LED vs Standard bulbs

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blue missile

blue missile

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I have been trying to incorporate new technology where ever possible in the build.
To that end I ordered LED 1157s and 1156s. When they arrived I did a side by side comparison and the incandescent ones won out hands down.
first pic is of the LED lamps the second is the side by side with the regular taillight bulb on the left, LED on the right. The third pic is a comparison of the back up bulbs.
OLD school it is!
Andrew
 

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A properly made(DIY or bought) LED setup will output better light than the incandescent bulbs, BUT the plug in variety that you tried SUCKS big time.
It only puts light(low) out in one direction and won't spread correctly. the original buckets and lens reflectors just are not made to work with those type of "killmenow" bulbs. There are a couple of members on here that have done some great stuff with leds for their cars, some have converted a LED tail light from truck place and fitted it into their cars. Others (I'm one with a lot of help from SSDAN) have made a complete custom unit to work in their cars. looks darn good if I say so and all my light are turn/tails and stop. that's the one thing I didn't like about my car (originally the light in the trunk were only tail lights.)
here's mine
View attachment !!!!tails.jpg

View attachment 0124131909.jpg

View attachment 0124131909a.jpg

I didn't take a picture on the original ones but it's a huge improvement over the original setup.
Has anyone got a picture of a 66 dart with the tail light on and no brake light for comparison?
 
66, nice job on tail lights I thought I would keep my project simple.
1970 since your suggestion is a plug in option Ill order a set and try them, thanks.
Andrew
 
Had a discussion about these with an Electrical Engineer at work, he wanted them for his 72 C-10. He pointed out that the stye of LED you posted pics of transmit light in one direction and a bulb transmits light spherically, counting on the reflector and lens to aid in light piping. So you either need an LED "bulb" that transmits light like a traditional bulb or a lens housing designed for LED's. If you look at current OEM LED tail lights etc, you'll see they did the latter of the two. Just like Bi-Xenon or HID headlights, the optics are just as important as the bulb and ballast for it to work as intended.
 
It's common knowledge (or atleast I thought it was) that the led bulbs are useless and pretty dangerous if used..

Need to use a board type of led lights to do it correctly..

DSCN7273.jpg
 
I use LED's for things like instrument cluster and dome light, especially in places where they are hard to change or where an incandscent will degrade a plastic lens. I use a few 1156 LED's as running lights in my Newport and M-B's, where there are several bulbs in the tail-light assembly, so a few LED's insure I will always have at least some tail-lights. You might even use them for turn front signals, since people here muist think those are optional anyway since they never use them. The 1157's definitely aren't bright enough to work as brake lights, I found.
 
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