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I got the 1157 led Phillips bulbs that zwede recommended in post #2 today. They fit the light bulb sockets perfectly. BUT when I try the turn signals the new led lights just stay on and do not flash. Brake lights work fine.
Yep, you need the flasher. On mine the turn signals worked until I replaced the front with LED, but I don't know if my flasher was original.
When you get the electronic flasher you will probably need to switch the terminals in the flasher socket. The old style flashers were not polarized but the electronic ones are and at least my '71 had the terminals swapped.
How do you like the brightness of the brake lights?
Yep, you need the flasher. On mine the turn signals worked until I replaced the front with LED, but I don't know if my flasher was original.
When you get the electronic flasher you will probably need to switch the terminals in the flasher socket. The old style flashers were not polarized but the electronic ones are and at least my '71 had the terminals swapped.
How do you like the brightness of the brake lights?
This car is an '81. The flasher plugs into my fuse box.
I really like the new bulbs. Like them so much that I ordered leds for all of my bulbs.
I ordered one of the flashers and it just arrived.
I received the Tridon EP37 flasher and installed it this morning. I had to round the corners off of the flasher so that it would fit in the "81 fuse box. When I tried the signals I got nothing at all. When I put the factory flasher back in the led lights come on but don't blink.
zwede mentioned that the polarity had to be changed on his vehicle to make things work.
So I'm hoping that reversing the terminals by fabrication of some jumper leads will work.
zwede mentioned that the polarity had to be changed on his vehicle to make things work.
So I'm hoping that reversing the terminals by fabrication of some jumper leads will work.
I made up some pigtails to go from the flasher prongs to the fuse box.I hooked up the new EP37 relay BACKWARDS from how it would normally plug in. Reversing the polarity did the trick. The Phillips 1157 led bulbs flashed and lit correctly for the turn signals and the brake lights. Now on to replacing the rest of the bulbs around the exterior of the car. Photos to follow.
I went ahead and ordered some Philips 1157 amber and 1156 white led bulbs from Amazon for the front lights. The recommended bulbs from Super Bright Leds just did not fit the sockets or work correctly on my '81. I had already ordered the 194 amber bulbs for the side marker lights and they worked correctly.
The Philips bulbs seem to fit and work correctly.
Waiting on parts.
The EP37 is working correctly.
I had to make jumpers to reverse the polarity on the EP37 flasher.
I'm replacing the EP37 with the EF32RLNP flasher which Richard recommended in his post above.
No jumpers.
Should plug right in.
This thread is prompting me to change my 1157's to LED, (1156 reverse lights already done). Did you have to change the 4-way flasher to electronic also?
This thread is prompting me to change my 1157's to LED, (1156 reverse lights already done). Did you have to change the 4-way flasher to electronic also?
I'm still trying out different bulbs from different companies. The big problem with the led bulbs are the base. The part that goes in the socket usually has a shoulder on it. The shoulder is usually too far down the bulb to allow complete installation in the socket. That leaves you with the option of grinding down your socket a slight amount. The other option is to locate some bulbs that fit. That's where I'm at now. I'm getting bulbs from different companies in an effort to find the bulbs that fit without modification. When finished I'll post the companies and the bulbs that I found that worked to my liking.
Here is a photo showing the area of concern when replacing the incandescent bulb with an led bulb that I purchased. This is an 1157 amber made by Phillips. This bulb did not fit my front parking light sockets.
They're really cool in that they light up bright white for running lights, and when the turn signal is on the white turns off and they flash amber. 2 seconds after the turn signal ends the white turns on again.
Anyway, they fit the socket with no mods needed.
I finally received the flasher that Richard454 recommended in his post above. I installed it with the ground mounted to the a steering column sleeve retaining nut. No problems there.
The new 1156 white and 1157 amber showed up after a shipping delay. I purchased the Sylvania bulbs this time. These were to be the front parking/signal bulbs and the cornering light bulbs. They fit the sockets perfectly and work great. The only problem that I ran into was the cornering light sockets up front were in bad shape (defective wiring and a stripped socket). So I was back to waiting on parts again as no local auto parts had the sockets. I only have the left cornering light socket/bulb left to finish the led changeover.
A problem arises...
All the bulbs worked correctly after the initial check. I was getting ready to go to a show yesterday morning and decided to do another walk around to check the bulb operation. When I turned on my right turn signal, both the rear turn signal bulbs flashed. When I switched to the left turn signal everything worked as it should. I went to my show anyway and fooled with it when I got back home. The darn things worked fine when I went to check them. So I don't know what that was about. I'm definitely going to have to keep an eye on that.
So the exterior led bulb changeover is complete at this point except for the cornering light socket and bulb. I will post the bulb manufacturer's and their bulb that I used in my next post.
Last edited by Street Rat; 10-22-2018 at 06:03 PM.
It turns out that the cornering lights are going to take different 1156 white bulbs than the Philips. I can't get either the new or old cornering light sockets to fit them. The back up lamps take the same bulb 1156 white. I used a 1156-CW18-T bulb from superbrightleds.com in the back up sockets. They should fit the cornering lights without a problem. Ordered those this morning.
Here are the led bulb part numbers and the sources that I used. This was a trial and error process. There are different brands at different locations. I'm sticking with what fits and works correctly although it might seem like a hodgepodge of bulb sources.
Hopefully this helps somebody.
Craig
1981 Corvette exterior LED Bulb upgrade list...
Front side marker lamps 194-AHP5 amber - superbrightleds.com
Front parking/turn signal lamps Sylvania ZEVO 1157 amber - Amazon.com
Front cornering lamps 1156-CW18-T white - superbrightleds.com
Rear side marker lamps 194-RHP5 red- superbrightleds.com
License plate lamp 194-CHP5 white - superbrightleds.com
Rear back up lamps 1156-CW18-T white -superbrightleds.com
Rear stop/turn signal lamps Philips 1157 P21/5W red extreme vision - Amazon.com
Led flasher Tridon EP32RLNP - Amazon.com
Hazard flasher - I used the factory type flasher without incident
Last edited by Street Rat; 10-23-2018 at 11:30 AM.
Reason: Add flasher info
And thats why i know the ones I recommended fit, because i worked with the manufacturer about 10 years ago to have a bevel put on the bottom of the bulb to clear the socket. The original bulbs I bought didn't fit, i modified them on my lathe and then contacted Superbright, and the next batch was modified like I suggested.
Doug
Originally Posted by Street Rat
I'm still trying out different bulbs from different companies. The big problem with the led bulbs are the base. The part that goes in the socket usually has a shoulder on it. The shoulder is usually too far down the bulb to allow complete installation in the socket. That leaves you with the option of grinding down your socket a slight amount. The other option is to locate some bulbs that fit. That's where I'm at now. I'm getting bulbs from different companies in an effort to find the bulbs that fit without modification. When finished I'll post the companies and the bulbs that I found that worked to my liking.
Here is a photo showing the area of concern when replacing the incandescent bulb with an led bulb that I purchased. This is an 1157 amber made by Phillips. This bulb did not fit my front parking light sockets.
10-10-2018, 02:59 PM
Update the good and the bad
