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Cruiser
Posts: 143
Lexington Park, MD | Well, the MBL mod is doing great, 96 brake lights on the trunk. LEDs inside the trunk turn signals look pretty good, may revisit that later. Nozzledog brought up a good point in my other thread so started this one to explore it.
So was thinking about the brake and turns in the V. My current configuration has all 4 brakelights on regardless of TS after capping the GH wires in the harness the killed the middle lights when the TS was on. Thanks to Radioteachers video. With that said I'm looking at the following options for the V:
Turn signals: a 48 wide angle LED SMT bulb That has 36 side facing to light up more of the whole lens than a spot. Cost is 19.99 each plus a load eq for each side so about 60 all together.
Brakes: center bulbs would be same bulb above OR I could leave the 3157 in for a delay in lighting up and off from the bottom brake LED light. if I stay 3157 my cruise should be fine I think countering the lower brake light LED.
Bottom bulb I was thinking the 48SMT wide or the 60 LED flashing braker. Note says must have zero power when brake off and I'm thinking we're good since the. Cruise kicks off if it sees a load and middle 3157 provides ground for cruise.
Also, I could go the flasher And use a 48 in the middle brake light and just add the load eq, if I go all 4-48 LEDs just add a load eq and an inline 2 sec strobe.
Costs are:
48smt (almost same bulb as used in switchback mod) 19.99ea
60led flasher 29.99
Load eq 6.99
Strobe inline flasher 6.99
Open for inputs.
Tim |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 752
Broken Arrow, OK | forget the inputs. Get this done and load the video, LOL. Inquiring minds want to know.
The only thing I love more than someone else doing all the legwork............is copying the legwork! |
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Cruiser
Posts: 143
Lexington Park, MD | Don't tempt me Okie, I'll push that pay now button on the other screen. I will, don't think I won't! LoL! |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 752
Broken Arrow, OK | That's too great! I read that to my wife and we both got a good laugh, thanks
Good luck w this. Hope u go for it. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 143
Lexington Park, MD | Well I sliced it up and made the order last night.. Even kicked in the extra 2 bucks for the 5 day delivery from Autoillumination.com. I was too nervous about the flash bulbs so I just ordered the inline flash and will wire it in upline after getting into the wiring schmatics and seeing if that will cover the trailer harness as well as the middle lights.. Not enough time now. I ordered 2 of the 120 Wide angle SMT's as well as 4 of the 48's and am going to compare to see just how much of a difference there really is for the extra 10 bucks a bulb. Of course got the load EQ's as well. Luckily, I have a TC that I am going to be working on rear lighting soon so what ever I don't use will go to it so I think im in a win win and can provide some good feedback to reduce the cost of this mod SHOULD the 48s not differ much from the 120's. Right now, its 168 for the bulbs and flasher and if the 48s do almost as good then that would bring it down 20 bucks. I was too skiddish to try the 30 LED bulbs but they were only 9.99. I know comparisons were done on the 22wat SMT's in the front lens and the pattern was too direct so more is not always better.
So, hopefully parts in a week and the following weekend mod. Will see. Any inputs still welcome.
Edited by Tims_11Vision 2013-02-24 9:46 AM
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Cruiser
Posts: 143
Lexington Park, MD | First update and pics will follow after I get some shots at dark. Day light are looking good. Compelte rear "V" mode with SMT LED bulbs did not go off as planned and I got to get into the wiring diagram today and see what could be the culprit.
1st, Turn signals
I installed a 6ohm 25watt load EQ on each of the rear signals in the bulb area. Put a Red 48LED wide angle 12Watt bulb in each side and they fill out the turn signal nicely. They do not appear extemely brighter then the 3157's like you will see in comparison to the 120SMTs however, if your trying to stay on budget you are gaining a very good fill for only 20 bucks a bulb. At this point I am satisfied and weighing out the cost, think I will keep them there.
Brake lights:
Middle Brake light
I had previously incorporated KansasGuardsman's mod that disabled the two relays which keep the two middle bulbs from coming on as brake lights when you have a turn signal on. While this did resolve the problem for a 3157 bulb, it does not for an LED causing the LED to illuminate on the HIGH/Bright side as if the brake was engaged. I reinstalled a 3157 on the right and left the SMT48 installed on the left and the LED on the left worked correctly when the brake was applied. I put both LEDs back in and it reverted to full bright again. Both 3157s and it worked as normal or if you had 1 and 1. Note that the upper element was lit. Getting into the wiring schematics later today/tonight. For now, I left 3157's installed so I can get comparison shots for day and night. I think you will be impressed with the improved appearance.
Lower brake light.
Installed red 120SMT and all I can say is WOW! Absolutely the way to go especialy if your not counting pennies. It brings this light to life. As a test I did NOT install a Load EQ and cruise control still works. This is very important I felt, I tested all modes of the cruise on the way to work and solid.
