'68 Charger LED lamp conversion ('69 pics too!) Plus Halo Headlight Conversion

[cjw916]

Hey guys,

I thought I'd share the LED conversion I did on my '68.

Why use LED bulbs? Well, they instantly come to full brightness, which means your blinkers are more noticeable, and your brakelights illuminate instantly, whereas incandescent bulbs can take up to .3 seconds to come up to full brightness, which at 75mph, is 110ft/sec*.3sec= 33 feet difference in the following vehicle's stopping distance. That could be the difference between a rear-end accident, and avoiding one! I also feel the quick lighting LEDs are brighter and more noticable, which makes them even safer.

I installed 1st gen LEDs, but the new LED lamps coming out are SO much better! Brighter, and a better thought out design, all-around.

I gotta post several pics to tell the whole story.

My Charger uses 1157 bulbs in the front and in all 4 rear housings. In the front, the dim comes on with the parking lamps, same as in the rear. With the headlamps on, the dim goes out in the front, and the bright signals with the directional; whereas in the rear, the bright is the brakelight/directional.

First pic is a standard bulb, second pic is bulb on dim, third pic is bulb on bright. The darker the background, the brighter the bulb, as the camera adjust aperature to the brightness.

[cjw916]

For in the front, I got 1157 bulbs in Amber from Mustang Project (www.mustangproject.com). I just did a search for 1157 and all their options popped up.

These 2nd gen LEDs have lamps all-around, which make them MUCH brighter and more similar to normal bulbs.

I included a pic of the invoice so you guys can see the costs involved. Some may think $100 is a fool parting with his money, but 1) They'll NEVER burn out, 100,000 hours life, 2) What price do you put on safety?

First pic is invoice, second pic is front bulb, third pic is bulb on dim, fourth pic is bulb on bright. Again, the darker the background, the brighter the light source, as the camera adjusts to the brightness.

[cjw916]

The first pic is the new bulb installed, on dim.
The second pic is the new bulb, on bright.
The third pic is a 1st gen LED, you can see the LEDs only faced forward, not all-around like the 2nd gen.
The fourth pic is the 1st gen LED on bright, notice the camera can see the ground, that's because the 2nd gen LED is about 4 times as bright!

[cjw916]

The first pic is the CNC milled aluminum 1157 white for the rears.
The second pic is the bulb on dim. On dim, it is at least twice as bright as the incandescent.
The third pic is the bulb on bright. On bright, the LED is 3-4 times as bright as the incandescent.
The background is darker as the bulb gets brighter, due to the camera.
The neat thing about LEDs is, they are not hot. The incandescent bulb burned me, just in the time it took me to take the pic; the LED never got even warm. . .

[cjw916]

The first pic is the stock bulbs on dim.
The second pic is the stock bulbs on bright.
The third pic is the LEDs on dim, they are literally nearly as bright as the stock bulbs on bright.
The fourth pic is the LEDs on bright; HOLY BRIGHTNESS, much brighter than the stock 1157s!

[JB400]

Technology can be a good thing when used correctly.  


I'm planning on Led's as well

[cjw916]

You will need a No Load flasher module when converting to LEDs. I got mine from Classic Industries,
http://www.classicindustries.com/mopar/parts/2000021.html
but everyone sells them. Mine did not work when I first plugged it in. I cross wired it, and it works fine. LOL. The positive must be on the other blade on new cars vs. our old rides. Works great. I would never go back to ordinary bulbs. The LEDs are much more attention grabbing when they flash, and they're certainly brighter, I'd even call them brilliant, compared to the incandescents.

[Charger_Fan]

Looks pretty good!
Although there's one caveat...and I mean no disrespect to you, CJW916.  LED's in a round housing usually tend to work well.
For any other non-rounded housings, bulb replacement LED's in a non-round housing will NOT work well. Bulb replacement LED's in a non-round housing will only successfully illuminate the close proximity around the bulb, leaving larger taillight housings mostly un-illuminated, with only a small area around the "bulb" illuminated.
Basically, the end result is less than a trusty old 1157 can do & may I dare say looks CHEEZY in the end.

