Are your 7443 tail light bulbs causing you to blow fuses? You need CK-type bulbs!!
07-03-2011, 08:27 PM
#44
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Nevada
Posts: 17
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.
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.
07-04-2011, 04:12 AM
#46
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Nevada
Posts: 17
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.
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.
07-04-2011, 04:40 AM
#49
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Nevada
Posts: 17
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.
07-05-2011, 01:22 AM
#50
Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Toronto
Posts: 33
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.
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.
07-05-2011, 03:04 AM
#51
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Nevada
Posts: 17
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
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 (LED on driver's side)
Driver's side light with LED tower
Passenger's side light with stock incandescent bulb
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.
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 (LED on driver's side)
Driver's side light with LED tower
Passenger's side light with stock incandescent bulb
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.
Last edited by VegastC2; 07-05-2011 at 03:47 AM.
07-09-2011, 09:41 PM
#52
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Nashua, NH
Posts: 2,102
I just did a DIY on this here:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...&postcount=182
and i have videos and pictures in previous posts
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...&postcount=182
and i have videos and pictures in previous posts
07-10-2011, 07:56 PM
#56
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Nashua, NH
Posts: 2,102
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.
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.
