RV 3157 Stop & Tail Bulb -- LED Plug and Play?

[crcr]

Hi, One of the tail lights on our TT burned out. It's a stop and tail light 3157 bulb with two elements, with the wedge shaped plastic base. This one is a CEC3157. I was looking online for a replacement, and found that I can get LED replacements for less than the standard automotive bulbs. My question is, would these LED replacements work correctly as a plug and play for tail and stop/turn signal functions?

HERE is a link to some of these LED replacements on ebay.

Thank you in advance.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I think I am going to save my fingers in the future. All fell on deaf eyes.

[crcr]

Gdetrailer wrote:


Don’t be so cheap. My life and others out on the roads are not cheap so don't treat us like a throw away Kleenex or paper towel..

That's over the top. You are entitled to your opinion, sir, but I am not buying LED's because they are cheaper. I am attempting to get brighter brake lights. If they are not brighter, I will go back to OEM bulbs. With rude responses such as yours, I'm sorry I asked. I'm signing off this thread. Thanks and good night to all.

[Gdetrailer]

Crcr writes “I have bought lots and lots of various styles of LED's over the years on ebay, converting the interior lights of every vehicle and TT that I have owned, and they have been very bright (much much brighter than the incandescent bulbs they replaced) and held up very well. And I just buy the lowest price from very high feedback major sellers of whatever item I am purchasing. I also have bought various other items on ebay for years and years, finding the quality of the products on average to be as good as the products I buy anywhere else. Besides, if I should receive a shoddy quality product from an ebay seller, I have recourse through ebay. Ebay is very "buyer friendly" and they will refund you in full including shipping if you are dissatisfied, even if perchance the seller will not.

I just ordered two LED 3157 replacements on ebay. Cost shipped was $3.12, which is about what one incandescent 3157 costs. And as I said, if the product turns out to be inferior, I have easy recourse through ebay.”

INSIDE lights and OUTSIDE lighting is TWO DIFFERENT matters.

INSIDE LIGHTS, ANYTHING GOES, your are more than welcome to replace them with anything your heart desires..

OUTSIDE LIGHTS are a whole nother ball of wax and come under FEDERAL DOT regulations..

Replacing the incandescent lamps with LED lamps in a fixture which was designed to meet or exceed certain optical specifications with incandescent bulbs may no longer meet those specifications. LED lights will make for a very bright spot and the remaining portion of the lens may end up being dark or not lit at all. This can make for a very dangerous situation for the drivers behind you and even yourself..

The ONLY ways I would recommend replacing a incandescent bulb with LEDs would be to either replace the ENTIRE FIXTURE or use a LED BULB which bears the FMVSS 108 certification mark..

My suggestion to you is perhaps you should read up on the Federal regs…

HERE


“Here is my original question from my original post:
... would these LED replacements work correctly as a plug and play for tail and stop/turn signal functions?

In other words, I was asking if anyone knew if these LED replacements that are sold for the multiple functions of tail light and stop/turn signals, do actually work correctly for the multiple functions. No one answered that, so I decided to order some and find out for myself.”

If the “bulb” part number is designated using the same main part number as a incandescent equivalent it “should” have the correct socket and functional characteristics BUT keep in mind that you ARE buying non qualified CHINESE IMPORT bulbs which may or may not be 100% “compatible” in fit, form or function…

It is also a well known fact that LED manufacturers tend to WAY OVERSTATE the lumens. They can get away with that simply because LEDs have an extremely bright center spot and THAT is what they measure.

There are literally 100s of thousands of Chinese “importers” posting all kinds of junk on Ebay and MOST are not going to be worried about the quality nor fitness of the junk they sell to you. Since there so many of these cheap imports it is virtually impossible to say whether LED “X” will work for you or not..

Basically my answer of NO, it isn’t going to work is a very valid answer even if the bulb lights as it should, the amount of light scatter may not be all the great and potentially create a hazard to other motorists.

LEDs improperly used in the wrong application can be more of a hazard.

Buyer beware.

Don’t be so cheap. My life and others out on the roads are not cheap so don't treat us like a throw away Kleenex or paper towel..

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Oh yeah I checked your clickie. My browser said there were 989 results for this eBay search. The chances of finding someone on this forum using that EXACT bulb in a fixture EXACTLY like yours, is not exactly good or even reasonable to expect.

LENSES have a tremendous impact on light transmission. How does a person rate or describe a bright pinpoint of light in a large dark lens versus a much larger area of less intense luminosity?

I live in an environment where if the driver behind me does not note the fact that I am doing something like braking or turning, I may die. It ain't funny to have an 18-wheeler with five working brakes on your bumper.

Drivers tend to FOCUS on a particular part of the rear of your rig. Got it? Try and find this "sweet spot". Then add a third brake light there. Brakes only. There are some pretty potent red LED light bars out there that would work fine for the purpose. Then the issue of tail lamp brilliance becomes less critical. Less does not have the same meaning as no.

LED are using the designation of SMD to denote a standarized size LED segment. The more the merrier. But as was pointed out to me on this forum, LED's are ULTRA SENSITIVE about voltage. Low voltage that would merely dim an incandescent bulb will KILL the output of an unregulated LED. So what's the VOLTAGE of your turn signal terminals? Voltage drop through flashers and switches, fuses, wiring and terminals really affect an LED more than an incandescent lamp.

I underwent a vertical learning curve the last 2-months regarding this.

3157 regulated bulbs is an oxymoron.

A 3157 that works great in a Mini Cooper might be a maxi pooper in an RV.

The bulbs I chose cost seventeen dollars for a pair on eBay. Cost is not nearly as important as having a KenWorth shorten my rig by half.

