Group Buy - Led "pulse" Brake Light Bulbs

[Parthiban]

Well having got over the disappointment of the World Cup, thought I'd take my mind off it by going out to fit these bulbs. Fitted one first just to see what it looked like and I have to say I was quite disappointed.

They are nowhere near as bright as the normal bulbs, and what's even worse is that the difference in brightness when the brakes are applied is not enough at all. I was quite weary of the fact that all the LEDs point forwards which doesn't make sense with the design of the ISs rear lights (which work off the reflection off the back of the housing)

Really am truly disappointed, have taken it off the car now, bit undecided - seems it might be £45 down the drain

[Jiberjaber]

Thats a relief.. I fitted one side this afternoon and thought it didnt look as bright as the std bulb. I assumed it was the bright sun, but now I see I wasnt wrong after all.

I have scrapped the idea of fitting them at the moment, last thing I want is some idiot on teh M25 steaming up my rear and then the insurance being cancelled over the he wasnt breaking excuse or something similar...

There isnt a certain way to fit these is there?

[2ddesign]

Hi

I have not fitted my set yet! but just a thought can the LEDs fit the side lights fitting, still same code 7443?

if so perhaps keep them as side lights and when you stop quickly they should still work as intended, but only at night now

2ddesign

[Rob's Lexx]

Hi

I have not fitted my set yet! but just a thought can the LEDs fit the side lights fitting, still same code 7443?

if so perhaps keep them as side lights and when you stop quickly they should still work as intended, but only at night now

2ddesign

thats a very good point actually, never thought of that.

mind you, i'm not sure if when they flash as sidelights, the brake light illumination will make the flashing 'invisible'???

[Mr Morse]

Sorry I haven't been around to answer your Q's but I'm 4.000 miles south and don't have good connectivity.

To keep this on topic, I wired up Kazi's lights using 2 x LR's each side, across the brake and across the sidelights. Everything works as it should and no warning lights appear. I've also fitted these to my MR2 and don't have any problems there either.

As far as I'm aware, this is the only way to wire up these bulbs.

[DAZA_W]

what about the brightness are they poor quality like said by 2 members al least

[Mr Singh]

Not fitted mine yet, but if there not as bright as the normal ones i won't bother either, depends if its a considerable amount dimmer though

[StainlessSteelRat]

Weellllll. I fitted mine and I thought they looked better.

I think the lights look more redder than with the bulbs and if you look at them direclty they look just as bright. Perhaps there isn't as much light dispersal as with the bulbs, but other cars are directly behind you most of the time.

So I quite like them. :D

S.

[Mr Singh]

Can someone post a piccy of one fitted against the ordinary bulb? Worth seeing the difference

[lee_iceman]

Can someone post a piccy of one fitted against the ordinary bulb? Worth seeing the difference

I'll post one on Saturday when I fit them.

I was quite weary of the fact that all the LEDs point forwards which doesn't make sense with the design of the ISs rear lights (which work off the reflection off the back of the housing)

Not entirely true mate, there are also 6 LEDS pointing out from the side.

[lee_iceman]

OK here is a video of side by side braking.

On off stationary (4.5Mb)

This vid is flashing under breaking

Braking (18Mb, High res so as you can see they flash together)

Links will be changed to Google when its authorised

Needless to say I will be keeping these in as i'm sure you'll agree you can quite clearly see when i'm braking.

last thing I want is some idiot on teh M25 steaming up my rear and then the insurance being cancelled over the he wasnt breaking excuse or something similar...

:) people have no excuse for not seeing me brake, with a mid level and fogs as brake lights.

[Rob's Lexx]

OK here is a video of side by side braking.

On off stationary (4.5Mb)

This vid is flashing under breaking

Braking (18Mb, High res so as you can see they flash together)

Links will be changed to Google when its authorised

Needless to say I will be keeping these in as i'm sure you'll agree you can quite clearly see when i'm braking.

last thing I want is some idiot on teh M25 steaming up my rear and then the insurance being cancelled over the he wasnt breaking excuse or something similar...

