Led bulbs for taillights

[Road trip]

I surprised at what a great response I've received from all of you, thank you.

I've learned much here but, I can use

further Advice.

my car is a all oem 1972 2002 and I want to know the exact bulbs to order.

does superbrite know what I need ?

[Lucky 7]

I’ve been in these weeds before. I don’t have a single incandescent left in the car. Some of them took time to sort, but the taillights are pretty simple.
 

Here’s the bulbs I used. Squaretail obviously, but I’d imagine they’re the same for roundies?

 

 

The number code tells you everything you need.

1156-R27-T is a 1156 bulb with 27 red diodes. I used an 18 diode red for the running lights, 27 for brake lights. Reverse and turn both got the brighter 27s.  And yes, match bulb color to lens color, it makes a big difference.  Amber (A) and Natural White (NW) are what you want. 

Mike wisely mentioned the need to replace the flasher. It can be slightly confusing finding the right one, but I used a United Pacific 90650. Works perfectly. 
 

It was a very noticeable upgrade on my car. You can actually see the taillights in the day time now.  And there’s an added benefit of significantly reduced amp load. 

[layers]

High Road Trip--

Superbright LEDs does a pretty good job in telling your options BUT they messed up on the front turn & park bulb.  This one has a double-contact base (BAY15D), not the single-contact base (BA15S) they indicate.  Look for an 1157 equivalent bulb, NOT an 1156 equivalent.

 

I also recommend you get their packet of silicone grease (or other silicone grease) to very lightly apply to the bulb contacts, decreasing the possibility of corrosive contact failure.  And speaking of contact failure, I encourage you to clean the wire contacts where they meet the bulb sockets and also check the ground connections, especially for the front turn lamp socket.

You may also need an LED-compatible flasher for the turn signal lamps; I simply bought a solid-state flasher at my local auto parts store although Superbright LEDs probably also has a good one.  See Chris Blumenthal's article [Solid state flasher application-- Chris B.].

 

Be careful if you replace wedge-based lamps in the instrument cluster.  First off, our wedge-based sockets have the contact polarity different from many more recent sockets.  Lots of wedge-based lamps have one contact on one end of the base and the other contact on the other end.  But our wedge-base sockets have one contact on one SIDE and the other contact on the other side.  That means if a lamp in your hand has one wire that wraps around the base on one end, you need to make sure the contact wire on the lamp is on exactly one side of the base end, not both sides of the base end (and wrap the wire on the other end so it is just on the opposite side from the first contact wire).  Failing to do this will blow a fuse due to the short circuit at the lamp base.  And remember, if you do this and the lamp does not light initially it probably means you need to rotate the lamp 180-degrees to reverse lamp polarity.

 

Another problem with wedge-based LED lamps in our instrument cluster: some are too fat to fit, particularly on the tach and speedometer.  The original glass bulbs are 1cm in diameter while most I see on Superbright LEDs are somewhat larger.  These might fit if you remove the tach and speedometer from the circuitboard so you have access to the front of the lamp tunnel (or maybe not—I have not tried it yet).  See why I call the instruments an adventure?

 

Finally, you should consider the Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) of the white LED’s you select.  The CCT is technically the apparent warmth or coolness of the light emanating from a light source, compared to a black body radiator (think of an incandescent filament in a perfectly absorbing black box, with a peep-hole for you to look through).  CCT is expressed in “Kelvins” similar to the temperature in Degrees-Kelvin of the black body radiator.  Raise the temperature of the black body and the light looks whiter, lower the temperature and the black body looks yellower.  Our miniature incandescent lamps are probably about 2600-Kelvins but most of us prefer closer to 3000K.  Some people like a cooler CCT, such as 4000K, while others want to prove they have a non-incandescent source and select 5000K, 6500K or even what amount to blue LEDs.  The color you prefer is your choice but realize many LED lamps types are available with just a few different CCTs.  Unless you want to make a statement of some sort, keeping the CCTs for your instrument panel consistent (within about 300Kelvins) looks best.

 

OK, this is probably enough for now.  Are you tired yet?

 

[Son of Marty]

One other thing to remember is  with dash led's is the alternator warning light must stay as a incandecent bulb for the charging system to work.

[Mike Self]

12 hours ago, layers said:

Superbright LEDs does a pretty good job in telling your options BUT they messed up on the front turn & park bulb.  This one has a double-contact base (BAY15D), not the single-contact base (BA15S) they indicate. 

They were probably looking at a '68/69 US parking/turn signal assembly, which does in fact use a single contact 1156 bulb for turn signals, and a small, separate bulb for parking lights.  When BMW adopted the bulge style front turn signals for US cars, they went to a two filament 1157 bulb.

 

mike

[deanres]

Here are LED Headlights also, got a bit tired of not being seen... What a beautiful day to drive our beautiful cars!

[HoustonRunner]

1 hour ago, deanres said:

Here are LED Headlights also, got a bit tired of not being seen... What a beautiful day to drive our beautiful cars!

