LED Conversion Bulbs

[EseLoco918]

Anyone tried these out?
Looking around online I have seen a wide variety of options, with a wide variety of prices from a few bucks to 25 bucks a piece...

While going through my 84 I noted what all of my bulb #'s are.

Anyone know if I need to worry about LED dimensions? Some of them look much larger than the conventional bulbs. Also, which brands are good quality for an off road truck?



Semi related, are there any headlight upgrades to get rid of the one piece headlamps with something more replaceable?

[SteveG]

I think you need to spend a fair amount on the LED conversions. Even then, I don't know if they are as bright as the original incandescent.

Tony from BajaHID might be able to help with the headlamps. I think he was working on something for the older Broncos a while back.

[tcm glx]

LEDs are a hit or miss...... But draw less and can be brighter in more instances.

Some places online will have entire kits for the specific vehicle if you ask.

Regarding headlights, the 80-86 is easy, go with a high quality glass replacement, with a E Code cut in it ( not the funky clear stuff) and add an HID kit and your set. 160 bucks and your seeing way better than before!

[EseLoco918]

LEDs are a hit or miss...... But draw less and can be brighter in more instances.

Some places online will have entire kits for the specific vehicle if you ask.

Regarding headlights, the 80-86 is easy, go with a high quality glass replacement, with a E Code cut in it ( not the funky clear stuff) and add an HID kit and your set. 160 bucks and your seeing way better than before!

I am guessing the headlight housings on the bajahid website are the ones? The HID kit I would need would be the hi/low right?

[tcm glx]

LEDs are a hit or miss...... But draw less and can be brighter in more instances.

Some places online will have entire kits for the specific vehicle if you ask.

Regarding headlights, the 80-86 is easy, go with a high quality glass replacement, with a E Code cut in it ( not the funky clear stuff) and add an HID kit and your set. 160 bucks and your seeing way better than before!

I am guessing the headlight housings on the bajahid website are the ones? The HID kit I would need would be the hi/low right?

that is correct. It is an awesome setup for the 80-86 Broncos.

[ThomasJE3]

If you just want to upgrade to LED bulbs it's almost a plug and play. For signal bulbs you'll have to put a resistor in parallel (?) so the blinker will work right (I don't have one installed in my Mustang yet so the blinker goes fast). Also, without the resort or the blinker might not work at all (if I put the front and rear LED bulb in my Mustang the signal won't work at all as it doesn't draw enough power).

You can get the 1157 or 3157 type LED bulbs and some retailers have various options for spread, direction,. ....
Once you install an LED type replacement bulb it shouldbe your last one.
Also, a friend said his didn't blow when water hit them like with a standard bulb.

[BDKW1]

Get an electronic blinker relay, they blink the same rate no matter the load on them. A lot of trucks have them so hooking up a trailer doesn't give you the speedy blinker.

[Rmc]

I was just gonna mention that, we swapped the tail lights on a friends prerunner last night and the flasher acts like a bulb is blown ( speedy blinker) due to the led tail lights drawing way less current. Good call bro. Ill let prerunner dude know thx.

[CPT. SPRINGINGTON]

LED bulbs don't effect the blinking speed on a '90 F-150, not sure if it's the same with broncos.

I have tested a few 3157 LED bulbs. certain 3157 will not fit the tail light harness as the bulbs base was made too bulky, it will require cutting out the inside of the plug, even then I don't know if it will work.

there are certain bulbs that have white/amber/red leds. the colored leds are not very bright, only use amber if you have clear parking lenses, even then they will hardly show up during the day. don't even bother with the reds for the rear.

don't get the 13 led bulbs or anything less than the 96 leds bulbs, if they end up not fitting because they're too tall then they wouldn't be bright enough to begin with. Don't use the regular style leds for tail lights either, they're not bright enough. there's some with a lens on them that have a T5 led built into them which is much brighter and should work on the tail lights


this might work for the tail lights and will be the next one I try, should work for the front turns also on the 87-91
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PC-White-T20-3 ... a0&vxp=mtr


This type wont fit the rear plugs, the base is too bulky. These won't be bright enough for brake lights. Not sure if they're bright enough for front turns as they never showed up.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221280681324?ss ... 1439.l2649

[nubreed71]

I'm putting together LED retrofit kits for the obs F series trucks and broncos. Should have them available in about a week. The kits will include both dome lights, map lights, the glove box light, the ashtray light, both door panel lights, your side marker lights, reverse lights, and license plate lights.

