Red Tinted Tail Lights

[Robbie_95]

I bought some red tints (lamin-x) for my tail lights, has anyone else done this? Lamin-x website says to install LED indicators to be 'Legal', so i did. Tryed them today and they were half as bright as the bulbs! Expensive ones aswell (non Fleebay), 18 smd led ones, going to send them back, cant even use them on the fronts they are that poor.

I was wondering if the other type are better > My link

I also read on a few sites to use a green bulb, which sound like myth to me, but does it work? Might just try it tommorrow with some cheapies from my local car shop and spray them green....

Before people say 'fly eyes' I dont like them, the red tint is really matt and looks tacky. I want it to look OEM

Robbie.

[Gizmo]

It is a well know fact (loads of people have tried it) that LED's in indicators will be quite a bit dimmer than the OE filament bulbs - even behind an orange lens.

[Robbie_95]

It is a well know fact (loads of people have tried it) that LED's in indicators will be quite a bit dimmer than the OE filament bulbs - even behind an orange lens.

I thought LED were supposed to brighter than bulbs?

[Gizmo]

Nope they are dimmer, they do however give a whiter light.

A filament bulb with reflect all around the lights reflector which gives off a much easier to see indicator/brake light etc, whereas LED bulbs are not as directional (the light is not emitted at 360° making the light less bright)

[Robbie_95]

Nope they are dimmer, they do however give a whiter light.

A filament bulb with reflect all around the lights reflector which gives off a much easier to see indicator/brake light etc, whereas LED bulbs are not as directional (the light is not emitted at 360° making the light less bright)

Bugger! this has stumped me abit. :S

[TorqueXIsXCheap]

That has confused me abit I was always under the illusion that led bulbs were quiet alot brighter than standard halgoen bulbs, hense why alot of car manufacturers have started to add them to there lamp designs, for example the rear break lights on a new Golf GTi are very bright indeed. It very much depends on were the LED is placed. Halogen bulbs have the bennift quiet rightly mentioned of a good 360 degree spread of light. However the bulbs you highlighted in your link the led set have that covered as all diodes are facing were normal light would be emitted from a standard bulb. For example I have a replacment 9 diode led 501 bulb. Its VERY BRIGHT, I havent placed it anywere on my car. But I can vouch that one of my "xenon" effect 501's considered to be one of the more brighter natural bulbs you could buy is no were near as bright, and the field of light is a lot greater on led. However even with this said my friend for no reason replaced his fog lights with an led set. And they were terrible at lighting the road up! In your case you would not be using the led to project a path, you would only want other motorists to see them, and for that reason you would be covered.

[Ant-Vrs]

I've have got red rear lamps on my vrs and do not have any problems... Just depends what tint you use

[smoothcasper]

Hey I tried this a while back, looked really sweet, but I was worried about not having amber indicators anymore so I removed the tint :/

[Robbie_95]

That has confused me abit I was always under the illusion that led bulbs were quiet alot brighter than standard halgoen bulbs, hense why alot of car manufacturers have started to add them to there lamp designs, for example the rear break lights on a new Golf GTi are very bright indeed. It very much depends on were the LED is placed. Halogen bulbs have the bennift quiet rightly mentioned of a good 360 degree spread of light. However the bulbs you highlighted in your link the led set have that covered as all diodes are facing were normal light would be emitted from a standard bulb. For example I have a replacment 9 diode led 501 bulb. Its VERY BRIGHT, I havent placed it anywere on my car. But I can vouch that one of my "xenon" effect 501's considered to be one of the more brighter natural bulbs you could buy is no were near as bright, and the field of light is a lot greater on led. However even with this said my friend for no reason replaced his fog lights with an led set. And they were terrible at lighting the road up! In your case you would not be using the led to project a path, you would only want other motorists to see them, and for that reason you would be covered.

Yes I agree with this, its like the interior light, ive replaced them with LED and they are loads brighter. Im going to buy them LEDs and see what happens, the ones ive already used were SMD so they could be better hopefully.

[JLneonhug]

Nope they are dimmer, they do however give a whiter light.

A filament bulb with reflect all around the lights reflector which gives off a much easier to see indicator/brake light etc, whereas LED bulbs are not as directional (the light is not emitted at 360° making the light less bright)

LEDs give less throw but are brighter,hence you can see them at a further distance but doesn't light up a room as well as a bulb. That's why manufacturers are starting to use them instead of bulbs. In terms of ebay jobby or similar led bulbs, best to get the smd version as they can give better brightness and emitting radius. Next thing to look for is the wattage it produces, higher it is the brighter it will be, its not the amount of leds but more of output current.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

[Gizmo]

The comment I made about LED's was a general statement about what is available as a direct replacement bulb.

Yes LED's can be bright enough to replace ANY bulb, for example my diving torch is LED and it produces more light than most HID dive lights on the marked, both in brightness and spread, but they are not the cheap and nasty Chinese LED's that have flooded the replacement bulb market (as an example my dive torch cost £900 !!)

Most replacement LED bulbs are at a disadvantage straight away in the fact they have to cram lots of LED's into a very tiny space, whereas an OE LED light unit started from a clean sheet of paper, so space is much less of an issue.

Do a youtube search before you waste any more of your hard earned on bulbs that simply not up to the job and you will see they are not as bright as an OE filament bulb.

