So almost a year ago, I decided to get a pair of 7443 tower LEDs from superbrightleds.com to swap out my tail lights. However, every time I would go to step on the brake they would keep blowing the 10 amp fuse under the hood that controls the vsc, abs, shift lock, and brake lights.

After some troubleshooting, as well as bouncing ideas off folks here on Scionlife, I learned that our car has sockets that are designed for CK-type bulbs. These bulbs have a different wiring scheme that allows them to function in our car's sockets.

Thus far, there aren't many vendors that offer these CK-type bulbs. The two vendors are:
- www.autolumination.com
- www.vleds.com

V-LEDS CK-type bulbs are sold explicitly on their website and are relatively easy to find just by navigating through the bulb categories. V-LEDS make a solid product and I have their LEDs in my license plate lights as well as parking lights. However, I find $80 for two bulbs to be very expensive:
http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED-Bulbs/Brake-Light-LED/Red-LED/PLATINUM-RED-7-WATT-HIGH-p9448888-1-2.html

With the CK-type bulbs from V-LEDS being very pricy, I decided to go with a pair of 16-LED towers from autolumination.com. The pair cost me $20. Their site is a bit more 'raw'...all of their 7443 products are listed on one page. Currently, they only explicitly list one model as being available in CK. However, they do offer other models in CK as well...you will need to email them to get the lineup of available CK models. They are good about responding to emails and will gladly help you find the bulbs you need. Just simply ask them which bulbs they offer in CK-type. They'll then give you instructions on how to order the CK-type bulbs from them.
http://autolumination.com/7443_7440.htm

There is one other option for those looking for something a bit challenging, or those that really want a set of 7443's that aren't offered in CK. You modify the wiring of whichever 7443 bulb you choose so that it will function in our car's CK sockets. Look here for Scion202's DIY:
http://www.scionlife.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3872690&postcount=182

Moral of the story...unmodified, standard 7443 LED bulbs will cause our car to blow fuses. You need to purchase CK-type bulbs, or modify the standard bulb.

Are you adding another route for current including your taillight? I know if you add another route on to an existing on it requires more amperage. But if you are going off your existing path then it shouldnt blow fuses. How do you have them hooked up?

I didn't do anything crazy like that. All I did was take out the OEM 7443 dual filament tailights and replace them with 7443 dual intensity 45 LED towers...

Then maybe its too little resistance which allows more amperage to flow through. Because your on the same circuit

^Exactly.

You need to add load resistors to the circuit or you will have the fast blink on the turn signal and this could also explain why you're having fuse problems. Autozone, Advance, Pep, and O'Rly should have load resistors where the led replacement lights are in the lighting section.

that isn't the issue. the bulb isn't wired correctly.

the moment you hit the brakes.. the way the wiring is currently on the bulb... will SHORT out the circuit, thus causing the fuse to blow for the brake circuit.. which controls a lot of other things as well.

i got your PM and sent you a reply.

@tealtoaster, there are no load resistors needed. this is a tail/brake bulb... not a turn signal.

So I decided to get a pair of 7443 tower LEDs from superbrightleds.com to swap out my tail lights. No matter what configuration I do, they keep blowing the 10 amp fuse under the hood that controls the vsc, abs, shift lock, and brake lights. Anyone have any ideas what the deal could be?? I thought LEDs were supposed to draw very little current!

Aw man, that really is a total bummer D:

@tealtoaster, there are no load resistors needed. this is a tail/brake bulb... not a turn signal.

My bad, he didn't really say what it was he was using them for, I figured the turn signals.

OP just said tail lights.

Did some looking...I believe that our cars use CK-type bulbs?...

SACK would be the right thing to call it.. but yes.. i believe the "CK" ones would be it.

Pretty stupid they think anyone in their right mind would pay $80 for one bulb...or even a pair for that matter. Stupid.

I was talking to some folks at superlumination who have ones available in CK for $10. Are superlumination's pretty good/reputable?

EDIT: Ok. so maybe they are sold by the pair. Still stupid.

i usually buy from v-leds.com

however for taillights and the such, i still don't like using led bulbs.

Why's that?

still doesn't provide the best output for safety and visual concerns

Anyone know if a 3157 bulb would work in a 7443 socket? They look identical...

no

Once you get it working, would you post before and after pictures? I like the idea but am concerned about the loss of light output.

