LED lighting

[GottaBeTRD]

oh gosh no!! it was a nightmare!:bash: I got up early to get it done in time to have some fun time. but oh no.... it hit me back. So when i started the night before to check things over i broke one of the connectors to the HVAC controls so i had to buy some LED"s over at pep boys (the big ones) with the lights with the wires conneceted to them. So that wasn't the hard part casue my electriotion buddy did all that, but ya i just made some stupid mistakes like forgetting the little plastic guard on the back of the speedo. and not checking to see if the lights worked before i put everything back together. so ok that wasn't the worst part. Some how while doing my shifter light i messed up the alignment for the safety switch so i jacked up everything there. basicly my truck would 1st lock my keys in the ignition into the on position, than when i got it in drive it would not go into park, it would just stop in reverse. and ya i tried everything before taking it in to the stearlership but i exhausted my solutions and took it in. $50 to look at it $98 to fix it and then $850 worth of other stuff to fix. So ya with all that i got a new water pump, belts, 4x4 service. ( stuff i was eventually gonna get So.... Those lights better stay on!!! It was funny they asked me if i had put the LED's in the shifter and i said ???:nono: but ya short story long it sucked

 

[david_ray320]

How?

The ones I saw where like $4, $6, and $8. Then there was $4 for shipping.

I guess I did pay about $6 per pair from autoilumination, so I guess it's not too bad.

Well I ordered 2 sets of these at $2.49 a piece which came out to $5, and then I also ordered 2 BA9's at $10. Shipping was $5. So yeah, it does add up but it only ended up totaling $20 so I'm not too unhappy about the price.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Lol. It doesn't get much worse than that. I hope they don't go out on you either.

 

[createbmx]

autolumination is the most amature website I've seen in a long time.

I'm considering an offer to redo their site for free lights!

 

[ambush]

I swear by

www.vleds.com
if you dont see what you are looking for just email them. They are on point.

I feel u get a better deal since u are getting them in pairs.

www.ledlight.com is not bad either.

The only thing about vleds they sent me the digital climate control bulbs and the 2 bottoms were tooo long! I am so pissed about it!
Why, because I threw away the factory ones!!

I think I will email them 2morrow about it to see if they can send me the right ones.

Other than that, some that i got from ebay in Novem blew in the speedo. SOOOO MAD..
they either blew or just blink on and off..

 

[Fo_SheeZy]

Here's the BA9 aka 57, they don't have the one on there that I used, I guess they ran out of stock, it worked really well: http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/fp/cat/122221/SFV/32481/set_num/1/menu_num/2

 

[GottaBeTRD]

Lol. It doesn't get much worse than that. I hope they don't go out on you either.

ya seriosly! they look cool but everytime i turn them on im crossing my fingers tha they all come on
i liked the autolumination site, its old school and amiture but man way easier to use than vleds (IMO) plus i got the bulbs in like 3 days.

 

[CO_FlyFisher]

The autolumination LED bulbs have many problems. First, they're using el-cheapo LEDs in many of their "bulbs". In fact, a particular LED "bulb" I had ordered from them stated on their website that they were using Luxeon LEDs (high-quality), and upon receiving them in the mail, they were low-quality, cheapy Chinese LEDs. I called them out on this in an e-mail, and they never did give me an answer (avoided answering my DIRECT question 3 times). In fact, they still say on the website that they're using Luxeon LEDs. :rant: I gave up trying to get an answer from them and just asked for a refund.

Second, of all the LED "bulbs" I've seen from them, NONE of them have any kind of reverse polarity protection diode in line with the LEDs. This causes problems, especially if the LEDs are powered up when turing over the engine. Since a LED itself is a diode, just plugging it in to check and see if it works won't normally hurt it if plugging it in backwards. However, there are all sorts of nasty voltage spikes and noise in the DC voltage while starting the engine, and this will KILL improperly protected LEDs in very short order (I have had problems with their products too).

