LED bulbs

[jman093]

I have a lot of LED bulbs around as I've swapped a lot of regular bulbs over to LED on my cars for better lighting where needed. For the hell of it tonight, I tested draw on some of them and compared to a regular bulb. I bought all mine off superbrightleds.com Here's what I measured and how they compare in brightness to the 168 installed in position:

Regular 168 bulb - 375 milliamps
5-LED 168/194 replacement - 22.2 milliamps
4-LED 168/194 replacement - 8.9 milliamps
1 LED 168/194 replacement - 13.7 milliamps (odd that it uses more than the brighter 4 LED one)
Also tested a large festoon standard-type bulb like what's used on our overhead consoles and on coupe door lights - 850 milliamps

So basically the 4-LED that's closest in brightness to a 168 uses 40 times less power. Not sure how much advantage there is in that, but I thought it was kind of cool to see. Plus LED's won't burn out (unless your GM and you use the shittiest ones you can find in your stuff).

One thing I might add that someone may find useful is which bulbs to buy, as I really screwed this up. I kept having normal 168 bulbs burn out in the GP cluster and it took me three purchases to get what I wanted:
-I originally bought the 5-LED 168 replacment bulbs. These were way to bright. The cluster was a freaking beacon. I could of course dim it with the dimmer switch, but that would make the radio and everything else on the dash dimmer which was no good.
-Next I bought some single-LED 168 replacement bulbs and these were pretty close, but were slightly too dim and I got tired of it after awhile.
-I then bought the 4-LED 168 replacement bulbs. These were slightly brighter than a normal 168, making the cluster look just right.

I think every bulb I bought was in their widest pattern available. Basically what I found is: 5 LED=much brighter than 168, 4 LED=slightly brighter than 168, 1-LED=slightly dimmer than 168. Maybe that'll save someone some headache and $$$$$.

I also improved interior lighting a bit inside by using the 2 of the bright-ass 5-LED things I had on the 2 interior lights under the dash which improved lighting some and I bought a festoon replacement bulb for the overhead console dome light that had like 8-LED's in it or something off ebay and that also improved interior lighting.

I also bought some of the bright-ass 5LED things in white for my G-body Monte's cluster as stock clusters are hardly readable at night even on their brightest setting, and it is now much better (although I'd still prefer it a bit brighter!)

[Grand Moff Joseph]

Cool stuff! Would an LED swap be doable on a 1G Lumina cluster? The weird bulbs and the "screw in" sockets they use look fairly odd.

[Nyshadow]

I was thinking about Swapping my Break and turn signal bulbs over to LED. Which is a Good LED to get for the break and turn signal lights?

[MonteCarloDude]

Awsome info to have, thanks! I have been thinking of doing this to the monte for a while now, now that i know what bulbs are the best for the money that will save me a bit of a headache.

[jman093]

Cool stuff! Would an LED swap be doable on a 1G Lumina cluster? The weird bulbs and the "screw in" sockets they use look fairly odd.

Is it a PC168 like this:

That's what my GP uses on the cluster. You can just pull that 168 bulb out of that socket and stick the LED in it.

I was thinking about Swapping my Break and turn signal bulbs over to LED. Which is a Good LED to get for the break and turn signal lights?

If you convert turn signals over to LED's, you will have to change the flashers over to electronic ones. Normal flashers require the current flow of bulb to operate correctly. LED's pull too little current.

For the brake lights, you'll just have to pull the bulb and get the number (probably 3057, 3157 or something like that and probably 921 for the third brake lamp) and find the appropriate replacement LED for that number.

[WhatTheFehl]

I was thinking about Swapping my Break and turn signal bulbs over to LED. Which is a Good LED to get for the break and turn signal lights?

No currently made production LED bulb is a good swap for a brake light bulb. They do not produce enough light at a wide enough angle. I've explored this pretty deeply myself. Pretty much the only acceptable solution is to make a custom LED insert for your standard lenses.

[jman093]

No currently made production LED bulb is a good swap for a brake light bulb. They do not produce enough light at a wide enough angle. I've explored this pretty deeply myself. Pretty much the only acceptable solution is to make a custom LED insert for your standard lenses.

Yeah that's probably true. I've never seen the 3057 type replacements to say how bright they are, but most the aftermarket LED assemblies out there have a crapload of LEDs in them. I bet you could at least still swap the 921's in a third brake light over though.

[Grand Moff Joseph]

Yes, the cluster bulbs are the same as the ones pictured.

Thanks for the tip!

[Jprice90]

anybody know what the cluster bulbs are on the 95 lumina? i seen 161, but i wanna make sure thats corrrect

[virtuetovice]

If you're handy with a soldering iron, pick up some SMD LED bulbs with the 9005/9006 base and desolder them apart. Then you have a bunch of 3-LED circuit boards to configure them how you want. All of my interior illumination is made from them and they are VERY bright. Not to mention, they can be used for hours on end without draining your battery.

They ended up coming out like this, except with hard wire legs:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/39mm-2w...t-dc-12v-51002

[Venom]

I love my led interior lighting, I plan on doing more soon.

[virtuetovice]

Yeah me too. If you get the right color tone it not only gives you more than enough lighting, but it really makes the interior colors pop instead of that nasty yellow tinge that those old bulbs give.

[Jprice90]

1998 Chevrolet Lumina Car Light Bulb Size Guide
Low Beam Headlight Bulb Size: 9006 or 9006 HID Upgrade Kit
High Beam Headlamp Light Bulb Size: 9005 or 9005 HID Upgrade Kit
Parking Light Bulb Size: 3357A
Front Turn Signal Light Bulb Size: 3357A
Rear Turn Signal Light Bulb Size: 3057
Tail Light Bulb Size: 3057
Stop Light Bulb Size: 3057
High Mount Stop Light Bulb Size: 1156
License Plate Light Bulb Size: 168
Back Up Light Bulb Size: 3156
Front Side Marker Light Bulb Size: 194
Rear Sidemarker Light Bulb Size: 194
Ash Tray Light Bulb Size: 194
Glove Box Light Bulb Size: 194
Dome Light Bulb Size: 562
Step/Courtesy Light Bulb Size: 194 Or 194 Or 212-2
Trunk/Cargo Area Light Bulb Size: 920
Instrument-General Light Bulb Size: 161 Or 194 Or 73
Hi-Beam Indicator Light Bulb Size: 161
Automatic Transmission Indicator Light Bulb Size: 73
Directional Signal Indicator Light Bulb Size: 161

[Jprice90]

how do i get the dome cover off? it seems like it wont budge ..and i got a bulb off ebay for the dome, but its not the rigid type, it looks like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/180765866492...84.m1497.l2649

[Mel87]

I don't like LED's on cars, if it were me I would prefer the dimmed 6 volt system that existed back in the 40's and 50's.