Round light housings & LED's work great, any other lens shape looks like you stepped backwards in time & are begging to get rear-ended.

[cjw916]

Yeah, I could see that being a possibility in an irregular shaped housing, like the '69 rear lamp housing. You know, I have a complete set of '69 tail lights in the garage, now you've got me wondering. . . LOL. I'll dig them out and experiment & post follow-up pics for you guys. I'd agree that the 1st gen LED lamps would definitely NOT work well, but maybe the all-around design of these new 2nd gen LED lamps would work well? I'll get pics up as soon as I take them. . .

[cjw916]

Well, I wasn't that tired, and I have to pick a friend up at the airport in a couple of hours, so I ran to the garage & dusted off the set of '69 lamp housings that I had on the shelf.

First pic is all 1157 bulbs on dim. (sorry, both 1156's were burnt out)
Second pic is the 1157 bulbs on bright.
Third pic is LEDs on the bottom, all on dim.
Fourth pic is LEDs on the bottom, all on bright.

The only problem I saw, was the LEDs looked just a bit more 'orange' than the incandescent bulbs. I think this could be fixed if you sprayed the inside reflectors white, instead of the silver that they are. I would say that the 2nd gen LEDs that throw light in all directions, look better even in an irregular housing, like the '69. I'm certain the 1st gen LEDs would look like crap, they'd definitely look like a cluster of lamps in the center of the housing, with no illumination around them.

[Charger_Fan]

Looks like I may have to eat my words, that works better than I expected.   The different layout does a nice job with throwing light in all directions.
I assume it looks just as good in bright daylight as 1157's do?

[tan top]

    looks good 

like the licence plate on the 68 , A MOVER     reminded me DMCL , larry says  think we got a mover here , when Hank  starts tailing him 

[A383Wing]

note here....the LED's are not very bright in the daytime...and you should be using red LED's behind the red tail lenses..you will get a much brighter red color with red bulbs

[cjw916]

My whole youth, going to car shows with my Dad & uncle, they'd always say, 'Now THERE'S A MOVER!' whenever a car had a big block, dual-quads, a blower, a narrowed rear end, etc. They both raced in Kaukauna WI in their youth. The only old cars they liked were the muscle cars. There's a line in the Blues Brothers, too, Elwood tells Jake, 'I think we got a mover, here.' when the cops pull up behind them. I don't know if it's an old term that means police car? But, to me, A MOVER will always be my Dad & uncle talking 'bout fast cars. . .

[1970Moparmann]

Great write up!

[cjw916]

Thanks MoparMan, I like to spark conversation. I find I learn more from others than I can glean through my own research, most of the time, :-).

A383WING, I think these new 2nd Gen LEDs are MUCH brighter than the disappointing 1st Gen bulb replacements. I tried those, and switched back to 1157s in the rear because I felt they were dim during bright sunlight, and therefore less safe. But these new bulb replacement LEDs with their all-around light source design do a much better job of throwing light and being highly visible, in all light conditions. I wish we could post video here, maybe I'll link a YouTube or FaceBook video, illustrating the visibility during day & night for guys to compare?

Another question WING, you said Red LEDs should be used in the rear? I am curious. New Cadillacs have brilliant LED tail lights, are those Red LEDs inside a red lens? I know modern cars usually use plasti-chrome reflectors, which help the lamps seem so bright, but are those white or red LEDs behind those red lenses?

Red light actually contains less energy than all of the other colors in the visible spectrum, it's the area under the sine curve, added up, that equates to energy. This is why ultra-violet light, light with shorter wavelength than purple, sunburns our skin, it carries the most energy! So, white light, a combination of all colors, actually carries more energy than red:
http://www2.ohlone.edu/people/jklent/labs/101A_labs/LightSpectrum.pdf
It's why we use white for headlamps, and red lens flashlights when we don't want to be spotted by enemies, at night. But, the higher frequency of red light, in closer proximity, actually is more visible to our eyeball's retina? (red stoplights, red storefront signs) Is this because red does not fire all of our eye's photoreceptors, with it's lower energy, and therefore wash out our ability to see? I've had too much Physics, now it's confusing me!

