1. Welcome to TRD Forums! A community for Toyota, Lexus, and Scion Enthusiasts. To enjoy all the benefits of the site, we invite you to signup.

LED corner bulbs and brake bulbs

Discussion in 'Exterior' started by CaptainCorolla, Jan 31, 2005.

  1. Offline

    CaptainCorolla Thread Captain

    Message Count:
    320
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Orange County
    LED corner bulbs and brake bulbs

    Anyone done this? I really want to do my corners with LED bulbs, but I know they sometimes need load level equalizers. I'm not a big fan of excess cost/work for something that minor. Just wondering if anyone has the bulbs and if they had to use load equalizers. I'm pretty sure my brake lights would be ok, because there's no flashing element.
  2. Offline

    Laz Z Kay "n00B, be kind"

    Message Count:
    1,662
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Biloxi, MS
    I had them before. They are pretty tight. Just like a Caddy. If you want, I can sell it to you. I have 2 amber ones for corner; 2 white ones for brake; and two load equalizers for the corners.
  3. Offline

    sddynamix Taybo Masta

    Message Count:
    300
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Location:
    La Jolla, CA
    May not work for your brake lights - I'm in the process of designing LED brake lights, and you can't limit current to an LED like you would a lightbulb to power running lights (while your headlights are on, but your brakes aren't). You need some kind of a pulse-width modulator to essentially make the LED's blink so fast that they appear to be dim.
  4. Offline

    Laz Z Kay "n00B, be kind"

    Message Count:
    1,662
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Biloxi, MS
    I had those bulbs on my rolla with no problems at all.
  5. Offline

    CaptainCorolla Thread Captain

    Message Count:
    320
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Orange County
    Yearh, I'd probably not want to get LEDs if I have to use stupid load equalizers, that's a bit much work for what it is. I think I might get some chrome bulbs though. Anyone have experiences with these? I am thinking of getting the amber chrome bulbs. My new headlights (Nokya stage 2s) are extremely blue. I think amber would give these a nice contrast. I have the best hyper white wedge bulbs you can get, and they look dim and hopeless next to the Nokya's. I get a nice white blinker though.
  6. Offline

    sddynamix Taybo Masta

    Message Count:
    300
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Location:
    La Jolla, CA
    I've got Sylvania Silverstar turn signals (bought them from NRM off the old vvti.net), they're SORTA frosted but not really - they look great. I gotta warn you about frosted bulbs, the light output will be A LOT less than clear unfrosted bulbs. I tried swapping out my gauge cluster bulbs w/little frosted blue ones (cuz that shade of blue was so much nicer than the nasty blue-green cheap crap at pepboys), but the output was so dim i couldn't see the cluster til I sanded the frosting off.

    Over spring or summer i'm gonna finish off my LED brake lights (i've already done an LED center brake) using Luxeon SuperFlux and SnapLED's, maybe we can meet up since you're in SD and i'll show you how i did em.
  7. Offline

    Ninety Four New Member

    Message Count:
    2,070
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I thought I posted to this thread, but maybe not. Check out www.superbrightleds.com and they have a whole variety of #194 LEDs. They don't mention anything about a load equalizer, so they made it seem plug and play.
  8. Offline

    n3985 New Member

    Message Count:
    127
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    You only need load equalizers for blinking bulbs, 194s are usually used for parking lights, and side markers, which are always on.
  9. Offline

    sddynamix Taybo Masta

    Message Count:
    300
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Location:
    La Jolla, CA
    I believe they're just 3 and 6 Ohm high-watt resistors - you can pick these up at any electronics store or radioshack and splice them in.
  10. Offline

    n3985 New Member

    Message Count:
    127
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Yep, but the pre-made ones, which are $$$, are very conivinient to install. So for those who don't like to play with wires, this site has them:

    www.autolumination.com
  11. Offline

    CaptainCorolla Thread Captain

    Message Count:
    320
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Orange County
    I buy a ton of stuff from autolumination. I wish they would put the resistors in-line for the turn bulbs.
  12. Offline

    CaptainCorolla Thread Captain

    Message Count:
    320
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Orange County
    Anyone with LED's in clear corners:

    What color did you have and how did they look? I am thinking of getting either white LED or amber, but if either is dim, I'd probably not get them. I think if the amber was really bright, it would give nice contrast to blue headlamps.
  13. Offline

    n3985 New Member

    Message Count:
    127
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Any "white" LED will look somewhat blue. I tried white 4-LED 194s in my clear corners, and it was so blue. So I changed it to Polarg hyperwhites, completely white, no other color.
  14. Offline

    CaptainCorolla Thread Captain

    Message Count:
    320
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Orange County
    I have Hibrid bulbs from Hiper industries. They are pretty good, but compared to my headlights now, they look almost like clear bulbs (kinda yellowish). Anyone have amber LEDs in their corners?

    Someone mentioned "frosted" bulbs. Do you mean chrome bulbs? That's another consideration of mine.

Share This Page