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L.E.D bulb test & review thread UPDATE : EBAY cheepy headlights to j.w. speaker headlights

I noticed you said front turn signals earlier, and I remembered having issues when I tried LED's in that position too, but so many things got screwed up with the LED tests I did initially I didn't remember what issue I had, or if I could attribute it solely to the LED's. And since you said it worked, I figured must have been something wrong with what I did.

FWIW there *are* polarity non-specific LED's, but I am not sure any are made in that bulb style. And if they are, probably still pretty pricey. I recall that I couldn't find any cheap enough that I was willing to buy just to test. Oh, and don't believe the cheap ebay ones if you happen to find some that say they aren't polarity specific...they still expect you to turn the bulb around if it doesn't work. Not quite what that means. ;)
 
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i just tested these 1156 led bulbs from www.superbrightleds.com part# 1156-cw27-t cool white 360* beam pattern. https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...lb-27-smd-led-tower-ba15s-retrofit/2622/5694/

in pic 5 you would have never seen this trailer just outside my shop door with reg bulbs .

pic 1 = old std 1156 bulb on wall
pic 2 = old std 1156 bulb side view
pic 3 = sbled 1156 unit on wall
pic 4 = sbled 1156 unit on wall
pic 5 = just both sbled 1156 units . i covered the center rear unit i had installed in the bumper .
pic 6 = 20 foot from the rear of the truck in pitch black rain nasty night time .

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sbled 1156.jpg

sbled 1156 side.jpg

rain black night.jpg

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i am happy with the 2 option from super bright led i have picked for the NON-polarity sensitive location of the front fender turn/marker 168/194 bulb location . and the 1156 option for brake light is a huge improvement over stock and even bigger of the original sylvania led unit i tried and didn't do squat and actually got a lot less out of them .

i took and backed the truck out all the way to the street and turned it around and backed it back up and with my house being dark brown and pitch black out and rain i can say 100% i was able to see a LOT BETTER FOR SURE !
 
got my new led lights to test in my light bar for the work lights . https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...bulb-28-smd-led-ba15s-retrofit-car/1643/3766/

still need to test them outside in the real world working . but that will be a few days or so . got work to do on the truck . . . :whistle:

there not as pin point as the old halogen but seem to flood out more and a WHITE light over the old dingy yellow of the halogen .

here is some before and after . front then rear and side view of front with them in .

@ryoken might like this option for his bar ? ?

front halogen work.jpg

front sbled work.jpg

rear halogen work.jpg

rear sbled work.jpg

front sbled work side view.jpg
 
so my friend just purchased a new to him truck and he has said he had these super led headlights and sent me a pic . so i searched and found them for 89.98 or so on ebay for a pair of 2 .

i stopped over to his shop tonight as he has fresh new white doors and hardly no light on tonight figure do a test of them against my QUALITY j.w. speaker units so you can make your choice of what you want .

and as i never had a chance to see a rear cut off line on a blank wall or shop door here it is and WOW is it there for real and i now understand the quality factor in these lights over the led bloobs they pump out so cheep .

pic 1 & 2 = cheepy ebay / amazon stuff they sell .
pic 3 = cheepy low beam in person its a blueish light
pic 4 = j.w. speaker low beam and there white light in person
pic 5 = shows the narrow blast of light from cheepy right side to the HUGE WIDE beam with MASSIVE cut off line at the top of the j.w. speaker left side (low beam only)
pic 6 = cheepy light all on for high
pic 7 = j.w. speaker high beam only unit on
pic 8 = j.w. speaker on h-b left and cheepy ebay all led on right side

for testing i only set the lights up on the fender of his truck and did 1 at a time so the high beam is just high on j.w. speaker NOT the combo of both low and high as it would be in a vehicle . they work super together with low and high in real life driving . it was cold as hell in his shop and he was ready for bed so i did a quick test . PIC #6 would have been even better night and day difference if i had been able to do both at 1 time like in a vehicle would be .

cheepy units note : there all in 1 for the 4 hedlight size of 4x6 they do both low & high beam
j.w. speaker units note : there specific low & high on 4 headlight size of 4x6 LOW only and HIGH only . helps them maximize the beam patterns . BUT the low has the extra wire to keep them on when high is activated so you STILL GET 4 ON when in high beam .

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Hmmmm. Have to consider those 1156’s for my mower.

It’s almost like John Deere decided to make headlights less useful than old squarebody lights as a challenge.
 
I've been messing with LED bulbs in my 73 C10.

I purchased a flasher module from United Pacific that uses an external ground wire. It also has an adapter to switch polarity on the flasher module. Good thing it had that adapter, because I need it. From what I read GM did some odd wiring on the turn signals and the polarity isn't always the same from truck to truck.

Problem I ran into is the LED bulbs I got for the turn signal/marker below the headlights and the tail lights do not flash when the headlights are on. I did NOT buy the Silvania bulbs. These were some I found with good reviews on Amazon. From what I read it can be a real pain to get LED bulbs to work in the old trucks. I think I should try the bulbs that don't care about polarity, but at this point I don't feel like spending more money on something that may not work.
 
