Excellent write up!!!

The XenonDepot HIDs combined with the switchback LED lights look awesome!!! WAY better than stock. Way to go, and thanks for posting!!!

 

Couldn't agree more Though it will look much better once I get the VLED 5K triton switchback as the current LEDs aren't as bright as the picture conveys

 

I have the exact same color and model 2015. I plan to do the switch backs once I figure out the wiring. Ordering xenon 4300 this week. Looks great thanks for the post.

 

Ur welcome. Hope your upgrades go well!

 

Same here. I've been waiting for my tritons for over a month.

 

I spoke to the VLED rep last night -- around 5pm EST -- and he stated that although they got some 5K Tritons yesterday, they are still backordered for weeks on the 7443/7440 adapters & WA controller/module device -- that allow for the dimming feature -- for the bulbs

It's clear their devices are very popular and complicated to manufacture. But unfortunately for me, no one else has such high quality LEDs in the current market

 

Nice install car looks awesome! would you please post pictures of the VLEDs once you have them installed? Also where did you get the LED for the drl?

 

Thanks. I got the CREE 2000 lumen led for my DRL/high-beam from Amazon. They are just as bright as my OEM high-beam when I turn on my high-beams on

Here is my updated quick review w/ my V3 Triton Switchback installed:


--- Update 02/02/15 ---

Now that I have replaced my old LEDs from amazon w/ the V3 Triton Switchback, I can confidently say they were worth their $130 asking price. Not only are they much brighter, they are also a perfect temperature match to my XenonDepot 5K HIDs.


Note:

Due to their brightness, @ the advice of the VLED rep I spoke to on the phone & from my initial impressions, I had to hard wire the V3 Tritons to my OEM headlight on both sides in order to enable the "dim" mode function of the V3 Tritons. Otherwise, in their "normal" mode, it looked like I had high-beams as fog lights! They are that bright!


Pictures

This is the V3 Triton kit I got:

1) WA Gen 2.5 controller --> its like the ballast for the bulbs & also controls the dimming function

2) Dim cable --> although optional, I HIGHLY recommend you hard wire this to your OEM headlight harness as the bulbs are obnoxiously bright @ night

3) These cables DO NOT come w/ the kit. I got this as a courtesy from VLED because they were short on 7443 adapters & thus I had the option of either waiting for another 2 wks to get those or cut off my OEM 7443 harness & hardwire these to the wires

4) V3 Triton 5K bulbs

5) Washers & screws--> to put on the bulbs to give them a snug fit

6) Collar adapter --> I did NOT use these. But they are for other types of fog light bulbs but not the 7443


The turn signals always shine @ full brightness which is good as its temporary & moreover alerts other drivers of my turn much better than the factory halogens

 

That looks very good. Thats exactly what I want to do if get a 2015 Camry. I just don't want the car payments lol. The only thing missing is some nice LED tail lights but I dont think there are any out yet for the 2015. About how much did you spend total on all the lights, if you dont mind me asking?

 

This is a beautiful mod log. The pictures showing the LED vs halogen are great. I love the V3s/

 

Thanks! I hoped the pictures would help give ppl a better visual as describing an upgrade is one thing but SEEING the result is completely different. And yeah, the V3 Tritons were definitely worth the upgrade although they were by far my most difficult installation. But the results were worth it :wink:

So with the Vled switchbacks are the resistors necessary? I just picked up a 2015 SE and I'm interesting in getting them but I'm afraid to screw up the wiring.

Yes they are! In my initial install, I wired the V3 directly to my OEM wiring just to see if they would hyper-flash & they did! So you MUST install load resistors -- a pair of 50W 6Ohm (one for each side) -- in order to avoid hyper-flash. You will need to tap the ends of the resistors into TWO of the three wires. The parking & the turn signal wire. I forget their colors but worst case you try it three times.

Note:

- I didn't get my resistors from VLED & so have no idea how to hook theirs up. I noticed they require a V3 resistor ($16) + resistor adapter ($10) --> which I feel is expensive but hey am just a cheap college student .

