LED Bulbs

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jalake

jalake

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I was doing some looking online today and was thinking about the eventuality of replacing all my light bulbs. I'm curious if anyone has switched to LED bulbs for their cars?

Found this place: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/led-vehicle-replacement-bulbs/vehicle/1971-dodge-dart--/15-444--/

Bulbs seem reasonably priced.

If anyone has any experience with LED bulb swap, I'm curious to know how it went. Did you use all white LED or match the bulb color w/ the whatever lens your were replacing the bulb for?

If you know of any other place to get bulbs, that'd be nice to know as well.

Cheers,
-J
 
Good source for lamps.

Just get the highest wattage you can in a particular style.

If your using black face gauges then use the white lamps.

If you change to white face gauges then you can use whatever color you like for the faces but use white for the indicator lamps.

I have blue for my faces and white for the indicator lights.
Also have LED turn and brake lights.

If you swap to LED turn and brakes then you must use an LED flasher.

SBLED has them.

Here is a pic of mine when I was test fitting them. Once I got the dash installed and properly grounded they are even brighter.

Good luck.
 

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momoparman said:
Good source for lamps.

Just get the highest wattage you can in a particular style.

If your using black face gauges then use the white lamps.

If you change to white face gauges then you can use whatever color you like for the faces but use white for the indicator lamps.

I have blue for my faces and white for the indicator lights.
Also have LED turn and brake lights.

If you swap to LED turn and brakes then you must use an LED flasher.

SBLED has them.

Here is a pic of mine when I was test fitting them. Once I got the dash installed and properly grounded they are even brighter.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Oh, that's awesome. Thanks for the info and the pic. I'm adding this to my list of eventual upgrades.

Any issue installing the LED flasher I should be aware of?

-J
 
when we switched them on our fire trucks we had to switch to special LED flashers because the amp draw was so low the flashers wouldn't work (the 552 types)
 
360Scamp said:
When doing the LED upgrade, do you have to use any resistors?
Click to expand...

Resistors are built into the bulbs and aftermarket panels, but if you want to make your own LED sets then yes resistors are a mandatory part of the circuit.
 
I think I used the same site for LEDs when I converted instrument panel of the 73. I also had white face gauges. Do not use red. It makes the needles on the gauges vanish. Painting the needles silver did not help. Black works, but it makes the gauges harder to read.

The other comment I have on LEDs on the instrument panel is that they do not dim well. When I drive on open highway at night, I used to dim my instrument cluster to reduce eye strain. The LEDs were fine for in-town use. With LEDs for panel light, the range went from too bright for open highway to black out.
 
I just search for the bulb# on ebay. Most come from China, but some ship from a U.S. address and arrive in just a few days. There are many different designs. To illuminate a "light tunnel" (my M-B cluster, Mopar climate push-buttons), bulbs with forward-facing LED's are best. Insure the LED terminals don't bridge the bulb holder terminal and create a short circuit. That occurred in my M-B (fried cluster trace), but I don't think an issue with Mopar bulb holders. Coat the terminals with silicone grease to avoid corrosion. You generally must try the LED both ways since it only lights in one direction. Easiest if you install and test when the cluster is out.
 
If you are talking about the turn signal bulbs themselves, I could not find any that would work in my 1970 Dodge Dart. Ones that fit in the socket, did not line up to the contacts. And the ones that the contacts lined up, did not push in far enough to lock in. I ended up giving up once I bought the third pair that did not work.
For the rear, I just bought Digi-Tails, those are awesome.
 
I just bought some CREE 1800 lumen H4 headlight bulbs and glass H4 conversion housings. I plan on doing a write-up here once its all done. I can't wait to see how they turn out!
 
Wow Vader I would like to see how your setup works out. I bought the truck - lite 27270c... I have to admit that they are expensive,but it was the best 400 I spent. I probably would have gone your route if I would have seen this last year when I bought mine.
 
Dart_Vader said:
I just bought some CREE 1800 lumen H4 headlight bulbs and glass H4 conversion housings. I plan on doing a write-up here once its all done. I can't wait to see how they turn out!
Click to expand...

Nice! I'm interested in reading about your experience with this.
 
cudajim said:
Wow, $400 just for lights. I think I'll stick with the 1157 bulbs, they're really cheap and work just fine.
Click to expand...

My lights are tied together with what used to be my backup lights.
All four lenses are identical now, and all four are Brake lights, and two each of turn signals.
Otherwise it would be $200.
 
One thing you need to watch for with these LEDs is how much light they provide at an angle.

I just went through this on a 2006 Mustang last week. The customer had me install LED taillights a couple months ago. They looked great when viewed directly from behind but when viewed from an angle the light just wasn't there. And I mean it really wasn't there. A candle in a paper bag put out more light.

So last week he had me remove them and install a different kit (that was mostly just as bad).
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
One thing you need to watch for with these LEDs is how much light they provide at an angle.

I just went through this on a 2006 Mustang last week. The customer had me install LED taillights a couple months ago. They looked great when viewed directly from behind but when viewed from an angle the light just wasn't there. And I mean it really wasn't there. A candle in a paper bag put out more light.

So last week he had me remove then and install a different kit (that was mostly just as bad).
Click to expand...

Yep, lense refraction is changed with LED's because the light source point isn't the same as a factory bulb.
 
Which is why the only effective led bulbs either have a small convex lens in front of them, use a set of reflective surfaces or apply more leds at different angles to point in different directions.

Lighting as a whole is an exact and predictable science.
 
Here is my dash with Auto Meter LED bulbs.
 

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I chose the led headlights because they have much better light output and they draw almost nothing so I didn't have to add relays. Plug in and go. I do a lot of night time driving and I love being able to see. The only thing is that when I have the high beams on the white reflective signs reflect a lot of light back and almost makes reading what's on the sign a little hard. Lol or maybe my eyes are going.
 
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