There are others, but these two are their biggest problems, imho.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

So the key ring LED bulb is in direct danger of burning out quicker than other bulbs.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

Second, of all the LED "bulbs" I've seen from them, NONE of them have any kind of reverse polarity protection diode in line with the LEDs. This causes problems, especially if the LEDs are powered up when turing over the engine. Since a LED itself is a diode, just plugging it in to check and see if it works won't normally hurt it if plugging it in backwards. However, there are all sorts of nasty voltage spikes and noise in the DC voltage while starting the engine, and this will KILL improperly protected LEDs in very short order (I have had problems with their products too).

thats crazy how long ago did you order yours? im curious cause the ones i ordered looked all fancy below the light with the little brown thingi with the color stripes and some other little tiny thingi's whats a diode look like? but ya they all seemed to be pretty hi tec to me. ive gotta knock on wood though casue so far were still good and im pretty much only driving my truck when its dark so they are always on.

 

[CO_FlyFisher]

Unless you destructively disassemble their "bulbs", you won't be able to tell. They use some kind of hot glue when they assemble the little bases to the bulbs. They usually put a power resistor in there to drop the voltage to near the proper level, but I have yet to see a diode.

I ordered from them about a year ago, and I highly doubt they've changed their ways.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

Unless you destructively disassemble their "bulbs", you won't be able to tell. They use some kind of hot glue when they assemble the little bases to the bulbs. They usually put a power resistor in there to drop the voltage to near the proper level, but I have yet to see a diode.

I ordered from them about a year ago, and I highly doubt they've changed their ways.

your prob right, in the long clear ones is where i saw all the insides but the other ones looked like what you were talking about. hopefully no codes are thrown to mess things up. id rather have them die on me. ill be goin to vleds next time. thanks for your helpful info

 

[david_ray320]

Ok so I just took out my instrument cluster in order to find out what size bulbs I needed for my '99 because I couldn't find anyone who had done this before in a '99 and I know the bulb sizes varied over the years.

Now I'm confused about which bulbs I actually need to replace. There are dozens of bulbs all long bottom and up the side, but people have been saying they only used 3 LED bulbs to replace the stock ones. So which bulbs do I need to take out and replace with LEDs in order to light up the speedometer, tachometer, gear indicator along the bottom, fuel gauge, and water temperature? I attached a picture below.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

yes you are correct. up on the left side of your pic it looks like an empty spot, thats where one goes, the other 2 are under the white thing and one is under the circut board under the white thing. all the black ones are engine lights, seat belt etc, dont worry about those

 

[david_ray320]

yes you are correct. up on the left side of your pic it looks like an empty spot, thats where one goes, the other 2 are under the white thing and one is under the circut board under the white thing. all the black ones are engine lights, seat belt etc, dont worry about those

When you say: "up on the left side of your pic it looks like an empty spot, that's where one goes", are you referring to the area circled in yellow?

The two red circles are where I thought the LED bulbs for the speedometer and tachometer go: am I correct?

The two green circles indicate the blinker lights and I already replaced those so I'm squared away on that. I didn't see any bulbs under the white thing other than those blinker bulbs. Nor did I see one under the circuit board but I didn't pull the board off.

Can anyone else help me confirm by looking at the picture?

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Red circle.

 

[david_ray320]

Red circle.

So LED bulbs in the 2 red circles will cover the speedometer/tach etc? That's what I figured but I just wanted to make sure.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

I'm not sure about the one on the right. Apparently '99 and up has that cover on it.

With mine the bubls had a green base and were larger than the rest of the bulbs.

 

[Matt Starr]

V-LEDs #74

ok so you've got a 99 what are all the LEDs that I need? I cant seem to find out from anyone. Thanks

 

[david_ray320]

ok so you've got a 99 what are all the LEDs that I need? I cant seem to find out from anyone. Thanks

I'm working on compiling a list for just that reason. I can post it up when I get back from class later today.