LED Bulbs: Front Amber/White Switchbacks and Rear Red

[bikermike]

I am trying out out some new LED bulbs in the front turn signal / parking light buckets. My goal was to have daytime running lights without using the headlights for that purpose. The car came with clear lenses and clear bulbs in it, but I also wanted to have amber turn signals.

I found "switchback" LEDs on ebay and figured I'd give them a shot. In parking / running light mode they are white and when the turn signal comes on the white LEDs go out and the amber ones flash. They are much brigher than the incandescent bulbs. The color of the light may not be to everyone's liking, but my intent was to improve my visibility on the road. They really aren't much use as a driving light as the lens of the parking light doesn't do much to aim light anywhere.

My understanding is that these are 5W LEDs, so I should be ok with them in the factory harness. I had picked up some cheaper LEDs a while back and they were really dim, so these are an improvement in brightness over those and the 1157 incandescent bulbs.

The US based ebay seller is silverimage3. Here is a pic of the bulb:

switchback.jpg

And some video in action:
[youtube][/youtube]

[Garm]

wow SUPER COOL.

me likey. can't find the same thing, just multi-SMD versions.

got link?

[zippy67roadster]

Very cool. I bought LED's for the brake/tail lights. The stock ones just weren't bright enough to be safe, IMHO.

[notoptoy]

Those do look great, thanks for the tip.
Actually ordered some, good price and free shipping.

[dbrick]

wow SUPER COOL.

me likey. can't find the same thing, just multi-SMD versions.

got link?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1157-Switchback ... 5648283ce6


Nice look, I have H4 headlights with pilot bulbs, but this might be the ticket, little silver cars aren't the most visable things in daylight. I just have to work out a relay so they can be ign hot and/or a buzzer so I remember to shut them off.

Do these need resistors or a different flasher? I know the amp draw is lower.

[bikermike]

I am running the LED friendly flashers. I picked up a set over the summer and intended to use them w/ the other bulbs I bought. The old flashers were old, tired and slow. I didn't even try them w/ the new bulbs, but I can I can experiment next weekend. The ones I found have an audible click to them from ebay seller, memotronics_llc, - part # EF32RL.

I also wired up a Radio Shack chime to the tail light circuit as a "lights off" reminder when the ignition is off. I can do a follow up post later this week.

I can't find the similar bulbs in red for the tail lights in the US. I found an ebay seller in Hong Kong that has the 1156 and 1157 types I need.

All the wiring mods I am doing are completely reversible without any hacking of the factory wires so I can revert back if needed and not mess anything up. Luckily my car had 99% unmolested wiring when I got it.

[Alvin]

I saw these in person last weekend when I visited Mike and I must say that I was very impressed!
I always wanted the directionals to be brighter, and I love how the new LEDs make a clean, crisp signal.
The white running lights might be a little odd imho, but I want those ambers bad!
Icing on the cake would be the same type of brightness for the brake lights.
Thanks for the inspiration Mike!

ps I have been fascinated with the LED lighting on new cars. Audi was the first(now every car has them) and their front/rear light treatments are nifty:

[youtube][/youtube]

[Linda]

On my 68 I believe the amber lights are on while running if the headlights are on. So with these bulbs it would be a whiter light than the stock headlights which I think would look weird. Might want to upgrade both together?
Great that there is no wire cutting.
I am interested in the tai light bulbs also.

Linda

[nismou20]

I like it, this will complement my 69 with all red and amber lenses omitted. I adapted clear front lenses to rear taillights running red LEDs. Clear lens is just a tad smaller in dia but can be made to fit with a little RTV. Like mixing the modern look to classics.

[bikermike]

I believe the stock wiring on the US spec early windshield cars has the parking lights off when the headlights are on. (At least that's how mine is wired). In 68 the US regs changed such that both sets of lights were to be on when the headlights are on. The idea is to still have some lighting up front if you lost your headlights.

I intend to try a little rewire and trigger the parking lights from the tail light connection on the headlight switch and see how it looks. I may stash a switch under the dash to have it work both ways. Also I'm considering connecting the foglight switch such that the fogs could only be on when the tail lights are on as well. Then effectively the headlight switch becomes the master switch for all the lights and the chime will remind me if anything is left on when I turn off the car.

Then I'll rewire the headlights with relays and try some brighter bulbs and also work on bright LEDs for the rear. More to come....

[spyder]

My '66 pickup worked that way. The front running lights would go out when you turned on the headlights. I added a diode to the light switch to keep them on with the headlights. The inspection station wouldn't pass the truck the way they originally worked.

[Garm]

I have a pretty large shipment of automotive LED lighting coming in a couple of weeks. I did my homework and found a good company to deal with -- I'll post up some pics when it all comes in. Getting a good range of products, should be able to make up a "Roadster kit" -- at least that's the idea.

I was particularly interested in "warm white" that would be LED, bright, but not the icy white color we all think of with LEDs. LED is how I light my entire home now and they are pretty amazingly efficient.

[Datsun.David]

Hey Garm -
Are you using Philips LEDs at home?

[dbrick]

Bob added 69 teardrops to the front fenders on the 66 and added dual filament bulbs for turn signals. Nice addition if you don't mind making holes, both in the fenders and your wallet.

[Garm]

^ That's a cool idea. Would help from a safety standpoint, and they are holes you'll never see.

datsun.david, I'll have to check. I have a lot of overhead recessed lighting, and I used some can conversions. Electricity bill went down 20% just from that, not counting all the bathroom lights, lamps, spots, etc. Probably a 30% savings overall and no heat. Haven't had one fail yet, been over 6 months now. All dimmable too.