LED Taillights

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FASTBACK340

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I searched the archives and found nothing, so here goes....

Has anyone done an LED conversion for their tail lights, and if so, how well does it work? My Barracuda has tail lights smaller than the size of a deck of cards. Needless to say, I'm concerned with some buffoon railing me because they didn't see them. I'm also planning on a high-mounted LED brake light.

Any input/suggestions? Do I need to match the front turn signals to match the voltage draw/impedence? And what about the flasher unit?
Thanks gang!
 
i put the led 1157 replacements in the back and no problems yet. i will match the front ones soon. the led setup they sell specifically for our cars for about 175.00 is probably the way to go.
 
I used the Ledtronics 1157 replacement bulbs in my tail lamps and standard incandescent bulbs in front lamps on my ’65 Barracuda and have no operational issues. You should also replace thermal flasher with electronic one because LED bulbs use less current. By the way, the LED replacement bulbs, while brighter, tend to concentrate the light in a spot on the lenses.
 
I tried a pair of 1157 LED replacements from the local auto parts store the other day ($15/pair). They worked fine but like Blue65 said, they concentrate the light in one spot and really don't take advantage of the reflective qualities of the inside of the housing. Overall, the lenses appeared much dimmer to me. I took them back and put regular 1157's in. Much brighter in more even my case.
 
I just grabbed a set of these I'll try in the Dart. They have LED's that wrap around the base too.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270224849605&ssPageName=MERC_VI_ReBay_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT&refitem=270224362631&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=active_view_item&usedrule1=CategoryProximity&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget&_trksid=p284.m184&_trkparms=its%3DS%252BI%252BSS

My biggest fear is having some slob rear-end me in the Barracuda. By the time I'm paroled for man-slaughter replacement parts will either be unaffordable or unobtainable.....
 
the epic problem of barracuda drivers going to jail on manslaughter charges for having ineffective brake lights installed by the factory is only slightly lesser known than the Pinto blowing up when rear ended problem....

i think it would be nice to see a tail light housing developed to replace the original that would allow the LED lights to be more spread out and not simply clustered in the center.

on my 68 dart the bright LED replacement bulb would be right behind the light blocking bar used to concentrate the light of the reverse bulb through clear part of the lens...

1157 have kept drivers out of court for ineffective brake light power on our cars for 41 years .... they should continue to do so. however I am kind of interested in third brake light mods, as the painless wire harness had a wire for that....
 
I've only seen blurry images posted with e-Bay auctions. That's why I asked what they actually performed like. I figured for $10 I'll roll the dice and try `em in the Dart. On one side I'll install the LED, the other side I'll leave stock and I'll have a friend drive the car and I'll follow and see if it's noticeable. If all is good, I'll install the other and order another set. If not, I'll sell this set to one of the Fast & Furious guys at work....

Details to follow.
 
DragginMAster said:
the epic problem of barracuda drivers going to jail on manslaughter charges ....
Click to expand...


HUH? I'm not sure if your agreeing with me, or being sarcastic. Please explain.

All I know is my damn taillights are SMALL. I want them suckers to be BRIGHT. PLUS I'm installing a high-mount 3rd. brake light. And as for YOUR Dart, the question was about a Barracuda, where the center of the taillight is un-obstructed.
 
I was actually wondering about this too. I was going to install some of these.
 
I don’t have a picture available but at night on my ’65 Barracuda it looks like a very bright 2.5 inch round spot in the middle of the lens, with the rest of the lens illuminated much less brightly. MOPAR Action (or Muscle) had an article about LED tail lamp lens upgrades last year with a picture of the Ledtronics bulb but it really didn’t help that much. The article really focused on building a lens for there project car from a modern donor tail lamp assembly and that worked out much better but took a lot more time and effort. I looked around but couldn’t find the issue.
 
I didn't do this on a car, but I did it on my trailer. Every time I got ready to go to the track it seemed I had to replace a bulb somewhere. I picked up a whole trailer kit, that had side lights plus the rear lights.

Lemme tell ya... these LEDs are amazing. There's none of that half-dim light going on, or none of that flashing cuz the bulb is gonna blow out soon. When you step on that brake pedal that light goes to full brightness IMMEDIATELY. And bright... wow. I used to put on the lights on the side of the house when I was backing the trailing in at night. Now I just need to keep my foot lightly on the brake pedal to keep the tailights lit up and I can see pretty much everything.

Simply amazing.
 
