open the sucker! In later revisions, I used a heat knife. This takes a lot or patience, and you may risk cracking parts of the plastic. There are other ways to open the tail lights as needed.
FYI. I never care, and just do what I like, my car isn't perfect, and never will be. But crack the sucker, throw in some 30mm LED strips, drill it out for the wires, and glue back the edges. Again, I used super glue, where guaranteed some troll is gonna say I'm wrong, but this is what I did. Will use silicone later to fix the cracks, o well. Slap on, wire in, and enjoy! You will get a CANBUS message, but I am in the process of figuring out how to fix this. I am wiring these off my "Position lights", as I removed the bulbs.
Finally tackled the CANBUS errors at a later date with a decent Resistor that actually works from Morimoto.
LEDs used
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G6 ... UTF8&psc=1
Load resistor used
http://www.morimotohid.com/morimoto-hd- ... stors.html
Modern look S60 LED Tail lights upgrade
- Supergrunged
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Mountainman45
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Will this work on headlights as I'm DYING to do this to my V70XC
- Supergrunged
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I have done my headlights in a similar fashion. It's an R, and I did not feel like cracking open the headlights. I mounted an LED strip below the headlights to get an interesting effect, and they also turn to sweeping amber with my blinkers. I had to cut the position lights, and blinkers, as it's 3 wires going to them, figure out what one was what, then resolder and heatshrink them with this in line, as the wire for the LED strip was too small for a splice connector.Mountainman45 wrote: ↑16 Nov 2019, 14:09 Will this work on headlights as I'm DYING to do this to my V70XC
I used these for the effect
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PJ ... UTF8&psc=1
- RickHaleParker
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Hum ... that reminds me I been wanting to this the rear reflectors on my XC90.
I Better head to the PnP and get a pair before they are gone.
I Better head to the PnP and get a pair before they are gone.
⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙
1998 C70, B5234T3, 16T, AW50-42, Bosch Motronic 4.4, Special Edition package.
2003 S40, B4204T3, 14T twin scroll AW55-50/51SN, Siemens EMS 2000.
2004 S60R, B8444S TF80 AWD. Yamaha V8 conversion
2005 XC90 T6 Executive, B6294T, 4T65 AWD, Bosch Motronic 7.0.
1998 C70, B5234T3, 16T, AW50-42, Bosch Motronic 4.4, Special Edition package.
2003 S40, B4204T3, 14T twin scroll AW55-50/51SN, Siemens EMS 2000.
2004 S60R, B8444S TF80 AWD. Yamaha V8 conversion
2005 XC90 T6 Executive, B6294T, 4T65 AWD, Bosch Motronic 7.0.
- mrbrian200
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For the resistor you have to determine the operating current- incandescent bulbs show a very low resistance to an ohmmeter. As current is applied and the filament heats up to produce light, the resistance in the filament rises until an equilibrium is reached between temperature and current.
If they maintained 1.5 ohms during ~14v operation, that would result in a current draw approaching 10 amps/ 130 watts per bulb!
I don't recall what the operating wattage for those bulbs are, look it up, careful to use VOLVO OE bulb specs. Use ohms law to 'reverse engineer' based on the bulb wattage (either 2 or 4 bulbs in parallel, I'm not sure if the position lamps are monitored on these in L/R pairs or all four bulbs on one circuit/monitor. You need to figure out what the total current draw of the bulbs would be, then subtract the current draw for your LEDs and calculate what size resistor would result that same current draw at 14v.
If they maintained 1.5 ohms during ~14v operation, that would result in a current draw approaching 10 amps/ 130 watts per bulb!
I don't recall what the operating wattage for those bulbs are, look it up, careful to use VOLVO OE bulb specs. Use ohms law to 'reverse engineer' based on the bulb wattage (either 2 or 4 bulbs in parallel, I'm not sure if the position lamps are monitored on these in L/R pairs or all four bulbs on one circuit/monitor. You need to figure out what the total current draw of the bulbs would be, then subtract the current draw for your LEDs and calculate what size resistor would result that same current draw at 14v.
- matthew1
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Marked for inclusion in the Volvo Repair Database VRD.
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1998 V70, no dash lights on
1997 850 T5 [gone] w/ MSD ignition coil, Hallman manual boost controller, injectors, R bumper, OMP strut brace
2004 V70 R [gone]
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Also -> Amazon link. Click that when you go to buy something on Amazon and MVS gets a cut!
1998 V70, no dash lights on
1997 850 T5 [gone] w/ MSD ignition coil, Hallman manual boost controller, injectors, R bumper, OMP strut brace
2004 V70 R [gone]
How to Thank someone for their post

- Supergrunged
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I based this for 12 volts when I did my math. The stock bulbs were 10 watts, wattage is power, which would be Voltage X Amperage. So divide 10 by 12, you would get your amperage which is .83 amps...... My LEDs drew 1.5 amps so like 1.25 watts. My math may be a bit rusty, where I figured I need an 8.5 ohm resister, but couldn't find a decent one with a good heat sink. I ended up on the Morimoto, as I trust that brand, and surprisingly, it works with the CANBUS though it still is only 7.5ohmsmrbrian200 wrote: ↑19 Nov 2019, 10:02 For the resistor you have to determine the operating current- incandescent bulbs show a very low resistance to an ohmmeter. As current is applied and the filament heats up to produce light, the resistance in the filament rises until an equilibrium is reached between temperature and current.
If they maintained 1.5 ohms during ~14v operation, that would result in a current draw approaching 10 amps/ 130 watts per bulb!
I don't recall what the operating wattage for those bulbs are, look it up, careful to use VOLVO OE bulb specs. Use ohms law to 'reverse engineer' based on the bulb wattage (either 2 or 4 bulbs in parallel, I'm not sure if the position lamps are monitored on these in L/R pairs or all four bulbs on one circuit/monitor. You need to figure out what the total current draw of the bulbs would be, then subtract the current draw for your LEDs and calculate what size resistor would result that same current draw at 14v.
- RickHaleParker
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12V * 1.5A = 18W. You might want to measure the current twice. 18 watts is more then the incandescent bulb.
⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙
1998 C70, B5234T3, 16T, AW50-42, Bosch Motronic 4.4, Special Edition package.
2003 S40, B4204T3, 14T twin scroll AW55-50/51SN, Siemens EMS 2000.
2004 S60R, B8444S TF80 AWD. Yamaha V8 conversion
2005 XC90 T6 Executive, B6294T, 4T65 AWD, Bosch Motronic 7.0.
1998 C70, B5234T3, 16T, AW50-42, Bosch Motronic 4.4, Special Edition package.
2003 S40, B4204T3, 14T twin scroll AW55-50/51SN, Siemens EMS 2000.
2004 S60R, B8444S TF80 AWD. Yamaha V8 conversion
2005 XC90 T6 Executive, B6294T, 4T65 AWD, Bosch Motronic 7.0.
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