Putting the red bumper lenses to use
- Thread starter bryancos
- Start date
AlexJet
New member
Pennywise said:
What about LED in this mod? I'm doing this mod in the same way as fo'runner did. If I'm using 4157 LED for parking/brake only, would it be the same wattage and current? I thought by using LEDs we lowering electric consumption, so current should be lower the 9A with the same wattage.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
AlexJet said:
AlexJet,
Leds would be ideal for this situation, since they produce very little heat, but typically they would not be as bright as a standard filament bulb. They don't market discrete leds (or led based bulbs) in wattage, but usually in mcd (millicandela). There are some complex equations to convert mcd to lumens. After doing a quick search, I came across this site, http://www.gizmology.net/LEDs.htm, which states that a 100 W bulb produces about 1700 lumen. He also states that the bulb would be about 135,000 mcd if the light was radiated equally in all directions. This gives you some rough numbers for comparision, but the best way to do it would be to try a particular bulb out and see what you get.
I have been purchasing some leds lately and have been trying to make some of the wedge based bulbs (194). I have had several done, but was not really impressed by the overall *brightness*.
One of the problems that you would run into is that I had a hard time fitting a 4157 bulb into the housing, so I had to sand down the inner walls of the bumper lens to get it in. So, the diameter of the bulb cannot be larger than an 1" or so (I don't know the actual size). Those small light tower bulbs may do the trick. They are fairly thin and just stick further into the lens with most of the leds on the side. However, at $25 each from (www.autolumination.com), it isn't worth it. You could always try it out and if it doesn't work, return it. I returned some items from this guy and he charged me a 20% or so restocking/retesting fee.
As for current draw, it would depend on how the leds are wired internally. Now if you build them yourself, you know exactly the total current draw. Since the forward voltage drop on red leds is about 2V each, you could get 5 of them in each series circuit drawing 20 mA. Therefore take the total number of leds, divide by 5 and multiply by 20 mA. This is an approximate value for current draw from this single led bulb. There are a number of variables, so these numbers should give you an idea. For comparision purposes, the stock 194 bulbs take about 250 mA.
I think it possible to put wedges in the bumper lenses, but I don't think it would be bright enough to bother. If anyone did this, please speak up and let us know.
I hope this clears things up a little. I have just started tinkering around with this stuff, so I guess we're all in the learning process.
Tom
cdoyle
Member
This december I plan on doing my LED retro for the bumper lights, using superflux LED's. Basically the same type of thing I did with the brake lights. Only this time, I'm going to do it all myself, no premade truck modules.
This type of retro will be plenty bright in that little housing. I can't wait to do this, but need to wait til I have some time off work to get it done.
This type of retro will be plenty bright in that little housing. I can't wait to do this, but need to wait til I have some time off work to get it done.
cdoyle
Member
Oh, a good place to go to learn up on LED and LED retros is http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/.
Go to the LED subform, some of the guys there really do some cool things with thier LEDs.
Go to the LED subform, some of the guys there really do some cool things with thier LEDs.
AlexJet
New member
Pennywise said:
I'm doing this mod right now. Yes it fits just tight enough. As soon as finished this, probably tonight if nobody will disturb me or tomorrow evening, I'll post some images.
BTW, I measured the draw by multi-tester. It's 34mA on tails and 94mA on brakes, so total maximum on brakes will be less then 0.2A which is good and I do not need to worry about fuses.
sharp4runr
New member
HRunner said:Hey guys, bought the 1157 socket today and prepared to do this mod... however, there's no instruction in the package...
Sorry hope this is not a dump question, which one is ground? which one is what? Please help~
(Sorry I was studied ART....)
LOL, I have those same sockets and I started doing the install yesterday but I ran out of daylight and stopped. I should be able to finish up this afternoon after work.
In testing I used the black wire as ground. I forgot what other wire is what, but I'll try to note it down when I finish this afternoon.
Note: When I cut the hole in the bumper lense I had to remove those 3 metal clips that hang out as well as shaving a bit of plastic of the socket housing for it to fit.
AlexJet
New member
Ooooops, I have a PROBLEM!
OK, I've done the lights, insert LEDs. Then I wired them to the rear taillights. I've found the connectors for the tails and for brakes. Wired to tail half power LED output and full power connector to the brake connector of taillights. Then tried it out. Looked like everything is fine. Taillight + bumper tail looks nice and really match to the bulbs in tails. Then becoming a problem. When pressing brakes they go completely off. I double checked everything: connectors, housing, all in place. Tried again - same result: tails working braking not working at all. After all I started to check out electric part and figured out that they work ONLY tails OR brakes. That was my RIGHT light. OK, I decide to leave tails only for a time while I'll figure out what was wrong. I wired LEFT in the same way as right (only for tail). S***t it's not working. My left tail works only when BOTH connectors tail and brake are connected to the taillight housing. But in this combination it's switches off when brakes.
