LED direct replacement bulbs

[Guest Z Draci]

I came across a website that sells LED replacement bulbs.

Apparently these are direct replacements for regular filament bulbs because they already have resistors built into the bulb itself. The only thing needed would be electronic flashers to replace our thermal ones.

 

I've found a couple threads in the archives discussion this subject. Some people even made their own bulbs out of RadioShack items! Since I do not understand electronics, I've opted for these direct replacement ones.

 

Would these bulbs work in my 240Z?

From what I found, my taillight cluster has four 1157 bulbs--three red and one white (for reverse).

My front turn signal is also a 1157.

The sidemarkers are 97--two red, two amber.

The interior dome light is a festoon type 3175.

The instrument clusters all have 1445.

 

Please correct me if I stated any of the above wrong.

Also, from what I understand you must get matching colors for the LED and lense. In other words, the replacement LED bulbs for your taillights must be red and not white. I've heard that the white is so bright that it will bleed out the red color of the lense.

 

I think this is a good way to reduce electronic draw at night.

[Ed260Z]

Looks like a good product. Do you know anyone who might have used them? I'm guessing you won't need an electronic flasher with these bulbs. I can't seem to find specific information on their site about it.

[Metallicar]

I ordered an assortment of bulbs from them last week. I am hoping to brighten up my dash, dome, and map lights. I expect the bulbs tomorrow or the next.

 

The web site is a bit clumsey to navigate. Every page has the same menu, so if you click a link to something, the page reloads but looks like the same page until you scroll down more than a screen full.

 

The guy does have a technical page discussing the need or no need for electronic flasher.

[AK-Z]

beatcha to it. I kinda hard wired them in.

[Guest Z Draci]

Let us know how the bulbs are. I haven't even gotten around to ordering from them yet.

 

I was reminded of the LED bulbs when I saw a Aston Martin DB9.

That car has the most beautiful dash panel ever created . . .

"POWER . . . BEAUTY . . . SOUL"

[Lunar240z]

beautiful as heck

[Metallicar]

I finally had a chance to install the new Led bulbs. I am disappointed. Maybe my own fault, climbing a learning curve.

 

 

First, I installed a led Festoon bulb for the dome light. The bulb I ordered is 1 -3/8†long and has four (4) leds in it. The light certainly was white. Because the leds are small, inside the festoon, once inside the dome lamp lens, the light was diminished to just a single spot on the lens. Perhaps I should have considered trying to install one of the 1- ¼†9 led units @ $8.99.

 

 

 

I then installed new green led bulbs in the three small gauges. First I merely remove the old bulbs and installed the new ones. Yes, because I was hoping for a stock look, I choose green bulbs. The gauges certainly looked green! A nice green, but very dim. The bulbs, I used here are the BA9s Inverted Lens.

 

 

I then removed the gauges, disassembled each one, and removed the green lamp diffuser in each gauge and reinstalled. Of course, in my haste as I pried the little green things out of each gauge, I broke off the little buttons located on the wings that retain the lens, making re-installment nearly impossible. Once the bulbs are installed without the green filters, they did brighten up to be about equal in light emission as the yet untouched speedo and tach lamps, just greener.

 

 

One highlight, the ashtray light now has a White BA9 Focused Lens. The blue diffuser creates a very nice glow. Since I stopped smoking weed, the lid stays closed, now that I keep loose change in there.

 

 

It seems pointless for me to insert a picture of this, now. Once I find the right bulb selection, I will. Maybe I should try one of the 4 led cluster 1895 BA9 bulbs, which are focused or maybe a frosted BA9. Perhaps after I overspend my budget on these relatively pricey led lamps, I will be back to cheap colored bulbs.

[Cruez]

On the festoon bulb, could it be possible to turn it upside down and line the top with foil to allow the light to disperse??? (I can't remember what the inside of the light looks like... just that the original bulb got freakin HOT! )

[Metallicar]

In my dome lamp assembly, the light diffuser/switch pops out of the roof trim. The trim cavity has no reflective element at all. Perhaps I should try applying some foil tape in there.....

 

On second thought, the wire terminals are naked and perhaps too close for comfort. I could inadvertently short something out. But this is just a thought. I will investigate this tomorrow. Of course the wimpy bulb I bought with 4 leds instead of the nine leds is a waste.