- I got two pairs of resistors off Amazon for $8.99 (sold by CUTEQUEEN) as I know I want to change my rear turn signals to LED in the near future & thus wanted to have another pair on hand. They work perfectly & so the choice is yours

I have NO electrical/mechanical background & this is my first time ever modifying a car. So I am confident you can do it! lol :grin:

Any plans to lower the car?

No I don't. I like to remain as stock as possible & only change things that I feel will be easy to undo or can actually increase the value of my car come time for a trade in. Moreover, I am already worried about the clearance of the car as it is! lol

I never see myself changing things like the wheels or modifying my air filters. That's just not my thing I guess. But I am considering a strut/sway bar possibly though as I feel the SE sways too much @ corners

 

So with the Vled switchbacks are the resistors necessary? I just picked up a 2015 SE and I'm interesting in getting them but I'm afraid to screw up the wiring.

 

Any plans to lower the car?

 

That's kind of crappy VLEDS got rid of the built in resistor that came on the V3's for forever. No way in hell I would buy them over their Platinum line now, unless I wanted the switchback feature you have. All my V3's had the built in resistor, sucks they got rid of it. IMO, for that price of the V3's, they should come with the built in resistor.

 

I completely agree with you! I was actually going to buy the v3 white amber switch backs a few days ago and I emailed them asking if the resistor was built in and they said their new 2.5 gen needs an external resistor. That makes the install slightly less clean. But you also have to remember that many people change their flasher relay to a led compatible one. So their is no need for a resistor in the control box.

 

I would say most people do not change the flasher. Most people run resistors, and even if a person wanted to change the flasher, all they had to do was remove the inline fuse from the fuse holder on the V3's, and the resistor was no longer active. That system catered to the majority, while still giving the minority a work around. Now they do not cater to the majority...is the result lost profit? That's TBD at this point. All I know is, is that I will not be tapping resistors into my truck, so there goes led turn signals for me

 

I agree. They also said that the heat from the built in resistor caused premature failure of the control box, so by removing the heat source, the resistor, the control box will work longer.

 

We can only wish they would drop the price down to compensate for the resistor removal.

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I read that resistors get very hot and they should be kept away from wires or anything plastic? Is there any truth or danger to this?

 

They get very hot and can definitely cause damage. It depends on how long you run your turn signals for. I would 100% mount them to metal and avoid plastic and fabric.

 

Mount them on metal because they will get hot.

 

I have 2014.5 Camry Hybrid and a 2001 BMW with Zenon HID. I would stick with the LED. The Zenon can be a PIA when they go south. HID are also expensive as hell to replace parts also when they develop problems. IMHO

 

When you replace with OEM BMW. PnP kits aren't expensive, and neither are the components individually. PnP HID bulb goes out, ~$40 for a set and you're good to go. I bought my new OEM (to Toyota/Lexus) Denso ballasts for $110/each. Dealer wants substantially more than that, but buying from the dealer = losing proposition. Aftermarket brands are way cheaper than what I paid for my Densos. :dunno:

 

Nice job man!

 

I have a few questions if you don't mind answering. I've gone through my fair share of troublshooting lighting on my previous accord and I want to avoid this.

1. How well do your 5000k HID's match your vled switchbacks? Photos don't usually do justice because of how white balance is set. If I had to go from your photos I'd think that I could get 4300k HID's instead of 5000k to make it match better.

2. I'm eager to get rid of those amber parking lights so vled's seems like the obvious choice. I'm a little confused on how you wired your headlights into the vled unit. Just a wiretap?

3. I've seen other people use the v3's without a resistor. I'm guessing those were an older model and the current version doesn't have the resistor built into them? The resistor gets hot so is there any specific place you mounted it?

4. What is part #3 in your photo exactly for? You said it wasn't included in the kit but do you have a link to the part? I'm having trouble visualizing it.

5. What was the link for the original LED's you bought? Just so I know to avoid them if I try another brand before spending the money on vled

Thanks!


Edit: An additional thought. Does anyone think that it will be possible to just replace the light with an LED model from a higher trim (XLE)? Most websites I've checked don't even have the 2015 model in their system.

