Grog Posted March 15, 2003 Share Posted March 15, 2003 Has anyone tried the LED bulbs offered by Summit Racing? They are stock replacements for the 1156 & 1157 series bulbs, and rund around 10 buck per bulb. I have considered using them for the taillights, but before I drop any cash I think its wise to ask around and get some feedback. I haven;t seen this specific topic raised in previous posts, just some cross-talk on LED modifications to the rear taillight assembly. If these work well, well then the benefits gained are immediately realized. Grog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted March 15, 2003 Share Posted March 15, 2003 Those are also available at the chain auto parts stores. Saves shipping at least. They are more expensive, but should last longer - in theory at least. I must be a geek because I must say, I am impressed when I see those big ugly Cadillacs when their blinkers go on. Very binary: On/Off. No fade in or out. It's a wonder I haven't slammed into one yet (deer in the taillights??) I doubt the bulb replacements would have the same drama though - I haven't bought any cuz they too 'spensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j260z Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 i was checking them out at the autoparts store and they look like a good idea but the ones i saw say "for show only" i don't know why? but that leads me to believe that they may not be legal (like it matters). the visibility on them is awesome though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 ive heard that the led replacment bulbs sometimes don't provide enough resistance to make the blinkers work properly, i dont know if this is true or not but it sounds reasonable. Some one will have to buy them and let us all know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 I actually just made my own LED bulbs tonight. Well, one of the turn signal bulbs that came with the whole light you see above burned out, so I went to a auto parts store to look for a new bulb. Turns out that after going to 3 stores, they do have the same size light but clear, not yellow and only in a 4 watt bulb . So, wanting a brighter turn signal anyway, I went to Radio Shack and picked up some 5mm yellow LED's (2.8 max volt/30mA/1600mcd) and since I was going to wire three in series I picked up the closest single resistor (because space was limited) I could find for the ohms I needed which was a 220 ohm/ .25 watt. Just soldered the three LED's together, next I soldered the resistor in and then soldered this to the bulb socket. I was just able to fit the three LED's and resistor into the hole where the old bulb went. This looks and works great! The only problem now is I want to do this for all my lights , all the other lights just take too long to light up completely. Oh yeah, the cost was around $10 for both turn signals. If you're handy with a soldering iron, then you can make your own LED lights to your own specs. You also have to remember that when purchasing LED's they do have different viewing angles, and since you will be using these for a vehicle, try to get the widest viewing angle you can. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zed Nugent Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 Thats a kewl light, how does it compare to a regular h4 unit brightness/patteren wise, since the relector looks about half the area of a full headlight reflector. can you see the turnsignal at night with the headlight on? give us some pictures "nudge nudge" . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Want aZ Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 I agree, what did the lights come from? I know that isnt stock! So what is it from??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 I've seen those headlights forsale a couple times on ebay. Although I don't recall those having that "foglight" lower bit. Pretty snarfty looking. I'd love to see a shot of them on at night. I ain't no EE by any stretch, but I don't see how resistance would be a necessity with a light except in terms of lowering it as much as possible. The only place on a car elec. system that I know of where a certain level of resistance is required is for the alternator lamp on some systems, such as the pre 99 GM (but like 94,95-98 or something, not everything 98 and older). I'll be trying the LED replacement bulbs whenever my current bulbs burn out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zed Nugent Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 I believe for LED's you use the resistor to limit the current , otherwise it would more or less act as a short and be bright for a millisecond then burn up, ....don't ask me how I know this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 Right - in the LED "bulb" itself, you need a resistor. But the resistance of this unit relative to that of a standard bulb - I don't think that matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 The lights are aftermarket for a VW Jetta. They are not just a bolt in. A lot of work went into making an adaptor to fit these lights perfectly inside the headlight bucket AND use the stock Datsun headlight adjusters. The picture shows that the turnsignal is also a running light, but it's now just a turn signal. The lights that were in my Z before were stock headlights (dim, yellow light), so I really don't have anything to compare these lights to, in brightness that is. I do know that the H4 light I have is 65/100 (if memory serves correctly) and hooked up to the relays they definetly light up the road. Turn on the high beams and it's daylight! I haven't hooked up the fog lights yet, but I have the switch and all the wiring to do it, so hopefully I can hook them up the next time we get some decent weather around here. I tried to take some pictures of the lights at night, but my camera just doesn't take a good picture. Before I switched to the LED turn signals, you could barely see the turn signal at night with the headlight on, but now it shows up real nice. I do have to say the lights look pretty funky , I mean when you are driving down the road at night, you look at the vehicles behind you and at the vehicles coming at you and identify which make and model it is by the headlights it has... well at least I do , now I've stepped out in front of the Z a ways at night and I can't tell what the heck it is by it's headlights 8) . Jeromio, you need a resistor with these LED's or you would fry them with around 13.8 volts from your car. Each one that I bought can only take a max voltage of 2.8 volts. If you run ~13.8 volts through something that can only take 8.4 volts max (the three lights together we're talking here), then most likely it will not work anymore after that . Here, this will help you out some http://www.theledlight.com/technical2.html About those LED bulbs, there was some talk about those in the "taillights" post in the Paint/Body forum. I'll have to go over there and read up on it again, but from what I remember, those LED replacement bulbs didn't work that well. The light from the LED's were the brightest looking at them straight on, and the reflector patern on the plastic lens is designed for normal bulbs with the light being visible almost 180 degrees, so the LED replacement bulbs only had a small bright spot of light visible direclty behind the vehicle. Oh, I was refering to the brake/running lights. BUT, don't take my word for it, I'm just going off memory, which isn't the greatest . !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Want aZ Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Although its been over 20 years since I went to school for this, I do recall that it takes .7 volts for an LED to turn on, or any Diode for that matter, but its true your using the resistor to drop the voltage to the LED's, simple electronics equation that I do remember even though i dont work in the field anymore... E- voltage I - current (amperage, milliamps, etc) R - resistance E/I=R E/R=I IxR=E so your current multipled by the resistance will give you the voltage drop across the resistor... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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