So I'm shocked and stopped. Why? What happened? What's wrong? Why two lights work differently?
OK, I've done the lights, insert LEDs. Then I wired them to the rear taillights. I've found the connectors for the tails and for brakes. Wired to tail half power LED output and full power connector to the brake connector of taillights. Then tried it out. Looked like everything is fine. Taillight + bumper tail looks nice and really match to the bulbs in tails. Then becoming a problem. When pressing brakes they go completely off. I double checked everything: connectors, housing, all in place. Tried again - same result: tails working braking not working at all. After all I started to check out electric part and figured out that they work ONLY tails OR brakes. That was my RIGHT light. OK, I decide to leave tails only for a time while I'll figure out what was wrong. I wired LEFT in the same way as right (only for tail). S***t it's not working. My left tail works only when BOTH connectors tail and brake are connected to the taillight housing. But in this combination it's switches off when brakes.
So I'm shocked and stopped. Why? What happened? What's wrong? Why two lights work differently?
Hmmmm....
Not exactly sure what the problem could be, I'll have to think about it some more.
One thing that you could try is to test the bulb in the following conditions right off the battery: tail only, brake only, tail and brake. This would isolate the problem slightly and tell you if it is the leds or if it is some combination of the leds and stock lights.
Keep us posted and If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.
Tom
Not exactly sure what the problem could be, I'll have to think about it some more.
One thing that you could try is to test the bulb in the following conditions right off the battery: tail only, brake only, tail and brake. This would isolate the problem slightly and tell you if it is the leds or if it is some combination of the leds and stock lights.
Keep us posted and If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.
Tom
AlexJet
New member
Pennywise said:
I've tried both LEDs on my battery connecting just tail, just brake, tail then add brake. All 3 combinations worked fine in housing and pre-wired connected directly to the battery. The PROBLEM is when they are in rear bumper connected to tails.
Let me know, PLS, if you can think of something....
Fro-Runner
New member
AlexJet said:
I explained this problem in one of my earlier posts.....I believe my writeup is 2/3's of the way down on page #12--> http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1137&perpage=15&pagenumber=12. The exact same thing happen to me on one side of my installation. In that post I stated you have to make darn sure you have a GOOD ground for the brake lamps to work. If you do not.....then the tails will work but not the brakes. Remount your ground wires to a different location.
Last edited:
fo'runner said:
fo'runner,
I meant to ask about this a while back and forgot. Anyhow, why do you need to use the bolt for a ground, since there is already a ground wire run (white with black) for the original lights? I just used this wire and eveything seems to be working. Just curious.
Tom
AlexJet
New member
fo'runner said:
I took the lights off this morning (I came to work 1/2 hour earlier, couldn't sleep because of this issue) and will try to rewire all wires and contacts then will put them back tonight. I was going to do it anyway, because I used thick wires, approx. 14ga, which I do not need for this application. At that time they were the only ones I found in my garage and last night I found some 18ga wires, so I'll rewire them with thin wires. I think 18ga should work fine with LED. If the problem is the ground I hope it will work. Yes, I think I remember that someone (probably you) mentioned that he has bad ground and change ground point from bottom bolt of the taillight to upper one. Anyway I'll try both ways tonight. I hope it will work.
I will be keeping posted my progress.
AlexJet
New member
And there is the result. Left bumper light is wired to the vehicle. This is parking lights, brakes will be much brighter. You can see the difference between working and not working fog housing. It looks great for me, plus its safety, more lights on, earlier you'll be seen on the road.
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AlexJet,
Looks great! They look brighter than I thought the led bulbs would be.
I can't recall if you bought premade led bulbs or if you made them yourself. Any information (pics) on the bulbs would be greatly appreciated. I know that these tubes in the housing are very small and not every premade led bulb will fit. If you could clarify the bulbs that you used, this may be very helpful for those looking to do this or upgade there filament type bulbs.
Did you use the bolt for ground or did you tap into the ground wire used for the other lights?
Thanks and glad to see you made it work!
Tom
Looks great! They look brighter than I thought the led bulbs would be.
I can't recall if you bought premade led bulbs or if you made them yourself. Any information (pics) on the bulbs would be greatly appreciated. I know that these tubes in the housing are very small and not every premade led bulb will fit. If you could clarify the bulbs that you used, this may be very helpful for those looking to do this or upgade there filament type bulbs.
Did you use the bolt for ground or did you tap into the ground wire used for the other lights?
Thanks and glad to see you made it work!
Tom
