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I'll be picking up my car from the body shop in the next week or two at which time I'll start rewiring the back half of the car and all the interior pieces. I'm terrified that one day some distracted, texting, face-timing driver will rear-end my beautiful car. I'm planning to use LED bulbs of the tail lights to make them brighter, but I'd also like to install a flasher module to blink the tail lights. The newer cars have dedicated wiring separate form the brake lights, but in our older cars the turn signal and brake lights use the same bulbs. These modern brake flasher modules don't seem to have a provision for the turn signals, only brake lights. Has anyone installed one of these modules on our old cars that can shed some light on the best way to add this feature? Is there a flasher module the can differentiate between a turn signal flash and the brake lights? Thanks!
Those brake light flashers are intended to flash only the 3rd brake light, which obviously out cars don’t have. I have never installed one of the flashers, so I don’t know how the are wired.
I hate to say it, but your best choice in my opinion is to install good bulbs, and carry lots of insurance. The best/brightest/attention grabbing lights will do nothing when the idiot behind you is oblivious to everything but the phone.
Those brake light flashers are intended to flash only the 3rd brake light, which obviously out cars don’t have. I have never installed one of the flashers, so I don’t know how the are wired.
I hate to say it, but your best choice in my opinion is to install good bulbs, and carry lots of insurance. The best/brightest/attention grabbing lights will do nothing when the idiot behind you is oblivious to everything but the phone.
^^^This. The flasher isn't going to help if the idiot behind you is staring at his phone in his lap.
X2^^^^^^^ Got so now when I hit the brake pedal I also instantly look in the rear view mirror to see what kind of defensive maneuvers may be necessary to avoid a pile up. ^^^X2
That, regardless of which automobile I'm driving.....
Got so now when I hit the brake pedal I also instantly look in the rear view mirror to see what kind of defensive maneuvers may be necessary to avoid a pile up.
Got so now when I hit the brake pedal I also instantly look in the rear view mirror to see what kind of defensive maneuvers may be necessary to avoid a pile up.
You should be doing this constantly, not just when you hit the brakes. Back before electronic nanny driving aids, this was called "defensive driving". Be aware of all the drivers around you, assume they will do the most boneheaded thing possible, and be prepared for it when it does happen.
X2^^^^^^^ Got so now when I hit the brake pedal I also instantly look in the rear view mirror to see what kind of defensive maneuvers may be necessary to avoid a pile up. ^^^X2
That, regardless of which automobile I'm driving.....
I remember when I was maybe 6 or 7, my brother and I were kneeling on the back seat looking out the back window. We were in his 1966 Delta 88. We commented to our parents, the people in the car behind us are arguing, we think they are going to hit us. Just then the light turned red and they rear ended us. No broken bones, my dad got whiplash and the rear of the Delta was seriously tweaked including bent frame.
I'm planning to use LED bulbs of the tail lights to make them brighter...
Rodney, an important aspect of taillights/stoplights is the difference in brightness between these two modes. This difference is what alerts those following of your stopping.
OEM filament bulbs have a 10x difference in brightness. LEDs generally have between 1.5 and 5x.
I did this research last week before I bought LEDs for my Olds. I found a company north of Seattle that had great, knowledgeable consultants. They were the only company that could answer my questions to my satisfaction and the only one that claimed to sell LEDs with OEM-or-better brightness ratio. I bought these lights https://www.vleds.com/shop-bulb-numb...1157-50-r.html which they said had 14x brightness ratio.
I installed their LEDs on one side and left the filaments on the other side so I could check brightness ratio. Taillights were almost identical in brightness. LED stop lights were much brighter, as they had said. And the instant-on nature of LED is more attention-grabbing as well.
Gary:
Did you have any problems installing the LED bulbs into your tail light sockets? I bought some super bright "plasma" type bulbs from West Coast Classic Cougar but the base is more square than an incandescent 1157 bulb so they won't recess fully into the sockets enough to turn them. These bulbs are crazy bright but I can't see how I could use them without grinding down the shoulder. Here's a pic:
The ones I bought from VLEDS had a relief cut before the shoulder that allowed them to sit deep enough to turn into place.
I looked up bulb brightness on the West Coast Classic Cougar website. And I see what you mean about crazy brightness but it's mostly on the taillight mode.
Taillight brightness from WCCC is 650% brighter than the ones I linked while stop brightness is only 18% more.
Stated another way, the difference between taillight and stoplight on the WCCC bulb is only 2.2x. That may not be enough of a visual POP to get attention from a distracted driver. You want a bulb with at least a 10 times difference.
Rodney. I spoke too soon about the VLEDS' fit. Their bulb fit (barely) in a front light housing when I tried yesterday. The others didn't fit when I tried them a few minutes ago and I'm returning all of them. They told me they don't offer an 1157 or 1156 bulb to fit the longer GM socket. They admitted they didn't know much about older cars. They waived the restock fee and will send a return goods label for FedEx. They are fair people to deal with.
July 31st, 2022 | 03:07 PM
