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LED stop/tail light brands?

LED stop/tail light brands?

by vwJim » Thu Nov 23, 2017 6:55 pm
Traditional bulbs for the stop / tail lights are 5w/21w.

I've tried some LED replacement bulbs and the differential between the tail & stop light brightness is verging on the dangerous.... Yes, your tail lights are brighter, but they're virtually the same as the brake lights, so the brake lights no longer stand out!

So, anyone got LED stop / tail bulbs fitted that can recommend a brand that have good differential between the two functions?

Cheers.
vwJim
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Re: LED stop/tail light brands?

by rusty1962 » Thu Nov 23, 2017 10:18 pm
Hi Jim

I've got these which came from my car care supplier. The first ones I tried were white in colour. All this did was to make the lights appear pink and give a circular central light, rather than lighting the whole lens .I.e. you could see more of the source of the light and less of the effect. The ones in the pack are red in colour 380R bulbs and are much better. I've just checked with Mary working the brake pedal and the difference is I think acceptable but not so marked as a standard 380.

Image


HTH?

Steve
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Re: LED stop/tail light brands?

by Who.Me? » Fri Nov 24, 2017 8:58 am
I tried two different ebay types. The first set I tried when I had the incorrect '57-on tail lights that have a rear reflector. The bulbs look like this...
New White 1157 BAY15D 12 Cree LED 60W Turn Signal Rear Light Bulb.jpg
New White 1157 BAY15D 12 Cree LED 60W Turn Signal Rear Light Bulb.jpg (9.82 KiB) Viewed 1051 times
... and worked very well, but I had to make standoffs to push the reflector back because they touched the lens (I popped one tail light lens tightening them down :? ). From memory, I think the LEDs along the side performed the brake/turn function. The 'projector' LEDs in the end were 'tail', so the difference between stop/turn and tail was good, but they only worked because I had lights with a rear reflector at the time.

They were described as 'White 1157 BAY15D 12 Cree LED 60W Turn Signal Rear Light Bulb'. I'm sure there are equivalents for other fittings.

I gave up on them when the solid-state relay that I'd fitted to prevent fast-blinking blew.

When I fitted the correct style 'bubble' tail lights, which have no rear reflector, the above bulbs were useless. You couldn't see the brake/turn light because it dissapated in to the engine bay.

I've tried this style with all the LEDs facing backward to get round the problem of having no reflector, but there was no discernable diference between tail and stop/turn, so I took them back out. They also had the locating pins in the wrong place (1157 should be staggered, so you know the contacts are correct). I'm not sure if they're even the bulbs they claim to be.

Waste of money...

2x 1157 BA15D 381 P21/5W 22 Led WHITE Car Brake Tail Stop Turn Lights Lamp Bulbs
2x 1157 BA15D 381 P21 5W 22 Led WHITE Car Brake Tail Stop Turn Lights Lamp Bulbs.jpg
2x 1157 BA15D 381 P21 5W 22 Led WHITE Car Brake Tail Stop Turn Lights Lamp Bulbs.jpg (27.22 KiB) Viewed 1051 times
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Re: LED stop/tail light brands?

by vwJim » Sat Nov 25, 2017 10:32 pm
Thanks for the input guys.
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Posts: 20161
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 6:05 pm
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