LED Parking light bulbs???

[Yedi]

toofastforyou, that sounds cool, I'll have to check out that other post. I wonder what the cost comparrison is.

My car is in storage right now, I have had zero problems w/ all the lights, I'm very happy w/them.

 

[Bruce Urie]

Jason! I can't hold back...I have to tell you...looking at your photos of your Regal...Jeez...it's just absolutely AWESOME!!! I just can't believe it, it's beautiful! My mouth is still watering, I'm envious, I can't believe my eyes! What a great job you put into it!!! I'm still in shock. It's fricken BEAUTIFUL! The interior looks just like the cockpit of an F18 fighter jet! The sound system in the trunk, even a partially deaf guy like me would go crazy over it! Real great job! Sorry, couldn't hold back. Those pictures had that affect on me.
Now, finally to my question, where did you order those LEDs from? Address, prices, and can I get the taillight bulbs in red, parking bulbs in amber? Like the other guy here suggested, the reds and ambers would be brighter. Plus, from the side, the rear lenses would seem not to be that bright, as the lenses reflectors inside are designed to reflect a bulb that gives out light all around. An LED shines just out the rear. But, as you have shown, this looks like not to be a problem.
And that dash cover? I like it as it doesn't have that flap that hangs down over on the passenger side over the Turbo emblems. Where did you get that? How much? And can I get it in black? I prefer a black cover as light is not refected from the dash to the windshield as much as a grey one does.
Well, anyway, one AWESOME Regal, you have there, Jason. The engine...jeeze, I have to sign off now, I'm having a heart attack just looking at it!!!!!

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[BlackMetal]

Yedi you should post more details about hooking everything up! I have a feeling I'd have problems getting the flashers to work, haha.

 

[DR BOOST]

i like the car. different from the norm but very nicely done.

 

[Yedi]

thanks for the comments guys.

Turbo6Chicago, everything is very straight forward. just replace the bulbs and replace the flasher w/ the one I listed in the original post, everything works fine.


Bruce Urie, well, I'm glad you like my car, theres been alot of time and money that have gone into it to get it to where it is now, my car is definetly not the norm for the Buick guys, either you love it or hate it. To me it's a custom machine that you will not find another regal that looks like mine, maybe similar but not the same. About my dash cover, I got that a few years back from Bruce over at PTS, he knows a guy that makes them like that, I know what you mean by covering the front of the dash, I dont like that. I'm pretty sure you could get it in black. All the info for the lights is listed above in the previous posts, the lights are bright, but like you said the stock housings cut them down a little, straight on they are very bright. overall well worth it. If you have any other questions let me know...

 

[BlackMetal]

Any chance you could throw in a stock tail/brake light bulb and take a comparison picture with both a bulb and an LED installed in the housing? I know you said the tail lights didn't end up much brighter but I'd hope they help at least a little bit. Comparison would help. My tail light housings are tinted and I'm looking for something brighter to keep the police off my butt.

 

[Yedi]

Turbo6Chicago, to be honest I dont even know what I did w/ the stock bulbs, and it's kind of a pain w/ my trunk kit to remove the tail lights. I think if you went w/ the white bulbs as some of the other guys have said, it would be plenty bright, let alone a different style bulb, there is another style LED that I ended up putting up front which was much brighter than the ones in the pics. I still think you would be happy w/ the ones I put in. People that follow my car tell me you can tell theres somthing different about it.

 

[toofastforyou]

Scott, ("Turbo6Chicago"), I'm also interested in them as I had my taillights tinted like yours...If you do them before me, let me know where you got everything needed from...

Thanks,

Claude :wink:

 

[BlackMetal]

well, the other day I placed an order at CRE Loaded 6 - V-LEDS.COM

Claude, that's where he got them.

Yedi no problem about not being able to do the comparison for me, I understand. A hundred bucks or so is a good deal for this setup. I will probably do parking lights, turn signals, tail/brake lights as well as 3rd brake light.

 

[BlackMetal]

Just placed my order. Brake/tail lights, front side marker lights, front park/signal lights, and 3rd brake light. Will take pix when they get here, we'll see how they look.

 

[Boost231]

please do. from the pics i really like the way the reverse lights look

 

[Yedi]

the reverse lights are killer. they really get attention, they look like HID, very cool. if someone else would posts pics that would be a great comparrison.

 

[scot w.]

toofastforyou, that sounds cool, I'll have to check out that other post. I wonder what the cost comparrison is.

My car is in storage right now, I have had zero problems w/ all the lights, I'm very happy w/them.

The cost comparison is $150 but there is a HUGE differance in the look of the tailights! and that also comes with:
* Limited lifetime warranty ( burnt out LED? replaced at no cost!)
* Full Sequential or Non sequential option by a (Dip switch)
* Total of 160 LEDs (just for the taillights)

Don't get me wrong, The LED bulbs look good on the marker lights! I have bought the LED bulbs for the rest of my marker lights too. But in the back on the tailights you still only see a little round circle that still resembles a bulb so thats why I went with the taillight filled with LEDs along with the Sequential display.

