Replacing Bulbs: LEDs?

[NC Rover]

Anyone replaced any light bulbs with LEDs? Any benefits? Heard of people doing this as they are suppose to last long, produce more light, use less energy...but i'm curious to see if anyone has done this with dash lighting, turn signals, etc?

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR

[green 'n stinky]

I've thought about this too, but have not tried it. I think I've read that LEDs can cause a problem with older flasher units because they draw so little current, however.

[Bostonian1976]

I've thought about this too, but have not tried it. I think I've read that LEDs can cause a problem with older flasher units because they draw so little current, however.

it would probably just cause a very rapid flash, right?

[green 'n stinky]

I would think that would normally be the case, but I believe I had read that it was possible that they could also just not blink at all. I wonder if adding a resistor to the circuit would solve the problem.

There's also a company advertising complete LED replacement light assemblies for series/defenders in the UK Rover magazines but as I recall they are very expensive and look a bit too modern for a series (in my opinion). I prefer NC Rover's idea of just replacing the bulbs.

[uralrover]

When I rebuilt my series three I baught purpose built LED bulbs for my blinker lights and for the brake marker light. They Are Twice as bright as conventional lights, haven't failed even when the cover got broke off roading leaving them exposed to the harsh North-eastern salt roads and react faster then conventional bulbs. Testing them at .08Watts compared to the 4 watts the conventional bulbs ran has also helped make them work better with my standard flasher while towing the trailer which also uses them. I highly recomend getting a good set. But they are pricey, and as I've only had them in a year I cannot verify if there long term surviveability is justifying the price.....

[Tim Smith]

I've been very very interested in LEDs just simply because I'm so geeky. Found a couple of replacements that look close but not being able to hold them in my hand, I can't be sure.

http://www.intertruck.nl/intertruck/cataloggerEN.nsf

Search "Britax Model no. L14 (http://www.intertruck.nl/intertruck/cataloggerEN.nsf/item/5147)" or "Rubbolite Model no. 838LED (http://www.intertruck.nl/intertruck/cataloggerEN.nsf/item/4654)" and you should see some in there. They look like the defender round style lights. If you search "LED" you'll find a bunch and there are others that might be a good match as well.

There is also these lights but they seem a little cheap...
http://www.bigrigchromeshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?page=BRCS/CTGY/L2UP

I'm more of a build it kind of guy and after seeing a few short instructables like this one: (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-1%2c024%2c000-mcd-portable-light/) I figure I'd rather try my hand at making some of my own to fit into the original housing. I'll probably never do it though.

---

Those bulb replacements are interesting. Are they really that much brighter than the originals? How many LED's are in them? Any idea what brightness the LED's are in them? There are LED lights and there are LED LIGHTS!

http://members.aol.com/TMI61/TMImarkers.htm

---

As for the turn signals, you'll probably need to wire in an electronic flasher to handle the low power of LED's. You see a lot of boy racers with LED lights assemblies in their Honda's and it just looks cheesy when the flasher isn't timed right... if it works at all.

---

I've just recently replaced my interior light with some under the counter "puck style" LED lights from home depot. I was sick of the old light shorting it's case against my interior. :mad:

They were about $15 and work a treat. You simply cut off the transformer which makes 12 volts and then wire them directly to your truck. So far so good and they are modular so I can add more as I need. They even come with a handy on off switch so I can remember to not turn them off much easier now. :p

Cheers,
Tim

[S11A]

You see a lot of boy racers with LED lights assemblies in their Honda's

That's spelled Honduh.

[NC Rover]

Good deal. Well I guess I'm going to go for it and order some LED products. I'll give everyone the rundown on the results once I get everthing installed.

[groundhog]

I've used the clear LED's in my rear military stop tail and rear fogs but I left the standard bulbs in the signals. The LED's are definitely brighter from the rear, but they lose the effect from the reflector in the lens assembly hence there is less light when viewed from a side angle. Overall a good swap.

[redmondrover]

First, a warning: I am not a LR purist. Non-standard, non-genuine parts/replacements/upgrades are fine by me. I am installing LEDs throughout the interior of our 109--dash area, footwells middle row floor and rear/cargo floor plus inside tuffy box. Just completed running power leads and have not actually hooked any up (its been too cold to solder outdoors). I am not looking for "daylight" lighting, just enough to see. When it gets dark at 4:30 or so in the winter and there is NO light inside, even a little illumination is helpful.

