Curing LED Turn Signal Conversion Problems

The amount of people that leave the proper space for reaction time for proper braking is so low, I don't think it matters whether or not you have brake LED's or not, either.

Too many drive over 75, or speed limit +8 mph, due to lack of enforcement, that it creates a constant compliance problem, with everyone "justifying" exceeding the speed limit on freeways and interstates. We have become a nation that is corrupt, not knowing right from wrong. We are on roads never engineered for traveling those kinds of speeds.

Irritates the hell out of me when folks like this ride my a** and don't leave enough space... lack of common sense. too many video games played in life. Driving is not a game, it's a privelege, not a right.

The percentage of people that actually use a turn signal is so low i dont think it matters whats plugged in there.

At 65 mph a vehicle travels 20 feet in the time it takes an incandescent bulb to illuminate as compared to an led. I know when I am following a vehicle with led brake lights, they get my attention must quicker- simply because of the strobe like response.

Agreed. I went LED because my OEM lights seemed to be having socket problems. That's why I ruled out Bargman's LED "upgrade" modules. Those should have offered proper "focus, directionality", whatever you want to call it, but would still connect via those troublesome sockets. The LED setup is all wired.
More helpfully, it seems somebody (Ford? Jayco? Chassis Stretcher?) skimped on wire size. Our rear lights worked OK, but when I connected toad lights (removable, with 1157 bulbs) the turn signals on coach and toad dimmed badly. Replaced both coach and toad lights with LED (again, complete LED assemblies) and ended up with good lighting. I'll confess that I do truly like the way they look, though...
Added the lollipop lights to the mirrors to:
1. Make a turn signal visible to somebody alongside, in blind zone
2. Provide redundancy from the front aspect of the RV. Now oncoming traffic has two amber turn signals to see, with one remaining if the other goes out
3. Our particular Ford has very poor green arrows in the instrument panel to show the turn signal is on. Much easier to see the red side of lollipops (EDIT - OOPS - Industry calls them PEDESTALS)

This thread can easily devolve into righteousness, as if every bulb performs the same in every housing.

Anybody who spent good money on LED's retrofits, has a reason to believe that these bulbs are indeed an improvement, whether they are, or not. It depends on the reflector and how any retrofit particular LED bulbs utilizes the reflector as to how it actually performs.

How many humans do you know who revile their purchases? If they researched it and believe it to be a good choice, their brains will do everything possible to reaffirm their purchase.

There are adequate chances that the LED retrofit bulbs are indeed an actual improvement in terms of overall lumens, but are those lumens aimed where best interpreted by other drivers? How many who do, even care?
Looks brighter to me, thank you very much, purchase justified.

Once again, expenditures must be justified, and who better than to justify those expenditures than strangers on the internet.

Unfortunately, there remains this fact that incandescent housings are designed around a intense filament light source, and multitdirectional LED's firing in the best parody of 360 degrees is not going to adequately project enough light in every direction, to other drivers, as they are expecting in every housing..

My 1157's Incandescent signal lights are easy to access.

I am well aware of all the current offerings of LED 1157 retrofits.
No thanks. For me there is no benefit, unless I am trying to show others that a regular incandescent bulb is just so beneath me. Cromagnon or neanderthal. This wine smells funny. Ewwwwwwww

I'd rather insure adequate voltages make it to these original bulbs, and that the bulbs themselves are fresh, and that I have backups on hand. and know how to reach them with minimal fuss

Be honest with yourself after installing any LED bulb into your incandescent housing. You obviously want to see an improvement, and your brain has been programmed to release seratonin and endorphins on a perceived positive result, key word being "perceived"

Actual, is a whole different level

See Consumer economy, part A

Be honest with yourself, and judge the retrofit LED light from all angles, before justifying your purchase, and trying to get others online to help you justify the purchase.

I'm not saying all LED retrofit bulbs In INcandescent housings are worthless, just that there is little reason for the purchaser of LED retrofits, to not believe for a microsecond, that the light output is correct at all angles, in all situations, and that the person driving behind you will make allowances for your running lights, which looked just like brake lights, so it was not obvious when you were actually braking.


If you believe that a simple LED retrofit bulb, is without question , an undoubted improvement, then that is what you want to believe, and you might as well line up with all the menstruating women as you try to irrationally claim that it is just how you 'feel' and therefore it must be right.

