TOPIC:

Need some help,Newbie here, I have a 79 E1/ST and I bought these (1157) LED BULBS for the tail light , but they don't seem to work and the manufacturer claims they are plug and play , I also bought that LED bulb that rotates then blinks when you stop and it works good. Confused , Ya so am I .ANY HELP IS APPRICIATED.
Here is a pic of the Bulbs.

Post edited by: tsar, at: 2008/02/05 14:27

Post edited by: tsar, at: 2008/02/05 14:33

Here is a pic

Post edited by: tsar, at: 2008/02/05 14:32

I bought a set of those for my truck but found them to be only half as bright as standard bulbs. Factory bulbs use reflector to enhance brightness, light from these shoots straight back so reflector is worthless, hence half as bright. Just my experiance...

Had the same results, the only way to get a lot of light is to custom build a back face and add a bunch of leds in them

tsar wrote:

Need some help,Newbie here, I have a 79 E1/ST and I bought these (1157) LED BULBS for the tail light , but they don't seem to work and the manufacturer claims they are plug and play ,

You mean they don't light up at all or they are too dim?

LED's generally are too dim, and the honest places point that out:

Brightness of LED Car Bulbs
LED bulbs are generally not as bright as standard incandescent bulbs, they have many advantages over filament bulbs (longer life, faster on/off times, lower power consumption, more vivid colors) but brightness is not one of them.

There is exactly ONE and only one LED drop in that is brighter than a standard buld, and it is the 3W Luxeon. I have them on my rear turns and brake. It is REALLY bright.

Not cheap, but worth it.

www.superbrightleds.com/specs/115x-xLX3.htm

Post edited by: bountyhunter, at: 2008/02/05 18:07

Thanx Guys

bountyhunter wrote:

....There is exactly ONE and only one LED drop in that is brighter than a standard buld, and it is the 3W Luxeon. I have them on my rear turns and brake. It is REALLY bright.....

I'll second that... and add my standard take on LEDs:

The only L.E.D. taillights I'll use and swear by:
- The Radiantz 1.85" Direct Base LED cluster from Custom Dynamics, item desc.: "RED, DIRECT 1157 BASE 3205-17"
- The 3 Watt Luxeon 1157 bulbs from superbrightleds.com (My new favorite!)

I'm going to second the Luxeon 3W bulbs - they are the only LED 1157 blubs I've seen that even come close to being bright enough, but boy howdy, they are. They pierce the eyes a bit actually. Note though that they can run at least as hot as the stock bulbs, if not hotter, if I'm not mistaken.

They are expensive, but you never have to worry about them going out again. Also, they make adding a brake light flasher/modulator easier and faster because they have a faster trigger time.

dnpurdy wrote:

I'm going to second the Luxeon 3W bulbs - they are the only LED 1157 blubs I've seen that even come close to being bright enough, but boy howdy, they are. They pierce the eyes a bit actually. Note though that they can run at least as hot as the stock bulbs, if not hotter, if I'm not mistaken.

They are expensive, but you never have to worry about them going out again. Also, they make adding a brake light flasher/modulator easier and faster because they have a faster trigger time.

You have to be very careful and not look at them without the tail light lense in place. SERIOUSLY.

The Luxeons come mounted on an aluminum heatsink which will keep them cool enough. That's the part that screws into the bulb socket.

defiately need to heat sink them, i had 4 of them i used to make a custom brake light and didnt heat sink them, just glued them into the fibreglass seat unit, burnt out 3 of the 4 within 4 rides,

you also need to run resistors to them as they wont run 12v.

Jay_G wrote:

...you also need to run resistors to them as they wont run 12v.

Not sure I understand this...? I just put them in my existing sockets and they work great!

I was Refering to the luxeon LEDs