LED wedge bulbs

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Old 03-16-2004, 10:01 AM
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LED wedge bulbs

I just changed the 168 wedge bulbs in my car (map and door lights) to PIAA LEDs and they look great.

Just a heads up: If you're considering doing this, get the white/white LED bulbs. If you go for the blue/white LEDs, you'll see a blue LED and a white LED :yack:

The white/white gives a cool white light to go with the HIDs. I went with a POLARG Hybrid B1 cool white bulb for the dome light and it matches up nicely (it's a little brighter too, 10W vs. 7W).
Old 03-16-2004, 10:57 AM
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Re: LED wedge bulbs

Originally posted by TLMugen
I just changed the 168 wedge bulbs in my car (map and door lights) to PIAA LEDs and they look great.
...
Don't throw away your old bulbs since you might be putting it back on in 6 months. I had my ENTIRE car switched to LEDS (all that was 168/192 anyways), which included the maps, doors, trunk, glove box, license plate & side markers. What I noticed was that the LEDS were prone to burning out when exposed to the elements. The door & license frame lights would burn out immediately while the map light/glove box lasted the longest. I wasted over $100 on this and learned the hardway...hope you do better.
Old 03-16-2004, 11:22 AM
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Hi. An LED should never burn out. Pretty much if it makes it 30 seconds, it will make it 30 years. I'm not sure if the ones to replace bulbs come with a special socket or resistor or not but any LED should have a current limiting resistor wired in series so as to keep it from burning out. Maybe the large ones are beefy enough to last a while without blowing but from my experience (with smaller LED's), they should always have a resistor. Eric.
Old 03-16-2004, 01:16 PM
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Yeah I forgot, I also did the license plate and trunk lights too, I didn't do the glove box because it's a PITA.

OK, I heard about the longevity issue with LEDs. The PIAA LEDs have the resistor in them so I hope that addresses that properly. I did keep all the conventional bulbs just in case, we'll see.
Old 03-16-2004, 03:34 PM
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Originally posted by EH03TL
Hi. An LED should never burn out. Pretty much if it makes it 30 seconds, it will make it 30 years. I'm not sure if the ones to replace bulbs come with a special socket or resistor or not but any LED should have a current limiting resistor wired in series so as to keep it from burning out. Maybe the large ones are beefy enough to last a while without blowing but from my experience (with smaller LED's), they should always have a resistor. Eric.
No kidding. That's the reason why I bought them in the first place (as well as many others). But...don't be suprised if it blows out otherwise. Physics and logic is one thing, but there is no arguing real life experience...especially when there is alot of us.

P.S.
All 192/168 bulbs I've seen have resistors in them as well.
Old 03-18-2004, 10:04 PM
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I changed all my wedges to Piaa 8 months ago and they all still work great. Maybe you really do get what you pay for lol
Old 03-20-2004, 12:04 PM
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can anyone post a pic of the PIAA leds?

i'm going to replace my dome light today!

i hate that dim light.
Old 03-21-2004, 07:18 AM
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Originally posted by Seotaji
can anyone post a pic of the PIAA leds?

i'm going to replace my dome light today!

i hate that dim light.
I second that.
Old 03-21-2004, 10:49 AM
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picz anyone?

and RACINGHART03, can we get some picz of ur car please
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