[93Broncobuff]

I'm putting together LED retrofit kits for the obs F series trucks and broncos. Should have them available in about a week. The kits will include both dome lights, map lights, the glove box light, the ashtray light, both door panel lights, your side marker lights, reverse lights, and license plate lights.

Love it!!

[PaulW]

What is cheap is the interior LED replacements for the stock bulbs. Much more light even with small surface mount pads.
Both domes and the door on the Bronco.
PW

[Silverslk]

The thing with LED replacement is choosing the best bulb (not cheapest bulb) to keep light where you want it. If the surface behind the buld has reflective material, you should get a bulb that reflects iin all directions (since LED's are directional). This is what people often overlook while buying LED's to replace. I can tell you my setup is much brighter than OEM and allows me to sit in the desert with doors open the whole time not worrying about the battery dying.

I got mine here
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Product-Catego ... lbs-Lights

I run these for the cargo area and they are bright
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/194LE ... -x-15W-LED


These in door pocket and dome
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/194LE ... x-5050-LED

[Silverslk]

On a side note, it would be great to have all this in one package (and bonus) available from a GFB member.

[nubreed71]

Won't be much longer . I found some bulbs with 4 more LED's for the dome and door. Crazy bright!

[PaulW]

For the dome lights where extra light is needed the most I have the flat panel SMD rather than the bulb replacement. Its 1"x1.5" and could be 2x3 for both dome lights. Surface mount LED on a flat chip. Comes with a pigtail to replace the festoon bulb. My theory is all the LEDs face in one direction and provide more light because there is no reflected light like the bulbs have.
For other uses like tail/marker lights the bulb style shown above would be best.
Just my opinion . Nothing scientific.
Example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-SMD-T10-12V- ... 0931810034
Be sure you get the Festoon adapter version. Not shown are many rectangular sizes
The ones I bought came with bulb and Festoon pigtails

If you are satisfied with the bulb style rather than the flat panel style you can buy an all inclusive set for interior and outside tail/turn/marker. Never found all panel style as a kit so far.
PW

[nubreed71]

Paul, what year is your rig? My 94 uses a 194 style base bulb, which is very different than the festoon style bulb that you mentioned. Just trying to make sure I have a handle on compatibility for my kits I'm about to offer.

[PaulW]

Paul, what year is your rig? My 94 uses a 194 style base bulb, which is very different than the festoon style bulb that you mentioned. Just trying to make sure I have a handle on compatibility for my kits I'm about to offer.

=====
'96
I did not look up the stock bulb. Worked fine, but the size was much smaller than it could be. I eant one that is twice as bib and I wont use the sticky back to hold it in place. I will just let it lay on the lens. Thus it can be twice as big and have much more light. Then I will put the small ones in the door.

[SteveG]

For the dome lights where extra light is needed the most I have the flat panel SMD rather than the bulb replacement. Its 1"x1.5" and could be 2x3 for both dome lights. Surface mount LED on a flat chip. Comes with a pigtail to replace the festoon bulb. My theory is all the LEDs face in one direction and provide more light because there is no reflected light like the bulbs have.
For other uses like tail/marker lights the bulb style shown above would be best.
Just my opinion . Nothing scientific.
Example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-SMD-T10-12V- ... 0931810034
Be sure you get the Festoon adapter version. Not shown are many rectangular sizes
The ones I bought came with bulb and Festoon pigtails

If you are satisfied with the bulb style rather than the flat panel style you can buy an all inclusive set for interior and outside tail/turn/marker. Never found all panel style as a kit so far.
PW

Paul, I've used stuff similar to the ebay link you posted. I've always gotten them from dealextreme: http://dx.com/s/led+dome+lamp. I replaced both dome lamps in my Falcon using the panels and they are BRIGHT. They came with adapters but I just put some terminals on the wires and plugged them directly into the harness to simplify things.

[Travisfab]

I have one of those flat panel LED's in my dome and it's flat out awesome