LED conversions

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Joined
Oct 2, 2012
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257
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Location
Arkansas
My Car
1972 Ford Mustang Convertible
I am thinking of converting my 72 taillights to LED sequential. Also want to convert my parking lights to LED bulbs. Any thoughts on this or recommendations on good brands? Also reading where I have to convert my flasher unit if I use LED's. Any advice would be appreciated!

 
I know Chinese stuffs are not valued much, but when it comes to electronics, LED's etc.. that's where these things are made.

I've first looked at bulb types in our cars and search for the LED equivalent on E-bay. Got tons of LED's for side markers, rear lights, in white, amber and red, and 4 Flasher's all for pinuts a dozen. Installed also in my wife's Mini a while back and none has failed so far. 

For the flashers, make sure you use one for mix incandescent and LED and that its a 2 sprong type that matches the socket. You need two of these.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Electronic-Turn-Signal-Flasher-Relay-LED-2-Prong-Round-Style/192092794862?hash=item2cb99f6fee:g:ikgAAOSw-0xYkQzI

Tired of replacing the burned dome light cover inside, I've changed for these

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4Pcs-White-44mm-3W-COB-Rigid-Loop-LED-Interior-Door-Map-Light-Bulb-561-562-212-2/261971929885?hash=item3cfebe6b1d:g:J3MAAOSwawtbXsdG

but still looking for a more yellow colour, as the interior is really daylight when it goes on. 

for the rest search with the bulb type and LED and you will find tons of offers like this ones

https://www.ebay.com/itm/50Pcs-Super-White-T10-Wedge-5-SMD-5050-LED-Light-bulbs-W5W-2825-158-192-168-194/321971022011?hash=item4af6f7e8bb:g:22sAAOSwvudeAd7G 

even if one would fails, you got 40+ pieces left...  

For the rear, lights LED Red 1156 1157 Socket for single and double contacts are to be found in different flavours.
No matter the one's you will choose, they all beat by far the original bulbs brightness and no more burned marks on plastics!

 
I am thinking of converting my 72 taillights to LED sequential. Also want to convert my parking lights to LED bulbs. Any thoughts on this or recommendations on good brands? Also reading where I have to convert my flasher unit if I use LED's. Any advice would be appreciated!
 My advice, from experience, we have a site supporter right here, Bill at Hi-Po Parts.com. He is without doubt the go-to guy for all LED and SMD bulbs. However, I'm not sure about sequential systems. When I did mine a couple of years back, Bill was extremely helpful, offered good advice and better yet, excellent quality bulbs. The junk that you can buy on e-bay may be cheaper and seem like a good deal, but believe me, pay a little extra and get far better bulbs PLUS direct customer service.  You WON"T get that on e-pay!

Bill is located in Gaylord Michigan.

https://www.hipoparts.com/

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I agree completely about the quality of bulbs on both eBay and Amazon. On some I tried, the color temperatures were so high that the bulbs didn't have enough red and amber light spectrums in them to effectively light taillights, marker lights and general purpose lighting. When looking at the lit bulbs they were very bright but wouldn't illuminate very well. Pay more for quality LEDs from a quality supplier and you'll be happy with the results. Plasma LEDs are another choice, are highly rated, and pricey:

https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.com/14755/10043/plasma-led-1157-bulb-red-2-pack-new-1967-1973-mercury-cougar-1967-1973-ford-mustang.html?sessionthemeid=26

 
 My advice, from experience, we have a site supporter right here, Bill at Hi-Po Parts.com. He is without doubt the go-to guy for all LED and SMD bulbs. However, I'm not sure about sequential systems. When I did mine a couple of years back, Bill was extremely helpful, offered good advice and better yet, excellent quality bulbs. The junk that you can buy on e-bay may be cheaper and seem like a good deal, but believe me, pay a little extra and get far better bulbs PLUS direct customer service.  You WON"T get that on e-pay!

Bill is located in Gaylord Michigan.

https://www.hipoparts.com/
Thank you so much!

 
I agree completely about the quality of bulbs on both eBay and Amazon. On some I tried, the color temperatures were so high that the bulbs didn't have enough red and amber light spectrums in them to effectively light taillights, marker lights and general purpose lighting. When looking at the lit bulbs they were very bright but wouldn't illuminate very well. Pay more for quality LEDs from a quality supplier and you'll be happy with the results. Plasma LEDs are another choice, are highly rated, and pricey:

https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.com/14755/10043/plasma-led-1157-bulb-red-2-pack-new-1967-1973-mercury-cougar-1967-1973-ford-mustang.html?sessionthemeid=26
Thank you! I like your ideas!