Thanks

Absolutely...I am working hard to try to get this to work.

I actually sort of have before/after pics...but these were taken close to sunset right when I was first trying them out...before the fuse blow upon stepping on the brake petal.

They are both taken with the taillights on and NO brake being applied:

Before:
http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i350/biglilsteve1/IMAG0136.jpg

After:
http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i350/biglilsteve1/IMAG0135.jpg

I did some troubleshooting later that night and was able to see how the output looked in the dark and PLEASE believe me, the LEDs produce nearly identical output to the stock incandescents.

The difference was not brightness, but color. The LED produces a very pretty cherry candy red through the tail lenses, which makes the stock incandescent look washed out and almost grapefruit colored in comparison.

I have a set of CK-type LEDs from autolumination on order that should be arriving tomorrow or Saturday. Expect an update around then!!

Quick update, I received my CK-type LEDs from autolumination.com and they work exactly as they should. Right now in daylight they appear to have similar brightness to the OEM incandescents.

I will add pics this evening when it darkens and include a comparison shot with LED vs stock.

Thanks to everyone who chipped in.

Also, customer service from autolumination is awesome. They were twice as helpful as the folks at superbrightleds.

I didnt even know superbrightleds had a customer service thing

But cool! good job getting bulbs that worked O:

Im gonna have to look into that company cause im thinking of chaning the interior dome lights in my car to orange or re to match the orange lights in the radio/spedometer >_>

Thanks! And I highly recommend autolumination...they have a much larger selection of products as well. The website is a bit quirky, but they have tons of options.

So I finally got to see them at night and I am pleased.

These appear to have comparable brightness to the 45-LED towers I got from superbrightleds (the ones that kept blowing my fuse). It somewhat surprised me because these cost less than half as much as the others and only have 16 LEDs!

I have photos below, but they aren't very good. My girl took my camera and while my Evo takes great pics in well-lit environments, it is poor and inconsistent at night.

This first pic is with BOTH tails swapped out with the LEDs.

http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i350/biglilsteve1/IMAG0142.jpg

This next pic is with the LED in the left and the incandescent in the right. Any noticeable difference?

http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i350/biglilsteve1/IMAG0143.jpg

Pics are crappy, but are definitely accurately reproducing the relative brightnesses of the stock vs LED tails. What the pics are not depicting is the color reds being emitted. While it isn't a huge difference, the LEDs definitely make the stocks look washed out and cheap.

Yep, they look the same in the pictures. I look forward to some clearer pics where I can see the color difference. So what made you go with the 16 bulb lights vs the 48 bulb and 60 bulb ones? Was it just the price? You know if the ones with more bulbs give off more light?

Thanks again and good work.

more glare?

I will try with my cam once I get it back from my girl, but I honestly doubt the difference will register on anything less than an SLR (which my camera is not, sigh).

Please believe the color difference is not dramatic, though. It just deepens the red a bit, but nothing extreme.

I really didn't want to step down to the 16-LED units but they were the best that were offered in CK-type. Everything with more LEDs was only available in standard 7443.

I have inquired with autolumination regarding offering more options in CK-type for 7443.

EDIT: There is no glare, just the inconsistency of my camera (different ISOs being used automatically, I believe).

Guess I need to do some homework. No idea what CK-type means

My apologies...I don't know why I just assumed everyone would get what that is!

7443 sockets are used primarily for dual filament/intensity bulbs (for use with tail/brake lights, or tail/brake/turn signal when the car uses the tails for turn signals). Because of this they have two sets of positives and negatives, one for each filament/intensity.

Most standard 7443 sockets are wired in a manner that places one positive and one negative on each side of the socket. We are unlucky enough to have CK-style sockets that have both positives on one side and both negatives on the other. Nice illustration below:

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/1125/74437440wiringbs7.jpg

This difference in wiring does not affect filament bulbs because they don't care which way the current flows (my best guess...).

It does, however, cause the LED to blow a fuse when the brakes are applied. The first intensity works perfectly fine, but when the brakes are applied, the second intensity is what causes the fuse pop.

You can either pull apart the base of the bulb to rewire the bulb yourself according to that diagram, or you can rewire your car's sockets to match that diagram. I wasn't up for either of those, so I just found an LED vendor that offers them already wired to this specification.

And thanks to SquallLHeart for some help through PMs regarding this topic.

