racerx520

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys, I've seen a lot of threads about using LED plug in bulbs on the outside. Was wondering what bulbs y'all are using mainly for rear turn signals (I have sequential turn signals and would like to make then more pronounced). Seems like every post I find in search uses something else so wanted to see if there was a most popular one. Thanks guy!

Firebat

iTrader: (7)

I went with the red ones from superbrightleds.com. I buy all my LED's from there and they are a USA company out of Missouri. Just bought them when they had their last sale over Memorial Day. They have a site wide sale usually on every major holiday. This is the one I went with: https://www.superbrightleds.com/more.../attributes/13

They also make a longer and brighter bulb but I didn't think it would fit for all the bulbs.

I have 82 TA tails. The unexpected difference I noticed is just how much more red the LED's are. The stock setup looked orange compared to the LED bulb setup.

Where did you get your sequential light kit from?

racerx520

iTrader: (1)

Thank you! i bought my kit off a member here who used to build them about 6 years ago.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

I second superbrightleds.com. I buy all my LEDs from them too. Most of their bulbs carry a 3 year warranty too, last I looked anyway.

Hawkeye1980

iTrader: (3)

Are all your exterior lights, tail, brake, reverse, turn and headlights LED? If so how does it look? Thinking about doing the same for my 89 formula 350. thanks!

scooter

iTrader: (11)

Mine are in my 92. I love them, they are brighter and more vivid than regular incandescent bulbs since you match the color of the LED to the lens. Almost every bulb in the entire vehicle is LED now. I just have the HVAC control, the headlight switch ambient and the switches for the fog etc

Drew

iTrader: (58)

If it makes you feel better, there's a 50/50 chance the mini-bulbs in the switches are already LEDs. Some are, some aren't. If you look at the back of the switch, the bulb holders are visible, they turn 1/4 turn, and drop right out of the switch. The leads of the bulb or the LED wrap around the holder and press against the contacts when they're turned and locked into place.
Pretty sure the headlight switch light isn't incandescent either, for some reason I'm thinking it's neon. FWIW.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

Thanks, but I want blue, lol. The Headlight switch is a "grain of wheat" bulb, definitely incandescent. And I have the 91/92 switches that I am looking to change to blue, and there is an orange film behind the icons for the function, so I need to get new overlays made up, that is the issue and not the actual lighting. The headlight switch is just that I have been working on other projects and haven't gotten to doing a spare illuminator to swap into the car. It is the only car that I have complete and whole at the moment, so I don't like doing project on it, lol

Drew

iTrader: (58)

I found your problem. Yeah, the color change opens up a whole other world of issues.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

I don't mind the stock indicator colors, like the fog light indicator, but the actual button backlight is what I am changing. I did the whole dash already, have to re-do some of it because it didn't come out like I wanted, but I much prefer it over the stock orange.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Amber/Orange/Red are best for not impairing night vision. Seems every other car I drive, I end up turning the dimmer nearly all the way down so I can see.

I'm biased though. After four or five years driving Camaros, I was thrilled to get into a Firebird with improved dash lighting.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

Yeah me too. I actually put a PWM controller in the dash, but I think I am going to "upgrade" the dimmer in the car and eliminate the factory amplified resistor setup and replace with a PWN controller in that spot so it works like stock. I actually want the gauges to be white and blue, getting it to look "right" is going to take a little work. I know orange/yellow/halogen is better for night vision, but since I have LED/HID lights in all my vehicles I don't feel that it makes a difference on the inside

Firebat

iTrader: (7)

Tail Lights -
Pros - The red LED's in the tails make the stock bulb setup look orange-ish red on my 82 T/A tail lights. A more true Red color with red LED's. Also tried some spare 85-90 TA tails out but didn't notice a big color difference as much on those.
Con - The LED brightness of the brake light and park light isn't much of a difference.

Reverse Lights
These always seem to make a huge difference on any car I install them on except my 82 TA tails. The inner reverse lens is very tinted so reverse light output is terrible on the 82's. I modified a 85-90 TA inner reverse lens by trimming it to fit into my 82-84 TA tail lights to correct the problem.

Others
Haven't installed the fronts yet and am not installing LED headlights. The 194 LED bulb I installed for the license plate - lights up the ground behind the car because it's so bright and may have to go with a less intense bulb or cover part of the bulb housing.

Hawkeye1980

iTrader: (3)

I am ok with my interiors, maybe the map lights can go LED. But the outside headlights, makers, turn, brake and reverse intrigue me greatly. Got any pics?

racerx520

iTrader: (1)

hey guys, got a new question for you! so i got my LED lights shortly after this thread started, and finally got them in. The rear lights work well, but when i put in the front turn signal/parking lamps, they don't dim, and causes the rear running lights to go full brightness too. If i put the incandescent bulbs back in the front, the lamps all work properly. Was hoping for some blind diagnostics since I dont have that much knowledge with this. I don't know why the electrical system would react like this.

