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I'm looking to change my car over to all LED lighting... Marker lights, cornering lamps, turn signals, interior lights.... Anybody know of a good source for what I will need for a reasonable price....?
To get a better price shop in ebay. I've been doing this for 8+ years now. All my vehicles have LED and HID lights from Ebay. They work great, and normally cheaper than many around here.
I don't recommend to use the 2057 LED bulb for the stop lights. I saw no difference in it, but there is a great difference if you buy a new LED stop lenses kit. The cost more and it is worth it.
Thanks for that link.
I was actually looking for lit like that a few days ago to start piecing together my LED interior changeover.
Has anybody used Amber LED's to kinda stay a bit closer to the stock light color but with brighter bulbs?
If you use white LED on the interiors the car will look like a pharmacy. I saw a C5 like that years ago, and it was a heck of an experience for me to NEVER do such of thing.
That is exactly what I am trying to avoid.
so ambers for the interior and pure whites for the exterior then.
Also, does the dimmer feature work after the swap to LED? I would not think it does; and I kinda hate to loose that.
I was thinking green LEDs for the interior or possibly if i can find orange to match the dash lights.... I am leaning more towards green...
As far as tail lights go, I'm more interested in going the 1157/3157 whichever it is in my car and my stock lenses... My last S10 pickup had clear tail lights and i ran red LED bulbs but the rapid fire turn signals drove me about nuts... So I've learned all about load equalizers with my truck... I also changed the turn signals on my Harley to the 1157 style LEDs and i love them too, the bike doesn't need load equalizers which surprised me because i have stop tail turn with no center brake light on my bike....
kinda wanna do this on the cheap... Locally bulb style LEDs are around ten bucks a piece... I figure Ebay is the cheapest way to go, any particular sellers or stores worth checking out?
Also... What's the best way to go color wise under stock red tail lights? pure white? I honestly don't see myself dropping the cash on the cool ones they sell in the Corvette catalogs for my car... I want LEDs because they are cooler (literally, temperature wise) and they don't make plastic lenses all melty like incandescent bulbs do as i found out with my smoke tail light lenses and red 1157 incandescent bulbs on my bike... I also happen to think they look cool if that matters.
As cool as these are im not going for this look but thanks! I have checked you out, I'm sure I'm gonna eventually send you a couple of my paychecks in the future...!
Also, does the dimmer feature work after the swap to LED? I would not think it does; and I kinda hate to loose that.
LEDs dim a different way than incandescent lamps. They have a threshold voltage and won't work below that. If the current is too high they will burn out.
Incandescent bulb brightness is proportional to temperature -- more current equals brighter. Current increases as the voltage is increased.
LEDs are dimmed by pulsing them at full voltage, called PWM -- Pulse Width Modulation. The wider the pulses the brighter the LEDs. You can see this pulsing on Cadillac (and others) tail lights by moving your eyes back and forth.
Instead of using load equalizers use an electronic flasher. The load equalizers are just resistors that generate a bunch of heat. I bought the electronic flasher for $7 it was a pain to put in but worth it. I bought both red and clear tail light bulbs to test side by side and the red bulbs looked brighter. I have LEDs everywhere in mine except the headlights.
Instead of using load equalizers use an electronic flasher. The load equalizers are just resistors that generate a bunch of heat. I bought the electronic flasher for $7 it was a pain to put in but worth it. I bought both red and clear tail light bulbs to test side by side and the red bulbs looked brighter. I have LEDs everywhere in mine except the headlights.
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I am doing this all the way backwards then, as I am starting with LED headlights and I am ust doing my homework for the LED interior and tail retrofit.
Thanks for the tip on the electronic flasher. I will add rthat to my shopping list.
LEDs dim a different way than incandescent lamps. They have a threshold voltage and won't work below that. If the current is too high they will burn out.
Incandescent bulb brightness is proportional to temperature -- more current equals brighter. Current increases as the voltage is increased.
LEDs are dimmed by pulsing them at full voltage, called PWM -- Pulse Width Modulation. The wider the pulses the brighter the LEDs. You can see this pulsing on Cadillac (and others) tail lights by moving your eyes back and forth.
Yes, I have read that that the LED's dim in a diferent way. I thought that there as already a way to retrofit an LED proof dimmer into the ash.
I guess I will just do the interior lights for better visibility in the foot wells, doors, map light, and rear cargo area and leave the dash alone so I can still dimm the lights as/when needed.
Also... What's the best way to go color wise under stock red tail lights? pure white? I honestly don't see myself dropping the cash on the cool ones they sell in the Corvette catalogs for my car... I want LEDs because they are cooler (literally, temperature wise) and they don't make plastic lenses all melty like incandescent bulbs do as i found out with my smoke tail light lenses and red 1157 incandescent bulbs on my bike... I also happen to think they look cool if that matters.
If you are going with LED tails, use red LEDs. They will be brighter. If you use white, the red lens is removing the green and blue light and you waste 2/3+ of the photons. With a red LED, all the photons go through.
I don't recommend to use the 2057 LED bulb for the stop lights. I saw no difference in it, but there is a great difference if you buy a new LED stop lenses kit. The cost more and it is worth it.
I cannot agree more. I bought the led bulbs for my stop/turn/taillights and when I installed them in my garage I thought they looked pretty good. The first time I had a friend behind me on a sunny day he told me that he could hardly see my brake lights and that he at first thought they were not working. I went ahead and paid the money for the complete led light assembly with lenses and I could not believe the difference, now my brake lights are visible under the brightest conditions.
Also I second the vote on superbright leds, I have bought many leds from them and have never gotten a bad one.