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Thread: Side marker LED not as bright

  1. #1
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    Side marker LED not as bright

    I had ordered the DMC LED replacement bulbs for the side-marker lights. Put the amber left front in and was a little disappointed. They aren't nearly as bright as the original incandescent bulb. Just wondering if others have noticed the same. Makes me consider staying with the original bulb, unless someone has a brighter source for the LED replacement. These are not the more standard wedge type running lights found on newer cars which have many LED replacement options. And I'm not too keen on changing the bulb socket.

    Ron

  2. #2
    Senior Member Christian Dietrich's Avatar
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    Nope. Maybe check the lumens of the bulbs you ordered? Or for corroded sockets which will also play an effect on how bright they are. I ordered my side marker lights from superbrightled.com and I've had no issues whatsoever and they are extremely bright. In these two pictures you can see how bright they are, the first picture is in the early evening and the second one is about at 5:30 in the morning at work and you can see the light being cast onto the ground on the sides. These are the bulbs that I used and I also provided a lumens chart to show you how bright.

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  3. #3
    Motors about after dark Michael's Avatar
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    Swap sides, then you will know if it's the bulb or not. Orange and yellow bulbs in LED are usually pretty dim and I have never seen a truly bright orange. Maybe the ones Christian bought are really white with an overlay embedded in them. Amber and yellow led bulbs are pretty dim. They only put out around 5,000 mcd. The brightest are blue, green, and white which range from around 17k to over 20k mcd. Red is usually bright enough but the output is around 14k mcd and each needs different voltage requirements an/or resistors values.

    I made some "electronic reflectors" for my motorcycle about a year ago using COB led boards. (If I ever do marker lights in LED I will use COB technology). The red was fine but the amber for the front forks was dismal. Since I knew white was always bright(about 20,000+ mcd) I ordered a pair in white and used a yellow overlay of monocoat(adhesive model radio control aircraft covering) to give the the look I was after.
    attachment-3.jpg
    Last edited by Michael; 09-03-2017 at 09:29 AM.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Christian Dietrich's Avatar
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    That's definitely sharp-looking Michael and I never heard of that technology before the definitely sounds interesting. Like I said I ordered all mine from super bright and they've been in for over 2 years now and are still really bright and cast out a really nice glow but as far as their assembly process isn I can't answer that. I ordered the same set for my friend's car and when I went to install them I noticed they didn't seem as bright as mine and I noticed there was a like a lot of corrosion and sediment inside the socket so I cleaned it all out with contact cleaner and put a little miniature wire brush on my Dremel and cleaned out the inside of the socket and that made a hell of a difference.

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  5. #5
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    Red LEDs have the lowest output at the present time. Look at the "lm" output of the data Christian posted. Red is only 15 lm.

    The lens has a little to do with the brightness also.
    Dave M vin 03572
    http://dm-eng.weebly.com/

  6. #6
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    Michael, I'll try the swap and see. The incandescent bulb was nice and bright before the LED replacement. Noticed that the bulb socket had some corrosion so I treated it with Corrosion X. When I do the bulb swap, I'll hold off on the treatment to see if that has any affect.

    Christian, I'll order and try some of the products available from superbrightled.com and report back. I'm a little surprised that the 5 SMD LED tower bulb will fit. There's not much head room for the bulb in the side-markers. If they do, fantastic, they should be very bright. Your car looks great so I'm looking forward to giving them a try. Thanks for the tip.

    Ron

  7. #7
    Senior Member Christian Dietrich's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DMC-Ron View Post
    Michael, I'll try the swap and see. The incandescent bulb was nice and bright before the LED replacement. Noticed that the bulb socket had some corrosion so I treated it with Corrosion X. When I do the bulb swap, I'll hold off on the treatment to see if that has any affect.

    Christian, I'll order and try some of the products available from superbrightled.com and report back. I'm a little surprised that the 5 SMD LED tower bulb will fit. There's not much head room for the bulb in the side-markers. If they do, fantastic, they should be very bright. Your car looks great so I'm looking forward to giving them a try. Thanks for the tip.

    Ron
    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

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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Christian Dietrich View Post
    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

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    Will do. Placed an order. Also ordered some blue LEDs for underglow affect. Looking forward to installing.

    I do get concerned when the LED is right up against a plastic lens. Some of the more powerful LEDs run pretty hot. Sure don't want to melt a lens.
    Thanks,
    Ron

  9. #9
    Senior Member Christian Dietrich's Avatar
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    Looking forward to the pictures. Mine been in my car for over 2 years now and the lens are perfectly fine

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  10. #10
    Senior Member Christian Dietrich's Avatar
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    Here are some better shots of my car in the evening I just took the other day and you could see how bright the side marker lights are and I used my regular old camera phone. I think after maybe you clean out the sockets and everything that you're going to be just fine

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