Rear light LED conversion DIY

[DRUMMOND]

I had a set of rear lights that had all the reflectors dull up and corrode with exposure to the air from a cracked lens. So I decided to do a LED conversion and see how it worked out. here is the photo story
Cut out the lens with a hot knife





cut me some copper bars




then some soldering



some shiny aluminum tape

rubbed with some metal polish



secured in the shiny lens



Polished rear lens and all back together

Wow baby look at the light!!




they work amazingly well

[vandor]

Nice job!
What you have to be careful of is that your running light is not too bright. Normally the brake light (and turn signal) is 4x brighter than the running light. If the running light is too bright it will bother other motorists, and it will also make the brake light hard to notice, as there is already a bright light lit next to it.
Some new cars have the turn signal inside a round brake light, and it is virtually impossible to see the turn signal when the brake lights are on.

[klweimer]

Good stuff!

[TStark]

Very good!

Speaking of safety, I added a third brake light that clips to the forward lip of the trunk lid. Glued a very thin led marker light to a short segment of rubber edge molding, it is very indiscrete.

It can be removed and tucked into the trunk in a moment, for photos , meets and such.

I think its saved my butt a few times already.

[DRUMMOND]

Yes Vandor you are correct
i did not show all the lenses. The running light has less leds than the rest, from a constant on and heat output issue as well as light output

good point

here is the running light

Here is the brake light

[Coolbreeze]

Thank you for your illuminating post. Is there a downside to replacing a rear turn signal bulb (1073, I believe) with an LED substitute? I see that substitutes may be purchased at: https://www.superbrightleds.com/vehicle ... &year=1980

I am concerned that the LED device will not draw enough current to cause the flasher unit to work.

[SteinOnkel]

Thank you for your illuminating post. Is there a downside to replacing a rear turn signal bulb (1073, I believe) with an LED substitute? I see that substitutes may be purchased at: https://www.superbrightleds.com/vehicle ... &year=1980

I am concerned that the LED device will not draw enough current to cause the flasher unit to work.

There is. They completely suck.

We did this on our school bus (turn, running and brake lights). Immediately took them back to the store, they were awful. How they are allowed to sell those is beyond me.

Opted to replace the entire light assembly with a DOT-Approved LED version. Anything else and you are asking for trouble.

[DRUMMOND]

Hi Coolbreeze

As long as you have one incandescent light in the indicator circuit, you should not need a resistor inline to operate the flasher unit with any led's.
if you are running all led's, you will need to change the flasher unit to an electronic one and a resistor inline for each circuit (2)

[spider2081]

Is there a downside to replacing a rear turn signal bulb

This is just my opinion:
I the lens for car lights are designed to work with either incandescent or LED type bulbs. Incandescent bulbs radiate light in all directions and the light is carried by the lens material making the entire lens illuminate. LED light is more directional or straight line. I think that is one of the reasons modern cars with LED tail lights use numerous LED's to make up one assembly and if the light is to be seen from more than one angle the LED's will be installed accordingly.
Simply replacing an incandescent bulb with an LED bulb might increase the visibility directly behind the car but not as much from the sides. Some LED replacement bulbs are comprised multiple LED's at different angles making the light pattern more like an incandescent. I believe the LED light ray passes through t he lens with out illuminating it thus making the LED replacement brighter in some angles and less visible from other angles.
Again I am not a light engineer and this is my observation/opinion

[SteinOnkel]

I love how nobody cares about the legality of any of this.

Don't modify your lights, unless the new components are DOT Approved or you have a trust fund specifically for when people sue your pants off after they rear-ended you because they couldn't see. Especially in a low, two brake light car like a Fiat 124 that's already invisible by modern standards, this is asking for trouble.

Go ahead and switch to LED turn signals. Nobody will be able to see you use them, but hey at least you won't have to swap bulbs as often