Just Ordered LED Bulbs

[l008com]

I just ordered a bunch of LED lights from superbrightleds.com. Mostly interior, I'm not messing with the brake lights/blinkers for a while. I've done this before for my Blazer and I was very happy with the results!

From the top, they are for:

1) "map" lights and rear passenger "dome" light
2) License plate lights
3) Front mini blinker light (not the primary blinker)
4) Lights in the sun visors
5) Rear cargo area. The fixture only takes one of these but I'm going to try to get creative and install two

I'm going to try the "natural white" plate lights in the dome too. If I like that color better than the "warm white", I might return some of these and order more "natural white"s. But that probably won't happen. What they call natural white is usually a very harsh florescent looking light. Warm white is still very bright, and whiter than incandescent, but easier on the eyes.

As some point after I get HID headlights, I'm going to finish up and do LED blinkers and brake lights. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to go with LED bulbs or full custom LED tail lights. I have very bad luck finding LED 3157's that are actually bright enough to use.

 

[SnowBlazer]

I have very bad luck finding LED 3157's that are actually bright enough to use.

Here's the thing....really any LED will be brighter than halogen. Most companies don't actually know the correct lumen output for their bulbs. The guess and exagerate to sell their product. I noticed superbrightleds seems to say that their cheeper bulbs have less lumens compaired to their more expensive bulbs. This maybe true to a certain extent but, I find it hard to beleive when I've owned similar bulbs with the same output.

Here's a link to the bulbs I'm running no issues for 6 months: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-T10-Wed...640808?hash=item3aae232068:g:tZIAAOSwHnFVyDSW

Here is the link to the seller most use as he has a 1 year warranty, which is nice since if bulbs are going to fail, the tend to fail within 3 months of use.
http://www.ebay.com/usr/jdmastar

 

[dmanns67]

How are you going to install (2) 44mm festoon LEDs in the rear cargo area?

Plenty of bright 3157 LEDs out there, just need to know what to search for. www.vleds.com has some bright LEDs, but they are pricey.

If you use EBay or Amazon, search for "3157 5630 LED". The 5630 chips are very bright and rated at 45-50 lumens per chip. Much brighter than the 3528 and 5050 chips.

Have you by chance read through the LED Mod thread, http://gmtnation.com/forums/threads/led-mod-thread.922/ Tons of information regarding everything LED.

 

[l008com]

How are you going to install (2) 44mm festoon LEDs in the rear cargo area?

I'm not entirely sure yet. But the bulbs have super simple connections, and theres TONS of space in the fixtures. I might just try to make my own small board that two bulbs mount to, and have that board use my old bulb to connect into the socket.

Or there is an even simpler approach. If you put two bulbs in backwards, with only one connector in the socket, then connect the outer ends with a wire, you've just made a circuit with two bulbs. You'd just have to attatch the bulbs to some fixed support, something simple like a stick really, to give the whole jumble some strength. I'm not sure if this would work though, as it would be two lights in series instead of in parallel.

Normal:

Double in Series:

Theres so much space in the fixture, it's weird that they didn't just put two bulbs in there anyway.

 

[l008com]

The 'map' lights went in and look great. I tried the 'natural' white I had for plates first, it looked terrible. Then I put the 'warm white' i had intended for the interior and they looked great. Middle dome lights worked great. Rear cargo light, I was literally able to just jam the second bulb up in the fixture next to the first bulb, and because the base presses against the socket, it lights up just fine. So I have plenty of rear light now.

The visor bulbs, DE3175 are not even remotely close the same size as the 7065 bulbs the visors take. So I'm talking to superbrightled's right now. They're telling me I should have doubled checked before I ordered, but double check against what? Their website has a "bulb finder" that specifically suggested these lights for my truck. Its not that big a deal if I have to stick with non LEDs for the mirrors. But it would be nice.

And it was way to F'ing cold to try to install the plate lights. I tried to install the amber small blinker lights but I couldn't get the headlight out, even with the grill removed. It wasn't even close to coming out. It gets fully stuck behind the bumper on the bottom and the aim adjuster on the top. It was too cold so I gave up for now.

 

[dmanns67]

Your DE3157s did look quite large based on the pic you posted, especially for our vanity mirror application.

I have the "fuse shape" LED bulbs for mine. 29mm in length. Perfect fit. Here is a list of part numbers I pulled from the EBay sellers site that correspond to the fuse shape 29mm LED.

6614, 6614F, 6641, F30-WHP, TS-14V1CP

 

[l008com]

Yeah after years of failure, I don't generally buy bulbs on ebay. Everything I've bought so far has been shit. Plus ebay never seems to have anything but 6000K white led anything. Even right now, I'm searching for "warm white" with those numbers you gave me and even though they say 'warm' white, they are all 6000k. Talk about false advertising. That's like selling an amber bulb and calling it red.

