Led taillights

[Busdriver]

My granddesign has regular taillights, if I Change them to led is it just a plug and play or did I need to do some thing else thinking of going with Bragman tail lights

[B_O__Plenty]

I changed mine on my last trailer. Bought new ones cheap at Harbor Freight. Plug and play no problems.

B.O.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

For me, replacing tail lights had absolutely nothing to do with the cost of the bulb.

It had absolutely everything to due with whining to the cops and my insurance company....

"But I DO a walk around check once a week to make sure all lights are working".

In my not so humble opinion the 3157 light bulb is a piece of SNOT compared to the old-style 1157. I had 1157's last for years - not so with the 3156 or 3157.

I almost got smacked GOOD a couple of years ago and it would have been my fault.

And I got damned tired of pulling lenses off and doing contortion acts to change the push-button 3157 bulbs in preventative ritual changing.

Maybe other people have more patience or are braver than I am. The 10-wheel box Kenworth reefer truck missed me by inches thanks to an alert driver. I felt like an utter fool.

I need to install those side marker LED turn signal dime-size sealed lamps.

[j-d]

Bumpyroad wrote:
in 55 ?? years of car ownership, 50 of them with old style bulbs I think I had to replace perhaps a handful of them that burned out. why do you folks have this issue? bumpy

Dunno Bro... What I can say is that we had a surprising number of Bulb and Socket problems on our 2002 coach that we bought in 2008 with OEM Bargman incandescent rear lights.

Speculation:

1. The assembly may be expensive for all it really is, but it's made cheaply compared with what an automaker provides. Proof of this is the FRONT lights in our Ford E-450 Van "Nose." Never had a bulb go out or a connection corrode.

2. I believe Cheap lets Moisture in. That corrodes Socket, Bulb Shell, and related Contacts. It also seems to penetrate the bond between Glass and Shell in the Bulbs. Many of our bulb failures looked like Air or Moisture was INSIDE the unbroken Glass Envelope.

So... Spent $100 on new LED assemblies, connectors to crimp, stainless screws to mount and butyl tape to seal.

Solved... Bulbs, Sockets, Dim Rear Lights.

Worked for me. YMMV

[Bumpyroad]

wa8yxm wrote:
Two answers depending on the turn signal flasher.

On my RV.. I just swapped LED's for the burn-out-a-matics the factory put in Have not had a problem since. (12 years) .

everybody talks about replacement cost of the filament bulbs. what are you doing wrong? in 55 ?? years of car ownership, 50 of them with old style bulbs I think I had to replace perhaps a handful of them that burned out. why do you folks have this issue? and the last time I bought some I think they were about 67 cents.
and if you are switching to LEDs to save you from the texter who rear ends you, I think the money would be better spent on a defensive driving course.
bumpy

[j-d]

valhalla360 wrote:
Amp usage (or even parasitic loss) is not particularly relevant to tail lights when driving as the alternator simply replaces what you use.

Absolutely true! What was happening to me, was somebody (Ford Chassis or Jayco RV body) cheaped on the wiring. The incandescent lights for Stop/Tail/Turn weren't all that impressive. Then, I plugged my toad in with its incandescent towing lights, and the whole deal kinda fell flat.

I could have used Relays, New Wiring, various other options. I found that replacing the RV's lights with the Bargman LED type, and getting little Maxxima trailer lights for the toad, fixed it all up. Brighter, and easier than modifying everything else.

Our first Class C also had the double incandescent lights on each side. It could ALSO support the Toad the way I had that one wired. The Front and Rear lights came on for Brake or Turn, side marker, tag and dash lights. It had good enough wire to support all that, all incandescent. At least in that case "They don't make'em like they used to."

[wa8yxm]

Two answers depending on the turn signal flasher.

On my RV.. I just swapped LED's for the burn-out-a-matics the factory put in Have not had a problem since. (12 years)

Some if you do that you will get fast flashing, when that happens you need to add a ballast resistor (or load resistor) so you bring the current back up to what the burn-out-a-matics used.

Suggestion: Try it and see what happens.

[valhalla360]

Amp usage (or even parasitic loss) is not particularly relevant to tail lights when driving as the alternator simply replaces what you use.

LED lights for interior fixtures in the RV can make a big difference if you have no shorepower and the lights are running off the battery. Say you have 10 lights on each using 1 amp and you have the lights on for 4hrs. That means you have to replace 40 amp-hr in your battery somehow. If you replace those with LED drawing 0.1amp, you only have to replace 4 amp-hr.

If you have 100amp-hr (usable power) battery bank, that means you go from 2.5days between needing a recharge to 25 days between needing a recharge. Of course realistically you probably are running the water pump and some other stuff, so you have to factor that in.

[SaltiDawg]

mike-s wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Because I can for one and because the less of an amp load on the electrical system, the less parasitic power loss there is and three, I like them.

Uh, what? "Parasitic loss" doesn't mean what you think it means.

Careful! :E

[mike-s]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Because I can for one and because the less of an amp load on the electrical system, the less parasitic power loss there is and three, I like them.

Uh, what? "Parasitic loss" doesn't mean what you think it means.

[jplante4]

I just put in Bargman 84/86 "upgrade" lights. They are the same size as the lights on the back of the Sahara and just plug into the existing light socket. Of course I had to go overboard and hose clamp the socket around the plug and coat the whole thing with dielectric grease. I'll post a pic when I get the other 2 ambers (back order). I had a hard time finding the combo backup/tail assembly.

[Lynnmor]

valhalla360 wrote:


Better reasons:
- They tend to be much brighter than you standard incandescent bulbs.
- And the big one: Incandescent bulbs take about 0.5 seconds to illuminate once power is applied to the circuit (It takes the filament that long to heat up until it creates visible light). LED takes about 1/10th as long to start producing light. That's almost an extra 1/2 second for following vehicles to react to your brake lights. That can be the difference in an accident or not (or between a serious crash and a fender bender).

I agree, the safety factor is the best reason for using LED's. I think that they are much more effective at getting the attention of the proctologist behind you, provided he/she looks away from the phone.

[theoldwizard1]

joebedford wrote:
Putting LEDs on a trailer shouldn't change the flash rate.

Not always true !

If you have a separate trailer brake/turn/marker circuit then probably no. Best solution is an electronic flasher.

[SaltiDawg]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Whatever.

Classy.

I'm sorry as an outsider to have interjected a fact.

[SidecarFlip]

Whatever.