LED tail light (bulb replacement only!!!)
 

Folks,

Tried doing a ton of searches, but most pertain to a DIY for a taillight design or interior light changes. I'm just looking to see if just replacing the brake light halogens with LEDs is a feasible option, and if it's worth it. How many of you here have done it?

I'm specifically looking at the the new Triton V3s from vleds.com, and also the Plazma bulbs from carid.com

Any thoughts? I will be doing the reverse lights for sure, but also wanted the brake lights changed.

Thank you

i changed my brake lights out to LEDs from exLED. honestly they were a little less bright than the halogen bulbs. i think it has to do with the way the housing is. halogen just reflects off more from the inside of the housing. from what i remember, LEDs on the reverse look brighter than stock. LEDs on brake lights (not just mine, i've read other people who have switched them and gotten similar dimmer results) are not brighter than stock bulbs. i don't know how the triton V3s from vleds will compare but i have heard the tritons were bright as the sun.

changing to an LED bulb is simple, if it fits through the socket and has the right base, you unscrew one, and screw in the other. if you want to put in an LED design, it requires baking and pulling apart the very fragile tail light

Thank you for your feedback... That is disconcerting to know that the brightness of LEDs in the brake lights may not be as bright as the stock halogens. My conversations with vled reps stated the opposite... Perhaps a brighter led in general makes a big difference? I was debating between this from vleds and the Plazma LEDs from carid. They claim 320 lumens, while stock are 200 lumens max.

http://www.vleds.com/bulb/7443-7440-led/red-led.html

http://www.carid.com/2012-acura-tsx-...-10257535.html

It has to do with the design of the tail lights. They're designed with halogen bulbs, so they pretty much have a bunch of mirrors to reflect the light towards the rear. Halogen bulbs have light going in 360 degrees, whereas LEDs don't. You can try using a brighter LED bulb but since they don't have equal illumination in all directions it might not be as bright as a halogen bulb.

This makes sense... Sad, but makes sense.

Does anyone here have an LED bulb replacement they have used that has become BRIGHTER than their stock bulbs?

Be careful here. If your brake lights are hard to see on a sunny day, the driver behind you may not know you're braking. This can also be an excuse for insurance to deny you a claim.

That's why I have this thread. I want folks to chime in who have successfully installed an led for a brake light and was as bright or brighter than stock.

Why LED? Won't it look almost exactly the same?

ceb 2.0??

if you look inside my brake lights, you can see the LEDs on my bulb...looks cooler than the stock bulb...:shrug:

Stak, did you just replace the bulb or the entire housing??? Can you please post some pics with your brakes on???? Maybe daytime even and night?

Other than the bulb looking "cooler" I don't think there's gonna be much of a difference. If you're dead set on LED tails, get the Spirior tail lights.

i just replaced the stock bulb with an led one.

now if you look inside the housing you can see the individual smd's of the led bulb. i'll try to remember to take a pic but it's fucking stupid hot in nyc. went to pick up rice like the true chinaman that i am and nearly died of heat exhaustion. so hard to breathe in the city...

I lol'd :pofl:

It has been stupid hot lately.:whyme:

check out http://www.retro-solutions.net/

i bought replacement LED bulbs for my RSX and they are almost 360 degree output so they fill the entire housing with equal light.

more specifically:

http://retro-solutions.net/product-i...bs-pid697.html


http://retro-solutions.net/avactis-i...20wedge1_0.jpg

Haha... That's hilarious man. It's stupid hot here as well. But yes, if you have time a pic with brake lights on (depressed) would be fantastic. So did you say, that light output (in your opinion) is actually slightly less than stock?

Do you have a pic of them on your rsx? Would love to see one. Are you happy with them?

Sounds like these are 0.5w each, so that's great! Nice and bright.

sorry i didn't get a chance to take the pics. i'll set a reminder for myself when i'm on the way home.

and yes the light output is definitely less than stock. i switched out one bulb at my buddy's house, pressed the brake and had him look, then i had him press it for me and i went to look and you can tell the stock side was a lot brighter. i would change one back for you to see but i'm not sure i know where i put those bulbs...hahah

I can get a picture maybe this weekend for you,

I am very happy with these, had them for 2+ years and no issues

wow that royally blows :whyme: If it's not brighter, then maybe it's a no-go for me.... can't have it be less bright... If you still had your halogen stockers, would you switch it back out of principle?

Glad to hear! In your opinion, brighter than stock or less than?

brighter, less draw, don't dim if stereo hits, looks cool as hell.

buy the cree leds with a projector lens and you will get a brighter light

Pic please :)

This is on an rsx tho right? Hopefully the innards of the housing is similar to the tsx for apples to apples comparison.

Have more details on this? I haven't heard of them

Cree bulbs are led bulbs that uses a projector lens to projector the light further and magnifies the led which makes it brighter. However, for the brake lights you might need a load resistor.

These are the ones I used for my reverse lights:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161047803754...84.m1439.l2649