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LED bulb for Tail light

34K views 120 replies 13 participants last post by  ishtori 
#1 ·
has anyone installed any 7443 LED bulb for their taillights?

thanks
 
#65 ·
Oh is it? Let us know once you test them.
 
#66 ·
I think the issue is that the light is focused and not wide enough. When you look at it from behind, they look awesome and very bright. But on the rear view camera, its pretty dim. I'm going to swap it over maybe tonight and try it just to see if there is a difference or not.
 
#67 ·
Did you buy them from vleds?
 
#68 ·
LED Lights are directional focusing on a straight path, unlike bulb filament the light distance is all around the bulb, so as to compare if you see the LEDs on the front it's brighter than bulb but if you use the bulb as overall light, I go with the OEM bulb.
 
#70 ·
Sorry to hear this. Let us know your findings.
 
#71 ·
Ok so I did try it last night and there isn't a noticeably brighter light with the stock bulbs. The main difference I noticed was that there is (obviously) a yellower light and its light is cast slightly more on the road, closer to the car.

I was using the back up camera mostly for comparison purposes because looking through the back window or at the van on the road, its harder to tell.

So I may just switch them back to the LED's for now (since they were so much money).
 
#72 ·
So basically the backups performance is not that flattering then. Did you let Jake know about it at vleds?
 
#73 ·
No - should I? I only ask because I don't think the issue is the bulbs per se. I think the actual light housings are not really meant to direct light in the way that headlights would for example. Maybe I'm just being picky. I do know the LED's are MUCH brighter when viewed from outside, so in that sense, they are better. They just don't direct as much light backwards as I would want. Basically I would like it if they had enough light so that I could see behind me on the camera and it wasn't so dim.

Maybe the Tritons would be better, I don't know. But I don't want to pay to ship them back at this point so I will just live with them. But you may want to try the Tritons for maximum lighting.
 
#74 ·
I was looking at the vleds.com site again and I may try one more item. The High output backup lights are rated at 1000 lumens (vs. the 510 that I have currently). Interestingly, the Tritons are rated at only 600 lumens. I'm guessing that the light output must be vastly different to justify the increased price for the Tritons. The site also says they are "only for momentary reverse bulb applications and that other applications will void your warranty." They must draw a great deal of current when on or something.

I looked up the stock lumen rating of a typical incandescent bulb and its around the 400 lumens range. So my observation was not mistaken in that the LED's were *slightly* better on the camera than the stock bulbs, but not by much. Not sure if its worth it to go to double the output at this point (and I've spent a small fortune on the bulbs) so I may wait.
 
#75 ·
Of course, you can let him know that they are not much brighter than OEM and see what he says. The problem with LEDs is, almost all the LEDs look brighter when you look at them. But that's not what we want. We want them to be brighter when we look at the light they are throwing like for example looking at your backup screen when you are in reverse or standing by the side of the van and asking somebody to put it in reverse to see how bright the road is with these lights. Hope it all works out well for you. Yes, these ain't cheap bro!
 
#76 ·
Exactly which reverse light bulb did you get from VLEDs? Is below what you purchased?

5K WHITE HIGH OUTPUT 21 LED BACK-UP LIGHT 7440 1000LM | 1 PAIR - 7443 - 7440 LED - Reverse Back-Up - Shop Bulb Type

Not sure what kind of housing the reverse light is on Odyssey (have not bothered to look at it), but does it have any reflectors or light diffuse lens? If the bulb total output is 1000lm and there are no reflectors or light diffuser then you're only getting light from 3 LEDs or total of 142lm (in theory, since whole bulb has 21 LEDs). Depending on how the bulb is angled it might be aimed too far back of the car and not effectively lighting the area.

I think what makes the Triton so bright is the glass housing around the LED bulb that makes the light diffuse just like a filament bulb but with LED light intensity. Its rated at 600lm and you'll get all of it! :) Look at my earlier posts on this thread with the red tritons. Now imagine that but in white :D

$110 is steep, but if you're going to do it, $110 is small price for doing it correctly.

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/54-20...-bulb-tail-light-post1133930.html#post1133930
 
#77 ·
Yes, that LED seems to have lot of lumens. Not sure what Our Odyssey bought. May be he can chime in and confirm once again.
 
