LED taillight replacement bulbs

[nauidvr1]

I searched all the past threads last night and can't get an answer to the question I have.



I am wondering if your have to put a resistor inline with the bulbs from autolumination.com - specifically the 3057 replacement, SMT Tower 30 High Powered Wide Angle SMT LEDS.



It seems that member Yo Hoot ended up using theses bulbs (as well as others), but Yo Hoot had used other type LEDs before this type and had already installed resistors. There was some discussion about e-mails sent back & forth with the site, but no one could verifiy if the bulbs had to be used with the resistor on a 3rd Gen truck to keep the "Bulb Out" indicator from coming on.

 

[jelag]

I have a thought about these that I'd like to share.....

We have a couple of large trucks that we changed to LED's and they don't draw enough current to generate enough heat in the winter to keep blowing snow from covering the lighted lens... .

If we run with our lights on for safety you can't see a thing from the back of the truck because the snow and drifting snow has covered the LED's... Even though its a PITA we've gone back to the sealed lights that burn out... . but at least we have lights in the rear in the winter.....

Because of this I'd never put LED's on my 5er, work trailers or trucks again... . I want to be seen when the lights are on... .

 

[Okie-Go]

Jim, I would like to have the led lights. Where I live would not have to worry about ice and snow. I have noticed they are bright even in the daytime.

 

[jelag]

OKie-go

I agree about the brightness, and life... but without the heat us here in North where we get snow... . you often get a white coat on the back of a truck or trailer and when its snowing you can't see a thing... you need the heat to keep them melted off and some red lights to the rear..... for safety... . that's all I'm trying to say... .

 

[courierdog]

Well in in the North, Alberta, Canada. Many of us are running LED lighting and as with any light a 360 walk around is required for any vehicle for safety reasons. I have yet to run into any issues where the minimal heat of an incandescent bulb is sufficient to take care of Ice and or Snow. Safety is of prime concern and every stop a driver should perform a 360 of his vehicle, or did someone change the safety protocols. Just my 2 cents.
In Safety Studies it has been found that LED brake lights give an effective 2 seconds reaction time advantage. Defensive Driving schools harp on any and everything which will reduce the response time. Think about it, and give the driver behind you an advantage to stop in time before having you replace not just the bulb but perhaps even more than the whole light assembly. Think About It! From one who drive for a living.

 

[Yo Hoot]

Those tower led replacements are brighter than the stock bulbs. I love them. There is another version that flashes when you apply the brakes.

 

[Shelby Griggs]

You will need load resistors OR at least that is the easy fix, defeats one of the advantages of the LEDS though, namely low current draw!



On the older trucks (my 2001 for instance) a change in the flasher would cure the "bulb out" rapid flash, with the new trucks I don't think it is that simple and the resistors are the "fix".



I have run LED lights on my truck with a flatbed for 8 years and 200K, NO issue with snow and ice buildup. I don't drive in snow as much as some folks, AND there isn't as much cr** thrown up behind a "small" truck like a "big" truck. I wouldn't worry about the heat (or lack of it) on a pickup.



courierdog is spot on too.



SHG

 

[nauidvr1]

Those tower led replacements are brighter than the stock bulbs. I love them. There is another version that flashes when you apply the brakes.

Yo Hoot,

Do we need the 3157 or the 3156 LED for our trucks? Single circuit or Dual circuit. I was thinking that the tail/running/blinker would be the 3157 Dual Circuit, and the Brake would be 3156 - am I right on this or are they all just 3157?



I also assume that for the Brake & taillight I should get the Red LED's and for the reverse lamp get the White LED's.



Did you replace the License Plate bulbs with the 194/168? If so which one fits the best, as they have 3 or 4 different lenghts. Same question for map lights - which one fits best?

 

[JoeHutchinson]

Led

What I did was to just replace everything but the turn signal. It look good, the back up lights are brighter. No fooling with wiring.



Be sure you don't buy light bigger than the hole on the tail light housing



Joe

 

[nauidvr1]

JoeHutchinson,

That worked? I had a lamp out indicator last week and it was the brake light bulb that was out. Will the computer "see" an LED brake light as being out, or as long as there is resistance, it doesn't matter?



Also sounds like if you replaced all bulbs with LED, you only need one resistor inline with the turn signal/running light LED on each side - I was thinking you would need two resistors per side. Good info - Thanks!

 

[CKelley1]

i do not think that is correct i think it will take 3 resistors per side i will try it again using the heavier draw led's to see if it has changed. the resistor goes in parallel with the LED not in series

 

[nauidvr1]

CKelley1,

Member Yo Hoot, has this setup working using 2 resistors per side. I beleive that the back up bulb is not monitored by the computer, so no resistor is needed to "fake out" the computer.

 

[Shelby Griggs]

Selected excerpts from the 2008 Body Builder Guide:



"These monitored outputs

include the headlamps, turn lamps, stop lamps and reverse lamps"



"In order to use L. E. D. lamps in place of the original incandescent lamps you must use a

resistor that matches the original lamps resistance. For the stop/turn function on the 2007

Dodge truck that would be a 6ohm resistor wired in PARALLEL with the L. E. D. lamps.

It is recommended that a 6 ohm 50 watt power resistor be used. "



Read the whole thing http://www.dodge.com/bodybuilder/2008/docs/dcdm/dcdmextlitmod.pdf here

 

[JoeHutchinson]

JoeHutchinson,

That worked? I had a lamp out indicator last week and it was the brake light bulb that was out. Will the computer "see" an LED brake light as being out, or as long as there is resistance, it doesn't matter?



Also sounds like if you replaced all bulbs with LED, you only need one resistor inline with the turn signal/running light LED on each side - I was thinking you would need two resistors per side. Good info - Thanks!

It works fine, I get no error codes



Lights came from superbrightleds.com



I order 1157 R24 red

3157-25 red

3157 w12 white

 

[CKelley1]

thanks nauidvr1

 

[wildbill]

I searched all the past threads last night and can't get an answer to the question I have.



I am wondering if your have to put a resistor inline with the bulbs from autolumination.com - specifically the 3057 replacement, SMT Tower 30 High Powered Wide Angle SMT LEDS.



It seems that member Yo Hoot ended up using theses bulbs (as well as others), but Yo Hoot had used other type LEDs before this type and had already installed resistors. There was some discussion about e-mails sent back & forth with the site, but no one could verifiy if the bulbs had to be used with the resistor on a 3rd Gen truck to keep the "Bulb Out" indicator from coming on.

Did they work out? I tried 3157 bulbs, but none we're dual circuit.

 

[Yo Hoot]

Been a long time. Tried to look up in Gmail exactly what bulbs I have in now but I wasn't using gmail back then. I have to look in my paper records. Funny this came up. These tower LEDs I have had in for many years are now physically deteriorating. Seems like the years of vibrations have taken it's toll on them. One is flickering on the end plate of leds. The other works intermittently. I know it's not the grey mounting strip that is known to go bad because I recently replaced them with new ones. I took the one bulb out and reseated it. Started working fine but now it's out again. I think the long tower style lends itself to vibration damage but I really can't complain since they did last a long time.Going to look at some of the new ones out there now.

 

[MLee]

Question on the color of bulbs your thinking about.
WHY put a red emitting bulb behind a red LENS? I tried it once with red and I was not happy with the results, so I put the old regular ones back in, which was clear white emitting.

 

[Big E]

Question on the color of bulbs your thinking about.
WHY put a red emitting bulb behind a red LENS? I tried it once with red and I was not happy with the results, so I put the old regular ones back in, which was clear white emitting.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/cb/car.lens_color.html