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LED wedge bulbs for parking & side lights.

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by anonymous, May 18, 2015.

  1. electrode

    electrode Junior Member

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    Cool (I may give it a try myself). Look at the comparison to stock image in the listing. There is less light to the sides, while this may be ok for map lights, courtesy and vanity lights are side firing ones, so you may not see them as bright when you do the replacement. Also these LEDs seem to have heat sinks (unless it is just chrome colored plastic). If you buy them, please update this thread with your review/opinion of the bulbs.
     
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  2. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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    I just found a very good price for regular incandescent lamps. 28¢ each in a pack of 10, so $2.82 for it all.
    Eiko - 2825 Mini Indicator Lamp - 12 Volt - 0.4 Amp
    Might just get these instead of the LEDs.

    I was interested in the LED because the incandescents that I found were about a dollar each, so rather than get those I thought it better to get LED bulbs for the same price. But now that I found this, I think this may be better.

    What do you think? Do you think it is worth the risk to get the ebay Samsung LED bulbs for a dollar each, or these risk-free bulbs for 28¢ each? There's the risk that the ebay Samsung LEDs are crap and don't last long, and there's also the worry about the color not looking right. With the incandescents, they're guaranteed to work right because they're exactly the same as the stock ones.

    The Eiko bulbs have a rated lifespan of 750 hours. The ebay seller says that LEDs usually last more than 50,000 hours. It would take about 3 or 4 of the incandescent bulbs to cost the same as the LEDs. The LED bulb would last about 67 times longer than the incandescent, if the LED lasts 50000 hours and the incandescent lasts 750.

    The LED is whiter and maybe brighter.

    So what do you think? The Eiko incandescent bulbs for $0.28 each, or the Samsung LED bulbs for
    $1.00 each
    ?
     
    #22 anonymous, May 21, 2015
    Last edited: May 21, 2015
  3. electrode

    electrode Junior Member

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    .. did you estimate their shipping costs yet? :) Shipping is like $10 for me. I too looked at LEDs because these bulbs were like $4/5 per pair at local store, but after seeing the LEDs, got interested in them because of their white light.
     
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  4. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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    Also, how would the white light look behind an amber reflector? The people at CandlePowerForums have been yelling their heads off (exaggeration :p ) that white LEDs should not be used behind amber reflectors. But I think they would look fine. Would it? But more importantly, would it be legal?
     
  5. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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    The Samsung LEDs have free shipping.

    Oh my god! I just estimated shipping for the Eiko bulbs, and they are $11.11 for Ground. :eek: Well, that's out the window! :X3: eheh...

    $13.93 for 10 incandescent bulbs vs $9.99 for LED bulbs. Well now I know what to get. :p
     
  6. electrode

    electrode Junior Member

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    It would look amber colored. I have used amber colored filters with speed lights, and the resulting light is amber. I am not sure whether there will be a drop in lumens, and if so how much. However, I doubt legality will be an issue for this. Using this for parking/plate lights on the other hand will be up for serious debate. If these white lights look bluish, then some cop having bad night might want to have a word or two with you.

    Can you link the candlepowerforums thread, I am not a physics major, maybe they have some more insight.
     
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  7. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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    Ok, here is the thread on CPF:
    LED wedge for Prius
    Not much info there because i've gotten better help here so I posted my findings here.

    These lights are neutral white, and shouldn't have any blue tint. Many people have put in LEDs for license plate lights on purpose because they like the whiter light.
     
  8. scrappy

    scrappy Active Member

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    If you get those, please let us know how they work out.
    I've tried the cheap 5 SMD LEDs that are 5000k-6000k color and they are way too blue for my taste, so I'm now using those T10 bulbs I bought for my Prius to replace burned out bulbs in my Malibu landscape lights outside the house.
     
  9. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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    Theres another Radioshack store closing nearby! :LOL: The 3 waves of closing are already over... I don't know why that store is closing after the waves. I didnt find any wedge bulbs today but maybe later I'll find them in one of those boxes of bundles where they dump component bags probably from their storage. And get them very cheap!! :ROFLMAO:
    If not then back to the LEDs.
     
  10. electrode

    electrode Junior Member

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    Got the 5 SMD ones, yes they are "360 degrees" light, but the output is still unimpressive (and has the bluish tint). The SMD panels look the best if you are going that route. Although SMD panels don't come cheap (most sell around $3+ a pair). The new kid on the block seems to be COB leds, that are even more expensive.
     
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  11. bigmike98208

    bigmike98208 Junior Member

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    Well a couple of the ones I use in my interier are flickering too. It just took a little longer for them to start doing that. I also went back to the stock bulbs for the exterior lights.
     
