LED bulbs in tailights

[Javi Cooper]

Oh man. Not what I wanted to read when I searched for this Maybe things have changed in the couple of years since this thread was made?

I just replaced the 3rd brake light bulbs with LEDs and they looks fantastic (I have the aero kit 1 spoiler which uses the 996 3rd brake light). If there's a diffuser issue I can't see it, but then again I don't know what I'm looking for. I'd like to do the brake bulbs at the tail lights too. Would bulb or resistor heat still be an issue with the brake lights since they obviously won't be continuously switched on?

[PLP]

Originally Posted by Javi Cooper

Oh man. Not what I wanted to read when I searched for this Maybe things have changed in the couple of years since this thread was made?

Not much... the light pattern is still an issue.
However, as others I tried so many LED replacements and only two types gave me more luck.

https://ebay.us/wCGOQ0

Basically the design is the key.
Those two styles allow for good light focus and they mimic tungsten style light bulb filling the light assembly same way or very close to OEM.

[Zordrack]

With regard to heat I feel like I gotta make a semi snarky observation.

Yes LEDs get hot, but they do so significantly less so than halogens.
Set aside efficiency and the fact that the tungsten filament is literally so hot that it glows with black body radiation vs semi conductors that usually burn out at under 140C and just look at power consumption.

Standard halogen is 21w vs equivalent LED at 3w.

No matter how you slice it that means a lot less power in the form of heat being put into the housing.
That's just kinda physics 101. You don't get energy you never put into the system.

Not to say that you couldn't have crappy LEDs that have bad hotspots, but overall the heat load on the light will have to be significantly less.

Just saying