1st, the facts.

On my 03 MCS, I did the brake light mod about 3 years ago and am happy with it.
About 6 months ago, I bought a pair of factory 03 tail lights that had been disassembled, tinted on the inside and reassembled, giving me nice "blacked out" tails.
Since then, my wife has been regularly bitching that my brake lights aren't bright enough.


2nd, what I'm thinking.
I would like to replace the bulbs with LEDs. I've been looking at them on ebay and researching them elsewhere. I guess I need to go with the "tower o' leds" bulbs with 24/30/32 leds married together all running off a regular 1156 or 1157 base.

3rd, the questions.
a. Are the insides of the factory 03 tail lights mirrored to take advantage of the "all round" light from these tower type bulbs?
b. Do I need an 1156 base or an 1157, or does it not matter?
c. Here's one for the physicists...one of the sites I read stated that using a white led in a brake light behind a red lens was bad. The theory is that the lens stops/filters out all the light component colors except the red, meaning that most of the lumens are wasted. A red led produces only red light which all gets through the lens, making the light significantly brighter.
I checked the factory bulb which is clear, but that doesn't prove anything since a colored bulb is just a filter on a white light, not a colored light.

It sounds like dodgy science to me. Internally logical enough to sound plausible, but I don't know enough physics to know if it's just a sales pitch.

 

The taillight housings are 'reflectored' (like most) to focus the omnidirectional light from the bulb and fill the entire area of that particular lamp's lens. The problem with most LED replacement bulbs is that all of the light is aimed axially in one direction from the base, rather than omnidirectional. This causes a bright spot of light in an otherwise large lens. Some of the 'better' LED lights use a divergent cluster of more LEDs to fill out the area by using the existing reflector. This helps considerably. I am still trying to find someone with these 'bigger' LED bulbs so I can see how well they work. The theory is sound, but in practice is what matters.

If you are installing the bulb in the tail/brake light, you need an 1157 style 'dual pin' bulb. The fog light is a 1156 'single pin' bulb.

White LEDs behind a colored filter is a waste, since you are filtering most of the spectrum of light leaving only red (and white LEDs tend to be a bit lacking in red spectrum light, hence their bluish light). Red lenses are practically transparent to the light thrown off by red LEDs, so they are a much better solution.

 

Greatbear, you are indeed, the man.
So I need a set of 1157s in red and a set of 1156s in red, both in the "tower" configuration to simulate omnidirectional light, to replace what I'm currently using.
Thanks muchly.

 

Please post pictures (in the exquisitely detailed NAM style) when you are done.

 

I love my red LED's in a set of Aero housings.

ALL the exterior lights on my car are LED, except for headlights and fog lights now.



^^^ My brake light bulbs.

 

I just did my clear rear taillights, and you're right Rick, those monster LEDs are really superior vs the stock Diadiem bulbs. A lusher deeper red. My reverse lights are also from that website and they are fantastic!

 

NSR - your photo was focused on your comptuer screen instead of the bulb. The bulb was out of focus. :( Can you take another shot? That LED arrangement is very interesting indeed!

 

Here's the link, there's a better picture there.

 

not-so-redwhitecooper, do you have any actual pics (off and both low and high outputs) of your car with that interesting brake light?

 

Hmm. Interesting. I like the look of LEDs in tail lights, but this is one of those things I think I'd have to see in person.

Saw a new Mercury (Milan?) on the way home yesterday. Clear lenses with rows of LEDs (like the G35). LEDs were red and they actually looked good from several angles. I didn't get right up along side of him though to see how they looked from a pretty "off" angle... but it was still pretty cool.

 

Dittos...so are all my interiors...cockpit red

 

I'll see if i can snap a few pics today, all i have right now are a few shaky night pics, lol

they will hold you off for the time being...

 

(In creepy "Silence of the Lambs" voice)

It uses a tripod or it gets the hose. Night photography can be difficult if hand-held!

They look bright enough though. If you can - could you take a shot from say 45 degrees off the back also? Thanks for your efforts!

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Look forward for more clearer pics (how about also shots from day time?). BTW, do you see the light output brighter or dimmer than the OEM?

 

If you know how to do it with your camera, try to take pictures using the same exposure settings for proper comparison. What LED bulbs are you using for backup light and front turn signals? For front turn signals, I haven't seen LEDs for 7507. Do you use another type and cut off a prong on the bulb?

 

rkw,
backups are white 1156, turn signals are amber 1156 with one nub cut off.

If anyone knows of anyone making LED fog light bulbs, let me know, all i have seen is PIAA's super expensive line of LED lights.


I would like to make a set of Headlights rom LED bulbs in the near future also.

 

During the day the brake lights are sufficient. Parking lights are useless during the day, although, they are both just about as bright as the factory Aero lights, which are not that bright at all during the day.

I'll set up my tripod and take some new night pics this evening

 

NRW: I know this is a daunting task but can you post what LED's (color, part number and how many LED's in each assy) you used on the entire car (exterior wise). I know what's posted on autolumination but I have tried a few and they haven't worked. It would be appreciated.

 

No problem bud, i'll sit down a little later tonight and write them all down and post them up.

Dont got to autoillumination, all they sell is junk. I use VelocityLED's on Ebay, they have the best prices!!!

 

Do you have more pics of your 3rd brake light?
Is that a blacked out LED one, or did you paint over the factory red one?
If it is the blacked out LED one, where did you purchase, & how much?
Thanks!

 

Joe, when the stock Red 3rd is hiding under a Cooper spoiler, its hardly noticable, and as you can see, it looks like its not there.

I plan on painting it white soon to blend with the roof better.

I got some good night pics, i need to resize them still...

 

Thanks....it would help alot since I have compared quite a few threads and everyone seems to be using different prt numbers for the same bulb. I'm confused as which ones would work. And another question...I think I remember you saying that you got your clear tails on e-bay. Do you remember which seller it was?

 

It sounds like we are married to the same women. I have been simply ignoring my wife and she gets furious when I tell her I could care less who is behind me. But in the fog or rain the tinted lights make the car almost invisible. My Mini is Black.

I considered some Halogen bulbs but when I read that some people had their lamp controllers burning out because of the brake light mod (mine has been great for three years) I thought that putting in an H1157 was simply pushing my luck.

So my question to you is did you ever get the red LEDs and 1) Did they put out enough light to satisfy your wife? Or,

2) have you simply stopped talking to her? <G>

Let me know because I am tired of the nagging.

Rich

 

I bought some of the 24 led bulbs. Installed them on 1 side then looked at them to compare to the other side. I took them back out and re-installed the incandescants. They were about 75% as bright as the ones she was complaining about.
The key is, when we are both driving (not that often), either let her lead, or outpace her so that she can't see my tails.

 

I went ahead and changed out my bulbs for LED's. I would say that they are about 90% as bright as normal. I also went ahead and took a few pictures comparing the two, stock is on the left and LED is on the right.