 

Woooow thanks a lot of questions buddy Think I should start charging by the letters I type per minute....haha

Here goes nth :grin::

1) At night, the match PERFECTLY. Both are bright white. Also, from other reviews I read, the 4300K have more yellow than I prefer vs the pure white of 5K & thus would recommend sticking to that. Unless you want to get the highest output @ which 4300K is fine.

2) I tapped my V3 Tritons into my headlights via a wire tap in order to dim the brightness whenever my HIDs were on. The control box has a separate connection for you to optionally connect the dimming cable (the white one). I went to my local Walmart & got a 14 gauge wire and connected it to the white cable & tapped it into my OEM positive wire

3) Yes, the previous two gens of the V3 came w/ a built in resistor. This gen 2.5 does NOT. I initially did not mount the resistors I got from Amazon to metal but instead hung them awkwardly via zip ties. I just came back from my local Walmart & bought a power drill & some screws as I intend on reconnecting my wires again & properly mounting the resistors this time around to a metal frame near the parking/turn signal bulb in my 15' Camry SE

Note:

- I am reconnecting my wires again because I recently found out that its a bad idea to connect stripped wires solely via electric tape as the summer heat can result in the electric tape coming off & thus exposing the naked wires. So I got a set of 12-16 guage butt connectors & a crimping tool from Amazon to reconnect everything again

4) At the time when I bought my V3 Triton, VLED did NOT have any 7443 adapters in stock & so instead of waiting, they offered to give me these PIGTAIL adapters & I had to then cut off my 7443 OEM plug & directly wire them to my stock wires. You should NOT have to use this as I believe they do have 7443 adapters in stock again. I was just impatient

5) The original switchback I got from Amazon were these: [ame]http://www.amazon.com/JDM-ASTAR-AX-2835-Chipsets-Switchback/dp/B00KMNUL5E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423688749&sr=8-1&keywords=7443+switchback[/ame]

On your additional thought: unless you really want too, you don't need to get OEM leds. Most of the aftermarket options are comparable if not better (as in the case of the V3 Tritons)

 

Did you buy the 7443 bulb or the 7443 ck?

 

Good question.

 

Just ordered my kit It'll be here around the first week of march because of shipping delays. The only obstacle I now have is finding where to mount the resistors.

The only downside of owning a new car is not knowing every nook and cranny of it.

Thanks for all your help so far, OmoPastor!

 

Your welcome :thumbsup:

Yeah, the mounting of the resistors was the trickiest part for me. I was not able to mount them to metal as I wasn't able to successfully drill into the metal frame I spoke of earlier on the drivers side & couldn't find a good metal area on the pax side. I ended up securely zip tying the resistors to the corners away from any plastic material. I made sure the zip ties, did NOT touch the metal part of the resistors but instead the leather/tape rapped ends. So the resistors are hanging but don't shake or come in contact w/ any plastic...

Fortunately, the rear turn signals were much easier & I was able to again zip ties the resistors on both sides in direct contact w/ the metal frame & away from any plastic.

 

--- Update: 02/16/15 ---

Look what arrived @ my door step early this morning :grin:

Expect a review in the coming days about my first impressions, install & driving experience w/ XenonDepot's New LED Headlight Kit. Moreover I will be comparing them to my current Sirius CREE LED Hb3 headlight bulb & my OEM halogen 9005 in my 15' Camry SE

Consider me your guinea pig :wink:


Pictures

 

Can't wait to see how they look. I was ready to order a pair but I figured I'd wait to see the color output first.

I'm starting to second guess the vled switchbacks now. I finally found the part number for the LED turn signals found in the XSE+ models. I just haven't been able to find a diagram of the part so I could see what type of connector it uses.

 

Yea I should have a review later this week. Why are you second guessing the VLEDs if I may ask? In regards to your part no. search, what Camry yr & model do you have?

 

Nice, I got mine in today as well!!! They look amazing in their box, I can't wait to fire up the lights tomorrow and hopefully install soon after! Looking forward to your review

 

They have similar design like the Philips led fogs minus the heat sink weaves.

This will be solely a DRL for me as I rarely use my high beam.

 

Guys what do think about this http://www.aliexpress.com/item/FREE...t-TOYOTA-Camry-2012-LED-DRL-with-turn-light-all-in-one-20w-high/1870098888.html

 

For $42 I'd give it a try.