Are red LEDs inside a red lens more visible? When by definition, red carries less (photons) energy?

It might look better inside of the '69 housing (more red, instead of that orange shift that I observed, which I think is due to the blue content of the ultra-white LEDs), but would it technically be less visible due to the lower energy content?

Any thoughts?

What I do know, is my lamps are hella-visible when braking, day, or night. At night, the signs in my mirror light up SO red, when braking, that they catch my eye!

[JB400]

I believe most of the new vehicles with Led taillights, do have the red ones.

[Charger_Fan]

Sounds like one of us needs to visit a boneyard with a hammer & a battery... Smash lenses & apply juice! 
Honestly, without seeing the red vs. white in person I couldn't really form an educated opinion. At this juncture, I'd probably guess that a white incarnation of these lights would probably show up better behind a 40 year old red lens, but again, that's merely a guess at this point.
Seeing a comparison in person (no cameras allowed) would ultimately settle this.

[fy469rtse]

good glad some one could post some photo's , I just finished doing the rears on my 69 , I chrome plated the inside of the housing for a better reflection of light , yes I did use red led's great affect, you will need a second led flasher cam , for hazard lights ,
I used switch back leds in the  front, is that what they are ? , bright white which switches to amber led for turn signal and changes back once indicator are turned off, so bright they are almost like a day running light , almost inclined to plastic chrome the housing for park lenses for a better reflection of light so they will be as bright as the day running lights you see around, the purpose of this , most people are too busy looking at the car instead of concentrating on there driving , I bet we have all had moments like this  .
I will try to post my photo's on this again,
actually chrome plating the inside of housing had a great effect, then a better step again with leds

[cjw916]

RTSE, I saw those switching front lamps on their website, on my '68 the parking lamp is on when the switch is half-way, then goes out when you turn the headlamps on, so I never considered them as daytime running lights. My '70 Mach 1 Mustang had grille mounted lamps in addition to the turn indicators at the corner of the lower valence. I had thought those white&amber lamps would've worked great in that car, and since I bought from a Mustang site, I thought that was the market they were aiming for. Is your '69 wired different (is my '68 wired wrong?) do your lower marker lights stay on with the headlamps on?

I knew someone had plasti-chromed thier bezels! I would say that Red LEDs would look best behind the '69, '70 etc flat lens, the orange shift I experienced with white LEDs in my pics above would not happen that way. Just be sure to order the more costly lamps. I ordered the 6watt $18 lamps, but I swear they sent me their 30watt $29 CNC lamps because they had no $18 lamps in stock and have yet to pull them off their site. Just my theory. I may just have to order a red LED to post a pic & settle the discussion! The thicker '68 lens does not appear orange in any way with the white LED, but I think the thinner flat lens would benefit from the red LED.

Thanks for the tip about the hazards! Mine were blinking slowly & I did not know why? Where is the second blinker module mounted? Over near the hazard switch? Somewhere else?

I have 4 LED Halo 5 3/4" headlights on back-order.
http://www.cjponyparts.com/headlight-halogen-led-halo-single-color-pair-1969/p/HLA36/
They have a cool video on their site. I just got the single color (white) halos. The multi-color were featured on Two Guys Garage. My next project. They use an H4 halogen lamp, like many new cars, so replacement bulbs will be cheap. I plan to use an interrupt switch or relay, maybe a second floor dimmer switch, to turn off the low-beams, so I can have the switch all the way up, to open the vacuum door lamp covers, so I can roll with the halos on, lamps off. If I had the electro-actuated door covers, it'd be easier yet to wire, but my vacuums still work well. I plan to put the halos on a dimmer circuit, don't hate me, I have LED halo hoops behind my brake rotors, on a dimmer. People either love them, or hate them, because so many imports do undercar lighting. I really like the effect. I've had SO many car guys ask me how I did it. An idea I had a long time ago that weatherproof strip LED lighting now makes possible.

I'll post headlamp pics when I do the install.

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Great post and example of what bulbs to use.    I've seen too many people think all LEDs are the same, so they buy the cheap $1.00 single LED bulb then bash them cause they are not bright enough. The bigger 360 degree bulbs are the way to go and put out way more light than any other bulb out there.