I would love LED's in the rear of my Superb Combi - BUT they have to be better than they are replacing and look 'right', which is the only reason I am still using the OE bulbs.

[TorqueXIsXCheap]

The point is the OP isnt needing the lights to project a path. Your example of a torch is the oposite of what his after.

So for what his looking to do led replacments should be just fine

Edited 31 October, 2011 by TorqueXIsXCheap

[Gizmo]

I would love to wrong on this BUT at the moment they will not be as bright as a filament bulb.

Many sellers even state this in the description.

The problem is partially because LED's will not produce anywhere near enough light from the side - so the reflector is not used like it is designed to.

[Robbie_95]

mmmm.... Well im going to try a few other LEDs, apprently the ones ive looked at are for 'off road and show use only' so we'll see. Im not giving up just yet if there rubbish they will be sent back. Never fought buying LEDs would be hard work

I never thought but can you get high wattage bulbs?

[JLneonhug]

Sorry I wasn't specifically aiming last post at you, but this one I might lol. I bet my bottom dollar your £900 divers torch is made in china. Anyway my point being, the Ebay/made in china LED's are good so long you know what to buy. Gone were the days of paying top buck = best.

As I said also, SMD are the ones to go for, it gives up to 180 fov (per led), so the spread is not an issue. The point of an LED is to be seen not to illuminate (produce throw) in this case. i.e. a 99p keyring led can be seen for 2+ miles but obviously it cant produce any visible light from that distance (due to dispersion of waves).

So more is better, crammed is find so long as QC is fine and you can fit the thing in. I had a pair on my first fabia (18 led jobby I think?), lasted over 4yrs and should be longer if I remembered to switch them over to the new car lol. If you want it to last and give brighter output, expect to pay possibly few times more than normal bulbs.

Quick search and looks like these are the best ones imo.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Rear-Indicator-581-LED-Bulb-B-C-E-M-R-Class-/270618460184?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3f021e0018#ht_4424wt_1228

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Rear-Indicator-581-LED-Bulb-CLK-CL-ML-SLK-S-GL-/280545181071?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4151cbbd8f#ht_4442wt_1228

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/581-PY21W-27-AMBER-SMD-LED-ERROR-FREE-INDICATOR-BULBS-/270810513622?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3f0d9080d6#ht_2170wt_1185

You could give this one a go but im feel it will go within a few months..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-1156-7527-581-BA15S-SUPER-Amber-Car-42-SMD-LED-Light-Bulb-Indicator-parking-/260879237407?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3cbd9d411f#ht_4648wt_952

[Gizmo]

Sorry I wasn't specifically aiming last post at you, but this one I might lol. I bet my bottom dollar your £900 divers torch is made in china. Anyway my point being, the Ebay/made in china LED's are good so long you know what to buy. Gone were the days of paying top buck = best.

The torch is actually Irish, but the LED's are the 'latest generation' and are obviously Chinese they also require drivers for them, I fully agree however that once you source the best LED's / SMD's they do not have to cost the earth, most suppliers sell them at a huge mark up.

Quick search and looks like these are the best ones imo.

The 5050 SMD's are meant to be the best available (as in your 3rd link).

On OE LED light lens's the LED's are mounted pretty close to the lens and spaced apart so they do not need to shine sideways, (look at a car fitted with them as std and you will notice they are pretty poor illumination from the side) this is where any replacement LED bulb will struggle IMO, the 5050 SMD's that point in all directions would probably be the best (only?) ones to go for.

[Robbie_95]

Sorry I wasn't specifically aiming last post at you, but this one I might lol. I bet my bottom dollar your £900 divers torch is made in china. Anyway my point being, the Ebay/made in china LED's are good so long you know what to buy. Gone were the days of paying top buck = best.

As I said also, SMD are the ones to go for, it gives up to 180 fov (per led), so the spread is not an issue. The point of an LED is to be seen not to illuminate (produce throw) in this case. i.e. a 99p keyring led can be seen for 2+ miles but obviously it cant produce any visible light from that distance (due to dispersion of waves).

So more is better, crammed is find so long as QC is fine and you can fit the thing in. I had a pair on my first fabia (18 led jobby I think?), lasted over 4yrs and should be longer if I remembered to switch them over to the new car lol. If you want it to last and give brighter output, expect to pay possibly few times more than normal bulbs.

Quick search and looks like these are the best ones imo.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Rear-Indicator-581-LED-Bulb-B-C-E-M-R-Class-/270618460184?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3f021e0018#ht_4424wt_1228

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Rear-Indicator-581-LED-Bulb-CLK-CL-ML-SLK-S-GL-/280545181071?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4151cbbd8f#ht_4442wt_1228

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/581-PY21W-27-AMBER-SMD-LED-ERROR-FREE-INDICATOR-BULBS-/270810513622?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3f0d9080d6#ht_2170wt_1185

You could give this one a go but im feel it will go within a few months..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-1156-7527-581-BA15S-SUPER-Amber-Car-42-SMD-LED-Light-Bulb-Indicator-parking-/260879237407?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3cbd9d411f#ht_4648wt_952

Ok, thanks. I'll try these ones out, im not bothered about paying a little extra as long as they do the trick