tail/brake lights - LED swap
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tail/brake lights - LED swap
i made a bed for my truck, and the stock lights look goofy right now. So i've finally got all my LEDs together and i have a question. There are two wires for each of the running lights, so i'm wondering if i should run both of the wires into the one lead for the tail lights on LED unit. Considering that one of the incandescent bulbs draws more amperes and watts that the whole LED unit would, i think i'm just going to use one of the tail lights leads. Anyways, let me know what you guys think, i'll put pictures up when it all done.
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wouldn't that make it look like your brakes are on all of the time? I'd think that the amperage wouldn't matter since it's going down and the different leads are for brake/tail
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Assuming you get it all wired up correctly, the turn signals will blink faster then normal. I recall a similar thread where the guy actually got it working correctly.
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ok wait, so should i run both or just one wire to the tail light lead on the LED unit??? (still planning on using just one wire)
Thanks for the vote of confidence, and yes, i realize that, but blinker speed doesn't really bother me, its still blinking, and if i want i could get a module to slow the speed.
No, i think the tail light lead has lower voltage than a brake light lead, then again it may be just lower wattage. Ether way, you'll still be able to tell the difference because the emitters are dual mode, so they will get brighter regardless. If my theory is wrong... i'll just get a second unit for the brakes.
less resistance.
less resistance.
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well, everything works, doesn't seem to make a difference whether or not i have both tail light leads run to the one lead on the LED unit. BUT, i left one of the reverse units at home.. so need to go get that, and i'll grab my camera as well, as get some shots.
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hmm... i might want to invest in a new relay after all, i didn't think about the possibility of the unit or bulb blowing? I doubt it would effect the LED unit, as LEDs are completely fine being flashed, doesn't do them any damage, but i figured i might loose incandescent bulb life with them flashing faster. Anyways, here is what i'm looking at getting. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...4882#SLIDESHOW
Last edited by Swansen; 10-17-2008 at 07:01 AM.
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Here is a guy who changed out all of his incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs, its really simple, all you have to do is change the flasher relay. http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...=199463&page=3
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Yes, you either need a heavy duty flasher relay (one the flashes independent of the load on the relay) or a modified stock flasher (pirate4x4.com Toyota forum has details on the modification) or add a ballast resistor in parallel with the LEDs to simulate the load of an incandescent bulb.
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Yes, here they are, i'm waiting for the shrink wrap tape to get here and it will be finished. I like it, the white LEDs are a lot brighter than i figured, but they don't have very good range, the ambers work for blinkers, and the brake/tail are brighter than i figured they would be also.
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yeah, the reason that they don't all match is because the stop/tail lights were a gift. I got them and was like crap, now i have to find something to match. Never really happened, so i stumbled upon those little guys and i liked them, and they were surface mount. The other problem was finding reverse lights that would work. There were a ton of single bulb deals, but i didn't really want to have all LEDs and then incandescent reverse lights. All other LED reverse lights i found were like $60 a piece, so a that was a little more than i wanted to spend. Pretty much though, the stop/tail lights pretty much changed my whole design philosophy, and i didn't want it that way, but whatever, it works, and i like it. However, after all the designs i've found, i think that if i didn't get the reds for free i would have got three each of the little ones, and installed them turn on top, reverse in center, and tail/brake on bottom like the OE lights are.
Last edited by Swansen; 10-21-2008 at 07:51 AM.
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