I switched every bulb in my car to 360 degree LEDs (except the tail lights which have a full LED board) and I love the way they look and perform.    

I don't know about the wheel lights though?     A little too much for me.



 

[TexasStroker]

I'm a big LED fan...I like the way I can customize the outputs and color schemes...granted that is for interior and other aesthetics.  I've been playing around with lighting since I got the Charger in 99 and then every subsequent vehicle I've owned has been treated to custom lighting shortly there after.  I stated with bulb covers and spraying bulbs like the old timers told me they did...With time, know how, and technology it has turned into a bit of a staple.

My only hold up with the Charger is the limited offerings for "Orange" although many of the reds have that orange glow with a black interior.

I will probably play around tomorrow with some stuff planned for the Charger, if I have time...Valance and door locks are the priority.

I have done a lot of custom stuff to my M10 (late model Challenger) and I really like it...so much more unique than the stock look.  Plus with any interior or underbody effect you can simply have a wired switch to turn it on and off.

I have to admit though, that is the first time I've seen wheel lighting on a REAL Charger, lol.  I don't mind it personally, but I'm probably in the minority there...

Keep it up!

[fy469rtse]

RTSE, I saw those switching front lamps on their website, on my '68 the parking lamp is on when the switch is half-way, then goes out when you turn the headlamps on, so I never considered them as daytime running lights. My '70 Mach 1 Mustang had grille mounted lamps in addition to the turn indicators at the corner of the lower valence. I had thought those white&amber lamps would've worked great in that car, and since I bought from a Mustang site, I thought that was the market they were aiming for. Is your '69 wired different (is my '68 wired wrong?) do your lower marker lights stay on with the headlamps on?

I knew someone had plasti-chromed thier bezels! I would say that Red LEDs would look best behind the '69, '70 etc flat lens, the orange shift I experienced with white LEDs in my pics above would not happen that way. Just be sure to order the more costly lamps. I ordered the 6watt $18 lamps, but I swear they sent me their 30watt $29 CNC lamps because they had no $18 lamps in stock and have yet to pull them off their site. Just my theory. I may just have to order a red LED to post a pic & settle the discussion! The thicker '68 lens does not appear orange in any way with the white LED, but I think the thinner flat lens would benefit from the red LED.

Thanks for the tip about the hazards! Mine were blinking slowly & I did not know why? Where is the second blinker module mounted? Over near the hazard switch? Somewhere else?

I have 4 LED Halo 5 3/4" headlights on back-order.
http://www.cjponyparts.com/headlight-halogen-led-halo-single-color-pair-1969/p/HLA36/
They have a cool video on their site. I just got the single color (white) halos. The multi-color were featured on Two Guys Garage. My next project. They use an H4 halogen lamp, like many new cars, so replacement bulbs will be cheap. I plan to use an interrupt switch or relay, maybe a second floor dimmer switch, to turn off the low-beams, so I can have the switch all the way up, to open the vacuum door lamp covers, so I can roll with the halos on, lamps off. If I had the electro-actuated door covers, it'd be easier yet to wire, but my vacuums still work well. I plan to put the halos on a dimmer circuit, don't hate me, I have LED halo hoops behind my brake rotors, on a dimmer. People either love them, or hate them, because so many imports do undercar lighting. I really like the effect. I've had SO many car guys ask me how I did it. An idea I had a long time ago that weatherproof strip LED lighting now makes possible.

I'll post headlamp pics when I do the install.

[fy469rtse]

That second flasher on the other side of column, one each side , one for flashers one for turn signals , with the Parker's I ran an extra wire from low beam loom to keep them on with either, the switch backs work great once you get the resistance issues sorted out, I like the look of the being on , I also used the strip lighting , but used it as a trunk light, on the under side of trunk lip seal

[fy469rtse]

I like the wheel light effect , I was thinking of other uses first , like to effect in the interior , will have to wait until I get good at posting and start my restoration thread an go and post photo's from start to present day,
I have done my side marker lights , which on these cars were just reflectors only, also chrome plated the bezels , will have to wait and see what you guys think and if you can spot what I have done