LED bulbs

[BillD]

Okay, need some opinions. The original bulbs, both exterior and interior of course are pretty dim compared to today's LED bulbs. So, I've done some research, and every bulb is available in LED. Would love to see the dash light up much brighter. So, talking it over with my wife, who will be sharing the experiences of going to local car shows, etc. I was thinking colored LED bulbs for the dash. Car is white with the gorgeous and classy black interior. I'm thinking either the green or purple LED lights. I said the green would really set off the chrome and black inside the car. My wife said purple would look better, since it is my favorite color and one of the colors in the decorations when we got married many years ago.

I also found the replacement LED low and high beam headlights.

What do you think?

[BillD]

Almost forgot, I did find red LED 1157 and Amber LED 1157 for tail lights and front turn signals. Bet those sequential tail lights would look fantastic with bright LED bulbs

[stubbie]

There are some problems using leds in flashers and tail lights, think you have to change the flasher unit. I can't remember exactly but sure someone else will know. Also some leds don't always dim on the interior like the dash you would have to check that also. If you want purple lights inside your car, go for it, your the one who has to drive it. I have green leds in my gauges. Can't put up any pics as my dash is out being repaired at the moment.

[BillD]

The LED bulbs I found are actual 1157 bulbs and believe they have diodes/resistors already in them to help prevent issues with flashers and turn signal issues. Will let you know if they work properly when I get them and install them. Stay tuned Bat fans.

[66T-Bird]

wishing you all the best go with the purple and be sure to let us know about the led 1157 bulbs anxious to see how they work out for you by the way where did you find the ones you are talking about Thanks Skip

[BillD]

I actually got the list of bulbs and typed in 1157 bulb LED. and did the same with the other bulb numbers. Actually found them all through Amazon. Same bulb sockets, but just LED. Did the same with the headlights. Wife ordered the 1157 bulbs today, red for the taillights, amber for the front turn signals. When I get them in and test them, will let you know. If the test goes good, gonna get the dash bulbs next. I know the sequential tail lights will shine bright with LEDs and turn some heads.

[66T-Bird]

Thanks for the reply looking forward to see how it goes, wishing you and your wife all the best with your new TBird stay healthy be safe best of luck enjoy

[Terry64HT]

BillD, I just came across the post about your choice of bulbs. I'm not sure of the year of your car, but I know that at least for the 64's the front parking light/turn signal bulbs are orange. All others are clear with the color coming from the lenses. You might find that using colored bulbs behind lenses of the same color will be pretty dim. Red bulbs probably won't do much behind red lenses. Likewise, the green you see on the dash is from the lenses and printing on the overlays. I'm not sure how purple lights will work out.
The exception to this is the speedometer and clock.
Terry
64HT

[66T-Bird]

Thanks Terry but me my-self if i were to do leds i would only go with white bulbs in the tail lights Thanks Skip

[bbogue]

I replaced the bulbs in my 61’s clock with LED’s when I was reinstalling it after converting to a quartz movement. I discovered that the LED’s provide a whiter light than the other incandescent bulbs in the instrument panel. I don’t drive much at night so this isn’t bothersome, however if I have the clock out again I may go back to incandescent bulbs or yellower LED’s. In my experience, bulbs with Kelvin temperature light of 4000K or lower produce a yellower light. 5000K or higher is whiter and brighter. Kelvin temperature is not always included in bulb descriptions but when available this helps to make a more informed purchase. If I were replacing an incandescent bulb with LED behind a colored lens and trying to get brighter light, I would expect a higher Kelvin temperature clear or white bulb to be brighter than a colored one. Information located here may be helpful.

https://halo-headlights.com/articles/le ... chart.html

Just my experience. Yours may be different. Cheers and stay safe.

Bill

[BillD]

Okay, got the rear LED bulbs in the mail yesterday. Still haven't had the time to install. Back working 7 days a week again. However, In between the chaos at my work (I'm an Industrial Maintenance Electrician/Group Leader), i was able to do a little research. Some of the newer LED bulbs coming out today seem to work directly on install. I watched a YouTube video with a guy in Pennsylvania testing out different brands and white vs red LEDs. Some LEDs don't have much of a difference between parking/running brightness and brake light. Some LEDs seem dim because older tail light sockets don't have reflectors inside the housing. However, there are fixes for that. Between white and red LEDs, when using the white LEDs in the tail light, you can see the white hot spot in the center of the lens, and the filtration of the bluish/white light through the red lens makes it orangy in color. The red LEDs were just as bright, but maintains the red throughout the lens and no visual hot spot in the center.

If there is an issue with the turn signals not working or flashing rapidly, they now make flasher relays to compensate for the reduced amp dram from old incandescent bulbs to lower amp drawing LED bulbs.

Once I test my bulbs out and do some hands on testing with my meter on amp draw, etc., I will post back about the fixes I needed to do.

[66T-Bird]

Bill i sure like all the information you have given so far big help i'am anxiously waiting for your testing of the bulbs and reporting back good luck and stay healthy Skip

[DamonCG Bonnie's Dad]

I am a big fan of LED s in my other vehicles and just got my 66 home today and very curious to see if I can use these as well in mine...

[66T-Bird]

the best with your new TBird but just remember these cars have the sequencial rear lights and it seems that led's seem to have a mind of their own and behave in many odd ways looking forward to your posts Skip

[BillD]

Well, finally found some time to install the red LED bulbs in the tail lights. The sequential turn signal was just a little fast, but worked. When I turned the headlights on to check the brightness difference between running lights and brake lights, the turn signals wouldn't work. Also, the brightness between running lights and brake lights were very slight. I bought a cheap set of four, and was labeled "Made in China" when I got them. No name brand. When I tried removing them to put the incandescent bulbs back in, one of them broke. Glad I bought the cheap set to test out.

That being said, I know buying the upgraded flasher relay will fix the issue with turn signals not blinking when headlights are on. I just wanted to make sure the sequential relays would work with LEDs, which they did. When I watched the one YouTube video where a guy was testing different LEDs out, he showed one where the brightness difference was significant. Gotta find that video again to get the name brand, but I believe it was Sylvania. Will let you all know when I get those bulbs and the new flasher relay.

Bad news for me, is when I removed the passenger side taillight lens, it was cracked in half. Was planning on getting a new set anyway, as both are two different shades of red and have stress spider cracks in them.

Stay tuned, Bird fans. Same Bird channel, same Bird time....