Quick update, I received my CK-type LEDs from autolumination.com and they work exactly as they should. Right now in daylight they appear to have similar brightness to the OEM incandescents.

I will add pics this evening when it darkens and include a comparison shot with LED vs stock.

Thanks to everyone who chipped in.

Also, customer service from autolumination is awesome. They were twice as helpful as the folks at superbrightleds.


do u have a link??? cant finf "ck-style" leds on the site anywhere.....

The only two options they currently have for 7443 CK's are the 15 LED Wedge Matrix for $7.99 and the 16 LED Light Tower for $9.99. They are the 9th and 10th items from the top of the page.

There isn't explicitly a link for the CK's. I had to email them to ask which 7443's they offered in CK and Chris emailed me back telling me those two are available. When you place your order, you need to add this line in the notes section: "Need GNPHOLE CK 7443 led bulbs per Chris".

They'll send you the CK ones and mine work flawlessly!

You know if the ones with more bulbs give off more light?

And P, I never answered your last question. I assume that ones with more LEDs are going to emit more absolute light. The thing is, for all practical purposes, I believe you hit a plateau when dealing with the red tail lenses. There is no way that the 45 LED towers I had before were truly 2.8 times brighter than the 16's I have now.

Right now the main benefit I could see from having more LEDs is going to be a more full and even spread of light in the reflector housing. But a side by side comparison between my 16-LED and the incandescent rendered no difference in fullness...

The only two options they currently have for 7443 CK's are the 15 LED Wedge Matrix for $7.99 and the 16 LED Light Tower for $9.99. They are the 9th and 10th items from the top of the page.

There isn't explicitly a link for the CK's. I had to email them to ask which 7443's they offered in CK and Chris emailed me back telling me those two are available. When you place your order, you need to add this line in the notes section: "Need GNPHOLE CK 7443 led bulbs per Chris".

They'll send you the CK ones and mine work flawlessly!

Why didn't u go with the matrix? Seems a better bulb since it has a wider angle and will utilize the reflector more...

The matrix didn't have as many side-facing LEDs as the tower. I liked the balance of the 8 side-facings and the 8 front facings of the tower.

The tower fills the housing identically to the filament bulb...which is a big deal since nothing has as full of a beam pattern as a filament bulb.

Do you know how many lumens your taillight bulbs are putting out? I ask because I've considered doing a swap like yours, but I also want to lightly smoke the taillights, so I don't want to lose brightness.

It appears a standard 7440/7443 bulb puts out 400 lumens. The brightest LED replacement I've found puts out less than 300. (http://shop.3bspecialties.com/Vision-Tech-T20-7443-39-SMD-White-pr-VT7443-39SMD-White.htm) I don't know whether or not they're CK-type and would even work, but since your bulbs look as bright as regular in pictures, I was hoping you know what they're rated at.

Thanks

I really wish I could provide you with some sort of objective measurement but I can't. Autolumination doesn't list the measured output of their bulbs.

Honestly, though, I'm not sure if it would have been helpful. The 45-LED towers I tried from superbrightleds are only listed at 30/120 (tail/brake) lumens on their site. Their brightness compared to the stocks was practically identical. My current 16-LED towers also are practically identical to stocks.

I'm gonna venture to say that comparing the output in lumens of a red LED tower to a clear filament bulb is going to be apples to oranges for this purpose. When you shine a 400 lumen clear bulb through a red lens, I'd bet a small fraction of those lumens actually make it through once all the non-red wavelengths are filtered out. Shining a 120 lumen red LED through that same lens will yield just about all of the brightness and color that were originally emitted. 120 lumens of pure red vs. unknown lumens of red that are filtered from white light.

That's why everyone recommends matching the LED color with the lens it will be used behind.

And it's going to be tough finding CK-type 7443's. Something I'm considering doing to remedy this is to rewire my tail light sockets. Switch the positive and negative leads around to turn that CK socket into a standard one.

I really wish I could provide you with some sort of objective measurement but I can't. Autolumination doesn't list the measured output of their bulbs.

Honestly, though, I'm not sure if it would have been helpful. The 45-LED towers I tried from superbrightleds are only listed at 30/120 (tail/brake) lumens on their site. Their brightness compared to the stocks was practically identical. My current 16-LED towers also are practically identical to stocks.

I'm gonna venture to say that comparing the output in lumens of a red LED tower to a clear filament bulb is going to be apples to oranges for this purpose. When you shine a 400 lumen clear bulb through a red lens, I'd bet a small fraction of those lumens actually make it through once all the non-red wavelengths are filtered out. Shining a 120 lumen red LED through that same lens will yield just about all of the brightness and color that were originally emitted. 120 lumens of pure red vs. unknown lumens of red that are filtered from white light.

That's why everyone recommends matching the LED color with the lens it will be used behind.

And it's going to be tough finding CK-type 7443's. Something I'm considering doing to remedy this is to rewire my tail light sockets. Switch the positive and negative leads around to turn that CK socket into a standard one.

Okay, pardon my abruptness, but...... BUNK LUMENS! Use LOGIC. Love the rewire idea.. might do it myself.. anywho...

Allow me to use a couple examples to let you into my train of thought.... Choo Choo
1. Military issue flashlights(oldschool L-shaped ones with interchangeable lenses) Include Red lens, why? To use in the field. Why red? Red is nearly the lowest glare producing color. Red does not reflect well therefore allowing soldiers to see what they are doing without attracting attention to get shot.
LEDs true power is when the eye can see the actual LED directly. 90% of these LED bulbs rely on reflecting light off the inside housing...

2. Police cars: equipped with red light fixtures inside to illuminate just enough to see what he/she is doing and not produce glare being too bright.

3.Aircraft: same

4. Look at a light spectrum chart... The section marked "Visible Light" yeah Red is at the edge.. [its like looking at the difference of halogen bulbs and HID headlight bulbs on the spectrum; as they too have a difference in color and brightness]

5. Stock TC Tail Light housing: They are plastic colored Red. Not some polarized lenses designed to filter certain parts of the light spectrum. They just Tint the light.

6. Window Tint(example): makes light darker

Lucky 7. Moral of the story is you are taking a naturally darker light hue and tinting it darker resulting in nearly the same brightness even if it is a Light Emitting Diode. Use White. Thats why factory doesn't use red bulbs like they use amber in turn signals. The ONLY benefit to using red bulbs in red housing is IF (hope you don't plan on this) your housing gets broke for whatever reason and the bulb still works then you wont need brake light tape.

^ Kinda true.

First, red light is used in the above applications because it allows the operator to see details without losing natural night vision. How visible the operator is to others has very little to do with it. Red flashlights to allow military to read detailed maps, red gauges allow pilots/policemen to see small instruments.

Second, all tinting, whether colored or dark, filters light. Polarized lenses actually bend light (which is why you can't wear polarized sun glasses in certain applications, like flying a plane). Red lenses filter out all wavelengths other than red. Blue lenses, yellow, etc all do the same by filtering out all other colors. Thus, a red lens over a red LED functions just like a clear lens, a won't reduce light output much at all. However, put a red lens over a blue LED and and you will have significant light reduction.

This is a bit overly simplified, as there are other contributing factors to light output, color, etc, but it's basically how it works.

My apologies...I don't know why I just assumed everyone would get what that is!

7443 sockets are used primarily for dual filament/intensity bulbs (for use with tail/brake lights, or tail/brake/turn signal when the car uses the tails for turn signals). Because of this they have two sets of positives and negatives, one for each filament/intensity.

Most standard 7443 sockets are wired in a manner that places one positive and one negative on each side of the socket. We are unlucky enough to have CK-style sockets that have both positives on one side and both negatives on the other. Nice illustration below:

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/1125/74437440wiringbs7.jpg

This difference in wiring does not affect filament bulbs because they don't care which way the current flows (my best guess...).

It does, however, cause the LED to blow a fuse when the brakes are applied. The first intensity works perfectly fine, but when the brakes are applied, the second intensity is what causes the fuse pop.

You can either pull apart the base of the bulb to rewire the bulb yourself according to that diagram, or you can rewire your car's sockets to match that diagram. I wasn't up for either of those, so I just found an LED vendor that offers them already wired to this specification.

And thanks to SquallLHeart for some help through PMs regarding this topic.

That diagram is not accurate... for my standard LED bulbs at least. The High + is closest to the outside edge. I did not have to open the base either. I simply got the jumper cables hooked up to my battery... found the polarity. Then grabbed the needlenose pliers pulled the -ground over next to the other -ground. Kept the outside +(high) where is was then ran the other +(low) along the edge of the wedge and folded to contact where it needed to.

