L.E.D. Bulbs

[perple76]

I haven't seen this question posted anywhere so I'm gonna ask it.

Has anybody seen/used/installed the 1157 or 1156-style LED Bulbs that are now being offered on ebay and through some on-line retailers? Are these bulbs a legitimate alternative to the LED boards offered by digi-tails and others?

Reason I ask - I'm doing a 77 Nova Pro Touring project and given the general lack of popularity of these cars in the market no company I am aware of makes a specific LED-conversion for my car (I think they go up through 72 Novas). I don't have the budget to have these worked up custom, and given the cost of the digi-tails set-up I am disinclined to "make 'em work" on my car. I'm thinking about something a little less involved.

I'd very much like to switch to LEDs for the brakes/back-up lights. These bulbs appear, on the surface, to be a reasonable alternative, as they basically just replace the 1156 and 1157-style bulbs I'm already using - my Nova uses one 1157 bulb for brakes/turn signal and one 1156 for backups on each side.

From what I can tell, I wouldn't even need to change sockets or flashers, just plug and play. I know they wouldn't be sequential but that's not really critical to my application - I just want the LEDS.

I'm a novice in the wiring/electrical arena, so if anyone has any experience or thoughts, good or bad, on these bulbs I'd like to hear it.

Thanks,

J

[Musclerodz]

Depend on which ones you are looking at. It you are looking at the LED buls that have like 5 in them and just face the rear, don't bother. If you are looking at the multi-directional ones that have 27-60 leds in them, then yes they are a reasonable alternative

[perple76]

Yes I was referring to the ones with bunches of LEDs (30-60) that would basically emit light in all directions, or at least in same directions as an incandescent bulb would.

Unfortunately I haven't seen these offered by what I consider "reputable" suppliers, mostly just ebay guys, so I may have to take a chance on quality and see if I like the way they work. The expense isn't too bad so it may be worth buying some just to see how they work out. If I don't like them I can always just switch back.

Thanks for your info!

J

[Musclerodz]

I have a source for the reverse lights and maybe the others. I did sell a set of board LED's to a guy awhile back for his 76 or 77 Nova off Novas.net and he said they worked great. I would have to dig to find his order to remember which set I sold him.

[perple76]

I'm still a few months away from having the car fully assembled, which is when I plan to deal with this issue more directly anyway. When I get to that point, I'll give you a call and we'll see if you and I can come up with something.

Thanks,

J