I went to the Fall Carlisle event and while there purchased some LEDs to replace my turn signals and back-up lights on my ’66. I installed one of each last night, turned the garage lights off and checked them out. They sucked; the regular bulbs were brighter in each case.

I still want to replace these lights with LEDs but I want LEDs that are brighter. Does anyone know the lumens rating for stock light bulbs? Also who sells the LEDs where they list the brightest in lumens, not watts?

 

Trying to convert to LEDs can be frustrating. Conversion is best done by finding someone who has already done it. Most makers of the LED lamps think more LEDs means brighter, but fail generally. And most of them fail to provide meaningful brightness specs (run, Forrest, run!). Look for SMD or SMT LEDs, where one LED can be much brighter than 36 or 48 regular LEDs mounted on a single lamp base. I have some that are a single LED and are rated at 5 watts (that is high for an LED), and they get "warm". They are as bright as a standard bulb, but the light pattern may or may not work due to the lens they are shining through (trial and error). Also, always use a RED LED when it is shining through a red lens. A white LED will look washed out shining through a red lens.

Here is a chart for the regular lamps that can be used (as opposed to LED, which I do not have a chart for). Note that 2357 bulbs are the brightest, but also may deform the lamp lens over time, due to higher heat. Depends on the ambient heat, and how long you keep your foot on the brakes.

The Sylvania "LL" lamps are Longer Life versions.

CLEAR BULB VOLTS AMPS MSCD LIFE
SYL. 1034 12.8 1.8 32 200
" " " " " 14 0.59 3 5000
GE 1034 12.8 1.8 32 200
" " " " " 14 0.59 3 5000

SYL. 1157 12.8 2.1 32 1200
" " " " " 14 0.59 3 5000
GE 1157 12.8 2.1 32 1200
" " " " " 14 0.59 3 5000

SYL. 1157 LL 12.8 2.1 32 2000
" " " " " 14 0.59 3 10000


SYL. 2057 12.8 2.1 32 1200
" " " " " 14 0.48 2 5000
GE 2057 12.8 2.1 32 1200
" " " " " 14 0.48 2 5000

SYL. 2057 LL 12.8 2.1 32 2000
" " " " " 14 0.48 2 10000


SYL. 2357 12.8 2.23 40 400
" " " " " 14 0.59 3 5000

SYL. 2357 LL 12.8 2.23 40 2000
" " " " " 14 0.59 3 10000

Plasticman

 

do it the easy way, just get the entire assemblies

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-a...melting-2.html , post # 23

Bill

 

Those look great. Where did you get them?

 

i THINK i bought them on-line after seeing them at a flea market. possibly ebay..



LED left, incandescent right
View My Video

Bill

 

I changed to LED's on my 65 using a 12 LED unit. Was ok but not great. A friend of mine had a 19 LED unit from Superbrightleds and we did a side-by-side test. Much brighter so I changed to them all around. Cost is $6.95 each vs. $55.00 each for the entire replacement.
You do the math.

 

I have these on both of my cars any they are very bright especially at night. Very bright and people will see you!

 

I bought yellow LEDS for the front and whites for the back. Got them at Auto Zone about $7 each. If I remember, they were "Super" brights and I believe that they also had some kind of range of arc of brightness, kind of like the difference between a flood light and spot light. I got the narrower ranged ones, figured since they would be behind the glass lenses there would be some diffusing of the light anyway. They are fairly bright and you do have to be somewhat centered to see the "brighter" part of the light. They are much better than the original bulbs however.
You will also have to change to an electronic flasher to get the turn signals to work. I lucked out, bought one ($14) that "looked" like the original flasher, plugged it in and it worked great.

 

I picked up LED's with the old bayonete style base for 62 at the local truck stop. They work great and are as bright or brighter than the old filliment bulb. I do not recall the price but it was reasonable and less than any I have seen in Corvette catelogs.