Jeep Renegade LED Day Time Running Lights (DRL) Installation Write-Up

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
For those of you who've converted your Jeep Renegade halogen headlights to a set of LED bulb and are wanting to change out your sickly yellow-brown day time running lights or "DRL" to something a bit more white in color, this write-up will help you to do just that. Fortunately, changing out your factory DRL bulbs to a set of LED bulbs is not only cheap to do, it's also extremely easy to do. What you will need to know is that your factory DRL incandescent bulbs are a standard P21 which are commonly used for car tail lights/brake lights and turn signal lights and the LED equivalent will be a 1157. Also, when shopping for a set of 1157 LED bulbs, you will need to make sure that it is "CANBUS NO Error Free". Not all LED bulbs are and it is important that the ones you get are. There are a lot of different manufacturers of LED bulbs and the set I ended up buying was made by HAMIST and I found them on Amazon. Here's a shot of what they look like.

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What you will need
• (2) 1157 White LED Bulbs - CANBUS NO Error Free
• Phillips Screwdriver

Instructions
1. Park your Renegade and turn your steering wheel to the left and until it is at a full lock. Then, use a phillips screwdriver to loosen the 2 plastic screws securing the fender liner access panel in place.
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2. With the screws loosed, you should be able to simply pry off the fender liner access panel.
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3. Looking into the access port, you will see there are 2 different wires plugged into 2 different bulb sockets. The white socket on the left is for your indicator lights and the black one on the right is for your DRL. Gently pull the locking tab on the black socket plug and pull down to remove it as shown. (NOTE: I only unplugged the indicator light to help make it easier to photograph. It is not necessary to unplug it)
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4. Firmly hold the black DRL socket and rotate it counter-clockwise until it's unlocked and then remove it from the light housing.
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5. Remove the factory P21 incandescent bulb from the DRL socket by gently pushing down on it and then rotating it.
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6. Install your new 1157 LED bulb into the DRL socket by pushing it in and rotating it until it locks in place.
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7. Carefully reinstall the black DRL socket back into the light housing and then rotate it clockwise until it locks in place.
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8. Reinstall the plug back into the DRL socket.
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9. Reinstall the fender liner access panel and then, using a phillips screwdriver, lock it in place by tightening the 2 plastic screws.
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10. Repeat steps 1-9 on the passenger side of your Renegade.

For comparison sake, here's a shot of what the factory Renegade DRL with a standard P21 incandescent bulb looks like when on. As you can see, it's a dim yellowish brown light.
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And now, here's what a new 1157 LED bulb looks like when on. As you can see, it's a much brighter and whiter light. (NOTE: The amber color you see on the right side of the lens is the indicator light bulb. This too can be changed out to an LED if you so desire)
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With that said, what I can tell you is that I LOVE the addition of these new LED bulbs! Not only do they not look sickly anymore, they look great together with the new LED headlights I just installed. So far as I can tell, they don't look any brighter than the factory incandescent bulbs (which is a good thing as that's what I wanted), just whiter in color. I would definitely recommend doing this upgrade especially if you've upgraded your headlights to LED's.
 
If I am looking for quality LED replacement bulbs I usually go through www.v-leds.com They have color switching ones, plug n play headlights, all kinds of different ones. I am in no way affiliated with this company just been happy with their products over the years :bleh: It's been fun seeing the write ups you do for the Renegade...Im still thinking about getting one as a daily driver eventually. Based off your headlight choice, is it safe to assume Truck-Lites or similar wouldn't fit?
 
For those of you who've converted your Jeep Renegade halogen headlights to a set of LED bulb and are wanting to change out your sickly yellow-brown day time running lights or "DRL" to something a bit more white in color, this write-up will help you to do just that. Fortunately, changing out your factory DRL bulbs to a set of LED bulbs is not only cheap to do, it's also extremely easy to do. What you will need to know is that your factory DRL incandescent bulbs are a standard P21 which are commonly used for car tail lights/brake lights and turn signal lights and the LED equivalent will be a 1157. Also, when shopping for a set of 1157 LED bulbs, you will need to make sure that it is "CANBUS NO Error Free". Not all LED bulbs are and it is important that the ones you get are. There are a lot of different manufacturers of LED bulbs and the set I ended up buying was made by HAMIST and I found them on Amazon.

Nice write up! Renny is looking great and it doesn't get much easier then plug n play!