Also these lights that didn't fit, you could make contact in the socket to light them up at least. And they were absurdly bright, even though they are rated at only 17 lumens. These ebay bulbs are rated at 60 lumens. That would be so bright, it would be useless. So I think I've talked myself out of led vanity lights. Old school should work fine.

 

[Sib]

The LT headlights are a PITA to remove. You just have to be patient with them. There are little tabs on the headlights that seem to always get caught on the grill or on the bumper. You will eventually get them though. However, if you are just doing the side marker lights in LED, you don't have to remove the headlight to get to those. Just twist the light bulb and it will come out, then replace with LED and put socket back it and twist.

 

[l008com]

...you are just doing the side marker lights in LED...Just twist the light bulb and it will come out, then replace with LED and put socket back it and twist.

So I couldn't even see the bulb base for the side light. Where is it in there? I saw the bases for all the other bulbs but not the tiny side light.

 

[Sib]

So I couldn't even see the bulb base for the side light. Where is it in there? I saw the bases for all the other bulbs but not the tiny side light.

When looking at the lights, it's on the top right of the driver side and top left of the passenger side. Use a flashlight and you'll see them.

 

[dmanns67]

It is still very tight when trying to pull the side marker bulb socket out of the headlight. I cannot do it with my fingers while the headlight is installed on the vehicle. I actually use needle nose pliers to grab the bulb socket and turn to remove from the headlights. Much easier IMO when you do not want to pull the headlights out.

 

[l008com]

Ok so my interior lights are great, super bright, I'm very happy with them. I open my car door, and the interior lights up nice and bright with a very natural, very NOT BLUE light.

Or, you can turn the little knob on the dash to turn on the lights, nice and bright.

BUT when you push each light to turn them on individually, weird things happen. Like if you push one light, it will come on but very dim. If you push another one, it will come on, but now the two lit lights will be even dimmer. The same with the other two until they are super dim. But if you turn the knob on the dash, suddenly dim turns into super bright awesome light. What is going on with that? Anyone know?

 

[dmanns67]

That is the nature of interior LEDs. Everyone who has replaced their incandescent interior bulbs with LEDs has experienced this. I dont mind it as the wife can turn on one map light and it is not bright enough to bother me.

Also, if you have vanity mirror lights, press one of the map lights to turn it on, then open the cover to the vanity mirror so that light comes on. You will see the dim LED in the map light go to full brightness. Just another strange situation that happens when you swap to LEDs.

 

[l008com]

What causes this though? Electrically, this seems like a strange thing to have happen.

 

[Blckshdw]

BUT when you push each light to turn them on individually, weird things happen. Like if you push one light, it will come on but very dim. If you push another one, it will come on, but now the two lit lights will be even dimmer. The same with the other two until they are super dim. But if you turn the knob on the dash, suddenly dim turns into super bright awesome light. What is going on with that? Anyone know?

What causes this though? Electrically, this seems like a strange thing to have happen.

The BCM sends a PWM signal for the reading lights, same concept as the DRLs in the low beams. The rapid pulses make the light appear dim. Opening the door, or turning the knob, is just light switching the headlights to low beam mode. You get a straight signal, no more pulsing, and the light appears brighter.

I've never turned on more than 1 or 2 at a time, and that's usually because one got inadvertently switched on during some modding But if the activation of multiple reading lights causes an increasing amount of dimming... Not sure what to say about that.

 

[l008com]

BCM is the trucks computer?
What is a PWM signal?
I take it from the context, it is some kind of low power signal? Thing is, I don't remember the lights being dimmer when I did this before, with incandescents?

 

[Blckshdw]

BCM is the trucks computer?

Body Control Module - The computer under the left rear seat.

What is a PWM signal?
I take it from the context, it is some kind of low power signal? Thing is, I don't remember the lights being dimmer when I did this before, with incandescents?

Pulse Width Modulation - essentially it's a very fast on/off/on/off signal (like a child playing with the light switch)

The reason you didn't notice it with the stock bulbs, is because of the way they function. LEDs produce instant light when current is passed through them. They also shut off immediately when current is stopped. Incandescent bulbs produce light from passing current through a small filament, that gets hot enough that it begins to emit light. Due to this process, it takes a bit of time for them to light up at full brightness, as well as cool to turn off (it's still relatively short, but not instant)

With the PWM signal, they don't have enough time to turn on all the way, or turn off all the way. It stays in an in-between state, which results in a slightly dimmer light. This is much easier to notice with your DRLs vs low beams with the stock bulbs. With LEDs our eyes can't keep up with the duty cycle (time between one on signal, to the next on signal) so they appear to be dim.

One thing you might try, when you open the doors and the domes come on, get in your truck, shut the door and watch the dome lights for a minute. The BCM will command the dome lights to dim themselves until they turn off. As they start to dim further, and just before they shut off, you may notice the LEDs flicker a bit. THAT is the point where the pulses slow down enough that our eyes and brain can notice and register it.