[msc]

Got my wiring diagrams right hear actually!!!

Your posting was 2 days late but other then that it's pretty damn funny that you call a Hane's manual a set of wiring diagrams.

Chase down copies of the Factory Service Manual and Electrical Troubleshooting Manual for your year CRX. If you hunt you can probably find them in down loadable pdf format. You can buy Helm's reprints. Original copies can be found on ebay and other used books outlets.

A Hane's manual is barely better then nothing at all. Calling a Hane's manual documentation is a bit like calling a CAI forced induction, it's a bit of a stretch.

Mike

 

[msc]

Send the crap back to Superbright. LED swaps are a performance downgrade and should never be used for lights that are considered safety equipment (pretty much all the exterior lights).

Since you often seem to want to use only the best parts and are interested in quality and performance there are some things you should know about LED retrofits.

From the Supperbrightleds website here is a link to the notes they want you to read before placing an order for car bulbs. http://www.superbrightleds.com/carbulb_notes.php

Brightness of LED Car Bulbs

Standard LED bulbs are generally not as bright as standard incandescent bulbs, they have many advantages over filament bulbs (longer life, faster on/off times, lower power consumption, more vivid colors) but brightness is not one of them. They are generally not as bright but some of them with large numbers of LEDs, will appear brighter than filament bulbs. As an exception, our High Power LED car bulbs are as bright or brighter than most standard filament car bulbs. The light is distributed differently so they can appear brighter in some applications and not as bright in others, it depends on the size and shape of the bulb housing and reflector.

Most LED bulbs emit light like a flashlight, all out the end. Regular filament bulbs emit light from the end and all sides, so they will be better suited for some lighting applications than LED bulbs. This is the same reason why we do not rate LED car bulbs in lumens or watts, the numbers would be deceptively low because the light is measured from all sides and the end on standard filament bulbs but only from the end on LED bulbs.

The real world translation is that only the brightest of their products have similar light output to the standard bulb they replace. When they are placed in a housing designed for an incandescent bulb there is a dramatic reduction in optical efficiency so the light output is almost always less then if you use the proper incandescent bulb. Usually substantially less.

For aftermarket use. May not comply with SAE or U.S. DOT standards

Stating they are for aftermarket use is pure nonsense, it says nothing and means nothing. Years ago it would have said "for off road use" which at least tried to say they are not legal on the road. The federal government has made it clear that "off road use" is not a recognized term and does not exempt any safety equipment from the requirement to meet DOT standards. Looks to me like they swapped a term that has no logical meaning for one that had no legal meaning.

There is no question about weather any retrofit bulb (LED or HID) meets SAE or U.S. DOT standards. They simply do not meet the required standards and are therefor illegal to even sell in the US. You would never know this from the number of places selling retrofit bulbs but getting them off the street is about as easy as shutting down all the crack houses or ending teen pregnancy.

For best performance of your exterior lights get fresh bulbs from your Honda dealer or other outlet for premium grade bulbs and make sure the sockets are free of corrosion.

If you want to tickle an LED fetish by swapping dash lights the only harm done will be typically poor operation of the dimmer function. Swapping LEDs for incandescent bulbs on the exterior (safety equipment) is illegal, reduces the visibility of your car, and increases the likelihood that your car will be in an accident that incidentally you could now be at least partly at fault for causing.

I have never been a fan of tucks. They seem pretty silly to me in concept for starters. Sort of like moving the washer, dryer, and water heater out of my utility room so when company comes over I can show them my furnace in an otherwise empty utility room (don't look in the hall closet or under the bed because the other utilities had to go somewhere). The greater reason I dislike tucks is they significantly compromise the long term reliability of the wire harness. Solder joints are a well known weak point in wire harnesses whenever there is vibration involved (like on a car). It doesn't matter if you do perfect solder splices, it's that fact that solder is used on wire that is the reliability problem. You also loose the well engineered and rigorously tested wire routing and support points. Tucks are for trailer queens and show cars. For an actual car (daily driven) a tuck is a downgrade that reduces the long term reliability.

I don't expect I will change your mind about a tuck but be aware you are sacrificing quality and performance for a fashion fad. If it's top quality and performance your after then don't butcher the OEM harness.

The flux your using is zinc chloride based and is unsuitable for electrical soldering. You should be using an activated rosin flux. Actually for simple wire splices you need nothing beyond the flux in rosin core solder.

I would go back and redo all the splices you have made with that flux. Be sure to cut the wire an inch or so further up the wire from where the old splice was made. The zinc chloride (acid) flux will cause corrosion of the wire over time.

Mike

 

[msc]

A couple tips on weight reduction and wiring details.

Since you have expressed weight reduction goals I would not have used POR on the dash brace. This is a part the factory saw no need to protect with coatings, is not exposed to the elements, and is only seen by someone with their head under the dash. POR is a thick heavy coating that added an ounce or two that serves a very minor cosmetic purpose. You didn't need the protection of POR so any rattle can enamel would have been just fine at half the weight if you really had to have the cosmetics. If you ever want to be serious about weight reduction you need to think about these things. Take care of the ounces and the pounds will take care of themselves.

For your harness looming it's best to stop the looming a couple inches short of the connector. Running the looming close to the connector like you have done looks nice but is not good for the long term service life of the harness. With the restraint point further back from the connector the individual wires share the load more evenly. With the restraint point (heat shrink) up close to the connector you end up with a few wires carrying more of the load so they fatigue faster and fail sooner. Rywire runs the looming close to the connectors also which is one of the reasons that I say not even Rywire can come close to the service life of the OEM harness.

Mike