They have color switching ones,

Im still thinking about getting one as a daily driver eventually.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with your Renegade when you get one...

I'd love one as d&d also.
 
If I am looking for quality LED replacement bulbs I usually go through www.v-leds.com They have color switching ones, plug n play headlights, all kinds of different ones. I am in no way affiliated with this company just been happy with their products over the years :bleh: It's been fun seeing the write ups you do for the Renegade...Im still thinking about getting one as a daily driver eventually. Based off your headlight choice, is it safe to assume Truck-Lites or similar wouldn't fit?

Thanks for the tip on vleds. I'll have to give them a look for my other bulb needs. As far as the headlights go, it is possible that the housings could be replaced with a Truck-Lite or similar but the Renegades really are made to just swap out the bulbs. As you can see in my write-up, it's extremely easy to do and taking apart the whole front end just to see IF I could run different lights didn't seem too appealing to me. IF the quality of light weren't that great with just new bulbs, I would have done it anyway but honestly, the lighting they provide is awesome. :yup:

Nice write up! Renny is looking great and it doesn't get much easier then plug n play!

Thanks! It's nice to see that there are a few things that are super easy to upgrade on this Jeep :yup:
 
Thanks for the tip on vleds. I'll have to give them a look for my other bulb needs. As far as the headlights go, it is possible that the housings could be replaced with a Truck-Lite or similar but the Renegades really are made to just swap out the bulbs. As you can see in my write-up, it's extremely easy to do and taking apart the whole front end just to see IF I could run different lights didn't seem too appealing to me. IF the quality of light weren't that great with just new bulbs, I would have done it anyway but honestly, the lighting they provide is awesome :yup:

Well, just swapping the bulb for a much improved LED easily and quickly definitely is a good reason to go this route! I need to swap out my other half's crappy HID replacements for LED's and this kinda got me motivated.
 
For those of you who've converted your Jeep Renegade halogen headlights to a set of LED bulb and are wanting to change out your sickly yellow-brown day time running lights or "DRL" to something a bit more white in color, this write-up will help you to do just that. Fortunately, changing out your factory DRL bulbs to a set of LED bulbs is not only cheap to do, it's also extremely easy to do. What you will need to know is that your factory DRL incandescent bulbs are a standard P21 which are commonly used for car tail lights/brake lights and turn signal lights and the LED equivalent will be a 1157. Also, when shopping for a set of 1157 LED bulbs, you will need to make sure that it is "CANBUS NO Error Free". Not all LED bulbs are and it is important that the ones you get are. There are a lot of different manufacturers of LED bulbs and the set I ended up buying was made by HAMIST and I found them on Amazon. Here's a shot of what they look like.

...

With that said, what I can tell you is that I LOVE the addition of these new LED bulbs! Not only do they not look sickly anymore, they look great together with the new LED headlights I just installed. So far as I can tell, they don't look any brighter than the factory incandescent bulbs (which is a good thing as that's what I wanted), just whiter in color. I would definitely recommend doing this upgrade especially if you've upgraded your headlights to LED's.

Great writeup as always. Thank you!

BTW, do you bulbs stay dimly lit for several minutes before completely shutting off?
 
Great writeup as always. Thank you!

BTW, do you bulbs stay dimly lit for several minutes before completely shutting off?

I can't say that I've noticed this but it wouldn't surprise me if they did. That's pretty normal with LED lights as they hold a charge for a bit. I see this on my Wrangler tail lights.
 
Install me a set. Got them from Amazon as well. Same name however they look different. So far works great and no warning error. But like I mentioned, they stay dimly lit for 5mins or so after locking the car.

Package front
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Package back
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In the daytime/morning
gShEAN.jpg

At night
IMG_7601.JPG
 
Strobe effect?

First, thank you for the great writeup.

Second, a (stupid?) question. In your YouTube video of the Renegade playing in the snow, the DRL's appear to be flashing (strobe effect). I don't know if there's actually a strobe effect, or just something about the video that makes it appear that way. Could you clarify?
 
The LED lights do flicker but it's almost impossible to see with the naked eye. The standard frame rate used by the video camera makes it possible to see.
 
I was inspired by this thread to also upgrade my DRL to LEDs. I bought a set made by Pilot Automotive. They too stay dimly lit for about 30mins after the Jeep is turned off. Is there any way to prevent or eliminate this issue?
 
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