Blues65 said:
I used the Ledtronics 1157 replacement bulbs in my tail lamps and standard incandescent bulbs in front lamps on my ’65 Barracuda and have no operational issues. You should also replace thermal flasher with electronic one because LED bulbs use less current. By the way, the LED replacement bulbs, while brighter, tend to concentrate the light in a spot on the lenses.
Click to expand...

exactly what i did.
 
mine do seem pretty bright but not what i was expecting. i wish i could post a pic but have no power in car right now. i have thought of putting reflective mylar inside the smaller brake light area and keep it concentrated in that area.
 
Steve, are your bulbs LED's on the face only, or do they wrap around the base too? I just ordered a pair that has 18 LED's on the face and another 6 around the edges. I figured they would light up the inside better...

LEDbulbs-vi.jpg
 
FASTBACK340 said:
Steve, are your bulbs LED's on the face only, or do they wrap around the base too? I just ordered a pair that has 18 LED's on the face and another 6 around the edges. I figured they would light up the inside too...
Click to expand...

no mine are on just the face. i got them at kragen. tell me if the ones you ordered fit. i think painless has some big cluster ones but i don't think they'll fit.
 
I thought about that too. If they don't fit through the socket opening, I'll just disassemble the tail lights and stick `em in through the lense side.
 
I recall reading somewhere that someone dis-assembled a set of trailer LED's and using them. Larger LED's, larger overall surface area, and they used a stock bulb, no glass, and soldered the connectors onto the respective filaments on what would have been the "inside" of the glass.

STL-72RB.jpg
 
I just had a chance to meet a couple members the other day, (most enjoyable I must say) Cuda69 and Moparman ,and the subject of 68 tail lights came up. Many guys running 68`s ,including Moparman are using 69 tail lights because there is so little tail light on a 68. Chrysler found out they needed to make the tail lights large again and put the reverse lights back in the valance panel. There must have been an increase in rear enders in 68! I know as an owner of a 68 that putting 69 tail lights on it isn`t appealing to everyone. The LED`s is an alternative but as someone mentioned earlier ,their light is very directional and localized. The idea of a brake light at the top of the rear glass would probably be the greatest improvement that could be made to help the car show up from behind. If anyone does the add-on light please post the results when you do.
 
I too, put LED lamps on the car trailer. The only way to go!! Since that worked so well I tried the 1157 replacements. Big disappointment..... Now I'm thinking of disassembling a trailer lamp and somehow mounting the LEDS behind the lens on my Valiant. Or maybe use the LEDs from two for each Stop/tail light since they draw a lot less current. If I get it done I'll post the results.
 
I have some crappy ones much like the $10 Ebay ones in the Ram but there are better units out there Superbright has a few as does www.autolumination.com I have even made a few sets for my motorcycles.

You may have to replace the flasher unit to equalize the draw easy to tell you will have a rapid flash without.
1968 Cuda Conversion
 
Hi Everyone. I got the LED replacements from LEDTronics a couple of years ago - Put the red one's in my rear tail lights and amber one's in the front turn signals in my 69 Barracuda. At night you can't tell the difference - they might appear brighter than the incandescent bulbs because the LED's are the same color as the lens, but during the day I must admit they are hard to see. The 69 does have a bigger area to light up and with the LED's pointed out to fill up the rest of the area usually lighted up by an incandescent, it works mostly, but i wish there were more of them. I haven't had a problem being rear ended using the LED's - I guess there is enough of a difference that people notice. I used my car for daily commuting for about two years and never had a problem. For the front turn signals, with the LED bulb directly behind the center chrome plastic thingy, I'm sure that during the daytime they are hard to see, but at night it's not a problem!
Now I have a commuter car that uses less gas. I still pull the Barracuda out every once in a while and it gets lots of looks and thumbs ups! I'll see what I can do about pictures, but my weekend is filled up helping a friend move.
That's my two cents worth!
 
I'm in the process of doing a home made LED light conversion on my Duster. I took 2 oval big truck/trailer lights with a 60 count led board & cut the lens off & they fit in a Duster housing just perfect. I bought a set of 1157 led lights from superbrightleds & cut the small led board off & soldered the wires to the pigtail wires coming from the led light boards. They are bright as hell. The only problem I'm having is when the running lights are on & I turn on the turn signal, only the bottom led lights up with the turn function. With the running lights off, both led boards light up. The brake lights about blinded my friend when I asked to see the difference between left & rt side(I've only done the left side at this time).

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