Hi fellow third gen owners ,

Recently , two TGO members PMed me asking about my LED lights . First things first , Sorry for taking so long to respond and I figured rather than typing out a response to each I'd start a thread dedicated to pictures of LED use in our cars . I do still have Halogen "Silverstar" headlights but every other exterior light is an LED . The bulbs themselves are really easy to install , they fit right in the original sockets are were bought from Rock Auto along with the special flashers (one for turn signals , one for 4 way "emergency" lights) that are required for LED use . I bought an extra flasher unit for a spare so when I dig that out of the spare parts storage I'll post up a picture of it . The flasher plugs in right where the original did , and has an "extra" wire coming out of it , that needs to be grounded for the electronic circuit to operate (these flashers use a timer to drive a relay instead of the thermal bimetal element in standard flashers) .

Ok , so here's my first set of LED Firebird pics . In a future post I'll enclose the photos of the third brakelight that one of the gents asked me for . Just an FYI , all the LEDs are clear white light , even though they sell LEDs themselves that light up amber(front) and red(rear) the red and amber LEDs look washed out behind the red & amber lenses already in the car , and the bright white LEDS looked the closest to normal illumination to me .

 

Here's a picture of the LED flasher and the LED replacement for the third brakelight .

 

Using the "colored" LED behind the lens is a much richer color than with the white behind the lens, you lose a lot of the light coming through the lens with the "white" bulbs.

Also, there are two post flashers, you don't have to get the 3 wire ones to work with LEDs

They lose a little of the color from the camera, but they are VERY red and amber

 

Thank You for the reply Scooter .

I guess it's just a personal taste kind of thing , or maybe the difference in housings accounts for the different experience we both have with our LEDs , I found the colored ones far too dim & washed out looking and the clear look plenty bright (and red or amber depending on if your looking at the front or back) . Now bear in mind that my front & rear housings are not from 1989 , more like 1984 so that right there may be the difference .

Also , WRT to 2 VS 3 wire flasher ;

If you use LED units with a built in resistor to mimic the draw of an 1157 (or an external resistor) then yes of course you can use the two wire current dependent flasher , BUT , you defeat one of the major reasons for using LEDs in the first place , namely that they draw less , FAR less , power than the regular bulb . If you use LEDs like I did that have no internal resistor then yes indeed you most certainly do need Rock Auto's $10 3 wire flasher because the LEDs draw so much less current than a regular bulb that there isn't the current flow required to activate the regular 2 wire unit .

 

I meant to say you don't have to buy a 3 wire electronic flasher. I have 2 wire electronic flashers in my cars

This is what I have in my car flasher

 

Nice ! Thank You for the clarification , that unit looks like a winner ; No third wire to ground , a nice mounting strap at the top , and only a couple of dollars more than the Rock Auto 3 wire unit I have .

So there ya go , LED interested readers , two different options of electronic LED flashers and both well under $15 with no silly "ballast resistors" involved .

 

Do you have an approximate dollar amount for converting the whole car to LED using the RockAuto parts?

 

Using 2 of these for my signal & flasher.Plus LED panels all around.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Auto-2-****...53.m1438.l2649

 

Nice, I looked into doing something like that for a friend, but he didn't want to spend the money on all the LEDs

 

I put it off for years, cause of cost, but i eventually got tired of LED plug ins burning out.