Sources for LED light bulbs for '89 911

[paulo]

Does anyone know where (in North America) I can order the various LED bulbs to replace my incandescent bulbs for turning signal, back-up, brake/tail lights? This is for a 1989 911.

Thanks!

Paulo

[Craig 930 RS]

I've never seen the running/brake combo bulbs anywhere..........been wondering about them.

FWIW the whole bulb deal has been discussed at length here many times

[Kroggers]

I have all my rear lights as LED, got the bulbs from a supplier in the UK, and then spent a week upgrading the indicator relay to work with the LED bulbs for the indicators...

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

I don't know that you can simply change out the incandescent bulbs with LEDs. I have LED tail and brake lights, but they're in a lightweight RS taillight unit, and I know the LEDs have some kind of small circuit board embedded in each unit.

[Craig 930 RS]

Overall, not worth the effort and inferior light overall (yep) - gleaned from a ton of past posts.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

True enough. I expected the taillights to be a lot brighter. Even went and installed a CHMSL to help. The instrument lamps are simply...well, a cool blue.

[911pcars]

There are a myriad of LED brake/tail light lamps on the market. Some are brighter than others. Some LED brake/tail lamps have 9 LEDs; some have 40 or more. Do a Google search under "automotive LEDs" or some variation of that.

A few links:
http://www.lunaraccents.com/safety%20accessories.htm
http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/led/led.htm
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?soincludewords=led%20tail%20light

You wll have an issue with the directional flasher relay because it works on current load, and the LEDs use very little, but there are solutions (special flasher relays, add'l load circuits).

Sherwood

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Yeah, I looked at those before installing mine. Easier installed in a motorcycle than a 911, though certainly just about anything can be fabbed up. Having gone this route, I have to agree with Craig911...unless you've actually installed these lights rather than looked at them on the web and can assure me they're bright, not just that they have lots of LEDs.

[911pcars]

Not many LED brake/tail lamps are DOT-approved except for the OEM assemblies on new cars. The aftermarket bulbs are bright enough on-axis. Off axis is what is questionable with some of these, and I suppose the reason DOT won't ok them. The latest versions I've seen mount some of the LED array at an angle to increase off-axis visibility.

There are two advantages to using LED bulbs; lower current flow and very fast response time, much faster than an incandescent bulb. At 60 mph, the extra warning time (in milliseconds) for a trailing vehicle could mean the difference between stopping a few feet before or a few feet after your rear end.

LED lamps are available in a regular 1157 base configuration. If you have the room, they install like any bulb. If there's a question of space constraints for a 92 LED bulb, measure twice before ordering.

Some are somewhat pricey though.

Sherwood

[Kroggers]

Originally posted by Formerly Steve Wilkinson
Yeah, I looked at those before installing mine. Easier installed in a motorcycle than a 911, though certainly just about anything can be fabbed up. Having gone this route, I have to agree with Craig911...unless you've actually installed these lights rather than looked at them on the web and can assure me they're bright, not just that they have lots of LEDs.

As I said in my post above, I did this during the summer, and I have had no problems with them. When testing, they were just as bright and I have past one yearly vehicle test this year with them. Here is a picture with the rear LED lights turned on in the sun.


My main reason for this conversion was reduced current and increased response time.
I also did the relay replacement for the LED turn signals. I did a write-up on here for the solution...

[Craig 930 RS]

What was that link? Can you post it -

[Kroggers]

I solved the LED indicator problem!!

[GeorgeM]

www.superbrightleds.com