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I don't think that you will be able to corner the market with the trailer lights. Too many proud Corvette owners will not be caught dead with the trailer light installed on their Vette. They rather paid the big time Corvette tax and be able to tell everyone that they paid a lots of money for it. (Walking with chest sticks up in the air)
(Joking).
Good job guys! These came out better than I expected from the initial assessment of the taillights. It sounded like they weren't going to fit just right.
As for the "Corvette Tax," I did spend about double (maybe a little more) what it is costing for this. But I also got mine with the halo mod which I think is a very valuable mod. When moving from the ridiculously bad stock taillights, I wanted to make sure people behind me saw a difference between my lights and brake lights. That and it was a simple plug and play. I think it took me 5 minutes total and that included opening my beer and taking pictures of the process.
If I didn't care about the halo mod and I was more comfortable splicing wires, this would be the way to go.
Good job guys! These came out better than I expected from the initial assessment of the taillights. It sounded like they weren't going to fit just right.
As for the "Corvette Tax," I did spend about double (maybe a little more) what it is costing for this. But I also got mine with the halo mod which I think is a very valuable mod. When moving from the ridiculously bad stock taillights, I wanted to make sure people behind me saw a difference between my lights and brake lights. That and it was a simple plug and play. I think it took me 5 minutes total and that included opening my beer and taking pictures of the process.
If I didn't care about the halo mod and I was more comfortable splicing wires, this would be the way to go.
Tdogg21,
I was surprised at how good it came out, also it was very bright even during the daylight driving. I am going to break down one of my spare unit and see if I can do some other mod to it or add some more leds.
I was surprised at how good it came out, also it was very bright even during the daylight driving. I am going to break down one of my spare unit and see if I can do some other mod to it or add some more leds.
I'm planning to do exactly that. I was messing around with 3D printing during the summer trying to make new reflectors and came up with this look which I really like. With these cheapies I'll break one apart and see if I can get the same look.
just received my 6 will install when hyperflash unit arrives . I think they look great . took out one tail light and set the led in its place , nice fit
If any of you have already installed these..........save me some time if you would ;^)
New LEDs Wire Color Functionality:
White = Ground
Black = 12VDC (Tail light)
Red = 12VDC (Brake or Turn or Brake / Turn Combination)
---------------------------------------
OEM tail lights:
Left lamps have:
Brown connects to the LED ? wire
Black(ground) connects to the LED white wire
Yellow connects to the LED ? wire
---------------------
Right lamps have:
Brown connects to the LED ? wire
Black(ground) connects to the LED white wire
Green connects to the LED ? wire
brown wire is tail light - goes to black on all lights
yellow is turn and brake - goes to red on left side lights
green is turn and brake - goes to red on right side lights
brown wire is tail light - goes to black on all lights
yellow is turn and brake - goes to red on left side lights
green is turn and brake - goes to red on right side lights
Thanks so much Mitch45
Jim
So if I understood you;
OEM tail lights:
Left lamps have:
Brown connects to the LED BLACK wire
Black(ground) connects to the LED White wire
Yellow connects to the LED RED wire
---------------------
Right lamps have:
Brown connects to the LED BLACK wire
Black(ground) connects to the LED White wire
Green connects to the LED RED wire
Left lamps have:
Brown connects to the LED BLACK wire
Black(ground) connects to the LED White wire
Yellow connects to the LED RED wire
---------------------
Right lamps have:
Brown connects to the LED BLACK wire
Black(ground) connects to the LED White wire
Green connects to the LED RED wire
Well, they turned up this afternoon - and they do not suck :-)
Although my original assessment from the images online were that they were using the exact same plastic molds as the OE GM ones, this does not seem to be the case. The C5 ones are slightly domed, whereas the LED ones are flat in profile. This does not seem to make a difference when mounted, and you would not recognize the difference if you'd not been told.
I broke apart one of the lamp which was thankfully an easier task then the OE ones (thermonuclear blast would not separate those reflectors from the lenses). Once apart I can see that each has 52 red led's and the usual resistors. There is no separate brake and marker lamp, just the same collection is set to be brighter under braking.
The quality seems to be reasonable, at least what I can see. Considering these are $10 each, quality is phenomenal!
From my side, I like to modify things, and these lend themselves quite well to this. There is a groove around the out side of reflector that I can very simply push a string of red 12v from the ebay (for less than a few dollars). Connecting that up to a 12v power source I can easily reproduce a halo like effect.
