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Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 6:42 am
by DD50
I've bought quite a few bulbs from them ranging from license plate lights to interior lights. They say on the site that they aren't as bright as normal bulbs but I've seen otherwise. On my 92 I've switched the map lights, dome lights, puddle lights, license plate lights, trunk lights, and I just purchased tail, marker, and reverse lights. Oh and I also switched out some of the gauge lights and the shifter light on the floor. Sure the price might be a bit high at times but they send it fast and shipping is usually fast. Their bulb search system is pretty good but has a few small glitches. If you aren't sure about which bulb I'd look at the stock one first to see if the base matches

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:09 pm
by StreetLegacy93
how do you know what bulbs to get? the site is not very user friendly

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:09 pm
by Bheinen74
I heard the LED don't last due to they do not have resisters, and they are not designed for 12v they need resistors to drop voltage way down. How long have you had them?

They will burn out shortly.

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 4:40 am
by Danny-G
I've had leds in my tail lights for over a year now. I got them from autozone and they work just fine, none have burnt out and load resisters aren't required. I say get the led bulbs, the 360 degree ones, and not have to worry about a tail light being out. I even have a set, again from autozone, in my side markers and those are just fine too.

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 6:58 am
by DD50
StreetLegacy93 wrote:how do you know what bulbs to get? the site is not very user friendly
You use the Vehicle bulb finder beta which is at the top left and it is a red button.
The link should look like this: http://www.superbrightleds.com/vehicle/ ... acy/59/664

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 6:46 pm
by StreetLegacy93
DD50 wrote:
StreetLegacy93 wrote:how do you know what bulbs to get? the site is not very user friendly
You use the Vehicle bulb finder beta which is at the top left and it is a red button.
The link should look like this: http://www.superbrightleds.com/vehicle/ ... acy/59/664
haha Me so dumb..


Cool i ordered mine, great price

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:35 pm
by Baddog
Bheinen74 wrote:I heard the LED don't last due to they do not have resisters, and they are not designed for 12v they need resistors to drop voltage way down. How long have you had them?

They will burn out shortly.
Lol.

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:47 am
by martimus919
I thought about buying some lights from these guys for my cluster to hopefully get rid of the green and make it white, but I don't know if it would work just putting a bright white bulb in since the gauge is tinted.

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:06 am
by kimokalihi
The bulbs are white already I believe. They have a green sleeve over them. I don't know if the plastic that it shines through is tinted or not but wuen I replaced my bulbs with some from a junkyard cluster they all had sleeves on them to make the light green.

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:27 pm
by martimus919
Yes, but the gauge itself has a green tint so even with out the sleeves it still glows green.

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:50 pm
by DD50
martimus919 wrote:Yes, but the gauge itself has a green tint so even with out the sleeves it still glows green.
Well yes that is true but only to a certain extent. I have two blue L.E.Ds in my gauge cluster and those areas are a pure blue. The rest is green since I didn't change it out. I changed the light for the shiftier on the floor and that's blue as well

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 5:12 pm
by vrg3
Just a heads-up -- you really shouldn't use these LED lights in signalling lights like taillights or sidemarkers or turn signals. The optics of those lamps are designed for light coming from a certain place (the filament of the right kind of bulb), and putting in one of these LED setups changes the position of the light source.

You ever play with a Maglite? You can adjust the focus until you get a nice bright spot. If you then adjust it slightly in either direction, you end up with a halo; the center spot that used to be the brightest is now actually dimmer than the surrounding areas that used to be dim.

With LED "bulbs" in your taillights, you end up with lights that aren't visible enough from the right directions.

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:55 pm
by martimus919
I know if I were to go with a different color (such as blue) it wouldn't be a problem, But I'm afraid the white bulbs will pick up the green tint. I took my Streamlight Stylus Pro flashlight to the back of the cluster last time I had it out and it just loked like a sea foam green, I hated it...

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:56 am
by DD50
martimus919 wrote:I know if I were to go with a different color (such as blue) it wouldn't be a problem, But I'm afraid the white bulbs will pick up the green tint. I took my Streamlight Stylus Pro flashlight to the back of the cluster last time I had it out and it just loked like a sea foam green, I hated it...
So then really you don't really have much options with the back lighting. Is there a way to get rid of the green completely or will it always be there?

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:58 am
by DD50
vrg3 wrote:Just a heads-up -- you really shouldn't use these LED lights in signalling lights like taillights or sidemarkers or turn signals. The optics of those lamps are designed for light coming from a certain place (the filament of the right kind of bulb), and putting in one of these LED setups changes the position of the light source.

You ever play with a Maglite? You can adjust the focus until you get a nice bright spot. If you then adjust it slightly in either direction, you end up with a halo; the center spot that used to be the brightest is now actually dimmer than the surrounding areas that used to be dim.

With LED "bulbs" in your taillights, you end up with lights that aren't visible enough from the right directions.
That being said I have the tail light bulbs changed and it looks exactly the same but a bit brighter. I mean, to fix this problem, isn't that what the 360 degree bulbs could be used for so what you said above wouldn't happen?

Re: Superbrightleds.com

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 2:40 pm
by vrg3
It may look the same to you, at the angles you look at, but you're not a photogoniometer. I don't mean that in a harsh way; it's just that the human eye isn't any good at this sort of thing. If you had the tools to measure the light pattern you'd find it was very different, particularly at the angles that matter to other drivers. You'd also find that the intensity difference between the taillights and the brake lights was reduced, further hurting the effectiveness of the signals.

The "360 degree bulbs" try to address one of the problems with putting LED light sources in lamps made for filaments -- that filaments radiate in all directions perpendicular to the axis of the filament while LEDs have narrow fields of view perpendicular to their mounts -- but it doesn't resolve the problem of the light source still being in the wrong place and still having the wrong shape.

Take a look at this arrangement of LED light sources: http://www.etrailer.com/Lights/Putco/P2 ... 360-S.html

And compare it to the two small cylindrical horizontally-oriented filaments of this bulb: http://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and ... 1157B.html

It's completely different.

I know sometimes motor vehicle safety laws are ridiculous, but in this case there's actually a good reason these LED light sources are illegal for on-road use in pretty much every country and every state. Superbrightleds.com sticks a tiny disclaimer at the bottom of their auto bulb FAQ saying "may not comply with SAE or U.S. DOT standards."

If your biggest concern is long bulb life, one option is to use 1157LL bulbs for the taillights. They're a bit dimmer than stock, but they last significantly longer. Or if you want brighter, you can use 3496 bulbs, which are about 40% brighter than stock but last about half as long (on the bright filament; the dim filament is the same). A compromise might be a 3496LL bulb.

But bright and long-lasting are contradictory goals with light bulbs, so you do have to choose. I put the bright bulbs in and keep spares in my glove box.

If you want to retrofit LED taillights to your car, you have to retrofit the whole thing. You can't use stock reflectors or lenses. If you want to go this route, I would suggest taking a look at the universal-application LED taillights made for heavy trucks: