I'm pretty bright! ;>D

[strictlypersonl]

For brighter (LED) rectangular tail-lights, this combo worked on a car in the shop.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A77TV4Q...t_details&th=1

and the flasher:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I tried these other LED bulbs. They might work well with the round tail-lights, but they're not the best for the rectangular lights.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A77UE6U...t_details&th=1

[eschaider]

Are these direct replacements, or do they require additional equipment like ballasts or some equivalent device?

[strictlypersonl]

Direct replacement. No mods required. The bulbs have enough draw to be compatible with our normal tail-light (trailer) relay.

(At least the combo worked perfectly on a car in the shop.)

[kevins2]

If you leave the incandescent bulbs in the front lights, they still draw enough current for most flashers. I have the double round tail lights and put red LED bulbs in and they are extremely bright. No need to change the flasher.

Kevin

[Whodeeny]

Originally Posted by kevins2

If you leave the incandescent bulbs in the front lights, they still draw enough current for most flashers. I have the double round tail lights and put red LED bulbs in and they are extremely bright. No need to change the flasher.

Kevin

Did you use the bulbs that Bob is recommending? These -
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A77UE6U...t_details&th=1
BD

[davids2toys]

This looks great. I have car #698. I have the rectangular lights. Can I put these bulbs in bulb link in the front and back with no issues? Do i need the new flasher in the link also?
Thanks...David

[HighPlainsDrifter]

hi,
I have the new mark 4 F5 cobra. It came with led tail and park lights and 2 led flashers.
Perry

[kevins2]

BD, No, I bought mine back in 2015 from SuperbrightLEDs.com. I looked up the part number from my receipt and it is 1157-R45-T: 1157 Red.

However, a search on their site shows it's been discontinued. A search for dual function 1157 bulbs yields multiple results so, if you decide to pursue this from them, their customer service is pretty good. Obviously, I can't compare my bulbs with what Bob listed but can only say they are very bright. I paid $22.95 each back then and I see the main replacement bulb is now only $5.99!

Kevin

[strictlypersonl]

Originally Posted by davids2toys

This looks great. I have car #698. I have the rectangular lights. Can I put these bulbs in bulb link in the front and back with no issues? Do i need the new flasher in the link also?
Thanks...David

I have no experience replacing the fronts with LEDs. Brightness is not a problem there, so I'd rather not press my luck.
Flasher-wise, I don't any cars here with the old rectangular Buss 180. (Hard to find now, so we're using the one I listed above.)

[davids2toys]

Thanks Bob,I will get the bulbs for the rear only and the new flasher. I will save the new flasher for a spare if the old one works well

[awfink55]

Greetings All, 10 years ago I replaced my rear bulbs (only) with SuperbrightLEDS #1157-R45-T: 1157 Red. LED's. Peter sent me the rearlight, metal reflectors, which bolt to the back of the rectangular light fixutre from the back inside the trunk. With the bulbs and reflectors, my brake lights became twice as bright...........

[DanEC]

I bought these back in 2016 and have been happy with them. They actually seemed to be of better quality and appearance than the usual reproductions of rectangular tail lights. The rubber seals were a lot better. They appear still available on Amazon. I did have to drill 2 small holes each due to centrally located mounting studs but otherwise they fit fine on the body.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...psc=1%5B%2Fame

DOT-Legal Rectangular tail-lights

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by strictlypersonl

For brighter (LED) rectangular tail-lights, this combo worked on a car in the shop.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A77TV4Q...t_details&th=1

I bought these lights over the summer when Bob recommended them. I just got around to testing them against my "superbright" LEDs from this thread of mine back in 2010. LED Upgrade to Rear Rectangular Lights
I actually had a light meter ready to use to measure the difference, but it wasn't necessary. The ZEVO 1157 Red Bulb that Bob recommended was significantly brighter than my old ones. I still put the light meter on them, and the ZEVO's numbers were way higher. I don't know whether the scale would be linear or exponential, but it really doesn't matter. Bob's bulbs are better.

[CompFi]

Are these bulbs specific to ERA?