BOOM! THATS RIGHT LADIES AND GENTS!
The EASIEST FIX to the Standard/CK brake light socket issue. Thanks to all you out there that clued me into the workings so I could Get Er Done

^ Kinda true.

First, red light is used in the above applications because it allows the operator to see details without losing natural night vision. How visible the operator is to others has very little to do with it. Red flashlights to allow military to read detailed maps, red gauges allow pilots/policemen to see small instruments.

Second, all tinting, whether colored or dark, filters light. Polarized lenses actually bend light (which is why you can't wear polarized sun glasses in certain applications, like flying a plane). Red lenses filter out all wavelengths other than red. Blue lenses, yellow, etc all do the same by filtering out all other colors. Thus, a red lens over a red LED functions just like a clear lens, a won't reduce light output much at all. However, put a red lens over a blue LED and and you will have significant light reduction.

This is a bit overly simplified, as there are other contributing factors to light output, color, etc, but it's basically how it works.

Yes well aware of the night vision. maybe should've stated that too but i thought i was overdoing it already, nevertheless the result is still the same from a less intense light spectrum. I'm still sticking with light reduction no matter what color the lens unless its clear.

I'm still sticking with light reduction no matter what color the lens unless its clear.

LOL, okay. Oh, and in case I haven't said it before. Welcome to the forum! :icon_biggrin:

LOL, okay. Oh, and in case I haven't said it before. Welcome to the forum! :icon_biggrin:

Thank you. I love feeding off of like minded car enthusiasts.

always use LEDs as your break light because they are 10000 times faster than regular bulbs

^
That's the main reason I decided to switch to LEDs in the brakes. Definitely not any brighter, but I love the instant on/off.

All this mumbo jumbo about lumens and color filtering and what not... I myself have the same 16 LED towers from autolumination in my tC, just put them in yesterday. In fact, I have been dealing with it for about a week and a half or so because of issues with the performance of the bulbs.

Before I read that you should put red LEDs behind red lenses, I went with the idea "Hey, white is brighter, so the lights should be brighter." And the fact that the stock bulbs are white, I figured that would be fine. So I ordered the white 16 LED towers, installed them and waited till night time to check them out. What a sad amount of light output. Needless to say the stock bulbs were much brighter and I was pretty disappointed. But I did see biglilsteve's pics of the LED towers performing as well as the stock bulbs, at which point I read in various places that it is better to put a red LED behind a red lens. Saw that he had done that, so I ordered the red 7443s to replace the white ones.

HUGE difference. Biglilsteve is 100% correct with everything he says. These bulbs are in fact just as bright as the stock bulbs and do have a deeper richer red to them. Side by side they make the stock bulb look more like a red-orange color. For about 24 bucks shipped you can't beat it. It's day time right now, I'll snap some shots tonight when it gets dark and post them with the different bulbs and hopefully the differences will show. It is DEFINITELY noticeable in person. If you order these bulbs from autolumination, just be sure to make a note in PayPal that you need the CK version. Definitely a worthwhile mod in my opinion.

^
I'm glad you got the same results I did! I hope your pics are better than mine :)

Ok so here are the pics, they suck but you can still see the brightness difference between white/red:

This is with both red 16 LED towers installed



This is with a red LED tower on the left and a white LED tower on the right


This is the red LED tower compared to stock bulb


Driver's side light with LED tower


Passenger's side light with stock incandescent bulb


Yes there is a small difference between the LED and stock, it is much more noticeable in person and believe me my camera sucks the big one. It does not look yellow at all (of course since the stock does not look yellow either) it looks candy apple red, very nice color. My camera is a 3.2 megapixel that is about 8 years old, so take that into consideration. However, you can plainly see a difference between the red LED and white LED, it is a very noticeable difference in brightness even on this crap camera. So, therefore it is definite, please put a red LED behind a red lens or amber behind amber etc, it does in fact make a difference. I am almost embarrassed to put these bad night shots up but my main point was the difference between white/red leds, and it is plainly visible. The red LED towers from autolumination are more than adequate and easy to get, if you want to convert to LED tail light bulbs.

