Projection . . . Turn Signals?
09-17-2012, 07:44 PM
#1
Projection . . . Turn Signals? I figured I should probably stop being selfish and share some of my favorite LED suppliers. The worst kept secret out there is that you can buy ridiculously high-powered LEDs straight from Asia on eBay, provided that you can weed out the utter mountains of pure s**t that also exist there. Note that the same does not go for HID bulbs and ballasts--buy German, or go home. Long story short--I blew over $100 on a pile of LEDs and found a pair of great vendors. Normally, I might not share this particular thing unless asked directly, but I'm feeling charitable right now.
The first one is warden jp2002. Until tonight, every single light (with the exception of the headlights and foglamps) on my CTS-V was sourced by this guy. If you want the best wide-dispersion 3157s, this guy sells red (example), white, and amber 13W parts for about $25. His stock goes up and down all the time (right now he's unusually low), so if you don't see what you need, check back later. For instance, he has these ungodly twin SMD LEDs for your doors that light up the sidewalk for 6-8 feet around that aren't in stock right now.
The second one, ylzeng_1981 is much less established, but interesting. I don't know this guy's product lineup as well as the first guy, but if you're looking for something specific that the first guy doesn't have, this is a great secondary. Case in point is the image below. The turn signal on the right is one of the 13W amber 3157s that the first guy sells. The thing is very significantly brighter than an incandescent, and more importantly, provides very even light. Works great in the foglamp turn signals (if you saw my CCFL halo video, you already know that). However, I smelled room for improvement when I saw this other guy selling a 7W 3157 package that featured a single 5W Cree Q5 in a projection lens--a pair cost $35. He also has 12 watt quad SMD OSRAM LED in a freaking 194 package (along with a 6 watt dual package in case the former doesn't fit) that I'm going to try in my smoke sidemarkers this weekend. If I have to drop down to the dual to make it fit, I'll let you know. Initial measurements lead me to believe that this package will be a VERY tight fit. It seems like most of his stuff is built-to-order: if you want a specific color, you just tell him what you want when you order.
Let's get down to business. First up, a comparison of the 7W projection 3157 and the 13W multi-SMD 3157 package. Although the results in the picture to follow are conclusively in favor of the 7W projector, in my tests with the foglamp turn signal, the 13W multi-SMD package annihilated the 7W projector. The key here is that our tiny little turn signals make the projector a more efficient device for this application, despite its relative power deficiency.
For those of you who only flash your turn signals once or twice and want those flashes to really count, your time has come. If I were to install a conventional incandescent bulb in either side of the car for this comparison shot, it would've probably looked like I had a burnt out bulb. It's really hard not to be absolutely pleased with either product. It's just that, in this case, the idea of frying people's retinas with 450 lumens of amber light makes me giddy.
13W multi-SMD on the left, 7W projection on the right. Use the latter in your rear turn signals, and the former everywhere else.
One question: anyone know what part number these nuts are? They secure the rear tail lights to the car. I lost one during my first LED experiment when I bought the car, and never found a replacement on GMPartsDirect.
The first one is warden jp2002. Until tonight, every single light (with the exception of the headlights and foglamps) on my CTS-V was sourced by this guy. If you want the best wide-dispersion 3157s, this guy sells red (example), white, and amber 13W parts for about $25. His stock goes up and down all the time (right now he's unusually low), so if you don't see what you need, check back later. For instance, he has these ungodly twin SMD LEDs for your doors that light up the sidewalk for 6-8 feet around that aren't in stock right now.
The second one, ylzeng_1981 is much less established, but interesting. I don't know this guy's product lineup as well as the first guy, but if you're looking for something specific that the first guy doesn't have, this is a great secondary. Case in point is the image below. The turn signal on the right is one of the 13W amber 3157s that the first guy sells. The thing is very significantly brighter than an incandescent, and more importantly, provides very even light. Works great in the foglamp turn signals (if you saw my CCFL halo video, you already know that). However, I smelled room for improvement when I saw this other guy selling a 7W 3157 package that featured a single 5W Cree Q5 in a projection lens--a pair cost $35. He also has 12 watt quad SMD OSRAM LED in a freaking 194 package (along with a 6 watt dual package in case the former doesn't fit) that I'm going to try in my smoke sidemarkers this weekend. If I have to drop down to the dual to make it fit, I'll let you know. Initial measurements lead me to believe that this package will be a VERY tight fit. It seems like most of his stuff is built-to-order: if you want a specific color, you just tell him what you want when you order.
Let's get down to business. First up, a comparison of the 7W projection 3157 and the 13W multi-SMD 3157 package. Although the results in the picture to follow are conclusively in favor of the 7W projector, in my tests with the foglamp turn signal, the 13W multi-SMD package annihilated the 7W projector. The key here is that our tiny little turn signals make the projector a more efficient device for this application, despite its relative power deficiency.
For those of you who only flash your turn signals once or twice and want those flashes to really count, your time has come. If I were to install a conventional incandescent bulb in either side of the car for this comparison shot, it would've probably looked like I had a burnt out bulb. It's really hard not to be absolutely pleased with either product. It's just that, in this case, the idea of frying people's retinas with 450 lumens of amber light makes me giddy.
13W multi-SMD on the left, 7W projection on the right. Use the latter in your rear turn signals, and the former everywhere else.
One question: anyone know what part number these nuts are? They secure the rear tail lights to the car. I lost one during my first LED experiment when I bought the car, and never found a replacement on GMPartsDirect.
Last edited by FuzzyLog1c; 09-17-2012 at 08:02 PM.
09-17-2012, 08:40 PM
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Hey really appreciate the info! Definitely going to go this route, especially with my smoked lights...it also gives me something else to do with the car when I'm home. The pic and video really show's a huge difference in the two, thanks for taking the time and posting this.
09-17-2012, 10:50 PM
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Just sent a message to wardenjp2002 and ask them for the part #'s for tail, stop, and turnsignals....side door and front sides in white...I have them all painted smoked and the stock bulbs just don't do the job....thanks for the info
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09-18-2012, 06:11 AM
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Come to think of it I'm pretty sure I've sourced a couple of those at NAPA.
