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Word of frustration about LED's

dyeager535

dyeager535

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Definite frustration!

Replaced the axle in my trailer, which morphed into re-wiring a portion of it.

Previously I had played around with LED lighting on the truck, eventually getting them to work properly (so I thought) in the turn/tail light position on the rear. Adjustable electronic flasher made that possible.

After finishing the trailer, realized when the taillights are on, the truck taillights went off if the trailer was connected. ONLY if the trailer was connected.

Much trial and tribulation later, I realized that the "1157" (dual filament if incandescent) LED bulbs I had purchased are NOT wired properly. They are single function, not dual. I happened to have some OTHER 1157 LED's to try, and those do in fact operate as dual function, but IMO do not produce adequate light. I had already thrown incandescents in the truck before I realized I had the other LED's still (was going to toss them because of the weak ), or I would have tested with the other LED's that I know are wired properly.

I would hope that purchasing from someone like Superbright LED's would assure you get properly working LED's. Just be aware, that while the cheapness of ebay is attractive, you may run into issues trying to use the cheap bulbs.

Not sure if this was venting or a PSA. lol But it did make me question my wiring and the trailer harness at the truck. Which had nothing to do with the problem, and thus took a fair bit of effort to figure out.
 
everything I've gotten from superbright has been top notch quality... i run the adjustable in Mutt to slow down my sequencing tail lights...
 
wasted wages said:
Any chance you could use them (weak LED's)
on your trailer?
Click to expand...

Well the funny thing with them is that while they were purchased as a pair, one is noticeably brighter than the other, so I was going to toss the dim one regardless. I did test them in the trailer, and they do not affect the truck taillights (when incandescent). My suspicion is that the LED's not being wired properly is why they shut off when power goes to the other pole. I will revisit shortly, before I ran into this problem I ordered some of the "edison style(?)" 1157 bulbs, where they have what look akin to filaments, but are still LED. In my house lighting those broadcast light like an incandescent, I'm hoping they do the same for the truck lighting. https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-Red-4-LED-1157-BAY15D-21-5W-Car-Reverse-Backup-Tail-Stop-Brake-Light-Bulb/163361236972?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

However, now that I know what I know, I will immediately check them for dual function. If they don't work properly, they will be free. One thing to be said of ebay and the dishonest sellers...you don't have to pay if it's not as advertised. But that is why I mentioned Superbright. They are significantly more expensive, but I have a feeling they ensure that what they are selling is good quality.
 
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anymore with todays funky wiring and demands and mix and match i would do this from the start if i was working on something i was not 100% sure will plug and play nice .

these keep the tow vehicle and trailer separate and takes out a lot of the weird problems .

https://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-48915-Tail-Light-Converter/dp/B0002Q81XA

also dont forget i tried a few brands and posted my results for you guys to try and or use . https://ck5.com/forums/threads/l-e-...-headlights-to-j-w-speaker-headlights.335580/
 
I kept seeing places mention converters, now I know what they meant.

I don't believe in splicing wiring when I can avoid it, which is almost always. I used one of the adapters that goes between the taillight plugs (oh how I love the weatherpack connectors vs. the earlier ones) so that it was still sealed and I wasn't splicing anything, so I figure the wiring is not going to be much more bulletproof than that. But I can see that when mixing and matching things like bulbs, isolating the trailer wiring could be beneficial.

Definitely remembered your thread, didn't want to muck it up with my whining lol. But at the same time, hopefully people will realize that paying more for something, normally does result in a better product. As much time as I've messed around with these LED's, and the cost of purchasing them, I would likely have had more than enough incandescent bulbs to last my lifetime, with near zero time expended.
 
Aftermarket LED turn signal bulbs have always been terrible. They are dim,
Other cars will think your lights are broken, and you have to get load resistors or an aftermarket flasher to make them blink

Add trailer wiring and you have changed the load resistance, you going to cause problems. Go back to incandescent, go back to the original Chevy flasher, see what happens!
 
Surprisingly the adjustable electronic flasher works fine with the incandescents. I'm sure it wont last as long as the original design, but I'll deal with that when it fails. At least that issue will have an easy diagnosis lol

For the cost of doing good leds however, I'm not sure it's worth the hassle over just leaving what works, in there. At least if you expect some sort of performance improvement. Aesthetics are something else.

Edit: And to tag on below, the LED's (when working properly lol) look great IMO. It takes time to find good setups however. Again, with a company like Superbright, you'd probably be set from the get go.
 
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fordsucks! said:
Aftermarket LED turn signal bulbs have always been terrible. They are dim,
Other cars will think your lights are broken, and you have to get load resistors or an aftermarket flasher to make them blink
Click to expand...
better go check my thread out . tons of pics showing stock to aftermarket now . and my lenses are 1987 originals and faded . no resistors and 1 solid state electronic flasher and there doing just fine .
 
fordsucks! said:
Stock flasher relay also works fine with incandescent... and does not work with LED (too low load)
Click to expand...

Trust me. I've been through multiple iterations of flashers and bulbs...even the solid state flasher I tried resulted in the hyper flash, which is why I had to go to an adjustable solid state flasher. Which also meant losing the tone for the blinker.

I spent way more time and money on trying to make LED's work, than what it would have cost to just buy more incandescents. Don't get me wrong, I like experimenting, but typically I prefer to end up with a good finished product.

Here's what the LED's ended up looking/operating like on my truck. What I just swapped out for incandescent because these LED's are not true 1157's and don't have the dual function.

(watching that video again, I could have noticed back then that with the headlights on, there is no parking light)
 
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