[NC Rover]

First, a warning: I am not a LR purist. Non-standard, non-genuine parts/replacements/upgrades are fine by me. I am installing LEDs throughout the interior of our 109--dash area, footwells middle row floor and rear/cargo floor plus inside tuffy box. Just completed running power leads and have not actually hooked any up (its been too cold to solder outdoors). I am not looking for "daylight" lighting, just enough to see. When it gets dark at 4:30 or so in the winter and there is NO light inside, even a little illumination is helpful.

Once you get it setup, could you possible post some pictures or the lighting if possible...or if you camera could take such pictures.

thanks!

[Tim Smith]

Once you get it setup, could you possible post some pictures or the lighting if possible...or if you camera could take such pictures.

thanks!
2X!

[crankin]

Has anyone done any of this yet?

[xsbowes]

When you swap the bulbs, I'd recommend you replace the relay with one designed for LEDs.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/tail-brake-turn.html

Also select an LED color that is the same as the lens cover.

[crankin]

Hey Stacy,
Have you done this? If so...did you use the 3v. 5v. 12v, etc...?

[telwyn]

I recently ordered a red tail light LED from www.superbrightleds.com and tried it in all of my rear lights on my Lightweight. Worked well in each socket. Turn signal (to my surprise) flashed properly.

I just ordered additional LEDs in red, clear and amber for all of my front and tail lights. Cost a small fortune, but I figure I can amortize it over my lifetime and the Lightweight's. :) Running Hella Vision on my front headlamps.

Here's a picture of how bright the red LED brake light is. Looks like an afterburner.

[crankin]

Hi Telwyn,
I saw a post of yours on another forum a while ago... If I am not mistaken you got the 5W ones, right? Did you go with the 5W on the rest of the lights or go down to the 3W? I am wondering if the 3W ones are less bright...

Plus, you have a light weight, correct? I wonder if the 24V system is a reason for you not getting the spastic flasher?

[Tim Smith]

I recently ordered a red tail light LED from www.superbrightleds.com (http://www.superbrightleds.com) and tried it in all of my rear lights on my Lightweight. Worked well in each socket. Turn signal (to my surprise) flashed properly.

I just ordered additional LEDs in red, clear and amber for all of my front and tail lights. Cost a small fortune, but I figure I can amortize it over my lifetime and the Lightweight's. :) Running Hella Vision on my front headlamps.

Here's a picture of how bright the red LED brake light is. Looks like an afterburner.That is bright!

Do you know how many LEDs were in the bulbs? Were they the 12, 24 or 32 LED bulbs?

[telwyn]

Here's the ones I bought - High Power 5 Watt 1156/1157 bulb: www.superbrightleds.com/specs/115x-xLX3.htm (http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/115x-xLX3.htm)

I'm using them in a Lightweight, but it was converted to 12v a while back.

[NelsAnderson]

Wow, $30 for one bulb...

What would be really interesting is a photo of your taillights with the LED on one side and the original bulb on the other...

[Tim Smith]

Looks like you opted for the high intensity low spread LEDs. I'd be interested in how visible they are from the sides.

[telwyn]

I'll see if I can snap a shot of both brake lights on at the same time (wouldn't you know the regular bulb burnt out) and also a side shot.

$30 a bulb is definitely a killer, but I'm a young guy and plan on keeping the Lightweight in the family for generations. Trying to rationalize the cost a bit of course. :)

[crankin]

Well tell me, overall are you happy with the ones that you got or do you wish that you would have gotten ones that were not as bright?

[telwyn]

So far I'm happy. I went from no one knowing I'm stopping to the whole world knowing. May be blinding but no one will ever rear end me.

Perhaps order a lower watt bulb and try it out. They seem to have a good return policy so perhaps you could try one of each.

[luckyjoe]

Here's the ones I bought - High Power 5 Watt 1156/1157 bulb: www.superbrightleds.com/specs/115x-xLX3.htm (http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/115x-xLX3.htm)

From that page the 3V appear to be single LED units, and the 5V have five LED's. Is that what you received?

Also, the 5V version has this disclaimer:
"**These bulbs were designed for and can only be used as vehicle brake/turn signal bulb replacements. To prevent over heating, they will automatically dim if turned on for long periods of time."

So maybe go 5V for brake, 3V everywere else?

Looking forward to the additonal pics...

Regards,

[telwyn]

No new pictures (sorry), but I've learned a couple of things in installing these bulbs that I thought I'd pass along now that I've replaced them all with LED.

1) They are fragile. They fit the bulb sockets nicely, but then you have to press and twist. I broke one LED bulb while twisting to lock it in place and the wire stripped off inside. The other bulbs twisted in place ok, but it took some work.

