Depo tail lights - dual reverse lamps, LED turn signals

[scottvd]

Installed the Depo LED tail lights. I wanted the turn signals to be on LED, so I moved them to the LED spot reserved for the fog tail lights. Also it looks much better not to have that amber coated filament bulb installed anymore. The amber really reflected off the mirrored surface and showed up quite a bit. I did have to install a resistor to prevent hyperflashing. Since the resistors do get hot I installed mine behind the tail light assembly inside the trunk, I tucked away out of sight against the exposed metal body.

With the turn signal filament bulb gone it was just wasted space, so I doubled up the reverse lamps and put a second clear bulb in that spot - now I have double the reverse light!

I did have to hack the bulb socket assembly a bit to accomplish all this, but it's reversible if necessary.

Looking at the picture below, the right taillight, the lower left corner is a LED bank, that's the brake light. The red block on the bottom middle is a filament bulb for the taillights. It uses a 5007 (17171/R5W) bulb - I purchased these LED replacement bulbs which are supposed to be brighter than the stock filament bulbs. From what I've read the reverse lamps are best kept filament as many of the LED bulbs aren't as bright or disperse the light as evenly.

As a side note, with two Depo LED tail lights and the third (center mount) LED brake light installed the braking lights work fine WITHOUT the use of a resistor.

[woodsman]

cool, cool thanks for the details

[BruceH]

Great write up, thank you.

[scottvd]

Just as a follow-up I replaced the tail lights with the Camco LED Bulb. The LED bulbs are indeed brighter than even new filament bulbs, but not ridiculously brighter, like 130% brighter. The polarity on the bulb socket assembly was already correct for these LEDs so there was no alteration necessary, just plug and play. So all three brake lights, both turn signals, and tail lights are LED. Only the 4x reverse lamps are filament bulbs.

[Slate 01]

Scott, you were right my metallic slate grey box looks outstanding with smoked Depo tail lights. The lines in the tail lights really accentuate the lines of the car.

Now I have a pretty great set of Red/Amber tail lights for sale if anyone is interested, PM me and we'll work something out. They are in outstanding condition, always garaged.

Thanks Scott, How's Austria treating you?

[Gator]

Did you drill a hole for the side marker lights or not use them?

[epapp]

Did your cruise control stop working after installing the led brake light bulbs?

[Fintro11]

Originally Posted by epapp

Did your cruise control stop working after installing the led brake light bulbs?

I have heard of that before I think you need to install a resistor.

[epapp]

Yep

[Seal Grey Sasha 986]

Hate to dig up an old thread, but anyone else who has tried this...did you have an issue with the fog lights turned turn signal acting like there was a short? I've tried other bulbs in the socket as well as plugging the brake light into the turn signal socket...everything else works, but the "fog light" always flickers like it won't quite light up. Still works fine as a fog light, but not as a turn signal. I even ordered another set of lights thinking it was just a short in my lights, but the new ones do the same thing. As a note, I switched from having LED Amber bulbs for signals, so I already had load resistors installed...could this be my issue? Do the fogs already have resistors built in or something?