Replacing filament bulbs with LEDs?

degsie

Is there any downside to replacing traditional filament number plate bulbs with LED ones? Had a couple go over the last year and thought the LED's might be longer lasting.

Thinking of something like this:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/2pcs-Car-Auto-Wedge-T10-194-501-W5W-5-SMD-LED-Side-Indicator-Light-White-Bulb-UK-/201456353303

Toyotafanboi

The biggest downsides are that they don't look period correct and often make a car look tacky with the colour temperature being all wrong compared to filament bulbs. If you drive a modern car that has a warning on the dash that tells you when a bulb is blown, this may be on constantly after fitting LED's due to the lower resistance from that style of bulb. That and most unbranded ones on eBay will only last a wet week anyway.

If your bulbs are blowing a lot, go for a good brand bulb, Philips/ Osram etc. If that fails you may have a problem with the car, corroded bulb holder, bad earth etc.

honda boi

I changed my parking,interior and reg plate lights to LED .
Miles better.
Have a few left here if ya want some.
BTW them lights on eBay are s**t.

degsie

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

If you drive a modern car that has a warning on the dash that tells you when a bulb is blown, this may be on constantly after fitting LED's due to the lower resistance from that style of bulb.

Never thought of that. The OPEL Astra gives an error code on the dash when a bulb is blown, would annoy the hell out of me if it didn't clear

honda boi wrote: »

I changed my parking,interior and reg plate lights to LED .
Miles better.
Have a few left here if ya want some.
BTW them lights on eBay are s**t.

Thanks for that, can you recommend a brand? Do you see any problems with warnings when you replaced the bulbs?

Wibbs

honda boi wrote: »

I changed my parking,interior and reg plate lights to LED .
Miles better.

Ditto. My parking lights in particular were always blowing for some reason(contacts/fitments fine, earth grand), so I put the LEDs in there first and two years on happy out. Similar with the reg lights. I tried swapping out the brake and the other rear bulbs(my particular cars rear lights are buggers for condensation and leaks), but the LED were pure muck by comparison, not nearly bright enough, so went back to filament and tried to seal the units better. I'd love to try decent LED in there, but then I gather I'd get into heat dissipation issues. So I'll stay old style unless the EU bans them or something.

So yeah for those lights HB lists Degs I'd have no problem recommending LED.

Have a few left here if ya want some.

A decent man indeed.

BTW them lights on eBay are s**t.

That's where I got mine, cheap bastard that I am. Only one was a dud and the seller in fairness fired out another two to me for free.

I've been tempted to swap out the dash lights for LED, but dunno how well that would turn out.

EDIT

degsie wrote: »

Do you see any problems with warnings when you replaced the bulbs?

Yeah I should have mentioned that my yoke is pretty brainless so I wouldn't have that issue. I think there's a hamster on a wheel living in the dash somewhere. Modern Can bus cars can throw up faults alright, though IIRC you can bypass that with a resistor installed?

honda boi

degsie wrote: »

Never thought of that. The OPEL Astra gives an error code on the dash when a bulb is blown, would annoy the hell out of me if it didn't clear



Thanks for that, can you recommend a brand? Do you see any problems with warnings when you replaced the bulbs?

Unsure about error codes and that as my car doesn't tell me when any are blown.
Ya can have some of the lights and try for yourself and see if the car gives any errors or that.

honda boi

Wibbs wrote: »

Ditto. My parking lights in particular were always blowing for some reason(contacts/fitments fine, earth grand), so I put the LEDs in there first and two years on happy out. Similar with the reg lights. I tried swapping out the brake and the other rear bulbs(my particular cars rear lights are buggers for condensation and leaks), but the LED were pure muck by comparison, not nearly bright enough, so went back to filament and tried to seal the units better. I'd love to try decent LED in there, but then I gather I'd get into heat dissipation issues. So I'll stay old style unless the EU bans them or something.

So yeah for those lights HB lists Degs I'd have no problem recommending LED.

A decent man indeed.

That's where I got mine, cheap bastard that I am. Only one was a dud and the seller in fairness fired out another two to me for free.

I've been tempted to swap out the dash lights for LED, but dunno how well that would turn out.

EDIT Yeah I should have mentioned that my yoke is pretty brainless so I wouldn't have that issue. I think there's a hamster on a wheel living in the dash somewhere. Modern Can bus cars can throw up faults alright, though IIRC you can bypass that with a resistor installed?

Ye tried led as my rear parking/ fog lights and weren't great. I have them in my reverse lights and looks OK.
Think they were crap as rear parking/ fog lights as the led lights i got are white. Probably look better if I got the red LEDs.
The ones in the op were like the ones I tried first ( tho mine were bigger and lot brighter then those ones), but because the LEDs themselves weren't covered or protected kept burning/ shorting out with moisture .
The ones I've got now are miles better.
The parking leds themselves are covered in silicone and the reg ones in kind of a glass so no risk of moisture breaching

colm_mcm

You can get LEDs that don't show up a blown bulb error. They're norms,lay a little more expensive. They usually have "canbus" in their description.

Capt'n Midnight

LED may not draw enough current to work with indicator relays.

Cordell

colm_mcm wrote: »

You can get LEDs that don't show up a blown bulb error. They're norms,lay a little more expensive. They usually have "canbus" in their description.

What they really have is a resistor that makes up for the extra efficiency. That means that they will run hotter than they need to. Also, if the LED fails the resistor will still be there and you still won't get the error.

Cerebrum

degsie wrote: »

Never thought of that. The OPEL Astra gives an error code on the dash when a bulb is blown, would annoy the hell out of me if it didn't clear

Astra H (2005-2009)? I've the full led lamp units that slot in instead of the existing lamp units. Resistors are external and mount onto the crash bar to dissipate the heat.
No error on the dash, no flickering, no errors showing up via Tech2 scan.
Drop me a PM if you want as I've a few sets in stock.