LED taillights

dotcentral · Post by **dotcentral** » July 29, 2007, 6:17 pm

I was at NPD yesterday, buying a few parts for the 71 & 66. I asked the guy waiting on me about the LED bulbs they are selling. How good they are, if they are street legal in NC, are they really brighter, any complaints. I am always worried someone is going to rearend me and claim they couldn't see the brake lights.

The guy @ NPD said they sell a few, here and there. He also said no one ever complains or wants to return them so they figure they are pretty good. I bought a pair of the 12 bulb/diode led style, to replace the 1157 brake/tail lights. Well, I must be the first to not like them. These are actually less bright than the cheapie lights I bought from the Exxon station. There are also 24 bulb and 36 bulb versions, but each individual led is pretty dim, so can't imagine those would be much better.

I will return the unopened one, and trade it in on the halogen version of the 1157. Supposed to be 33% brighter light as a tail light, and 156% brighter as a brake light. I will post what I find.

shawns fords · Post by **shawns fords** » July 29, 2007, 6:26 pm

I dont like them either, but its because they are bright, I dont know why yours arent so bright, the ones ive seen on other vehicles around here are usually alot brighter than the ol 1157s. are you putting one that fits in the 1157 socket and just sits in the OE spot? mabye the lenses dont allow the led to come through well enough, the ones ive seen usually have a lense as well

dotcentral · Post by **dotcentral** » July 29, 2007, 6:36 pm

The LEDs look to me to be the same brightness without the lense, but less bright with the lense installed. This was with the truck not running, the key was on the accessory switch. Maybe that had an impact?

These are pretty thick lenses, with those thick circular grooves. Maybe the grooves help the regular bulbs and work against the LED's? Maybe a different brand of LED would be better. I am thinking the halogen will do better, just hope it doesn't add a lot of heat.

shawns fords · Post by **shawns fords** » July 29, 2007, 6:40 pm

yup I bet the lenses have an effect on the LEDs that old plastic is alot thicker than the newer stuff, I put an old set of lenses on my 69, polished them up with my dremel polishing wheel and cleaned em up really nice, it made a huge diff from the old lenses the entire red lense was lit up with the new 1157s I think I had a pic somewhere on here ill look for it and post if its there

Truckfarmer · Post by **Truckfarmer** » July 30, 2007, 9:49 am

I put a set of the replacement bulbs in my 66 3-4 years ago and I can't see any difference. I am paranoid of someone hitting the back of my truck too. I bought a "Line of Fire" LED strip that mounts under the tailgate. It can be hard wired or simply plugged into your trailer wiring. This light bar has running lights, turn signals, and brake light functions. SlickStock participants got to see it. Started out at about $150 but I have seen them for $49 lately. Got mine at JC Whitney during their annual show. Also check Summit, Cabelas, or Jegs.
Talked to vendor when I was in Minneapolis about a LED panel that will fit inside our lens. I will give an update as soon as he and I finalize the plan. They have round units for the fridge beds and the one we are considering might fit in the Uni lens.

kstones63 · Post by **kstones63** » July 30, 2007, 11:01 am

dotcentral,
Did you buy red LED or clear LED???? When I bought my used Harley the taillight was really dim. I took the cover off and found that someone had put a red LED bulb in but left the red cover on which should have been replaced with a clear cover for the red bulb. Good Luck
kstones63

dotcentral · Post by **dotcentral** » July 30, 2007, 11:07 am

They have a red look to them, but no covering. I will take a pic this evening and post, but they are shon in the NPD catalog in the lighting section. It has 12 tiny LED lights, sticking out of about a 1" wide disc. The backside of the disc has a 1157 bulb type fitting, for plugging into the light socket.

dotcentral · Post by **dotcentral** » July 30, 2007, 11:09 am

Truckfarmer wrote:I bought a "Line of Fire" LED strip that mounts under the tailgate. It can be hard wired or simply plugged into your trailer wiring.

I thought about one of those. Might be the easiest in the long run.

kstones63 · Post by **kstones63** » July 30, 2007, 8:39 pm

dotcentral,
If the bulbs shine red you should have a clear lens over them if such a thing is made. The red lens with a red bulb will make the light appear dim. Maybe consider these lights plus the "Line Of Fire" lens under the tailgate. This way you know that you will be seen.
kstones63
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63 F100 Project
29 FOrd Sedan Delivery

Moose · Post by **Moose** » July 31, 2007, 12:18 pm

I'm going to build my own board for my 66.

Moose

Gator · Post by **Gator** » August 3, 2007, 7:58 am

I bought some for my slick, they are a whole lot brighter than the regular bulbs on mine. The leds i bought are the red, from pep-boys. 12 or 15 count,i cant recall.

I need to get a no load flasher though, the leds dont draw enough voltage to blink.

Where is a good place to buy a no load flasher?
There is some on Hotronics.com, but i am wondering if there is any where that is cheaper?

Paul Merrell · Post by **Paul Merrell** » August 3, 2007, 7:31 pm

You do need a differant flasher. We have seen some problems with the rear led lights on Kenworth trucks. We found one of the led lights had shorted out and caused the other lights to burn but not blick and the flasher was ok and all the leds burned in the bad light but we replaced it and it fixed the problem. But big trucks see more miles than our truck will ever see so they should be ok but keep in mind crazy things can happen.