Can you post link or description of those LED headlights?

[Lucky 7]

https://www.amazon.com/UNI-SHINE-Headlight-headlight-Compatible-headlights/dp/B0796QHYSR/ref=asc_df_B0796QHYSR/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312098740701&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16377001387877981034&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9028711&hvtargid=pla-571647297355&psc=1&th=1

 

Looks like these, but you can find lots of variations in the 7” rounds. Wranglers still use that size and theres huge aftermarket support for them. 
 

If you like a stock look but want LED, you can pick up a set of Hella H4 reflectors. Drop in an H4 LED bulb and you’re good to go. 

I initially had some 6500k bulbs, but they were way too blue for an old car. I switched to 4300k and am much happier. And being able to see the road at night is a nice change. 

[AustrianVespaGuy]

3 hours ago, Lucky 7 said:

If you like a stock look but want LED, you can pick up a set of Hella H4 reflectors. Drop in an H4 LED bulb and you’re good to go.

Er, please do NOT do this.  With headlights, LEDs need optics that are designed to work with the LEDs.  While an H4 LED uses the same base, the surface are/position of all the LEDs on there that produce the light is much larger/different than the single small filament of an incandescent H4 bulb.  And when you're producing additional light that is 'outside' of the focal point of the optics, it then gets directed places you don't want it, such as into the eyes of oncoming drivers.  This isn't a problem with tail and turn lights where additional scatter is actually a good thing and the whole point of for other people to see the light, but headlight light needs to be more deliberately focused.  So if you want LED headlights that's fine, but please get a set that comes with the correct 7" packaging and properly designed/integrated optics!

[Lucky 7]

There’s a lot of alarmist chatter along these lines, but mine have a much cleaner cutoff than the old sealed bulbs ever did. All the current LED headlight bulbs are hooded just like an H4 bulb, so they’re not throwing light everywhere. I ran one of each for comparison, glare was no different between the LED and the halogen bulb.  I can’t speak for all bulbs, but the ones I ordered were developed specifically for the 7” round reflector.  They’re also only 4200 lumens, so it’s a modest throw out. With another bulb or a 12,000 lumen setup, your results may vary. 
 

Do your own comparison and come to your own conclusion. Also be aware they’re not strictly legal, so if you care about that, don’t do it.

[M3This]

6 hours ago, HoustonRunner said:

Can you post link or description of those LED headlights?

Both Holly (yes the carburetor company) and Blunt sell options. Both are $399. I like th look of the Holly ones as they look the most OEM but if you want a more modern look Blunt has a semi OEM looking option as well as a much  more modern option. 
 

Holley RetroBright LFRB135 Holley RetroBright LED Forward Facing Light - Classic White (3000K)

WWW.HOLLEY.COM

---

We all love the look of classic sealed beam headlights, but the dim halogen light output makes nighttime driving a...

 

 

BluntTech Industries • 7" LED Retrofit - OE style glass w/ Halogen city lights

WWW.BLUNTTECH.COM

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LED headlight conversion. Bright modern lighting with a factory appearance and excellent cutoff. Delivers 3x more light...

 

 

[Jimmy]

Those "Holley" (they licensed the name to a Chinese manufacturer) LEDs are more "SEMA" garbage. If you want good headlights get Koito H4s with proper incandescent bulbs in them. If you want blurry bright garbage and don't care about other drivers do whatever. 

 

Cheers,

Jim

[Road trip]

8 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Those "Holley" (they licensed the name to a Chinese manufacturer) LEDs are more "SEMA" garbage. If you want good headlights get Koito H4s with proper incandescent bulbs in them. If you want blurry bright garbage and don't care about other drivers do whatever. 

 

Cheers,

Jim

For the tail lights ?

[MarcD]

10 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Those "Holley" (they licensed the name to a Chinese manufacturer) LEDs are more "SEMA" garbage. If you want good headlights get Koito H4s with proper incandescent bulbs in them. If you want blurry bright garbage and don't care about other drivers do whatever. 

 

Cheers,

Jim

 

Dapper makes an LED head light that has a really nice cut off and doesn't blind other drivers. I have been using dapper lighting for LED head light conversions on Datsun's and now I have a set in my BMW. Excellent product. The optional halo lights seem to give the purists a stroke but it's hard to argue against the onward turn signal visibility. Personally I don't care too much for the halo but the turn singal function gives the dangerous idiots ones more opportunity to see you.

[M3This]

10 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Those "Holley" (they licensed the name to a Chinese manufacturer) LEDs are more "SEMA" garbage. If you want good headlights get Koito H4s with proper incandescent bulbs in them. If you want blurry bright garbage and don't care about other drivers do whatever. 

 

Cheers,

Jim

Hate to break it to you but pretty much all lighting is made in China these days. Holly owns Morimoto who is the company that makes the lights. My father used some in his classic Bronco build and they are not blurry at all and work fantastic. Also they come in classic yellowish white colors and pure white so you have the option of color type.