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  • Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

    I wanted to know what would be involved in a LED tail light conversion.. If i could use stock wiring, i could see how i could custom make the mounting hardware and such to have led tail lights, i think that would be sweet..

    maybe at least the third brake light, like on the ss spoiler..
    sigpic
    1996 Chevrolet Camaro
    1995 Buick Park Avenue Ultra
    --Appearance Moderator--

  • #2
    Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

    one guy with a black maro on tech did it. try serching
    1997 Camaro LS1 RS
    1994 Camaro - Sold
    1999 Trans am Vert - Sold

    A Few Mods....

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    • #3
      Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

      I did it on my car and got everything I needed on http://www.superbrightleds.com. They have all of our bulbs and the load resistors needed for the turn signals to work.
      2001 JET BLACK V6 CAMARO <br /><br />-Powerdyne Supercharger, Pacesetter Headers, Transgo Shift Kit, and a whole lot more. <br /><br /> <a href=\"http://groups.msn.com/SPEEDSTYLEandPERFORMANCE\" target=\"_blank\">http://groups.msn.com/SPEEDSTYLEandPERFORMANCE</a> <br /> <a href=\"http://www.cardomain.com/id/camarostallion\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.cardomain.com/id/camarostallion</a>

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      • #4
        Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

        thats just led bulbs. someone on tech actually made real led taillights
        1997 Camaro LS1 RS
        1994 Camaro - Sold
        1999 Trans am Vert - Sold

        A Few Mods....

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        • #5
          Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

          those bulbs should be great, i was planning on doing the entire tail light, but they have some bundles of like 30 leds that are omni directional so that should be great thanks.

          I searched and found that i should use a flasher made specifically for LED turn signals, or else it will flash funny, but i'm still going to have incandescents in my front corners so do i really need the new flasher unti?
          sigpic
          1996 Chevrolet Camaro
          1995 Buick Park Avenue Ultra
          --Appearance Moderator--

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          • #6
            Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

            I've converted all the lights in my Camaro to LEDs... for the ones that can be converted... if you have a 97 or later F-Body, there's some technicalities that prevent you from installing LEDs in places... just ask if you want anymore information... although I only have LED bulbs in now, I am working on custom LED taillights that are more like what you see on Cadillacs...



            EDIT: sorry I didn't see the bold question... DO NOT BUY THE SPECIAL FLASHER UNIT... just buy the inline resistors made to fix the turn signals and wire them in when you install your bulbs... if you replace any of your marker lights you have a chance of disengaging your cruise control also... and having incandescents in the front turn signals is fine... if you have a 97 or later model you HAVE to keep the fronts as incandescents due to the special wiring for daytime running lights...
            Last edited by CoasterKev06; 12-12-2006, 01:25 AM.

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            • #7
              Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

              my goal at first was to get the tail lights like the ones on Cadillacs that your talking about, but i didn't know they had LED bulbs created just for tail lights and things, and since they are available, they will be good...for now.

              BTW, my car is a 96. I think for the most part, i'll be happy if my 3 brake lights are LED, but my plan was to go along the reflector line on the early tail lights like i have.. I wanted to do 2 parallel lines of LEDs across the tail for the running lights..i think that would look sexy.
              sigpic
              1996 Chevrolet Camaro
              1995 Buick Park Avenue Ultra
              --Appearance Moderator--

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              • #8
                Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

                2 lines inside the taillights? or outside?... if you meant inside you could do pretty much what I'm doing... I took the taillights apart, made a mold... and I'm about to start placing individual LEDs and wiring them in the mold... then I'm going to reseal the taillights around the mold. Not too hard... just have to find a pair of extra taillights...

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                • #9
                  Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

                  Yeah, inside, that sounds pretty cool and if i can get an extra set of tails cheap i'd do it..