#79 ·
I'm assuming this is what you got from VLEDs:
5K WHITE 21 LED PARKING BACK-UP LIGHT BULBS 7440 7443 510LM | 1 PAIR

While VLEDs make some great LEDs and they have good customer service unfortunately I feel what you purchased should not be used for reverse light. Going why my previous logic, 510 lumens should be plenty enough for this application but there are only 3 forward facing LEDs so you in theory only getting 73 lumens per bulb while rest of the 18 LEDs are on the sides and not helping lighting the ground behind the car.

Even at 73 lumens it should still be able to light the ground and you did say when you stand behind the car and the LED appears to be much brighter than stock filament bulb. I'm guessing the bulb is not angled towards the ground so the LED light path is perpendicular to the ground. If the light housing lens is clear it is not going to direct any of the focused light to the ground behind the car.

What you need is something light this:
2X 7440 7443 Diamond 30W CREE LED Projector Turn Signal Blinker Backup Light 992 | eBay
Where the end of the bulb has a project like filter to help scatter the light.
 
#80 ·
Interesting. What you say makes complete sense. Since LED's are far more directional, I believe you are most likely correct. I looked at the bulbs you posted from ebay. I looked at something similar here:

2X Genuine Samsung 15W LED 7440 7443 992 Projector Turn Signal Stop Backup Light | eBay

What do you think? If the above would work similar to the link you posted I will buy them because they are fairly cheap in comparison to the vleds.

I only ask because the link you posted doesn't have a 'buy it now'
 
#82 ·
In my previous post I meant to say parallel to the ground not perpendicular but I guess you got the point what I was trying to say.

Anyway, what you posted from ebay is similar to what I was talking about and I just bought sometime similar today from ebay too to try it since since you got me interested and these are cheap.

Here is what I bought:
2X Parking Light 7443 W21W 6 CREE XBD 720LM 30W Super Bright LED Projector Lens | eBay

What officerX posted should be fine too and its interesting it is specifically advertise to have a "wide" output angle. But they are a bit more expensive probably paying for the patent claim...which I think their LEDs works regardless of the polarity. In other 7440 LEDs, if you plug it in with the polarity reversed it won't light but so you flip it over to fix it :DD
 
#84 ·
Here is what I bought:
2X Parking Light 7443 W21W 6 CREE XBD 720LM 30W Super Bright LED Projector Lens | eBay

What officerX posted should be fine too and its interesting it is specifically advertise to have a "wide" output angle. But they are a bit more expensive probably paying for the patent claim...which I think their LEDs works regardless of the polarity. In other 7440 LEDs, if you plug it in with the polarity reversed it won't light but so you flip it over to fix it :DD
Crap - the ebay ones the seller doesn't ship to Canada and the autolumination.com ones are 19.99 each plus shipping. Yikes.
 
#83 ·
I'm thinking of putting a reflective aluminium foil in the housing to solve the problem of directional lighting when I install the LEDs. Worth considering? I have seen lot of roof accent lighting fixtures that have an aluminium foil in the housing.
 
#85 ·
I forgot to look at the reverse light housing. Does it really not have any reflectors in there? If it doesn't I guess its worth a shot putting aluminum foil in there but I really wonder how would it look with a piece of aluminum foil in there and it is also a lot more work than just changing the bulb. You'll have to "bake" the whole housing, get the lens separated, etc...certainly more work than I'm willing to do right now...

Our Odyssey said:
Crap - the ebay ones the seller doesn't ship to Canada and the autolumination.com ones are 19.99 each plus shipping. Yikes.
There are others that sell similar items on ebay that do ship to Canada. You can wait for me to receive mine and install it to see if its worth get it :D
 
#98 ·
officerX beat me too it! I bought a different set off ebay and here are how mine turned out. Better than I thought it would. Overall I'm pretty happy :D

From back up camera


From behind the car


Closeup lighted


Not lighted. Only thing is this particular design is very long. It "just" fit within the housing.
Bonus question: Notice anything else different in the rear light assembly vs OEM? :p


Bonus pic. LED puddle lights/courtesy lights. Much brighter than OEM filament bulb. Little too blue than I like, might swap out for whiter look later.
 
#101 ·
So, the latest news is that I installed my VLEDs Platinum Red brake light LEDs in my wife's Avalon as I'm getting V3s for my Odyssey brake lights :).

Will update once I install the V3s.
 
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