Scot W.

 

[toofastforyou]

RED led's for taillights better than WHITE led's?

Does someone here has ever done this comparison?...I understand what you're saying David, but would like to see real-life results of this.
Although they're very nice and appear very bright on "Yedi"s car (who is very pleased with them), our good friend Scott ("Turbo6Chicago") was kind enough to send me a picture of only one led installed to compare them side-by-side with regular bulbs and he seemed disappointed that the difference is not that big on his car (but he has tinted taillight lenses like mine). Like I told him, there might be several reasons for not seeing a big difference like he was hoping for:
-first, maybe the led's he chose had fewer led's on them or second, maybe it's because of the tinted lenses...and now, after reading David's ("DavzGN") comment about choosing RED led's (which might be another third reason), I'm a little confused as to really WHY aren't they A LOT brighter than regular filament bulbs??...
Can someone help me choosing the right led's?

thanks,

Claude

P.S: Even if "scot w"s full digital taillights might be more "state-of-the-art" than just replacing the stock bulbs with led's, I still do not feel comfortable in having to take the lenses apart from the housings to install them, and then if something goes bad after a while, having to dismantle them again...

Actually you want to match the color of the lens with the LED bulb. A red LED in the taillight will appear brighter than a White LED because the taillight lens will filter out the colors that are not red. So you would want Red for taillights, amber for front parking lights, and white for backup lights.

David

 

[scot w.]

P.S: Even if "scot w"s full digital taillights might be more "state-of-the-art" than just replacing the stock bulbs with led's, I still do not feel comfortable in having to take the lenses apart from the housings to install them, and then if something goes bad after a while, having to dismantle them again...

Well I look at it like this! If one of those bulbs go out you have to take the taillight out anyway, So your halfway there. When it's out guess how long it takes to take spilt the taillight appart to get at the boards? 5min or less!! :smile: and now that iv'e had the prototype here and split different taillights a total of 5 times now without a single problem, and NO issue of them being brittle I don't see an issue at all!!

 

[xrunner123]

LEDs will typically have a 50,000-100,000 hr life span as compare to 2000-3000 hrs for the regular bulbs. I would think that the LEDs would outlast any car.

 

[BlackMetal]

The LED bulbs I chose have 18 on the face and 6 around the outer ring of the bulb, there isn't really an option for a bulb with more LEDs.

There is a 27-LED bulb option, surface mount technology, but at $40 each I wasn't going to experiment with those first.

I'm not really surprised that they aren't brighter. LEDs are dimmer than incandescent bulbs. The LED bulbs try to make up for it by having multiple LEDs pointing in different directions, but the angle of the light output is still way too narrow compared to a traditional bulb that throws light in every direction.

Remember my experience is not typical as I have tinted tail light housings, looking at Yedi's pictures the LED bulbs are clearly good enough for regular unpainted housings.

As much as I like the look of my tinted tails I think I will be switching back to stock. Last thing I need is some moron to rear-end me and end up getting no insurance money for my car when the other drive claims they couldn't see my brake lights.

 

[Yedi]

Here is a link for the style I ended up replacing my original LEDS in the front w/ 2 RED SMT 27 LED TURN SIGNAL LIGHT BULBS 1156 1073 these are much brighter, also cost way more. I would imagine that these would also be much brighter in the tail lights. as far as the color thing, I understand what people are saying about matching the color, but I just thought the white would be brighter, sort of like the original bulb that is shining white light, not red.

This thread has been very informative, thats why I started it. LED's are just going to become more popular as the price drops, and more people find out about them.

Turbo6Chicago, thanks for also posting a pic of the lights, it's nice to see another comparrison, even though yours are tinted.

 

[BlackMetal]

Here is a link for the style I ended up replacing my original LEDS in the front w/ 2 RED SMT 27 LED TURN SIGNAL LIGHT BULBS 1156 1073 these are much brighter, also cost way more.

Yeah, I am considering trying those. Those are the "brightest", one step above the ones I ordered, but also a $30 jump in price. Seems kinda strange that they would get much brighter just from having 3 more LEDs but I guess that surface mount technology really does improve the overall light output so I might order a pair and see if they look better.

I did go with the super bright "surface mount" style for the front two side marker bulbs, since there are only two and they are small bulbs, they weren't as insanely priced. I figure those bulbs are a good candidate for being BRIGHT for a safety factor on the road at night (just in case my HIDs aren't obvious enough!)

 

[jsta6]

Here is what I did:

Lamp Replacement Guide - TurboBuick.Com

I found some 63 LED bulbs on the 'bay for 2 for $15.99.