One thing I don't like so much is the white reflector which really lights up the tail lights from behind. I think though it would be fairly easy to dim it down a bit. If you like darkened taillights then these would be good since they are a heck of a lot bright than the OE lights, in fact maybe too bright. On my driveway I lit up a single tail light, and also turned on lights of my 2014 Durango RT which has the 'race-track' LED lights (which look light a pair of glowing sunglasses). In that company the new corvette lights were not so bright. I think modern cars just use brighter taillights using the new trends in LED's, and they just look crazy bright next to the old bulb lamps.
I hope this whole thread has been useful.
RV lights with lense removed
Top view. RV on the left.
Spot the odd one out. This is using my additional LED's pushed into the groove, looking like a halo mod.
Maybe a bit too bright. Note none of the LED's that come with the RV lamps are on in this shot.
Well, they turned up this afternoon - and they do not suck :-)
Although my original assessment from the images online were that they were using the exact same plastic molds as the OE GM ones, this does not seem to be the case. The C5 ones are slightly domed, whereas the LED ones are flat in profile. This does not seem to make a difference when mounted, and you would not recognize the difference if you'd not been told.
I broke apart one of the lamp which was thankfully an easier task then the OE ones (thermonuclear blast would not separate those reflectors from the lenses). Once apart I can see that each has 52 red led's and the usual resistors. There is no separate brake and marker lamp, just the same collection is set to be brighter under braking.
The quality seems to be reasonable, at least what I can see. Considering these are $10 each, quality is phenomenal!
From my side, I like to modify things, and these lend themselves quite well to this. There is a groove around the out side of reflector that I can very simply push a string of red 12v from the ebay (for less than a few dollars). Connecting that up to a 12v power source I can easily reproduce a halo like effect.
One thing I don't like so much is the white reflector which really lights up the tail lights from behind. I think though it would be fairly easy to dim it down a bit. If you like darkened taillights then these would be good since they are a heck of a lot bright than the OE lights, in fact maybe too bright. On my driveway I lit up a single tail light, and also turned on lights of my 2014 Durango RT which has the 'race-track' LED lights (which look light a pair of glowing sunglasses). In that company the new corvette lights were not so bright. I think modern cars just use brighter taillights using the new trends in LED's, and they just look crazy bright next to the old bulb lamps.
I hope this whole thread has been useful.
RV lights with lense removed
Top view. RV on the left.
Spot the odd one out. This is using my additional LED's pushed into the groove, looking like a halo mod.
Maybe a bit too bright. Note none of the LED's that come with the RV lamps are on in this shot.
Andy,
Nice write up. I am going to use the RV light like this for a bit, then I am going to look and see about doing some mod to it.
Just in case for those of you that get a Active handling error after you install the LED lights. Check your wiring. I had one of my ground wire connected to the wrong wire and it cause the Active handling to err out. But after I reconnected the wire to the right place, It is all good and no issue.
Just remember the White wire on the LED is ground. That should connect to the black wire on the car on both side. Brown wire is your tail light that should connect to the black wire on the LED. then Yellow/Green connect to the red wire on the LED.
Skyhawk23 - After messaging you I double checked my wiring , it was all correct . While I was wiring the leds in I also wired in a third brake light flasher ( same type I put on my 08 Impala ) .
That was what was causing the AH code . Removed it and all is right with world . I will have to figure out what size of resistor to put in that circuit to make it work .
As for the led lights - they are bright to say the least . I doubt if many C5 owners will even notice the difference unless they are behind us when we step on the brake .
Skyhawk23 - After messaging you I double checked my wiring , it was all correct . While I was wiring the leds in I also wired in a third brake light flasher ( same type I put on my 08 Impala ) .
That was what was causing the AH code . Removed it and all is right with world . I will have to figure out what size of resistor to put in that circuit to make it work .
As for the led lights - they are bright to say the least . I doubt if many C5 owners will even notice the difference unless they are behind us when we step on the brake .
Mitch45,
I have the third brake light flasher on mine also. No issue at all.
I don't remember the brand. I just get it off eBay. I had issue with the first unit, but then he seller sensed me a replacement unit and it is working fine with the addition of the LED tail lights.
so a week later wonder if any others did this swap ?
Well of course as thread starter I couldn't not do it
...and I love love love them. I dismantled the lights, put a string of red LED's around the outside to give a halo glow. Then I cut some drinking straws to mask each of the original RV leds, and plastidip-ed the reflector black. The rim LED's are the tail lights, and the orginal RV lights are the brakes. The only sad thing is it is really difficult to take a photo of LED's with a digital camera, it just washes them out. These photo's look pink, but IRL they are a beautiful blood red. Could not be happier, and for about $10 a light plus another $2 in ebay's finest 12v red strip leds i'm a happy man. Keep sneaking out to the garage to put my lights on
'Halo' lamps.
It looks like one is brighter. It is not. And they are very red, not pink as this digital image suggests.
09-24-2017, 08:48 AM
