I'm thinking about changing my stock tail light units for LED units but a few questions first. I'm thinking about changing my stock tail light units with LED units. My thought is move the tail light units to my bumper I'm planning on building.

If I change out my stock tail light units for LED units I should just be able to hook them right up and be good to go as long as my volts are the same right?

 

Be sure to use good quality LED replacement bulbs, because there is a difference in the brightness of the tail light and turn / stop filaments of the bulb. Some of the Chinese bulbs only have one level of brightness.

The new bulbs should fit without a problem. Wire brush the sockets (with power off !) and use a little dab of dielectric grease on the base of the bulb so it doesn't rust in the socket.

 

Post #37 in my build thread.

Been there, done that.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post16875934

 

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure I will change the full unit or just swap bulbs for LED.

 

Either way you may need to change from the stock flasher to an electronic flasher.

 

When you switch to LEDs, there are a few gotcha's that you need to deal with.

LEDs are polarity sensitive. Probably not a problem when replacing 1157 and 1156 lamps but it will bite you if up change out a wedge base like the running lights and dash lights. If they don't light up, try turning them 180°.

LEDs draw less current than incandescent lamps. This will cause the flasher to misbehave. It will "hyperflash", meaning it will blink at a very fast rate. If you've had a turnsignal burn out, you've seen hyperflash. It's easily fixed by either switching to an electronic flasher intended for LEDs or by adding a resistor in parallel to increase the current drawn by the circuit.

As 67xr7kat points out, there are some questionable LEDs out there. Meaning they have very little change in brightness from low to high. I forget what Aaron-71 did on his truck, he might be the one that added a full panel of LEDs instead of just changing to an LED replacement. I kind of like that idea as it gives an even glow across the entire lens.

For some video of the difference between incandescent, LEDs without much change in brightness and what are my personal favorite, based solely on the videos and ratings, head to West Coast Cougar Classics.

Michael

 

Thanks for the info guys I will see about picking up a new flasher for sure.

 

Actually, hyperflash is a thing with Body Control Modules. The old mechanical flashers won't flash. There isn't enough amperage flowing through the flasher to trip the bimetal strip. Same thing happens when you burn out one standard bulb. The other doesn't draw enough by itself to trip the flasher.

 

What he said...

Its been so long since I've had an 1157 burn out that I forgot the flasher slows down or won't blink at all with too light a load. The HHR loses a turn signal lamp every 3 or 4 months and blinks like crazy till I get it replaced.

You'll still need an electronic flasher unless you can find the mechanical one that was in my '65 Mustang. It had some sort of geared flywheel or spring or ? It would clack, make a whirring sound, pause then whirr a bit more then go clack again. It didn't care what the load was as long as there was at least one lamp.

Michael

 

One other gotcha on LEDs - match the LED color to the lens. It seems counter-intuitive but a white LED behind a red lens will be dimmer than a red LED behind a red lens.

 

Or, if they are really bright LEDs, they may shine through in the color of the LED. My brother found that out with some tail light bulbs. Right through the red lens as a white light.

I have to correct my earlier statement. Vehicles with analog flashers can hyperflash, but it requires damage to the wiring harness that shorts power to ground. Essentially though, slow flash and hyperflash mean exactly the opposite things in an analog vs. computer controlled turn signal circuit.