 
I know Chinese stuffs are not valued much, but when it comes to electronics, LED's etc.. that's where these things are made.

I've first looked at bulb types in our cars and search for the LED equivalent on E-bay. Got tons of LED's for side markers, rear lights, in white, amber and red, and 4 Flasher's all for pinuts a dozen. Installed also in my wife's Mini a while back and none has failed so far. 

For the flashers, make sure you use one for mix incandescent and LED and that its a 2 sprong type that matches the socket. You need two of these.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Electronic-Turn-Signal-Flasher-Relay-LED-2-Prong-Round-Style/192092794862?hash=item2cb99f6fee:g:ikgAAOSw-0xYkQzI

Tired of replacing the burned dome light cover inside, I've changed for these

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4Pcs-White-44mm-3W-COB-Rigid-Loop-LED-Interior-Door-Map-Light-Bulb-561-562-212-2/261971929885?hash=item3cfebe6b1d:g:J3MAAOSwawtbXsdG

but still looking for a more yellow colour, as the interior is really daylight when it goes on. 

for the rest search with the bulb type and LED and you will find tons of offers like this ones

https://www.ebay.com/itm/50Pcs-Super-White-T10-Wedge-5-SMD-5050-LED-Light-bulbs-W5W-2825-158-192-168-194/321971022011?hash=item4af6f7e8bb:g:22sAAOSwvudeAd7G 

even if one would fails, you got 40+ pieces left...  

For the rear, lights LED Red 1156 1157 Socket for single and double contacts are to be found in different flavours.
No matter the one's you will choose, they all beat by far the original bulbs brightness and no more burned marks on plastics!
Thanks so much!

 
Ah, yes I forgot, flashers. You will need special flashers for turn signals and 4 ways. The ones I got from Bill are grounded and are definitely terminal specific. On my car, the wiring harness had been made wrong with the power and neg wires reversed at both turn and 4 way connectors. This really didn't matter for the ordinary flasher bulbs, but for LED's, it does. I didn't have a tool to remove and reverse the wires in the connectors, so I made short jumper wires  See pic.

IMG_0178.1.JPG

 
@Don C

[Pay more for quality]
When it comes to E-bay and electronics, I'm sorry but I totally disagree. E-bay is a market place, you have good and bad stuffs. I recall at the time I bought the flashers that the exact same ones were offered in the US and here for about 10x the price (excl shipping and import costs). Unless you would buy a pale copy of an item made else where, I would agree but for electronics/LED's, that we like it or not, China is the champ for their fab, most being made there and you can find them on E-bay for cheapo.

I won't twist the added value for a good shop, in my experience it's usually when it's a not too big shop and run by the owner. Badshoe productions for instance or OMS to name a site supporter. That's also why I will return to them. (pretty soon actually for both :) ) and I'm sure the above named shop is fine.
But in case of replacing my light bulbs with LED's, I didn't felt the need of extra support and the expected quality was Chinese anyway!

The LED's I've received and installed for the tail lights are really no garbage that breaks in your hands, tho to be honest, for the side markers they were and I've ordered another type for a whopping 5 euros and got a dozen that did the trick! I'm sure there are better ones, but as far as I can see, it's much better than the old ones and they do the job pretty well and for cheapo! :D

 
Original flashers work off amperage to make them flash. LED lights don't pull enough amperage to make them flash so you will need "electronic flasher". The electronic flasher will only work one way so you may need to reverse its orientation. I bought a set that came with little inline adapters that reversed them. Both mine had to be reversed. Before I did this my turn signals and emergency flashers would speed up and slow down. I still haven't changed to LED so even with incandescent lights the flashers may need to be reversed to work.

 
I do not know anything about the LED in cars, lol. I do know how to restore the tail light housings makes a huge difference in brightness LED or regular bulbs. 