                  What color LEDs are you using? I heard the best color to use was the color of the lens it's behind.. so for tails i should use red? It seems like white would be better, but from what i heard, it would be more dull..?
                  sigpic
                  1996 Chevrolet Camaro
                  1995 Buick Park Avenue Ultra
                  --Appearance Moderator--

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                  • #10
                    Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

                    Not in LEDs... LEDs emit pure color light... unlike incadescents that burn white no matter what... but just have a colored bulb around the filament... due to the fact that LEDs emit pure color light... if red light is shining behind a red lense... the lense will not block any light... letting all the light emitted by the LED shine through... unlike a white light shining behind a red lense... where the red lense will block out all light EXCEPT the red... making you see red shine behind the lense, because it's the only light that can get to your eyes due to the lense not blocking it... also making the light seem dimmer since it's blocking so much of the light emitted by the bulb... so considering this... and the fact that the "color" white is actually a composite of all colors... a "white" LED is actually made up of red, green, and blue LEDs all shining at once... creating a white light... since these LED's are made up of more than just one LED they tend to be twice or three times as expensive as any other color of LED or LED bulb...


                    so the moral of this story is... buy whatever color LED that matches the color you want to see... for amber turn signals... buy amber LEDs... for taillights and stop lights... buy red... etc....

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                    • #11
                      Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

                      red,blue, and green make white?

                      I didn't know that. It seems weird to think that Red and Blue make Purple, Green and Blue make Teal, and Red and Green make Yellow. I don't see a white coming from these three colors, but if you say it, then I guess it's worth believing.

                      Edit: Although all colors are mixed are mixed from the three primaries: Red, blue and yellow,
                      I still don't see how mixing the three monochromatics are going to emit a white light.

                      Grrr...I wish I were smarter so I can understand.
                      Last edited by Vanquish; 12-12-2006, 03:37 AM.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

                        Originally posted by Vanquish
                        red,blue, and green make white?

                        I didn't know that. It seems weird to think that Red and Blue make Purple, Green and Blue make Teal, and Red and Green make Yellow. I don't see a white coming from these three colors, but if you say it, then I guess it's worth believing.

                        Edit: Although all colors are mixed are mixed from the three primaries: Red, blue and yellow,
                        I still don't see how mixing the three monochromatics are going to emit a white light.

                        Grrr...I wish I were smarter so I can understand.
                        dont understand that either. white is white, i can see them being able to make almost any other color.

                        im sure its true somehow tho, cause i think tvs, monitors, etc are built off the 3 color pixle?

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                        • #13
                          Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

                          so when is someone going to post pics of this conversion?

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                          • #14
                            Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

                            Hm, I put orange LEDs in those small running lights in my tail lights (come on next to where brake lights are when you turn headlights on) and the lens was red... but it came out orange anyways ;) Not a bad look really, just different. i wish there was a manufacturer that did sell converted aftermarket LED brake lights like those catalliacs have.

                            I did try those LED bulbs for awhile, but they are not as bright as incandecent bulbs unfortunately :(

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                            • #15
                              Re: Has anyone done a LED taillight conversion?

                              Yes... red, green, and blue (RGB) makes white...


                              Do some research on RGB LEDs... such as those used in Las Vegas over the strip... each bulb is composed of RGB LEDs... with these three colors and a digital potentiometer wired to each LED to vary the intensity, a single bulb can make any color of the spectrum... when all three colors are on at the same intensity... you get white... white is the combination of all colors in the spectrum at the same intensity... which makes sense if you think of black, the opposite of white, which has no color...

                              I can post pics if y'all want... not really that big of a deal as far as what I have in at the moment... just some LED bulbs and resistors... as far as the custom tailights... those are at my home... where I'll be in a few days... I'm currently in college finishing my hell'ish finals...

                              EDIT: EXACTLY... a TV pixel is exactly how to think of it... if you look extremely close (unless you own a HD or plasma)... you'll be able to see very small red, green, and blue rectangles (most of the time they are rectangles)... which makes one screen pixel... a lot of these pixels combined produces an image... even though that image is really only made up of three colors... the intensity of each rectangle within the pixel that is lit can produce any color...

                              EDIT: Whoops.. I did forget about the GaN LEDs... I apologize... those are usually about the same price as other LEDs but aren't nearly as bright in most cases... but they're smaller than a RGB white LED and produce a white that is really dang close... still... it's better to go with the LED that matches your lens color...

                              for more information on LEDs... just go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED ...
                              Last edited by CoasterKev06; 12-12-2006, 03:09 PM.

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