LED light bulbs

[Haasman]

Anyone use and/or tried LED bulbs, specifically in taillights?

My concern is with almost all cars on the road today having the additional 3rd brake light, our earlier cars don't always appear the same. I was thinking of replacing the brake and turn signal bulbs with some LEd variant.

Haasman

[southbay356]

how directional is the light from a LED bulb ?

SB

[Haasman]

Good question- I found that some LED bulbs have LEDs around the sides to attain reflection off the light housing reflectors. Otherwise it would only be LED bulb illumination not the whole reflective assembly. (Hopefully that makes sense ...)

Haasman

[jameshtaylor]

Do a search on Pelican. There are several threads there. LEDs work brilliantly (!), but you need the right kind, ie super bright and at least 180° coverage. And you need the right color (ie red for a red taillight.) Superbrightleds.com has everything you might want. I used their LX /RX 5 series with 5 watts (a Luxeon 3 watt LED + 4 smaller surface mounts LEDs. 220° degree beam pattern & draws 335 mA on braking.) Comparing the old regular bulb & the new LED bulbs, the LEDs seem ~20% brighter, with good side visibility.

[MTemp]

I think there is also an issue if you use LED's for indicators (turn signals) when using the older flasher units that use the current to generate heat to bend a bimetallic strip that then breaks the connection, cycle repeats etc - that are common in early 911's - the LED's don't generate enough current so either your turn signal lights don't go off, or they flash verrryyy sllloowwwlllyy.

I have used LED's in my dash lights and they are brilliant - in both senses of the word!

Mick

[sithot]

http://www.superbrightleds.com/

I use them in motorcycle applications for tail lights and instruments lights. They will work in a dash but have a tendency to run a bit bright. Great for idiot lights.

Tom