incandescent bulb replacement by LEDs

[andypinto]

Hello Explorer Enthusiasts!
I'm thinking about replacing the original incandescent 3157 bulbs used for turn/brake light in my 2002 Explorer by a SMD LEDs, but I'm afraid that because the low consumption of the led bulbs the electronic flasher don't work properly.
Any ideas about this?
Thanks in advance

 

[BrooklynBay]

Some flashers are designed specifically for LED bulbs. Check my sticky thread in the performance lighting section.

 

[borland]

I did that on my 2002XLT. I used the 7 watt LEDs from V-LED.com

http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED/Brake-Light-LED/Red-LED/2-RED-1157-V-LEDS-7W-p6622388-1-2.html

http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED/...-LED/2-AMBER-1157-V-LEDS-7W-p6622386-1-2.html

These bulbs are brighter than the incandescent they replace which is nice. They also fill out the reflectors quite nicely.

My 2002XLT doesn't have any bulb monitoring circuits, so there is no bulb warning light to worry about defeating with load resistors. You do need to replace the flasher with a LED flasher. V-LED has those too. The flasher is located under the dash on the driver side.

http://www.v-leds.com/BlinkerWarning-Fix/Electronic-Flashers/5-PIN-ELECTRONIC-LED-p4810389-1-3.html

I also did the third brake light in LED, but that did require boring out the holes in the reflector where the incandescent bulb are located, otherwise its a simple plug-in replacement like the corner lights. I used five of these bulbs there:

http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED/...d-LED/2-RED-SMT-5-LED-GAUGE-p4481059-1-2.html

 

[BrooklynBay]

This link is # 97 in my list of useful threads: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=247220

 

[my pos mounty]

I looked at the pricing for those LED's you posted, borland. HOLY CRAP!
Try looking here, one hell of alot cheaper.

http://superlumination.com/

I got my 194 5SMD LED's off e-bay for a buck a piece. Yeah, they ship China, and you wait a little for them, and shipping is a tad more,but I bought 20 at a time for about $45.
The seller had a store on e-bay. Search for "lermart"

 

[borland]

I did shop around for the best LED for the price. Compared to what was available at the time elsewhere, I believe they are reasonably priced. Costs have dropped drastically over the years, and quality and brightness is always improving. There's a price to pay for latest technology.

What you'll find is that LED's of the same type vary in brightness. You need to find a good match of the LED to the reflector or lense assembly. This can get expensive, as you may need to purchase several that you end up not using. The ones I used on the corners are very compact in design and very bright.

For safety reasons with the red 3157 LEDs, they should be significantly brighter on high than low, otherwise trailing drivers may not notice your braking efforts in time to stop.

V-LED did not have the Warm White 194's I ended up installing in the rear license plate lamps. I got those somewhere else.

Good luck with what you bought.