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LED Turn Signals (Rear)

4K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Stewie 
#1 ·
Always like LEDs. The crisper on/off just seems better and more pronounced.

I couldn't find the relay for the signals - sounds like it's hidden under the dash, somewhere, and don't even know if it's a standard replaceable relay for an 'electronic' one. So, added load resistors.

Tried using an LED in the front, also, to see if I can use a single load resistor per side, but looks like it'll need from load resistors, too, when I get the LED bulbs (for some reason I only ordered 2 instead of 4).



Pretty simple job. I mounted the resistors to an aluminum strip, and bolted it so that it 'floats' with plenty of air-gap: one on each side. They get hot to touch, but don't radiate that heat too much.

The mounted picture is for the passenger side. Similar for the driver side.

 

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#2 ·
How does the brightness compare to stock? I've heard that some bulbs are not as bright as the stock bulbs. I'd love to do this conversion myself too if it turned out well.
 
#3 ·
One problem with LED retrofits is the reflector and lens of an incandescent lamp unit was designed to have the bulb filament in a very exact 3 dimensional position. LEDs just can't do this as well unless the fixture was designed for LEDs.
 
#4 ·
LEDs make a spectacular difference to the immediacy of the signal and the brightness. I think they should be mandatory for brake lights and indicators IMHO.
 
#5 ·
I changed just the bulbs out on one side before going full bore on adding resistors: the brightness is the same, and reflection is the same. The front seems a bit brighter when I tried it; the rear reflector is a bit strange and doesn't give a solid amber depending on the angle of observation. This was the same with incandescent. The bulbs I chose have a full 360 degree coverage.

As RHB notes, there is an 'immediacy' to them: they don't 'warm up' and 'fade off' like incandescents, and snap on and off.
 
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