2) I discovered that the flasher and brakes work perfectly on the left side (front and rear) but that the right side doesn't blink. The good news (I think) is they don't blink with an LED or regular bulb. Any ideas how to fix? Is there a separate flasher for each side? They illuminate when the right turn signal is on, but don't flash. Strange one side works but not the other.

[jgkmmoore]

I'm in Blvu, and share your thoughts on lighting. Would you email me how yours works out? I have a Ser II 109 that needs the same treatment.
Thanks. jgkmmoore@yahoo.com
Jeff:sly:

[Tim Smith]

...
2) I discovered that the flasher and brakes work perfectly on the left side (front and rear) but that the right side doesn't blink. The good news (I think) is they don't blink with an LED or regular bulb. Any ideas how to fix? Is there a separate flasher for each side? They illuminate when the right turn signal is on, but don't flash. Strange one side works but not the other.
The fact that your left indicator is working and your right indicator is not is a sign that the circuit is broken on the right side. Usually a sign that a bulb burnt out or something. Since you switched over to LED's, I'm not sure if that could be related as in not enough current passing through to make the flasher unit work.

I'd try swapping back to regular bulbs on the right and testing the LED's one at a time to see if you can identify the problem. Hopefully the wiring didn't decide to start giving you trouble all of a sudden.

[gudjeon]

I bought 1156 based bulbs in LED for a low draw remote lighting where only battery power is available. It is no where as bright (it was a $10.00 jobbie) and it is somewhat directional. I don't know if it may help in the above case but I do know the ones I have are polarity sensitive. They will not work at all if hooked up in reverse.

[redmondrover]

Well I never got around to installing the interior LEDs I described in my post so long ago.:rolleyes:

However, I did come across something this weekend that some of you might be interested in. Ikea has two sets of LED lights under the "Dioder" name. One model is a set of four foot long (approx) strips each with several white LEDs. These strips would work as indirect lighting mounted in the inner lip of the roof, shining up on the headliner. The second model includes four flat, coin-shaped lights each with a fairly long lead on it. These would work in the footwells and, in our 109, mounted under the middle row of seats to light the middle floorboard. Both sets seem bright enough to work well as interior lighting. Both are 12V with transformers to take 120V wall power.

Either way, I am installing LED lights before the end of the year!

[brucejohn]

It is so funny how intertwined the world is. Over the weekend I ran into this site while looking for wire and such. Then you all raised this old thread. They have a variety of LED's very economically priced.

Here is a link to 2-1/2 round amber: http://order.waytekwire.com/productdetail2/M37/47906/CLEARANCE%20/%20MARKER%20LED%20LIGHT/ (http://order.waytekwire.com/productdetail2/M37/47905/CLEARANCE%20/%20MARKER%20LED%20LIGHT/)

They have 2" ones as well, I ordered those thinking I would 'rebuild' the original fixtures with new LED's inside. The brake light kits are 4" round so I haven't figured that out yet.

Though after looking at the superbrightled site, the prices may have dropped from back in January and just dropping a bulb in sounds like a lot less work. hmmm.

[amcordo]

If you got the LED route and start having problems with them flickering or failing install one of these between the lamp and the power source. One of my other cars had these symptoms and this regulator saved me from constantly replacing the lamps.

http://theledlight.com/rg12regulator.html (http://theledlight.com/rg12regulator.html)

[jb_]

I live without grid electricity and use some 12VDC LEDs for lighting. I find them expensive and unreliable. The LED packs that I have use multiple individual LEDs to make up the set that plugs into 12VDC. I have several that have failed after a few tens of hours use rather than the hundreds of thousands of hours that are claimed.

I now prefer to use compact fluorescent lamps instead.

Of course my usage isn't on a vehicle of any kind let alone a Series, but my experience with LEDs in a building makes me wonder about the life of the LEDs in a vehicle environment.

[cscutt]

I have replaced my lights with the LED flavour. It is actually simple and you can keep the original plastic covers. Go to a truck stop light shop and buy the bulb type insert and remove the existing bulb, and swap them out, next, buy a two prong commercial LED signal flasher relay ($15 ish) and place it after the power feed for the turn signal indicator. remove the existing relays because one led relay will run 15 lights on its own. there is no need for power balancing and creating a draw in the line to make the system work./ If you are only doing marker lights, then it is as simple as plug and play.

[crankin]

Not a full LED replacement...but has anyone checked out Auto Sparks (http://www.autosparks.co.uk) lately?

They are selling a direct LED replacement for the Warning Lights. Becasue Auto Sparks provides a harness for land rovers (as well as other makes) I am sure that this is as good as you can get for a LED replacement bulb...

LED Warning Light (http://www.autosparks.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4037)