LED Turn Signals

[POLO]

Hi,today i see a car with this led turn signal with amber color,it was cool.I wonder if someone already try this,and if the installation are complicated?And,if the blue or red color are legal for turn signal?I thick Ragingfish have installed one.And Arcvibe was very interrested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...33649

[Jahntassa]

Gotta check with local laws to see about the blue. Red shouldn't be a problem. Turnsignals are generally either amber or red, but the blue is questionable.Installation isn't so much complicated as it is time consuming. As Mike can tell you, running wires through that rubber hose in the doorjam is painful at best. But it's very possible to do, and fairly straightforward.

[ragingfish]

It took scherry2 and I, BOTH working together, the better part of a day to get the wires run...It's not an easy task...In the states, btw, my understanding is blue flashing lights in any position are out of play...flashing blue is supposedly reserved for emergency vehicles...I'd stick with amber or red if I were you...

[MadBill]

[QUOTE=POLO]Hi,today i see a car with this led turn signal with amber color,it was cool.This may not be quite what's being discussed, but you can buy LEDs with regular incandescent bases, making them interchangeable with normal bulbs...

[jeffgtx]

raging....was this on the fron or the back that caused you guys this headache? this was to replace teh tailight and turn signla bulbs with LED ones or am i missing something?dont he LED light usually come as replacement that fit in the light socket stock?Did you post a how to on this? i cant seem to find it.thanksJeff

[Jahntassa]

They put LED turnsignals on the mirrors. If you use the 'off the shelf' LED-signal replacements, they won't work too well. They actually look pretty hokey. The reason for this is they use the same socket as the standard bulbs, but the LEDs only point straight backwards, which means they don't use the reflector, which gives less visibility. Unless you retrofitted something to put a whole bunch of super-bright LEDs in the lamp housing, it really isn't worth it.You can get the screw-in LED replacement types at places like PepBoys..

[ColonelPanic]

These guys here have a bunch of LED replacements:http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htmLike what was mentioned earlier, LED's are very directional. The problem is, someone slightly to an angle of the front of the car will not be able to see the turn signal the same someone head on will... Watch out for that. But another word of caution --- you may want to consider a resistor inline with each turn signal in order to keep them from flashing at an insane rate. The flasher is smart enough to recognize when a bulb is burned out... If the current detected in the circuit drops, you've got a bulb failure, and the flasher doubles its flash rate... Those guys I linked to above sell 'em, not sure how well they do or don't work... Involves chopping up your stock wiring, so I never considered trying LED's up there.

[jeffgtx]

ok you blew my mind with the resistor thing...but further to janhtassa's post... couldn't you get an LED array and directionally bend them so that the outer ones pointed into the rreflector?how do cars that come with LED light deal with this (the directional issue)? certainly when a new BMW 3 series flashes its LED you can see it all around.why cant i ever find an easy project?

[ragingfish]

Those fixtures are DESIGNED to work with LEDs...and they usually use hundreds of them for the signal...

[ColonelPanic]

I'd say they're using a combination of LED's with a wide-angle lens in different positions...

[jeffgtx]

hmm, ok seems like one wuld either need to develop a fixture/LED combo, or get the LED replacement to work with the existing fixture.ineresting. i will look into the further.they arent expensive are they (for experimentation)

[ColonelPanic]

The prices range drastically, those guys that I linked to above have them as low as around $5... Higher, of course, the more LED's that are on the assembly.One thing you could investigate... http://www.superbrightleds.com...t=CARScroll down until you see the "1157-PCB-R36 Red LED Lamp"... If you could fashion up something like that - only do two small circuit boards (one for the side, one for head on) and for the side that faces the front, angle the LED's differently to get the widest range of visibility... A bunch of work!

[Jahntassa]

I think the LED replacement stuff have built-in resistors...and, from what I've seen online, I can't find one that'll directly replace the turn signal/parking lamps on the Vibe. I've only seen them for the brake lamp replacement. They look like this:As you can see, it'd be a bit hard to bend the LEDs, as they're surface-mounted. That, and to be fully effective they'd need to point backwards toward the lens..And as Ragingfish said, those cars are designed with it in mind. In the Infiniti's, the turn signals are a few rows of super-bright LEDs. In the Cadillac's, they're hundreds (I think) of LEDs, possibly with wide-angle lenses, as Colonel said.Now, don't forget. You need to find something that'll support the 'dual filament'. Meaning, the bulbs you're trying to replace handle both the parking lights, and the flashers. So you'd have to make it so the LEDs are dim when 'on', and brighter when 'flashing'. Or some combination of the two...I still think the best way to do this would be rebuilding the lens itself...though definitely not very cost effective...

[Mase]

No need to bend led's, fabricate a reflector, etc.Get some of these:

Attached files

[Jahntassa]

Quote, originally posted by Mase »No need to bend led's, fabricate a reflector, etc.Get some of these:And where can you get one of those?

[Mase]

oops! forgot the link:http://motors.search.ebay.com/...ology

[jeffgtx]

Jahntassa,you are obviously way smarter than me in understanding this. can you help me?things like the difference between 1156 and 3156 and stuff. i just don't know. looks like 1157 for dual mode?)are the products on that link an option?Jeff

[ColonelPanic]

Thanks for pointing those out. I never knew such a thing existed!

[Jahntassa]

I believe you need the 1157s in Amber, yes... But, they only seem to have the reds listed.I would send them an email, and ask if they have 1157's available in amber. Most likely they do have them in stock, just not up on their ebay listings.According to the listings, their email is tmimfg@aol.com

[ColonelPanic]

Definitely amber, as red up front is illegal... At least in most jurisdictions. Curious about this myself, I may (or may not, depends) look into something like this.... I'd like to, but I'm done sinking any more money into this thing unnecessairily. If I would have stumbled upon these months ago, I would have went for it...

[jeffgtx]

i actually want them for the back more than the front.lemme see if they sent me a mail yet...Jeff

[jeffgtx]

yea he emailed back and said 3157, but the email was less than convincing.i will call tomorrow.jahn- is the X157 a socket type?

[jeffgtx]

DUUHHHHHHH... the answer is in Ragingfishs sticky post in this forum.found LED solutions with side firing lights from one supplier for most of teh lights/part numbers.. gonne give it a try. will post results.