Superbrightled recommended bulb number 1157 for the front and rear, although the stock incandescent bulb number is 2057. Not sure if this means anything at all

scooter

iTrader: (11)

The 1157 and 2057 are essentially the same when you're talking about LED since they draw less current than incandescent bulbs. I have LEDs in EVERY outside socket, and I only have problems with two because they aren't made properly to the 1157 specification, the locating/orientation pins on the side are off by about 60* in relation to the contact pads for the filaments.

Seems like you might have something else going on since there is no logical reason for the car to do what you're describing, just by swapping LED bulbs in

I also bought all my bulbs from superbrightleds

paulo57509

You didn't mistakenly order bulbs for a CAN Bus system?

racerx520

iTrader: (1)

I just checked the box and it says VAC and not CAN. These were the ones they suggested on their website. I tried cycling the bulbs 180* in the event somehow I forced it in wrong and couldn't turn it, but just pushing it down was still full bright. Idk what's going on here

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

If by "dim" you mean they dont blink when the signal is on.Thats because you need a led flasher or you have to incorporate a resistor/relay. Most plug in LEDs in your signal will do this,im using a resistor/relay for my LED boards up front and a LED flasher for the taillights.
Whats really happening though is the LEDs are blinking really fast, but the human eye cant pick it up.So the resistor (or LED flasher) will slow down the blink rate enough for our eyes/brain to notice it.

Hawkeye1980

iTrader: (3)

is there any company that sells an entire exterior and interior kit for the Third gens? This is a winter project for me and I want to start with the exterior of my car. thanks

racerx520

iTrader: (1)

a few years ago i replaced the stock thermal flasher with an electronic flasher. From what i understood, it didnt use the circuit breaker like the thermal one, instead it was a timer. If thats the case, then it should be already working properly, right?

scooter

iTrader: (11)

If you have a stock bi-metallic flasher and replace with LEDs, this is NOT what is happening. The LEDs don't draw enough current to make the bi-metallic strip to heat up and open and break the circuit. Only with newer cars do LEDs cause the signal to "hyperflash", but it's usually just a lot faster than intended, not so fast that it is not visible to the brain. "LED" flashers work on a timer, not a resistive circuit.

vinny R

Yes you are correct on the electronic flasher. if you have one it should work fine with LED's. Check ALL of your bulbs that are in the tail sockets. Our system ties all the lighting together and with LED's unlike conventional bulbs, these bulbs have to all be seated properly for the entire system to function properly. You could have one of the others off and it will not complete the circuit. When I was changing all mine out I had a issue where my passenger side rear turn signal did not seat properly and it affected the whole system to the point where the electronic flasher would not work at all. My front parking lights would barely light up and both get really bright when you engaged the flasher and nothing on the rears. Also make sure your bulbs are not bottoming out @ the top of the socket. Some of the bulbs I tried this was the case, they did not seat all the way down and those always caused me issues. I settled on LUYED 900x2 superbrights. from amazon. It has been over a year now and all my exterior socket lights work flawlessly.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

This is not true. All the bulb are in parallel, not series. I have one bulb out right now and they are all the same brightness.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

From what i've seen 57 style bulbs have two contacts on the bottom, 56 type have one contact.1157 have two offset prongs on the sides, 1156 prongs are even. Point i'm trying to make, if you put a 56 type into a 57 socket or vise/versa funny things happen when the lights are used.If the socket has one contact at the bottom its a 56 style, two contacts is 57 only.So make sure you have the right LED bulb in the socket.

Another thing i noticed when i had just a LED bulb in either brake/tail or the marker/signal (57 style) was the LED barley "blinks" or gets brighter when the signal/brake was in use.You couldn't even tell unless you were really close to the lamp.I eventually gave up with those things and just modified some LED boards for the front/side markers.In back, i bought those cause thats way above my skill level to pull off.

paulo57509

I don't know how helpful they would be but you might try contacting Superbright's tech support.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

This is the problem I have with two bulbs I got from VLEDs, the two prongs are not the correct theta to the contacts on the bottom. So the left front turn signal is bright the whole time when the lights are on since the contact touches the wrong terminal

racerx520

iTrader: (1)

thank you everyone for your help. I'm going to take a better look at the socket and front bulbs sometime in the near future. Since the system works fine until i replace the fronts with LED, i figure this is a decent jumping off point (plus if i start at the back i need to pull my subwoofers again to access the bulbs). I think i will have to take a good look at the bulbs and make sure the two prongs are not somehow lining up wrong.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Can you file down the "wrong" prong, so only the correct one is left. This should at least allow the bulb to install properly. Also if you look into the 1157 socket there are two slots for the prongs. One slot is higher than the other, due to the offset height of the prongs. So its pretty hard to install an 1157 180* the other way, but not impossible. If you remove one of the prongs be sure the remaining one is in the correct slot.