Because all men are such pigs. OMG!!!!!

Gdetrailer wrote:

ChooChooMan74 wrote:
1st. If you vehicle still has a flasher, an electronic flasher will cure the fast flash.

2nd. I have been using LED replacements for years. No issues except that I never have to change a bulb. Use quality LEDs, and they can be seen.

Newer vehicles do not use a can type flasher. Instead they use the Body control Module (a computer) which checks for the proper bulb current and if it doesn't see the proper current it hyper flashes.

The resistor method is the only "cure" for that.

Second, LEDS DO GO BAD.

I have so far had TWO very expensive $50 LED modules go bad on my TT, one within two years of use for a grand total of 4000 miles of driving and the other after THREE years of use..

I NOW keep SPARE LED MODULES with me at all times since they are not found in any stores and are special order only..

I get to see LOTs of big rigs with half failed or fully failed LED modules not to mention, now days lots of cars which are equipped with factory LEDs failing (bet those are several hundred each to replace).

So don't fool yourself into thinking that changing to LEDs solves failed lights.. I thought the same thing at one time which is why a converted my TT to them.. Now I am regretting that decision and am really considering going back to $1 incadescent bulbs which are a heck of a lot more reliable...

I have had some of mine for over 4 years, on their 2nd vehicle and no issues so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBump1fkDNg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Good For A 25-amp load. I have flashed a ONE THIRD WATT LED with this unit.




Available at http://www.allbatterysales.com

I couldn't keep bulbs (1157) and sockets working in our incandescent Bargman rear lights. Replaced with their complete LED assemblies. It was part of a plan to also add LED truck "lollipop" lights to the mirror arms. Turn signals flashed too fast. So instead of LED I got incandescent lollipops at a fraction of the LED price and the flash rate is just nice. Oh, Bright RED, too.

I love it on these extremely narrow Mexican roads when I see one headlight coming at me. Which is it - the driver's side or passenger's side headlight I am seeing?

I have fitted 310 watts of halogen lighting to my little car. 200 of which are 80/100 Hella 9004 bulbs. OK, I hear forum participant's screams of outrage all the way down here.

Darwin rules down here. All the cattle have mutated. They now have asphalt colored hides. You hit one you die in a toad.

The 2 55-watt spot driving lights are only used when I cannot see a car - their lights, head or tail.

The headlights are aimed correctly. How do I know? Proof is in the pudding. I pass several thousands of cars here and in the USA and never get flashed. Never means NOT ONCE.

Mexican buses love to cruise at 80 mph. Have a burned out tail light? You may have a DINA bus emblem riding in your back seat before you can blink an eye.

To me, LED lights in the rear is solely for durability. A damned turn signal bulb gets a lot less hours accumulated on it than the LED dome light in the living room. Seems to make a "slight" difference in the probability of having a lamp fail in the course of a year or three.

Auto makers got away from 1157 bulbs in the 1990's. Why? The bulb reliability was getting too high. Why sell an 157 bulb for 59 cents every five years when you can sell a three dollar bulb every year or two? Newer bulbs seem to be getting more reliable. I'd better run out now and scream at my car because the new-fangled (now dollar and a half) incandescent bulb failed on me going home night before last. That makes the sixth bulb in four years. Operating voltage at the bulb is 13.89. Been there, done that. LED's are in the mail as I write.

I installed HID's in my 2012 passat TDI SE. The cutoff with HID's in the lamp is quite sharp, low and defined.

The 2013 Touareg TDI that I bought, came with Projector self aiming HID's. Every time you turn them on, they sense amount of light coming back to the driver, over various areas in front of the car, and re aim. Replacement headlights, should someone back into me and destroy them, are about $1300 a pop, each.

Really, HID's help with night vision, help with seeing wildlife so you can avoid road kill, and if aimed properly, and designed properly, should be a non issue to on coming traffic. Downside is that they are not $10 for 2 bulbs for the headlights at Walmart. A new HID bulb and ballast are required each time you lose a bulb. HID's are rated at about 1000-1200 hours. They are 3x as bright and 35 watts vs 55 watts. I prefer daylight 4300k temperature factory bulbs.

As for the rear tail lights, I will run what she came with. No LED's for me thanks.

I really don't enjoy driving at night anymore, and will do my damndest to drive during daylight hours. Less wear and tear on the whole electrical system.