The inside of the tail light housings age and turn brown and get like a powder on them. You can remove the entire light from the inside taking the four nuts off. If you still have the old Ford gaskets around the tail lights you probably have rust in that area. You might want to clean up and seal with POR. I use the Daniel Carpenter seals much better than the old Ford ones. I also put a strip of 3-M strip calk around the inside up next to the edge to keep the water out. 
Sometimes the lens and aluminum trim are difficult to get apart from the white housing. Clean up with lacquer thinner. I usually blast the inside and outside of the white housing with walnut shells or glass beads on a low pressure setting. Then I was with hot water and dawn dish washing. After dry I spray with the Satin White Krylon Fusion paint. I use on front 73 grill lights and side marker light housings. 
On this set I did order a pair of the Daniel Carpenter repo lens and aluminum trim. They come without the black so I blacke them out while apart. These are for a 72 vert build. The front grill light was on 73. 

20200716_153059.jpg

20200716_153111.jpg

20200716_154600.jpg

DSC_0947.JPG

DSC_0237.JPG

DSC_0246.JPG

 
 My advice, from experience, we have a site supporter right here, Bill at Hi-Po Parts.com. He is without doubt the go-to guy for all LED and SMD bulbs. However, I'm not sure about sequential systems. When I did mine a couple of years back, Bill was extremely helpful, offered good advice and better yet, excellent quality bulbs. The junk that you can buy on e-bay may be cheaper and seem like a good deal, but believe me, pay a little extra and get far better bulbs PLUS direct customer service.  You WON"T get that on e-pay!

Bill is located in Gaylord Michigan.

https://www.hipoparts.com/
I just bought Led's from Bill today. Everything for dash and interior and all exterior lights. He was super knowledgeable and friendly. I highly recommend him, he knows his stuff!

 
I just bought Led's from Bill today. Everything for dash and interior and all exterior lights. He was super knowledgeable and friendly. I highly recommend him, he knows his stuff!
 That's great. Glad you bought from Bill. If you have ANY problems, he's there to help. I'm very happy with the LED's I bought from him.

One question, did you buy the Elite Series II dash bulbs? Originally, I bought the Extreme series, but change them to the Elite as they are a lot brighter. ALSO. remember that you MUST keep an incandescent bulb in the ALT socket if you have idiot lights. This is VERY important. One other thing, these bulbs are polarity specific. Most if not all will be marked, so just make sure pos and neg are correct.

All the best and enjoy a brighter life!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
 That's great. Glad you bought from Bill. If you have ANY problems, he's there to help. I'm very happy with the LED's I bought from him.

One question, did you buy the Elite Series II dash bulbs? Originally, I bought the Extreme series, but change them to the Elite as they are a lot brighter. ALSO. remember that you MUST keep an incandescent bulb in the ALT socket if you have idiot lights. This is VERY important. One other thing, these bulbs are polarity specific. Most if not all will be marked, so just make sure pos and neg are correct.

All the best and enjoy a brighter life!
Thanks for the great info. I bought the Elite series of everything. Can't wait to see how they look when The Stang is done. Body work is done and very close to having it painted. 

 
Thanks for the great info. I bought the Elite series of everything. Can't wait to see how they look when The Stang is done. Body work is done and very close to having it painted. 
I just had one more thought. As you didn't say if your car has idiot light or not, but if it does and unless the circuit diagram has been changed, there was a mistake on the location of the ALT socket on earlier diagrams. Just make sure you put the 194 bulb in the correct socket.

Good luck and enjoy a brighter future.

Ok, so one more thought. IF you have idiot lights, now is the PERFECT time to install Rocketman's Tach Conversion. You would send him your removed idiot light segment as a core exchange. I did this and wow, what a difference. I now have a factory looking tach with the idiot lights and it works great. Very easy to install and as your car is still being put together, no better time.

http://www.rccinnovations.com/

IMG_0218.JPG

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just had one more thought. As you didn't say if your car has idiot light or not, but if it does and unless the circuit diagram has been changed, there was a mistake on the location of the ALT socket on earlier diagrams. Just make sure you put the 194 bulb in the correct socket.

Good luck and enjoy a brighter future.

Ok, so one more thought. IF you have idiot lights, now is the PERFECT time to install Rocketman's Tach Conversion. You would send him your removed idiot light segment as a core exchange. I did this and wow, what a difference. I now have a factory looking tach with the idiot lights and it works great. Very easy to install and as your car is still being put together, no better time.

http://www.rccinnovations.com/

View attachment 44841
Thank you!

 
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