Changing taillights out to LED's

[Tara361]

Hello
I am thinking of changing out my stock taillight bulbs to LED's. This is on a 2001 Flair. I have changed out the headlights (not to LED.) and had to change the wiring and new relays. The taillight bulbs are 1157"s . Sounds like a good idea but I thought I would get some second opinions before doing so. Also, are they in fact brighter than the stock 1157's ??
thanks Bob

[traveylin]

Bumpy is my buddy go easy.. Changing out stop, running lites should be no issue. Left/right turn signals do require sufficient voltage drop to operate the blinker thingey. Leds sometime do not do it

[Bill_Satellite]

Lwiddis wrote:
I don't see a need to "save" electricity or be "brighter" with LED stop/tail lights.

But, that was not the question or the goal. For me, longevity would be enough reason alone. I can see why no one would want or need brighter tail lights! :R

[Lwiddis]

I don't see a need to "save" electricity or be "brighter" with LED stop/tail lights.

[RLS7201]

Tara361,

Do as Mike did, change the whole lens. They are from Bargman. The LED replacement bulbs won't give any better light. I changed the whole lens assembles on my 95 F53 chassis and had to add a small resistor to both sides, for the stop lights. The computer saw a small induced voltage on the stop light wires and the cruse control and torque converter would work, or not work, randomly. I had room behind the tail light assemblies to add a couple of 921 bulbs for resistance.
I can tell you the lights are now much brighter and there is no excuse for not seeing my turn signals.

Richard

[STBRetired]

Tara361 wrote:
Hello
I am thinking of changing out my stock taillight bulbs to LED's. This is on a 2001 Flair. I have changed out the headlights (not to LED.) and had to change the wiring and new relays. The taillight bulbs are 1157"s . Sounds like a good idea but I thought I would get some second opinions before doing so. Also, are they in fact brighter than the stock 1157's ??
thanks Bob

When you get the LEDs, get them in the color of your tail light lens (red I assume for the rear, yellow for the front) instead of white. You might need to add a load resistor depending upon the type of blinker you have, I did no need one on my 1999 MH but YMMV. You can get some very bright LEDs. Look at the lumens value. More is better IMHO.

[STBRetired]

PatrickA51, I replaced mine with the same LED panels as Mike Brez. I found them on Amazon. Get the DOT number from your existing lights and google it. If there are complete LED replacement panels, a Google search of the DOT number will find them.

[EmergencyNrse]

Easy Switch

[crasster]

LEDs do actually use WAY less power off the system. So there is at least a small benefit. 🙂 They also tend to last a very long time.

[gsf35099]

Tara361 wrote:
Hello Sounds like a good idea but I thought I would get some second opinions before doing so. Also, are they in fact brighter than the stock 1157's ??
thanks Bob

I had to replace my tail lights after an RV shop installed my electric brake system wrong and the lights stayed on for days melting the lenses.
LED's are brighter, easy to install, and I think they look better.
You can find all kinds of them online. Good luck and I think you will be happy with LED.

[PatrickA51]

mike brez wrote:
After 20 years a couple of mine had small cracks and they looked like they had a haze on them. I changed them out to led.

Before



After

Where did you get them? I want to switch the lights out on my Class C. One of the lenses and bulb got broke in our storage lot when someone backed into my RV.

[Bill_Satellite]

Bumpyroad wrote:
why bother?
bumpy

Who cares and none of your business. This forum is here to help folks with whatever they choose. I am sure you have underwear that you have replaced that still worked pretty well but not as well as they used to. But I have to ask, why bother?

[mike_brez]

Bumpyroad wrote:
why bother?
bumpy

Because I can and I wanted too.

[mike_brez]

After 20 years a couple of mine had small cracks and they looked like they had a haze on them. I changed them out to led.

Before



After

[Bumpyroad]

why bother?
bumpy