Just to let you know the specs, they put out 80 lumens and draw 1000mA of current.

is that the 3W led's? then about how many lumens do the stockers put out? and if u make some of these bulbs, are they going to be direct connects/plug n play?

 

is that the 3W led's? if so, what do the stockers put out? and if i understand you correctly, if u do make these bulbs, will u use the Lumileds with 115 lumens?

 

yeah the 3w produce 80 lumens. I think the originals might produce around 70-75, but the good thing about the LEDs is they are more directional instead of just bursting light everywhere, so you get a more concentrated light towards the person behind you. The ones I'm making are going to be plug'N'play, just pop em in the socket (but will still need load resistors just like any other LED bulb). I'm trying to find the Lumileds that put out the 115-125 lumens because then those would realllllly be bright! The way I'm going to do this is I have an extra pair of 32-LED bulbs, and i'm going to rip a few of the LEDs off and use the + and - contacts to connect the luxeon led bulb, then we'll see what happens!! I'll bring updates once I get the bulbs in.

 

OK just got into looking for the LEDs, to let you know, this plac eI buy from, I can get 100 3mm blue LEDs (regular) for like $9, shipped to me, the 5w 120lm LED bulbs are $23 a piece! the 3w are $9 a piece...I think i'm going to experiment with the 3w 70lm first.

 

okie dokie. if there is only a 5-10 lm dif between the stockers and the 3W led i go ahead and plan on waiting till you get the 5W figured out. theres a big dif between 140-160 lm (between 2 bulbs) and 240 lm......as for load resistors, how easy are they to wire in, is it like you just splice it in or is it more complicated?

 

OK, I'm just kinda following along with this thread, but I am interested in replacing my backup lights with LEDs at some point, especially if they're relatively cheap. My question, though, is this...are you sure we need load resistors? From my understanding, you only need them for flashing lights (turn signals), not backup lights. Plus, you said in a post above that they weren't necessary....so I'm a little confused as to whether they really are or not.

If we do need the load resistors, then, I echo Drew's question...how hard are they to wire in?

 

the load resistors don't work that way, there are resistors inside of the bulb to allow the LEDs to work on the 12v system, but the truck's computer wants to read 25W of power being used by the turn signals, and the LEDs don't read 25w, so you need 6ohm/25w resistors to balance out the load and fool the computer. You DON'T NEED these for your backup lights, just turn signals, and yes they just splice into the circuit, one on the turn signal + and the other on the ground (See Diagram Below). Unfortunately that doesn't give you the low power consumption advantage most LED systems give I'm still looking into other ideas that would change that.

Right now I'm using 32-led revolution bulbs in my backup lights, and they are pretty bright. One other idea is to get the high power LEDs like what frenchy just put on his truck. they're available at the following link for $25/pair shipped.
http://cgi.ebay.com/3157-3156-High-P...QQcmdZViewItem

[IMG]local://upfiles/24683/68CEB95096BA436D8190CF50FB6E5D7D.jpg[/IMG]

 

I'm pretty sure you only need the load resistors for the turn signals. I didn't put load resistors on my backup LED'sand they work fine.