Would they be compatible for SPF and CSX cars?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by CompFi

Are these bulbs specific to ERA?

Would they be compatible for SPF and CSX cars?

They are just plain old 1157 bulbs. Nothing special to ERAs.

[Harpoon PV2]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I bought these lights over the summer when Bob recommended them. I just got around to testing them against my "superbright" LEDs from this thread of mine back in 2010. LED Upgrade to Rear Rectangular Lights
I actually had a light meter ready to use to measure the difference, but it wasn't necessary. The ZEVO 1157 Red Bulb that Bob recommended was significantly brighter than my old ones. I still put the light meter on them, and the ZEVO's numbers were way higher. I don't know whether the scale would be linear or exponential, but it really doesn't matter. Bob's bulbs are better.

Thanks Patrick! I can't believe how fast LED lights have changed. Forget about the past 50 years, just in the last five years! I replaced my florescent bulbs in the garage with plug and play LEDs, Wow! Only down side, a friend of mine saw them and conned me into installing 22 industrial bulbs in his giant garage, way up there on the long ladder. I convinced him to do the ones where you disable the ballast, pretty easy. Unbelievable difference! Cheers, Dennis

[Unique427]

Here's what I installed........

Position and brake lights:
1) iBrightstar 1157 BAY15D LED – Amber #X001JCP9KP
2) IBrightstar 1157 BAY15D LED – Red #X001IPJ4EF

License plate light:
1) Superbrightleds BA9S LED 5 SMD Tower 6100K # BA9S-CWHP5

Instrument lights in Stewart-Warner gauges:
1) Superbrightleds BA9S LED 5 SMD Tower Cool White # BA9S-CWHP5 (Speedo + Tach)
2) Superbrightleds BA9S LED 5 SMD Tower Red #BA9S-RHP5 (all other gauges)
Note: Way brighter then incandescent bulb. Output is about 100 lumens.

Please note that for amber and red, there is a benefit when using a color
matching LED with the respective lens. A red LED through a red lens is
brighter and far more vibrant then white. 100% of the LED light emitted is
transmitted through when emitter and lens are of similar colors.

Also, when changing out old electro-mechanical relays make note they
are NOT polarity sensitive and new LED solid state relays are. So if the
turn signals don't blink or hyper-blink, swap the leads going to the relay.
A polarity adapter exists for a plug-n-play option:
1) United Pacific Relay Polarity Adapter/Reverser # 90650A

[fintubi]

Happy New Year, everybody! Here's a summary of my experience with the Sylvania/Zevo LEDs that Bob posted at the top of the thread:

I installed a pair of them as the rear signal/parking lights in my slabside (ERA 3014), leaving the existing incandescent bulbs in the front positions. Of course, this is a rectangular taillight application.

My rear parking and brake lights worked fine after moving to the LEDs, but both rear LEDs would flash when signaling a turn. The offside LED was much dimmer than the side being signaled - about parking-light intensity, but of course still unacceptable on the road. The problem was the same when signaling either direction.

This was a pretty clear indication to me that the LED current draw characteristic was causing the trailer relay to misbehave. I found that a remarkably small parallel current fixed the problem: a 1K resistor on each side was sufficient, adding only 12mA to the ~120mA drawn by the LED.

The low current requirement is good news since no power resistors are needed - garden-variety 1/4W units are fine, one for each side. There are plenty of ways to rig this without altering ERA's harness, allowing the car can be reverted to "purist" configuration if needed.

My hypothesis is that the steady-state current drawn by the LEDs isn't what's fooling the relay, but rather their transient characteristics. Adding *some amount* of purely resistive load is what does the trick. Otherwise it would be surprising that just a 10% increase in current is enough to make the problem disappear. But no matter - fixed is fixed.

A few side notes:

- The trailer relay that came from ERA failed last year, and I replaced it with a Curt 58240, which appeared to be equivalent. All tests described above were conducted with that unit.

- I bought the flasher cited by Bob at the top of the thread, but everything described here worked the same with my original unit, which I'm keeping to preserve its audible click.

Bill