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  12. Mpg82

    Mpg82 Junior Member

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    I am interested in what LEDs can replace the License Plate and Parking Lights.

    I already did the retrofit source's HID and they lasted a year so far without problem.
     
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  13. striker308

    striker308 Three time Prius owner

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    I have the wedge LED bulbs in mine, in a year I have replaced two with burnt LEDs or flickering LEDs.

    I got a 10 pack from Amazon all yellow and use them in place of the original bulbs in the side markers and running lights.

    I have white ones again from Amazon as plate lights and they are still going strong, I keep my lights on all the time so all of these are also on when the car is.
     
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  14. kingnba6

    kingnba6 Active Member

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    One of the best LED bulbs are from VLEDs. If you want a cheaper price but a decent quality then JDM ASTAR on Amazon is a good way to go.
     
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  15. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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    Ok we finally got bulbs for the car; the RadioShack that was closing had them this time (last them they didn't). I got all the packs they had (four packs of two; 8 bulbs total; 4 used; 4 spare). 25¢ each, which means each bulb is 12.5¢. Awesome deal considering the only bulbs at Walmart and Autozone are Sylvania bulbs and are $4 for 2 of them!!! Even though they are high quality, it's still a rip-off. Also, in most other places they are $2 for 2 of them. These ones were originally $2 for 2 of them, but price was reduced to 25¢ for 2 of them.
    Attached are pictures of them.

    Here is the link to the official page of this product on RadioShack's site. They say it is a flashlight bulb but actually it is a typical W5W 921 bulb used for anything, like cars, vacuum cleaners, address lights, and low-voltage landscape lighting. It is not krypton. I don't even think there are any flashlights out there that use this bulb.
    14V 270mA Incandescent Flashlight Bulb (2-Pack) - Radioshack
    Since it's 14v and not 12v, it will last longer (just like 130v light bulbs for 120v in your house).

    Sorry people but no Samsung LED bulb review. But after all these burn out then we'd probably get LEDs.

    I don't understand why these incandescent bulbs are usually so bloody hell expensive! Like I said, Warlmart and AutoZone have the same product for the same price, which is the Sylvania bulbs; 2 for $4. $2 for a tiny bulb made of only filament and glass! Rip-off! Maybe they are expensive because there is not much demand, so they don't make much so the individual price must be high. With the typical 60w incandescent light bulbs, they are often as cheap as 25¢ each, and they have WAY more materials than the small bulbs. Probably because of the demand. Oh well.
    This is why I was looking at the LED bulbs. Rather than pay $1 per incandescent bulb, it's better to pay $1 per LED bulb. But now I found some that was discounted at an acceptable price.
    The cheapest bulbs I have found on the internet are from ebay: 10 bulbs for around $5 or $6, and about 50¢ each. To find those you have to search for "incandescent w5w" otherwise you'd only find shootty LED bulbs.
    There are also listings for larger lots, like 20pcs and 50pcs. With these the bulbs are even a better price. Cheapest I just saw right now is 50pcs amber bulbs for $12.74; 25¢ each.

    Well that's all. No review for those Samsung LED bulbs, but if anyone else here needs some bulbs, it would be great if they'd buy these bulbs and write a review here. The internet would really like to know of these are actually good.
    Here's the link again:
    10pcs T10 Wedge Samsung High Power 1W LED Light Bulbs Xenon White 192 168 194 | eBay
     

    Attached Files:

    #35 anonymous, Jun 19, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2015
  16. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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    The Sansung LED bulbs from ebay that we were talking about should be able to replace the parking and license plate lights. I was going to replace the parking, side, and license plate lights with the bulb but as you can see in the post above I got regular incandescent bulbs from radioshack for a great price.

    Because we're not getting the Samsung anymore, I won't be writing a review for it. Maybe you can buy those and try them out yourself, and write a review so we know if they are good or not.

    Here's the link:
    10pcs T10 Wedge Samsung High Power 1W LED Light Bulbs Xenon White 192 168 194 | eBay
     
  17. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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    Can you link the listing for those bulbs you got, or at least describe the bulbs? There are many different kinds of LED wedge bulbs of different qualities.
     
  18. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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  19. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    Walmart's description of their Insten bulbs includes "•Note: The bulb may burn out if the voltage is above 12V." The voltage in cars, including Prius, is often a bit over 14V. So ...
     
  20. anonymous

    anonymous Member

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    Maybe the ebay LEDs are the same as this and not that bad. I have an idea that would make them last much longer. You could add one or more diodes in series of the LED bulb (maybe open it up and put them inside? I think they have a hollow butt). The diodes would reduce the voltage and underdrive the LEDs so they won't burn out.

    Diodes are better than resistors because their drop voltage stays the same as the current changes, whereas with resistors the voltage changes as the current changes.