Have any of y'all used these LED tail lights???? - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

EZFEED · 10-07-2008, 06:48

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93263

I'm thinking about scrapping the originals because it seems no amount of buffing or polishing with Brasso will clear them up and also because LED is so much brighter and when I'm running the roads during hurricanes God forbid someone runs into me.

The starter is 24V but the rest of the electrical system is 12V so these should wire right up. Have any of you tried these out yet? Are they total junk or do the work pretty well?

I plan on taking extra measures to seal them up so hopefully that wil prolong their life. I'd like to wire a single LED in for each front turn signal too and if any of you know where I can find something that would work please let me know. I was thinking of gutting one of those LED trailer/truck clearance lights if possible.

ssgtwright-usmc · 10-07-2008, 06:55

I dont know a thing about LEDS lights except that I hate halogens esp... on vehicles in oncoming traffic with their high-beams on with Halogen lights.
GOD, talk about blinding someone.
Wish I could answer your question here but lights I am not to familiar with unless I need to change it.
Guess Im not to bright in the light dept.

EZFEED · 10-07-2008, 07:10

Nah you may just not specialize in that area, thats all!

Thanks for the reply and I hate those super bright lights too! I think the projector beams are what you mean cause Halogens are often times OEM equipment. I in fact had one of those little speed racer rice burners jerks behind me the other evening while I was out in that truck making a test run. It was getting dark (I'm out in the country so it does pretty quick) but not dark enough to warrant the use of his high beams. He was checking me out and getting all up in my a*s so I hit the brakes a little to try and get him to pass and I had to da*n near stop to make him go around me. The dude did in fact almost plow into me and no doubt a contributing factor besides his tailgating was that he could not see the brake lights because of the lenses being excessively faded out.

I thnk I need to freshen these parts out and doing it in LED would not only add a little modern style but also be quite a bit safer too.

ssgtwright-usmc · 10-07-2008, 07:55

Sometimes I wish I had those reverse spot lights on my truck like on tow trucks.
Someone with high beams on who is tail gating you, pop the switch and blind the SOB!!!!!
Must be a James Bond hidden gadget if I put one on my truck thou!!!!

ARMYMAN30YearsPlus · 10-07-2008, 07:59

I have installed LED lights on all my small trailers similar to this from HF but in a trailer mount rectangular not the round one. I really like the instal and forget they allow you to maintain

Elwenil · 10-07-2008, 08:44

I think the headlamps you guys are talking about are HID (High Intensity Discharge) headlamps. They come stock on a few high end sedans, sports cars SUVs and I think even some Volvo road tractors have them. They are a very popular swap item for the import crowd. They are the ones that appear to have a rainbow of color at the upper edge of the beam itself. They are a special bulb that works similar to a mercury bulb and are used with an optically ground projector lens. Don't knock them until you try them as they are probably the best lights that have been invented for a vehicle. True they can be an annoyance when oncoming but that is usually due to a poorly installed retrofit kit for an import car that do not have the beams focused or aimed correctly. When done right, the intense beam is literally cut off at a certain point and only rarely shines onto oncoming traffic. Occasionally you will get hit with them when the car is topping a hill and is at a higher elevation than you, but otherwise the beam should be much lower.

As for halogens, not many can complain about them. They have been factory on just about every vehicle since the mid 1980s. Every vehicle that uses a plastic lamp housing with the small replaceable bulb is a halogen lamp as well as many sealed beams that are marked halogen. There are also many halogen projector lamps used as either headlamps or fog lamps. They are better than sealed beams and normal plastic housings since they focus the beam better and shine less light in unwanted areas such as in oncoming traffic and up in the trees where the light energy is wasted.

On the LEDs, they are the best thing for tail lamps, bar none. The only disadvantage is the price.

cranetruck · 10-07-2008, 10:03

Yes, LED tail lights are a plus. Also reflector strips are a good safety factor.
If you can't afford the factory LEDs, make your own, cost me about $17/light and have had them on the deuce and M105 for several years....

http://steelsoldiers.com/index.php?n...ed+tail+lights

EZFEED · 10-07-2008, 16:28

Sweet I remember when you first posted that conversion Bjorn. What is the purpose of the circuit board in the back though? I don't seem to recall seeing one of these when I last handled those LED's from Harbor Frieght????

I also did some digging around at AutoZone today and found these bulbs below that will swap out in my headlamp buckets. Has anyone used these before with positive results or are they not much better than regular bulbs??????

EZFEED · 10-07-2008, 16:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARMYMAN30YearsPlus

I have installed LED lights on all my small trailers similar to this from HF but in a trailer mount rectangular not the round one. I really like the instal and forget they allow you to maintain

So have they been fairly reliable David or have they ever given you any trouble?
These are an almost exact overall size to size match to the original Czech lights I have now so it would be a perfect swap!

cranetruck · 10-07-2008, 16:49

The individual replacement bulbs pictured above may need a resistor in series to drop the voltage also, they have, at least used to have, a very limited viewing angle. Very bright straight on, but not so good from an angle.
The circuit board is the voltage regulator, permitting a user voltage of about 10 to 30 volts....