Well I recently got pulled over because the pig said he couldn't see my lights because they were "to dim" it was one coat of Spray tint I put on and it wasn't that thick either. Well this may sound stupid, I know LED's are alot brighter, now my question is can I put LED's in the truck and have them function the right way i.e. Turn signals. I know when I put them in my Jeep for the turn signals they did not work, the corner light would just stay on and when I put the hazzards on it was the same thing, no flashing just a steady on. I kinda like the way LED's look anyways, and I don't wanna dump the ton of cash for LED's unless I know they would work.

 

If they don't work you'll need to get a load equalizer !!

 

you can get LED lights/bulbs with internal resisters to keep the power the same...

makes em flash the right speed, and keeps newer vehicles with "Burnt out Bulb" indicator/sensors from thinking theres a burnt out bulb.

the problem is that LEDs draw so little power.

I dont know what kinda luck you're gona have with finding LED headlights.. please do let me know if you do.

I been thinking onswitching over to HID.. sick of these dim lights..

I put in some 100/80 watt bulbs, but they seemed to be too much for this poor trucks electrical and I took em out.. i was contemplating re-wiring the headlights, add in a relays n all that. just havent had time.

I got some nice kickin driving lights where the fg lights used to be and re-wired those.
they drown out my headlights so im not too worried bout em anymore.. lol

 

i was reading somewhere that a guy with a first gen dakota tried to rig up a set of led headlights. as i recall they weren't that bright(as a matter of fact they were dimmer). i wish i knew where i read that...you could just take some steelwool and take the tint off the light part of the light. i was recently pulled over for my tail lights(and they weren't tinted anymore) being to dim. turned out the sockets had rusted and made horrible contact.

 

I would go with HID's if you are having problem with the brightness of lights. LEDs are good for short distances but I would strongly not recommend them for headlights because of how short the light is thrown.

 

i want to go to HID.. but everyone says "You'll melt the housings.." blah blah blah..

everyone says that, but i dont actualy know of or have honestly heard of anyone actualy having thier housings burn up..

the majour weekness in the dakota lighting system (And i am talking 91 specific here, im not sure if other 1st gens are the same or different) is that ALL the power is routed throught eh on/of switch, then the Multi-function (Dimmer) switch, and THEN to the headlights.

there are so many contacts to get worn out, gummed up, scorched/burnt. etc, not to mention the ASD.. ?? (A relay or some suck in the ECU box itself.. or i think there may actualy be a separate DRL modual dealy.. i would have to re-check the wiring diagrams i got off All-data, or otherwise...)
and for those of us with OEM aftermarket/factory fog/driving lights, those also run off the same power supply through the switches etc.

the first thing I would adress is that issue itself..

i would tap into the HI/Low power, and use that to trigger relays. the relays would supply the power direct from battery itself and pull the drain and strain off the controls etc.

one prob i had was putting the hi powerd bulbs in, and the 55watt drvingin lights in.. my headlights would start radomly shutting on an off after about an hr and 45 mins... too much draw on the system, things started heating up, etc etc.

now with HID aftermarkets, most of em run off thier own power supply from batt, but plug into the original wiring to use as on/off and HI/Low control..

this would solve all that as well.. of course there is still the rumored "Melting the housings issue.. butif i have to replace the housings once every year or two, i could live with that for the gains..

understand i do a crap load of driving every month to pick up m kid n all, n some of it not the best of roads..

the other advantage ofg LED lights, is htat they have very low power draw, so they could also be advantageous in that manner ad helping out.

if anyone wants, I could figure up and do up a how to for putting in relays to run the headlights off of direct power using the original wiring.. and some fuses of course.. lol

I pretty much got it all in my head anyways since i was planning to do it already..

but as i said.. if you go to any half decent HID, (Which would be the optimum scenario IMO,) or to LED, then there would be no point in doing it..

~L~

 

If I were to do LED lights, I would go the relay route. Not sure if you still have to have a resistor or something to take a load on the original wiring so there is no direct short created.

Depending on the LED's, a friend of mine has made some small clusters of LED's for his security car and they are insanely bright! Cars can see it way down the road. I have found all kinds of LED's on the market. Brightness seems to depend on the quality of LED and how much power can be delivered to them.

This website displays some very intense LED's which can be used for various applications. (make your own cluster for turn signals or head lights)
Link HERE

 

Where does the Load Equalizer go?

 

I have heard warnings about melting the housings, however I have been using HID's for years in various vehicles and have never once come close to melting anything.

I am not sure how the Dakotas wiring is, however in my Ram. There has been absolutely no problem with the HID's

 

And what is HID? Is that similar to the LED bulbs?