Apparently the pics I embedded in the message did not make it into the posted message. Sigh

Evidently trying to embed images from a local hard drive does not work...sorry I'm still new to this forum. Here...

http://s1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/?action=view&current=001.jpg

http://s1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/?action=view&current=002.jpg

http://s1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/?action=view&current=003.jpg

http://s1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/?action=view&current=004.jpg

http://s1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/?action=view&current=005.jpg

If these pics don't show up now, forget it you'll just have to take my word for it.

Yea screw it they didn't show up either I don't have the patience for this crap, sorry. If anyone wants to give me a 4 year old's tutorial on how to embed pics in the messages then by all means, otherwise I give it the one finger salute.

Hi Vegas, I'm really curious to see the pics for comparison.

Create an account at photobucket.com and upload your photos there. You can then browse your album, hover over a photo and click "Direct Link" to copy the URL to your clipboard. Then on this site click the "Insert Image" icon when editing your post and paste the URL.

Thanks to biglilsteve and sneak for giving me the lowdown on how to get the pics up.

Ok so here are the pics, they suck but you can still see the brightness difference between white/red:

This is with both red 16 LED towers installed

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/001.jpg

This is with a red LED tower on the left and a white LED tower on the right

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/002.jpg

This is the red LED tower compared to stock bulb (LED on driver's side)

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/003.jpg

Driver's side light with LED tower

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/004.jpg

Passenger's side light with stock incandescent bulb

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n509/vegastc2/005.jpg

Obviously you can see the horrendous yellow hue my camera gave to the whole picture, the lights do not look like that in person, but the brightness still came through appropriately. Also the blurriness, it's horrible I know. Guess this jallopy isn't any good at taking night shots.

I just did a DIY on this here:

http://scionlife.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3872690&postcount=182

and i have videos and pictures in previous posts

Nice! Thanks for that! I almost think it would just be easier just to re-wire each socket though so you don't have to mod every bulb you put in.

u'll have to change the metal pins inside the socket. Re-wiring will not work because it has only 3 wires and the LED has 4 leads

I'd assume you could just cut the wires leading to the socket and re-splice them to different locations...

i tried doing it but it's impossible without modding the inner socket. It's hard to explain it on here but if you think about it for a while you'll understand.

At best you can switch the ground with either tail or brake wires on the socket and then for regular 7443 LED you will just have to flip the ground pins to one side or cut one off.

Mods, can we sticky this? We've had a few people post duplicate threads about this topic because they can't find this one. I can change the OP to give the answer if need be.

update the first post to have the walk through for it and I will sticky it.

Or make a new post with the walk through and just add a link to this thread in it then that one will be stickied

How's that?

I purchased the 60 LED bulbs at autolumination. 5th one down, there is a choice between regular and CK type bulb. They are $26.99 ea. Haven't had a problem yet.

Ahh I guess they have finally updated the site. Ill check it out and update the OP accordingly. Thanks for that info man!

Hi,

Reviving this thread a bit....

I tried to install a 7443 LED bulb today in my 05 xB and had lots of frustrations....

Not to mention I crack the cover of one of the tails, but I blew several fuses to boot. The bulb would give me tail light but no brake light effect.

You'd think an industry standard would be an industry standard....but NOOOOOOOOOOOO (to quote the grat Belushi).....so I guess no LED brake/Tail for me....

SD1

me did the DIY on how to change a regular LED into a CK LED

This is one of the best threads !!!!!

I had never heard of the CK alternate standard for the 7443 socket...what idiots came up with this one....

Anyhow, I got my 7443 LED towers (18 LED) converted and installed today.... To BAD I butchered one of the taillight covers "learning about this"....not to mention about 5 ten amp fuses until I did a DOH...

The true power of these forums is shown in this thread. The CK variant is known to like 8 people on this planet....and i WASN'T ONE OF THEM...hahahah

I am very happy with the lighting results, and after my butchery I decided to simply pop the red shield inside the housing by poking the little arrow connector out just a bit....since my LED towers were just a teeny bit too tall I was able to get them installed without having to fully pop the red shield...

I used the needle nose method to get the low + wire bent over and to the side rather than soldering an extension to the wire....thankfully the remaining wire is just long enuff to engage to contact in the socket....

I found a pair of gently used (mod) tails on ebay to swap in next week; nothing fancy, but better than a butchered lens on the passenger rear...Only $40 with shipping...

SD1

Glad to hear you found the info you needed!