1156 slots are even, both prongs at the bottom of the base. So those can go in either way.

vinny R

This is the issue I had with mine scooter and I guess I thought they were all wired together. I was using Pilot bulbs at the time and when I pulled it out one of the bottom contacts was sitting kinda sideways and not making contact or maybe touching the other contact, not spaced out properly. It seems that with these socket bulb LED's they really have to be right fit and you really have to pay attention to this when installing the bulbs

scooter

iTrader: (11)

The problem is not one, but both tabs/prongs. The base needs to be rotated, like I said the theta of the prongs to the terminal connections is wrong. Not really something that can easily be fixed, though I really only have the issue with the front two turn signal housings. It is strange that I have the issue on one side and not the other though. I can just stick the bulb in without rotating it and it will work properly, but then it will vibrate loose while driving.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Got any pics?

paulo57509

FWIW, this is what Scooter is referring to. It's the relationship of the pins relative to their angle to the bulb contacts. Based on my experience with LED auto bulbs, I wouldn't discount this kind of poor quality control. I'd be interested in seeing pics of racerx's LED bulbs too.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

Yes, that is it exactly

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

I know what he meant, but was hoping for an actual pic. Ive swapped bases on LEDs w/a bulb base.The two leads (brk/tail) are soldered to the bottom contacts, ground is soldered to the base. Break the glass on a bulb and use that base.

racerx520

iTrader: (1)

going to try to get a picture of the bulb today or tomorrow.

racerx520

iTrader: (1)

It's a poor photo that I took quickly while running out the door, but this is the bulb

paulo57509

Because of the angle the image was taken at, it's hard to say of the pins/contacts are incorrectly clocked with respect to each other. But it looks out of whack.

Thinking out loud here....put a small length of tape across one of the bulb contacts and install the bulb. See if the problem persists.

racerx520

iTrader: (1)

I compared it to a 2057 I had and the line up is the same. Which makes me wonder if I need a resistor then. And how to test this theory before buying one

Chris Knight

iTrader: (2)

Got a quick question about the Electronic Flashers. Been doing some reading around and can't get a solid answer on which ones will work. For instance, some folks claim the flasher has to have a ground wire connected to be "truly" electronic. Yet the one on superbrightleds.com is not and multiple folks recommend and say it works. Also, mixed signals on the Novita LL-552 and EL-12 -- some say they work with all LED setups, others say it has to be LED and incandescent in the mix.

Link: https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...asher/779/833/
Link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Pin-Prong...ss!24015!US!-1
Link: https://www.autozone.com/electrical-...ll552/849393_0
Link: https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b...r/el12/4542954

All of these are comparable in price so ~$25 for a pair. Don't want to be buying one that doesn't work the first time, especially since the auto parts stores wouldn't accept returns on theirs. Which one(s) will work guaranteed? Thanks in advance!

vinny R

I used the one you list from E-bay, the round one with the ground wire. Have had it in for a couple years and works great.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

I am using this one with all LED bulbs. there is a possibility that the polarity in the socket was reversed and I had to swap the two terminals though. I know I had to swap terminals in my 69 Suburban aftermarket wiring harness, but I don't remember whether I had to in the Firebird

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

One each for the signal and flashers, both work fine.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-20A-2-P...7334ffb8e13682

Chris Knight

iTrader: (2)

I did happen to find this flasher unit as well.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Prong-Ele...sAAOSwTxJdkm6c

According to the manufacturer website (http://www.ef32rl.com/home.html), this flasher will work regardless of the polarity of the terminals. The good news is the website also goes into a quick detail of how to check the polarity of the terminals.

Interesting. The EF32 unit 84 1LE shared has no ground wire, while the EF32RL unit vinny R uses has a ground wire. Only other difference in the listings I can see is the EF32 ($6) has a max of 20 Amp and the EF32RL ($11.5) has a max of 25 Amp (maybe that's why it needs a ground cable?). Or am I missing something?

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

In this auctions description it says to order that flasher (ef32rlnp) if you don't know your vehicles wiring arrangement. I'm not switching, but if you have concerns maybe that's the safest route.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Relay-LED-C...r/264107177638

fteufert

What about instrument panel LED's?
https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...20&scc_id=1416

Should I go with the 3000K, 4100K, or 6500K?

I am planning on red LED's.

Thanks

paulo57509

If you're wanting red LED's, the color temps you mention are irrelevant.

Those temp colors are different "shades" of white.

fteufert

So which ones do I buy?

The "lower" K so it isn't as white?

These are for my cluster

paulo57509

fteufert

Thanks Paulo......

that was pretty stupid of me to not notice