LED Tailight question...

[PuckHead]

Hey guys, got a strange situation happening that I'd like your input on. I recently purchased four 3157 LED bulbs for the tail of the SHO, and installed them yesterday, to some suprise.

1. During daylight hours with the headlights off, the blinker flashes at a high rate of speed, and the 'Lamp Out' indicator flashes on the instrument panel.

2. When I put the hazard lights on, they flash at the normal rate, but then my CHMSL lights up as well.

3. When I have the parking or headlights on, my cruise control no longer works. If I shut off the lights, it works great, but as soon as I turn on the parking lights or headlights, I lose it.

I know that the LEDs draw alot less power, but I'm still sitting here thinking, WTF!?

C'mon you brainiacs, gimme' some opinions here!

Later! burn_out

 

[Slo-Sho]

I feel your pain. I have four LED's in my tail lamps as well. I took the easy way out. This is what I had to do, I bought two 1156 lamp sockets and bulbs. I then wired them in parallel with the brake/turn wire, and ground. Voila! Cruise is back and turn signals flash like normal! BTW, I also wired up both of the brake lamps to flash when signaling instead of just the outside one.

 

[jcostantino]

Replace your blinker with an electronic blinker. That should solve the problem.

Thermal blinkers need a higher current draw to blink at the right speed and electronic ones just switch on and off correctly.

How do the LED lamps look? is it just one intense spot in the center of the reflector or does it light up the whole lense with a uniform red glow? I'm interested in getting some eventually but I've been told that they usually just light up with red pin-points instead of the uniform glow of the bulbs which is bounced off of the reflector behind the bulb.

Jeff

<small>[ April 04, 2002, 11:55 AM: Message edited by: jcostantino ]</small>

 

[JonVH]

That makes sense since the LEDs won't throw light all around like a bulb does. Very interesting about the cruise control though.
Maybe we could cut a good section off of the back of the lamp housing and insert a LED filled board to more evenly spread the glow over the entire lense? Thoughts anyone??
SLOSHO what's involved in getting both lamps to blink for signaling? Just a jumper?

 

[jcostantino]

I found a company that sells led arrays that could be epoxied into the taillight housings and wired up... they are like $5 each and I think 3x3".

I was out earlier and found a pair of red LED bulbs for $15 with a 10 year warranty, didn't pick them up yet as I'm trying to spend money on performance improvements first.

Jeff