:) people have no excuse for not seeing me brake, with a mid level and fogs as brake lights.

cheers for the video's lee :D

in the first video, is it the right side that is fitted with the LED?

do you have any load resistors fitted on these bulbs??? if so, how many?

my finding so far is that when the lights are on, the bulb out warning light will illuminate for a minute or two, then go out. as you continue driving it will not re-illuminate until you brake hard enough to get the LED's flashing (at least i think thats why its coming back on!!)

[lee_iceman]

Yes mate, right hand one is LED.

No load resistors installed as yet, just trying them out in the dark now. Will install the LR tomorrow am.

I did have the bulb out light and also the exclaimation mark lit on the dashboard for the duration of the testing.

[Rob's Lexx]

Yes mate, right hand one is LED.

No load resistors installed as yet, just trying them out in the dark now. Will install the LR tomorrow am.

I did have the bulb out light and also the exclaimation mark lit on the dashboard for the duration of the testing.

yep, same warnings as i had on mine mate.

fitting one LR, as i have, will get rid of the exclamation mark warning.

how many sets of LR's you fitting?

[lee_iceman]

Yes mate, right hand one is LED.

No load resistors installed as yet, just trying them out in the dark now. Will install the LR tomorrow am.

I did have the bulb out light and also the exclaimation mark lit on the dashboard for the duration of the testing.

yep, same warnings as i had on mine mate.

fitting one LR, as i have, will get rid of the exclamation mark warning.

how many sets of LR's you fitting?

Well I have 3Ω LR's so will try one on each side first.

[Rob's Lexx]

Yes mate, right hand one is LED.

No load resistors installed as yet, just trying them out in the dark now. Will install the LR tomorrow am.

I did have the bulb out light and also the exclaimation mark lit on the dashboard for the duration of the testing.

yep, same warnings as i had on mine mate.

fitting one LR, as i have, will get rid of the exclamation mark warning.

how many sets of LR's you fitting?

Well I have 3Ω LR's so will try one on each side first.

oh cool, you will only need one 3ohm per side instead of 2x6 ohm per side

[lee_iceman]

Yes mate, right hand one is LED.

No load resistors installed as yet, just trying them out in the dark now. Will install the LR tomorrow am.

I did have the bulb out light and also the exclaimation mark lit on the dashboard for the duration of the testing.

yep, same warnings as i had on mine mate.

fitting one LR, as i have, will get rid of the exclamation mark warning.

how many sets of LR's you fitting?

Well I have 3Ω LR's so will try one on each side first.

oh cool, you will only need one 3ohm per side instead of 2x6 ohm per side

Yes mate, thats the theory anyway.

[Rob's Lexx]

Yes mate, right hand one is LED.

No load resistors installed as yet, just trying them out in the dark now. Will install the LR tomorrow am.

I did have the bulb out light and also the exclaimation mark lit on the dashboard for the duration of the testing.

yep, same warnings as i had on mine mate.

fitting one LR, as i have, will get rid of the exclamation mark warning.

how many sets of LR's you fitting?

Well I have 3Ω LR's so will try one on each side first.

oh cool, you will only need one 3ohm per side instead of 2x6 ohm per side

Yes mate, thats the theory anyway.

so will you wire the LR across the brake plus the sidelight to the earth??

[Parthiban]

OK here is a video of side by side braking.

On off stationary (4.5Mb)

This vid is flashing under breaking

Braking (18Mb, High res so as you can see they flash together)

Links will be changed to Google when its authorised

Needless to say I will be keeping these in as i'm sure you'll agree you can quite clearly see when i'm braking.

Cheers for the vids, they were really helpful. Although the first does confirm what the problem was when I fitted mine - the standard brake is so much brighter than these LED bulbs.

