LED TURN SIGNALS

[tugalo]

  I know that the 1156 back-ups are supposed to be good, has anyone tried  LED turn/brake lights?

[mik666]

yeah but i found they were problematic,at least in my 87, as you have to replace the turn signal relays (easy enough)  with ones specifically for LEDs and even after that when i just started the truck the brake light LED bulbs would come on even though the peddle wasn't depressed - when i replaced just one of the LED bulbs with the standard incandescent bulb it went back to being normal and the peddle operated the brake lights like normal - some weird load $#!& i suspect. having done it all and spending probably about $80 for all of them i wish now i'd just kept the old style as its not like the charging system is not up to the challenge

[64 Cheyenne]

I tried some, couldn't get them to fit in the socket correctly....waste of money for me, went back to incandescents.

[mikekaz1]

ive herd the front marker lights don't like them very much, especially on the HOs with the alternating turn signals.

[shrapneltyphoon]

Switched everything but the front markers and they work alright. Had to buy a flasher relay though. And yeah some of them won't fit in the socket because they have a wider base then an incandescent. Working good so far after I got stubborn and dremeled the socket to fit.

[mikekaz1]

I already had an el32(?) relay as my plow lights would make the factory thermal flasher go berserk. so that's no problem.  

[HOrnbrod]

ive herd the front marker lights don't like them very much, especially on the HOs with the alternating turn signals.

 

You heard wrong. All my turn signal lights, including the "Euro" ones on the front fenders are LEDs using the stock flasher. All the exterior lights except the two brake lights are LEDs. Even the head lamps.   :yes:

 

EDIT:  Thinking back, I do remember that I had to swap one L/R pair of turn signal LED bulbs (in the tails IIRC) back to incandescent for them to work. I assume that the two incandescent bulbs provided enough circuit ballast to allow the flasher to work.

[mikekaz1]

 

ive herd the front marker lights don't like them very much, especially on the HOs with the alternating turn signals.

 

You heard wrong. All my turn signal lights, including the "Euro" ones on the front fenders are LEDs using the stock flasher. All the exterior lights except the two brake lights are LEDs. Even the head lamps.   :yes:

 

EDIT:  Thinking back, I do remember that I had to swap one L/R pair of turn signal LED bulbs (in the tails IIRC) back to incandescent for them to work. I assume that the two incandescent bulbs provided enough circuit ballast to allow the flasher to work.

 

 

 

hmm, swore ive herd/read that somewhere. had to do with the low draw and the fact the markers used the false ground to alternate. something with the leds wouldn't alternate it properly,     but I never did an led swap so I never personally confirmed or denied.

[Megadan]

You will either need to convert to a digital turn signal relay, or put in ballast resistors inline to the bulb circuits to keep the same resistance on the circuit like that of the incan. bulbs.  The resistors aren't really that expensive, and would probably allow you to run all of the features without any problems, but require more work, and room since you have to mount them somewhere.  IMHO, while the idea of LED's is cool, I have yet to really run into an LED bulb replacement that was bright enough to warrant using them, that was at least reasonably priced.  

Honestly, you would probably see more improvement by trying to increase the reflectivity of the housings the bulbs sit in than upping the output of the bulbs.

[HOrnbrod]

^^  Maybe for the older Renix models w/o the marker lights wired as turn signals, but extra ballast resistors and/or a digital flasher are not necessary for the 91-92, and maybe 90 models as long as a L&R pair of incandescent bulbs remain in the circuit.

 

And the LEDs as turn signals are a nice improvement if you buy quality LEDs and not the cheap junk.

[Megadan]

Quality LED's goes back to the price thing I mentioned.  Spending hundreds of dollars to get a marginal lighting improvement just doesn't seem worth it to me.  Quality bulbs tend to run around $25 each (for something brighter and that will last a decent amount of time), and you would be looking at 6 to 8 bulbs.   I've run LED's in previous vehicles, and while brighter, they just don't offer enough improvement for me to warrant spending that kind of money.  Just my personal opinion.

[ParadiseMJ]

I have LED side markers (corners) and I wired in the blinkers to the front blinkers.  they alternate from the front blinkers.  No issues.  I also have LED backups.  Didn't need to change anything.  Maybe just dumb luck (with an emphasis on dumb)