I've always liked LEDs for their efficiency, long life, and instant on (for brake lights). A few years back I tried out direct bulb replacement LEDs, but they were very weak and burnt out easily (sensitive to voltage spikes in a car). I wanted to help those shopping for LED replacements to avoid the older generations because they are not bright and a safety hazard. They are usually the ones with a plastic dome for each emitter. Newer ones are brighter, but still are not as bright as incandescent bulbs. As for longevity, I'll have to wait a while to see.

Recently I've just replaced my interior dome, cargo area, license plate, and exterior park/brake lights with high power LEDs. Here's what the front amber LEDs look like, they're 1W each, and 120 deg beam pattern, the aluminum housing is a heatsink for of the high power drawn. I don't have comparison pictures with original bulbs, but they are actually brighter than the 5W filaments from what I remember. Also included a picture of the 3175 dome replacement LEDs, I got 1 extra since it was a good deal.



Here's the 7443 red 11 Watt LEDs. It is the most powerful ones I could find. Each emitter draws about 83mA of current max, and there's 11 of them for a total draw of 917 mA! Compared to older generation LEDs that draw at most 61 mA total with 15 emitters, no wonder they were so dim! Power (watts) = Current (mA) * Voltage (12). The key here is that each of the emitters is 1 Watt, and there are 11 of them to light up a reflector housing in all directions to mimic the light direction of a regular incandescent bulb.




Here's a picture of my Fit brakes lit with new 7443 LEDs in the right, original filament in the left. This comparison is important because it has the original bulb and new LED under the same exposure, so it's easy to see how it compares in brightness. Cameras usually autoexpose, so if taken separately it may compensate automatically and make dimmer lights appear brighter and brighter lights appear dimmer. This photo compares both technologies in the same exposure.



As you can see even the 11W LEDs is still slightly dimmer than a regular filament. But the power efficiency and instant turn-on is worth the switch for me.

A closeup of the 7443 LED in the housing:



Front parking 1W amber LED:



Interior white festoon LED replacement. It's blurry because the scene was dim and my camera had to use a slow shutter speed to get the right exposure. The brightness is about the same if not slightly dimmer than original bulb.



I bought all my LEDs through ebay internationally, much better deals than some of the retail sites, but you have to know what to look for. Just do a search for '194 led' or '7443 led'. The festoon & 194 1W cost about $7 for each pair, 7443 11W are about $23 for the pair, shipping included.

Just to clarify, DO NOT GET THESE TYPES OF LEDs pictured below, or any variation of them because they are very weak:

 

Is that a JDM 3rd brake light?

 

The top 3rd brake light is OEM for GE8 US model.

 

thanks for this post, very informative!

 

I have a bunch of different colors of the 1w SMT LED's, the output is very bright on those things. Really quite surprising.

 

Here is the LED I just installed for the cargo replacement. 2 watt high power 4 led version! Problem solved with the cargo bay lighting...



V-LEDS HID WHITE 4 LED 2 WATT HP M-SMT FLANK BULBS 194 168 158

 

Luckily the led's are on the right side, if the polarity were not right (manufacturer or design variation), the emitters would be facing the side against the wall.

 

Actually, the thing is smart. It has dual reversible polarity. They designed the thing like a champ - partly explains all the resistors and stuff on the back pcb. Also, each led is supposed to be as strong as 10 regular leds. The thing is BRIGHT. I award it the best design for these things I've seen scouring the internets so far.

 

nice, if only they weren't $20 each I would get some...

 

You actually get a pair... so I have an extra I need to find a use for. Heh heh.

 

should make diy how to change the bulbs in the tail light !!! i want to do that..

 

tailights on the GE8 are really easy. Just gently pry open the back panel with a screwdriver. YOu'll see little grooves. Once that's open, it's a matter of couter-clockwise twisting off the bulbs (clockwise if you're looking from the outside back towards front.) The brake lights are 7443, turn signals 7440, and reverse is 7440 too (I think).

 

how bout on an 08 > < !? lol

 

Hello Reverse is a 921 Bulb.I saw somewhere you can get Ultra-Brite led as well as the standard 921.
I have a 2009 Sport Fit.
I too am trying to fiqure out how to increase the Brightness of all outside lights. I feel they are all very Weak.
Good day

 

I love LED's FTW!!!! Im going to post some pictures once it gets darker. I gave them on the headlights also inside and also in the cargo area (those are a plate of 8 LEDS)

 

What is FTW?
Cant wait to see your photos.
Good Day