Side marker LED not as bright

[DMC-Ron]

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Your side-markers do indeed look nice a bright.

When I get a break from my other work projects, I will try to do some comparison photos. I have five different LED side marker bulbs in hand. No doubt end up with your solution, but always good to show comparisons between the choices.

Ron

[Shep]

Had a thought: what color did you put where? LED's need to match the housings' color, so white won't work in red, red won't work in amber, etc.

Five LED guys fit well and are quite bright. The base can also rotate, and I strongly suggest making two of the side-firing LED's face the longest parts, and two face up/down. The up/down guys won't do much, but the left/right guys will do wonders for illuminating the long stretch that the incandescent bulbs just suck at getting.

I've also tried to source those led "panels" that fit, but haven't found a good match yet. That said, I have also wondered if a simple strip of bright LED's tucked under the long side would do well. Might require removing the black backing, but waterproof LED's would avoid any issues from that.

[Christian Dietrich]

Yeah Shep has a good point. Placing a white led in a red housing will make it look dull and orange. The leds i posted are the brightest i can find on superbrites site that fit out lights. Always use the same color bulb as the housing!

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

[Shep]

They're a dime a dozen from pretty much anyone these days. I run the same design in my binnacle too (sans battery light for now). Rheostat needs to be adjusted for that, in my case I bypassed it entirely. They're a different socket, but same "LED cube" style.

Now if you want "second coming of Christ" brightness on the exterior, I got those too. Just note that the front turns can't be replaced if you've got the side blinker mod as of yet (which reminds me, I need to finish my fix for that and start selling it...) But the rears honestly make tailgaters keep PLENTY of distance after just one time of seeing my brake lights, even without slowing down at all.

[Christian Dietrich]

Thats how my rear is. I can give you retina damage if you look to long lol. I have the blinker mod from Dave McKeen in the front and still have to install it for the rear. My 4, 194's for the binnicle that shine down consist of 19 led's per bulb and i had to slightly mod the hole for the bulb to fit. So its a total of 76 leds in blue.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

[Shep]

On the blinker mod: it's not compatible with LED's. Yet -- I'm getting prototype boards in that should fix that. The parts alone are $10 per board, but ensures that there's only a millivolt drop (I think it was 0.001v last I ran the math) rather than a full 2.2v drop when you use the standard diode bridge that would normally address this (which itself costs $2 to $4 in parts if memory serves). This means the LED's can run happily with no burnouts that will be happening guaranteed if a diode bridge is used. LED's do not like to be undervolted, it's why so many of the handheld dollar-store flashlights die as a whole after a few weeks. Battery runs low, no easy way to tell, so they just burn out from the low voltage.

$50 per car in parts is a small price to pay to be able to use LED's in the side markers and still have them blink properly in my opinion. That said, price drops to about $7.50 in parts per board when I order in batches of 25, so it becomes much more economical to sell than to one-off.

[iflights]

I used these Putco LEDs in my running and brake lights after my wife noticed how washed out the DMCH led kit looked in direct sunlight. Incredibility bright, but expensive bulbs, but if it improves visibility cost doesn't matter.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/put-241156r-360

[Shep]

I used these Putco LEDs in my running and brake lights after my wife noticed how washed out the DMCH led kit looked in direct sunlight. Incredibility bright, but expensive bulbs, but if it improves visibility cost doesn't matter.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/put-241156r-360

I buy from DT Autotech on eBay.

DeLorean setup: Amber, Red, White.

Former Subaru setup: Amber, Red, White.

(Bulb bases were different on the Subaru, but same bulb nonetheless. Traded it in for a Kia that needs load resistors, so results will be skewed now...)

[DL4567]

Yeah I took a snapshot of those bulbs and you can actually look up bulbs for the DeLorean on that website and it doesn't list every single one of them but you still can find other alternatives on there. I think it list bulbs for the tail lights but I was able to put a taller LED bulb in the tail light to make it even brighter. This side marker lights the bulb goes right up against the lens but steel clamps into the back of the lens fine. I have a little bit of corrosion in mine and LEDs are very sensitive two resistance so like I said I used some contacts spray for electronic components and put a small little wire brush on the end of my Dremel and I ran it all through there and it made one hell of a difference. The pictures I sent you that you seen of my car are not digitally enhance at all and they really are just that bright. Please do get back with me because I would like to know what your outcome is

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Christian, your side marker bulbs... the "BA9s LED Bulb - 5 SMD LED Tower".... would you say they have an even glow all around like the original incandescents? Do the ambers appear much brighter than the reds? Or does it look as equal as incandescents? I'm trying to match the look of the originals as closely as possible.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Your side-markers do indeed look nice a bright.

When I get a break from my other work projects, I will try to do some comparison photos. I have five different LED side marker bulbs in hand. No doubt end up with your solution, but always good to show comparisons between the choices.

Ron

Ron, did you ever make a decision among those 5 side marker bulbs? Which did you like best?

[Shep]

If you're only matching what's already there, why are you even looking into LED's at all? If you want it to "look stock", leave it stock, nothing else will in the side markers, it's an optical minefield of a nightmare. 360° light converted to weird gradients of cones of light in a long and narrow lens with dams before the long parts and being on the underside of a retroreflector, there's just far too much at play for me to even think about, let alone someone who would make a product.

5 SMD LED variants are a dime a dozen. Buy a few and test them out. I think you'll find they're not quite as large a difference as you might be expecting.

Now the rear lights aren't bad on their own, and LED varieties exist that match stock brightness fairly well (I have bought some), but the small bulb size of the side markers and awful geometry leaves very few options to match an incandescent perfectly.

EDIT: I should probably tone down a bit, geez my unwarranted crankiness is showing there (sorry about that), did want to clarify one thing: the 5 SMD LED isn't the only LED on the market for that spot, others exist too, they're just the most common. I run them myself, and am looking to upgrade after not finding them bright enough, if that's any indication.