Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Summary: This is an easy & cheap upgrade for those who still have stock tail light fixtures.
While I could buy some cheap 17$ LED pods off of Amazon, and while I'd certainly like to have the 240$ Rigid Industries SR-Q Pro Back Up Light Kit, I took a different route: I replaced my stock 3156 bulb with an LED. It cost me 16$ for two bulbs plus <5$ in s&h. [more on the bulbs later]. While I cannot testify to their durability at this point in time, I do say that I am glad I did this.
I have no instrument to measure the intensities of the stock incandescent bulb nor the LED, so I've enclosed some photos. Sadly, my digital camera does not do justice to the true brightness of the LED bulb. It doesn't even take good night time pictures, but this is the best I've got to show you the differences.
The bulbs are the "3156 LED Bulb - 28 SMD LED Tower - Wedge Base" from https://www.superbrightleds.com. While it is much taller than a normal 3156, it fits comfortably inside our tail light housings. Of note: this bulb is polarity sensitive --> if you plug it in and fails to light, then flip the bulb 180*. There are no polarity markings on the bulb, but you can make your own easily enough. You do not need resistors nor anything else. It's plug-n-play. It just takes a screwdriver & a few minutes of your time.
SuperBrightLEDs shipped promptly & packaged the product very well. Small cardboard box with paper stuffing. The bulbs themselves lay inside an anti-static plastic packet, and the actual diodes on the bulbs had a custom cut foam lining protecting them.
FTR, nobody paid me to write this, nor am I affiliated with SBL.
Cheers!
While I could buy some cheap 17$ LED pods off of Amazon, and while I'd certainly like to have the 240$ Rigid Industries SR-Q Pro Back Up Light Kit, I took a different route: I replaced my stock 3156 bulb with an LED. It cost me 16$ for two bulbs plus <5$ in s&h. [more on the bulbs later]. While I cannot testify to their durability at this point in time, I do say that I am glad I did this.
I have no instrument to measure the intensities of the stock incandescent bulb nor the LED, so I've enclosed some photos. Sadly, my digital camera does not do justice to the true brightness of the LED bulb. It doesn't even take good night time pictures, but this is the best I've got to show you the differences.
The bulbs are the "3156 LED Bulb - 28 SMD LED Tower - Wedge Base" from https://www.superbrightleds.com. While it is much taller than a normal 3156, it fits comfortably inside our tail light housings. Of note: this bulb is polarity sensitive --> if you plug it in and fails to light, then flip the bulb 180*. There are no polarity markings on the bulb, but you can make your own easily enough. You do not need resistors nor anything else. It's plug-n-play. It just takes a screwdriver & a few minutes of your time.
SuperBrightLEDs shipped promptly & packaged the product very well. Small cardboard box with paper stuffing. The bulbs themselves lay inside an anti-static plastic packet, and the actual diodes on the bulbs had a custom cut foam lining protecting them.
FTR, nobody paid me to write this, nor am I affiliated with SBL.
Cheers!
) I'll post some before and after pics.