[beemerphile1]

crcr wrote:

...would these LED replacements work correctly as a plug and play for tail and stop/turn signal functions....

Probably not. The LED does not have enough load to make many flashers work correctly. Will probably be only a dim glow in the center of lens rather than light up the entire lens.

The is no upside to those cheap replacements for vehicle lights and several possible downsides.

Let us know how they work.

[crcr]

j-d wrote:
Having a little trouble figuring out why you asked... please let us know how it worked out, and the eBay seller you used.

Here is my original question from my original post:
... would these LED replacements work correctly as a plug and play for tail and stop/turn signal functions?

In other words, I was asking if anyone knew if these LED replacements that are sold for the multiple functions of tail light and stop/turn signals, do actually work correctly for the multiple functions. No one answered that, so I decided to order some and find out for myself.

[j-d]

Having a little trouble figuring out why you asked... please let us know how it worked out, and the eBay seller you used.

[crcr]

Gdetrailer wrote:

crcr wrote:
Hi, One of the tail lights on our TT burned out. It's a stop and tail light 3157 bulb with two elements, with the wedge shaped plastic base. This one is a CEC3157. I was looking online for a replacement, and found that I can get LED replacements for less than the standard automotive bulbs. My question is, would these LED replacements work correctly as a plug and play for tail and stop/turn signal functions?

HERE is a link to some of these LED replacements on ebay.

Thank you in advance.

The real answer is no, LEDs retrofitted into in a fixture which was solely designed for incadescent bulbs often results in less than satisfactory results.

LEDs are very directional in light dispersion and some manufacturers attempt to make them omnidirectional by putting a bunch of low wattage LEDs in a "corn cob" design to overcome the directionality issue. The light still tends to be uneven and will end up being less bright overall.

Then add in that Ebay is FULL of fly by night fleecers selling what ever junk they can get their hands on..

Just go and buy the correct incadescent bulbs, they will work better in your fixtures and typically can be had for under $6 for TWO bulbs..

If you want LED tail lights then buy new purposely made replacement fixtures with LEDs (you CAN buy surface mount LED fixtures), they will be brighter.

I have bought lots and lots of various styles of LED's over the years on ebay, converting the interior lights of every vehicle and TT that I have owned, and they have been very bright (much much brighter than the incandescent bulbs they replaced) and held up very well. And I just buy the lowest price from very high feedback major sellers of whatever item I am purchasing. I also have bought various other items on ebay for years and years, finding the quality of the products on average to be as good as the products I buy anywhere else. Besides, if I should receive a shoddy quality product from an ebay seller, I have recourse through ebay. Ebay is very "buyer friendly" and they will refund you in full including shipping if you are dissatisfied, even if perchance the seller will not.

I just ordered two LED 3157 replacements on ebay. Cost shipped was $3.12, which is about what one incandescent 3157 costs. And as I said, if the product turns out to be inferior, I have easy recourse through ebay.

[Gdetrailer]

crcr wrote:
Hi, One of the tail lights on our TT burned out. It's a stop and tail light 3157 bulb with two elements, with the wedge shaped plastic base. This one is a CEC3157. I was looking online for a replacement, and found that I can get LED replacements for less than the standard automotive bulbs. My question is, would these LED replacements work correctly as a plug and play for tail and stop/turn signal functions?

HERE is a link to some of these LED replacements on ebay.

Thank you in advance.

The real answer is no, LEDs retrofitted into in a fixture which was solely designed for incadescent bulbs often results in less than satisfactory results.

LEDs are very directional in light dispersion and some manufacturers attempt to make them omnidirectional by putting a bunch of low wattage LEDs in a "corn cob" design to overcome the directionality issue. The light still tends to be uneven and will end up being less bright overall.

Then add in that Ebay is FULL of fly by night fleecers selling what ever junk they can get their hands on..

Just go and buy the correct incadescent bulbs, they will work better in your fixtures and typically can be had for under $6 for TWO bulbs..

If you want LED tail lights then buy new purposely made replacement fixtures with LEDs (you CAN buy surface mount LED fixtures), they will be brighter.

[j-d]

In addition to the luminosity Mex mentioned, there's what I'll call Directionality, or Focus.

By that I mean that an incandescent bulb's filament shines 360* but LED's are directional. The lamp manufacturer still builds their reflector and lens to capture the light off the filament in the very best position. But sticking an LED in the socket for an incandescent is quite likely to waste a lot of the emitted light.

Our Class C had the Bargman 84/85/86 lights. Two Red Tail/Stop/Turn lenses with a clear Backup lens between. I bought complete Bargman replacement assemblies. Did away with the Bulbs AND the Socket Problems I was having. Not cheap, but they pop your eyes out on Stop and Turn.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Be careful. After spending lots of time on eBay I have come to the conclusion that most sellers lie like hell about the luminosity of their LED lamp's They'll sell four and total up the lumens for all four. I purchased a pair of not so inexpensive CREE 1156 lamps that are claimed to be 7 watts. At 12.24 volts, they consume .23 amperes. They are not bright, they are claimed to be 5500K and look closer to 7K.

I found at least I hope I found a way to possibly thwart some of the hucksterism, and that is to send a question to the vendor

"How many amperes EXACTLY does each lamp consume at 12.0 volts?"

If they don't know, the product is almost guaranteed to be garbage.

One Vendor replied "If this lamp, in your opinion, is not at least twice as bright as a new incandescent, I will refund your money". He got my business. But it wasn't an el-cheapo bulb, either.

[badboy368]

thanks for the link 🙂