Question about LED tail light replacements.

[brads70]

Thanks for sharing! Cool post! I'd love to make a set for the Challenger but  I don't have the confidence .Electronics are not my strong point but a fun challenge though! Just asking because I don't know, how durable are LED  lamps? How long do they last? I love your lighting ( car is famtastic too!!) I show everyone! My wife is getting sick of looking. LOL

[brads70]

 

[conv340]

how durable are LED  lamps? How long do they last? I love your lighting ( car is famtastic too!!)

LEDs as long as they dont get to much current they will last just about forever. Not effected by shock either.

I've searched for "amperage regulator" but find little info on this.

Here a link for the regulator idea http://sound.westhost.com/appnotes/an003.htm
and a pic of  some current regulators. Should help. 

[ShelbyDogg]

Anyone try these 63 LED bulbs to see if they fit through a 70 Challenger tailight socket's hole? I could put them in from the inside if I had to but it would be easier to just plug them in from the bottom.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

my experience is to stick with fewer, but better LEDs. SMD's or something. those 'bubble' (dont know the technical term) leds tend to be bright, but don't really light anything up. You can take a "30led" flash light and put it up to a 1 LED smd light and see a, literally night and day difference.

[ShelbyDogg]

All I care about is if it fits in the hole. As far as brighter, anything brighter than a standard 1157 for $0.99 or $3.99 is better than a more expensive SMD bulb.

[duodec]

A lot of the cheap 3 and 5mm domed LEDs have a tendency to fade over time.  They start out bright but lose it over time.

[ntstlgl1970]

you can get the cree style smd leds for about 4-5 bucks if you look around online. They are insanely bright - this one (cree q5) is 228 lumens @1A

[Jim]

As mentioned earlier, don't bother with the white LEDs.

LEDs don't "naturally" produce white light, so it's either done by mixing other colors, or by applying a phosphor coating to a blue LED.

Shining them through a colored lens (filter) can produce weird results with light loss.