 

I need to edjumacate myself before I order more of these bulbs. I really would like to see some light like AK-Z has! As I said earlier, I am trying to keep a stock look, so I am keeping the black gauge faces. I would love to see green lighting. If I took a picture of my dash in the daytime, you would never see any lighting, unlike AK-Z's picture.

 

I just got home from work, it is now dark here at about 5:00pm. My gauge lights hurt my eyes they are so dull, could be tears though, damn lights, why do they suck so much?

[Cruez]

I forgot about the open terminals....

 

If it was worth the effort, you can get liquid electrical tape and most hardware stores now, you could cover most of it... and it adds protection !!

 

I need to investigate a better interior light also while I'm reworking the wiring..

[Ed260Z]

Sorry to hear that they didn't work as well as you thought they would. I was hopeing for some good news, as I to am looking to add some life to my interior lights. Se La Vi.

[Metallicar]

I am not giving up, yet. I am going to try these,

 

Instead of these,

 

Perhaps the multi led buld will scatter enough light to do the trick. The multi led bulb is $6.99 vs. the inverted $2.99. Though I am thinking of just adding additional bulbs to each gauge. Adding addtional holes in each gauge should not be too bad of a job. I would splice in addtional bulb socket/ pigtails at one point in the stock wire harness. Maybe use bullet connectors and connect them with bullet multiplier connector so I don't actually pierce the factory wiring. Since the led lights are smaller and cooler in temp, it may work just as well.

[Ed260Z]

Has anyone tried their exterior LED's yet?

[Guest Z Draci]

I am going to order an entire set of these LEDs for my car soon. I am going to buy the largest LED cluster type for each bulb.

 

For the instrument gauges, I'm going to order the white LEDs. The light intensity can be adjusted on the gauges so it might not bleed out the colour. BTW, how many bulbs do each gauge require? I can feel four bulbs each for the speedo and tach. How about the three center gauges?

 

With these LEDs and a relay for my headlights, I think I can prolong the life of my stock wiring harness for a few years more! (It's only a band-aid fix until I have the time to redo the car's entire wiring--which is YEARS away.)

[AK-Z]

you are going to have a problem getting the white LEDs to work. They are going to come out green if you just pop them in there.

 

There is a translucent green piece the the bulb goes into and you either have to remove it or replace it with clear ones.

[Ed260Z]

For the instrument gauges' date=' I'm going to order the white LEDs. The light intensity can be adjusted on the gauges so it might not bleed out the colour. BTW, how many bulbs do each gauge require? I can feel four bulbs each for the speedo and tach. How about the three center gauges?

[/quote']

 

I have a 260Z, Their are 2 bulbs in each for illumination on the Speedo & Tach, and the other 3 gauges have 1 bulb each for illumination.

 

The Speedo has 2 more for the high beam & E-brake indicator, and the tach has 2 for the turn signals. If you have a volt gauge in your car you will need 1 more for the charge indicator. That's 12 bulbs total.

[Guest Z Draci]

you are going to have a problem getting the white LEDs to work. They are going to come out green if you just pop them in there.

 

There is a translucent green piece the the bulb goes into and you either have to remove it or replace it with clear ones.

 

My plan is to keep them green. Even though it's not a very stylish colour, I think they are the best hue for the night . . . maybe except for the BMW amber which works brilliantly in cloudy weather too. I was thinking about the BMW colour but I thought it might be too difficult to get the perfect hue. Green is good enough!

[Guest Z Draci]

I have a 260Z' date=' Their are 2 bulbs in each for illumination on the Speedo & Tach, and the other 3 gauges have 1 bulb each for illumination.

 

The Speedo has 2 more for the high beam & E-brake indicator, and the tach has 2 for the turn signals. If you have a volt gauge in your car you will need 1 more for the charge indicator. That's 12 bulbs total.[/quote']

 

Thank you for the information!

 

I'll let everybody know when my LEDs come in. If they work well, I'll post pictures to share.

[v8260]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/ak-z/DSC01426.jpg[/img']beatcha to it. I kinda hard wired them in.

 

 

did u convert to led to get them like that or did u just change the bulbs?

[AK-Z]

I hard wired them "into the gauges" in combinations of series and parallel circuits. For the speedo and tach I used 6 LEDs and on the other 3 I used 4.

 

They are so bright people can see them driving behind me. I am currently making another set of different style, I'm not going to discribe anything yet, its going to be a surprise.