Will need to see what happens when I revert the middle brake lights to the 48SMT's. With the middle using 3157's I have a nice delay when applying the brake on the middle set of lights with the lower 120SMTs glowing BRIGHT and about a .5 sec delay on the middle bulbs coming on. So its a nice transition that looks a little differnt. Will ensure I get a video of this before swapping out the middle back to the LED's as this would significantly reduce the cost for this upgrade making it under 130 bucks. for turn signals and lower brakes.
Ok, this is it for now. Again, I will be posting pics and video once complete. Thought I might do a quick update as I seem to not do well at posting once im done... lol...
Tim |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 752
Broken Arrow, OK | Go Tim Go! I like ideas using the 120 bulbs. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 143
Lexington Park, MD | okie vision - 2013-03-01 4:18 PM
Go Tim Go! I like ideas using the 120 bulbs.
The 120 SMTs will knock your socks off but at 30 a pop thats pretty pricey and as MonkeyMan pointed out, a couple hundered for bulbs can hit ya where it hurts. SO, in the name of science, I am experimenting with combinations to see what we can come up with. Will get some pics up when I get off work tonight. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 143
Lexington Park, MD | Ok, here are photos and a vid with the following:
Turn Signals are 48Wide angle RED SMTs
Middle Brake are 3157s (stock)
Bottom Brake 120 RED SMTs
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCaJ-g12AZQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
1 Stock running
2 Stock Brake
3 LED/3157/120 Braking (mid and lowers are on)
4 Running
5 Turn
6 Last look at brake. 3157 is visible bulb vs the LEDs
(1-3157sRunningLight.JPG)
(2-3157sBrakeOn.JPG)
(3-48s-3157-120s.JPG)
(4-Running.JPG)
(5-TurnSingal.JPG)
(6-48_3157_120 Brake.JPG)
Attachments
----------------
 1-3157sRunningLight.JPG (45KB - 1 downloads)
2-3157sBrakeOn.JPG (49KB - 1 downloads)
3-48s-3157-120s.JPG (23KB - 1 downloads)
4-Running.JPG (22KB - 0 downloads)
5-TurnSingal.JPG (18KB - 2 downloads)
6-48_3157_120 Brake.JPG (22KB - 4 downloads)
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 7
Moscow, RF | Tim,
Could you explain which exactly Led bulbs did you use. I don't understand the only one thing, how come Led bulbs light become dim when running mod is on and become brighter when brake is engaged?
Is it Led bulb dual color Red/Red (with dim/bright mode)? Couldn't find such led bulbs.
Thanks in advance.
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Cruiser
Posts: 143
Lexington Park, MD | Nad - 2013-03-29 4:43 PM
Tim,
Could you explain which exactly Led bulbs did you use. I don't understand the only one thing, how come Led bulbs light become dim when running mod is on and become brighter when brake is engaged?
Is it Led bulb dual color Red/Red (with dim/bright mode)? Couldn't find such led bulbs.
Thanks in advance.
Bought from autoillumination.com. Here's the link. http://autolumination.com/3157_3156.htm
I used the 48smt wide angle dual circuit for the middle but as I said with the radio teach mod I found the middle brake light was staying on. Traced back to the ground causing the led to light on the high side for some reason so am rewiring into same circuit as lower brake lights. For now i left the 3157 stock bulbs in as you can seAmit is much dimmer. I am using the 120 wide smts in the lower and to me it's worth the extra money to go up to the 120s. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 7
Moscow, RF | Thanks Tim
Why I was curious as I have 48smt leds at front turn signals. I have changed them with tail light stock bulbs to see if there will be enough light to see difference between running and brake lights. What I understood that leds should be too bright, so as you said 120 bulbs are the best to be set up instead stock bulbs.
I was searching aliexpress.com for the led bulbs, there you can get cheapest offer but mostly all 120s comes as switchback which is not what we need as I understand. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 143
Lexington Park, MD | Nad - 2013-04-01 8:37 AM
Thanks Tim
Why I was curious as I have 48smt leds at front turn signals. I have changed them with tail light stock bulbs to see if there will be enough light to see difference between running and brake lights. What I understood that leds should be too bright, so as you said 120 bulbs are the best to be set up instead stock bulbs.
I was searching aliexpress.com for the led bulbs, there you can get cheapest offer but mostly all 120s comes as switchback which is not what we need as I understand.
Gotcha. Nope don't need switchbacks. I used 120smt wide pattern dual bulbfoil red for best illumination from autoillumination at 29.99 each. You can clearly see the pattern filling out the lens even on running lights. Everyone I have had behind me has commented on the blast of the brake light now.
Edited by Tims_11Vision 2013-04-01 8:06 PM
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