The main problem for me though is that the change in brightness between sidelights and brakelights is not obvious enough to know that the car is braking. If the third brake light failed, I worry that it may no longer be that clear when braking.

However, I still love the flashing effect so I'm hoping there's a way to fix this.......

[Mr Singh]

OK here is a video of side by side braking.

On off stationary (4.5Mb)

This vid is flashing under breaking

Braking (18Mb, High res so as you can see they flash together)

Links will be changed to Google when its authorised

Needless to say I will be keeping these in as i'm sure you'll agree you can quite clearly see when i'm braking.

last thing I want is some idiot on teh M25 steaming up my rear and then the insurance being cancelled over the he wasnt breaking excuse or something similar...

:) people have no excuse for not seeing me brake, with a mid level and fogs as brake lights.

Excellent, thats a little more representitive of what i thunk how these would operate :)

I shall install mine soon as after seeing that :D

[Jiberjaber]

OK here is a video of side by side braking.

On off stationary (4.5Mb)

This vid is flashing under breaking

Braking (18Mb, High res so as you can see they flash together)

Links will be changed to Google when its authorised

Needless to say I will be keeping these in as i'm sure you'll agree you can quite clearly see when i'm braking.

last thing I want is some idiot on teh M25 steaming up my rear and then the insurance being cancelled over the he wasnt breaking excuse or something similar...

:) people have no excuse for not seeing me brake, with a mid level and fogs as brake lights.

Thanks for the vids lee... I am still not 100% convinced re the brightness, I think the original lights are brigter. I might get round to sticking the light meter on them tomorrow to measure the difference.

[2ddesign]

Hi All

I thought you might want to read this about Led's

Which Color LEDs should I use ?

For best results the LED color should be the same as the lens color. As an example: a red lens will filter out all but the red portion of the light so if the light is all red, none or very little light will be blocked by the lens. The light from a White LED contains very little light in the red portion of the visible spectrum so most of the light would be filtered out by a red lens.

Brightness of LED Car bulbs

LED bulbs are generally not as bright as standard incandescent bulbs, they have many advantages over filament bulbs (longer life, faster on/off times, lower power consumption, more vivid colors) but brightness is not one of them.

They are generally not as bright but some of them with large numbers of LEDs, will appear brighter than filament bulbs.

The light is distributed differently so they can appear brighter in some applications and not as bright in others, it depends on the size and shape of the bulb housing and reflector.

Most LED bulbs emit light like a flashlight, all out the end. Regular filament bulbs emit light from the end and all sides, so they will be better suited for some lighting applications than LED bulbs.

This is the same reason why we do not rate LED car bulbs in lumens or watts, they would be a deceptively low numbers because the light is measured from all sides and the end on standard filament bulbs but only from the end on LED bulbs :duh:

web link on LED info

Could the flashing Led's go in the fog lights after modification and be wired up to the brake circuit

2ddesign

[lee_iceman]

Could the flashing Led's go in the fog lights after modification and be wired up to the brake circuit

This is one thing i'm going to try this morning.

[2ddesign]

Could the flashing Led's go in the fog lights after modification and be wired up to the brake circuit

This is one thing i'm going to try this morning.

Excellent news thanks Lee :)

I hope this works out as I think in that position they will be the dogs do das :winky:

2ddesign

[lee_iceman]

Ok, it works with one 10Ω LR each side. No lights on dashboard at all.

This is the LR I used, delivery is next day, just solder a spare bit of wire on and your away.

RS Online

New video will be uploaded soon, as they now appear alot brighter.

Could the flashing Led's go in the fog lights after modification and be wired up to the brake circuit

This is one thing i'm going to try this morning.

Excellent news thanks Lee :)

I hope this works out as I think in that position they will be the dogs do das :winky:

2ddesign

Sorry mate, couldn't do it today, haven't got the dual lamp holder, will order from chris on Monday.