100% understand . thats why i did this thread to show my finds that WORK in my truck and to the level of the same or better . and the ones that didnt work got noted in here so you dont have to waste your money .
 
so i figure why not try some ebay led bulbs for my light bar that were advertised as much brighter and had 3x as many led filaments on the bulb unit .

here is a the 640 lumen with 28 sm led chips from super bright led brand bulbs i had swapped in . https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...bulb-28-smd-led-ba15s-retrofit-car/1643/3766/

here is the as advertised 1768 lumens with 68 sm led chips . https://www.ebay.com/itm/10X-Super-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

when i swapped in 2 of the new for the center work light pair and turned on the switch i figured 1 was dead or something . . . . nope there both on and the output is so low its not even worth my time to take 2 pics of the before and after .

and just to verify the difference i swapped 1 bulb from the ebay back to the sbled bulb and turned the light's back on and WOW there was a massive change in brightness .

so if you wish to try the ebay lights do NOT expect the output to be as advertised .

and just a fyi both of these lights show made in china . but there is a huge difference in the TRUE lumen output .

at this point i might try and retrofit a small led pod setup in place of the stock light bar b15 light socket reflector units to do a true massive jump in output inplace of the retro fit bulbs .
 
glad my write up helped even a few guys .

plate lights on my CUSTOM bumper are led already . i will get a night pic later and post up for you . just 4-6 element 3m sticky units is all in white .
 
here is my plate light in the dark in the shop . @mrk5

there mounted up under the brim i welded on at a angle so its not a direct blinding light to people behind me .

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so my good friend stopped up today and we talked a bit on headlights . he is a over the road trucker and does a lot of driving . he was the one who just got the used / new to him truck with the cheep ebay/amazon lights i tested against my j.w. speaker units .

well he has found the pattern does SUCK and stopping in the snow to wipe off the lights sucks even more when your 100klbs loaded give or take with salt and 18 gears to run threw .

so he took my extra not used yet in a project j.w. speaker lights with heater grid to try . he was impressed with the pattern that night and the true white color over the cheepy units . so he will install them in the morning and he has a few runs to do long distance and he will report back . . . . i think when he reports back it will be green backs in my hand :saweet:.

i will report back with his feedback .

and another side note my friend did a nock-off set of the original j.w. speaker lights non heated and he LOVES the pattern and coverage even tho he knows there nock off and non heated for winter time snow use . pic below of nock-off style of original . he wanted to try somthing before crazy money like i did so i told him this would be the cheepy style i would try first and he was super happy .

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wow good read.. and i see your like me..all over :haha:

could you update 1st post with each bulb you chose?..

i was thinking of using all whote bulbs due to covers being colored but you went amber and red... hmmmm
 
sweetk30 said:
i have been thinking of doing just this swap and have looked at a lot of them . i think i found a good real guy like us review . he did a good job for the most part with repeatable results . when i am ready it looks like them red sylvania units will be it . i will do the 1156 for the backup maybe . but for now my backup light is ordered and waiting to be installed in the bumper when i arrives .
CURRENT LIST IN THE TRUCK WORKING GREAT :

my led headlight upgrade i already have : https://ck5.com/forums/threads/j-w-speaker-led-conversion-headlight-review.332438/

rear backup light i picked for the center of the bumper : https://www.lifetimeledlights.com/l...ts-3-inch-flush-mount-led-30-watt-flush-mount

rear stock position led upgrade i picked : https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...lb-27-smd-led-tower-ba15s-retrofit/2622/5694/

rear brake / turn / main tail : https://www.sylvania-automotive.com/products/interior-and-exterior-bulbs/zevo-led/1157r_zevo.jsp

rear side tail only : https://www.sylvania-automotive.com...-exterior-bulbs/sylvania-led/168r_syl_led.jsp

front 81-91 fender side marker / turn : https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...d-led-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/3551/7581/

front grill or under headlight turn / marker : https://www.sylvania-automotive.com/products/interior-and-exterior-bulbs/zevo-led/1157a_zevo.jsp

here is the sylvania bulb id chart . https://www.sylvania-automotive.com/apps/vlrg-us/Vlrg/

Click to expand...


thx.. had to deviate a bit from that list as some items were not in amazon. I had $131 credit on amazon... so in theory.. $93 (free) so lets see when they come in and what we got...
ill try and do pics as well...

led.png
 
sweetk30 said:
front 81-91 fender side marker / turn : https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...d-led-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/3551/7581/
Click to expand...

this one seems to work fine... turn signals flash fine...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B013SW3SU0?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title


with that... question... front small amber under grill or bottom corners of grill... do they stay on with lights or only when turn signals? gotta pull grill to get to them and currently both only flash with signal.. no always on.

2 things.. my fender covers are old.. dirty and not in good shape.
also bushwacker flares cover part of light


bulb
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LED
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