Patrick - LED Taillight problems

[DanEC]

I was browsing through Walmart yesterday and thought I would see if they had any older model halegon bulbs (which they didn't). I again looked at the Pilot, red LED 1157 bulbs they sell and thought, well for another $15/pr they might be worth trying so I bought them.

Soo - I thought I would plug one in the driver side front turn signal first as an experiment since it's easy access. I plugged it in and turned on the park lights and it worked. Then I turned on the driver turn signal and all four lights started flashing like emergency flashers. Well, this didn't bode well for my $15 but what the heck, it's cold and raining, so I reassembled the front light and went to the trunk.

Pulled the reflector off the driver side and exchanged it with the 2357 Sylvania bulb I put in a few months ago (supposedly much brighter on the brake circuit than 1157). Turned on the parking lights - and the dang thing lit up!!! That never happened with the Superbrite bulb. Turned on the turn signal and it flashes (and driver side only too). Pushed on the brake pedal and it gets brighter.

Put in the passenger side and dang, it works too. Everything works.

Driver side LED - pass side is a 2357 bulb which is brighter than standard. The reflector is not mounted yet.



Both sides - reflectors mounted



Pilot bulbs - $15/pr at our Walmart



So, I'm stumped but it works and only took me about 20 minutes after spending days with the Superbrite bulbs. All I can figure is there was some sort of internal issue or incompatibility of the Superbrite bulbs with my light sockets, or ??? I'll let Patrick lie awake at nights trying to figure it out. At least they seem to work fine in my GTX so maybe they have a preference for 47 year old, marginal in their day electrical systems.

The Pilot bulbs are really a value at $15/pr. I can't directly compare them to the Superbright bulbs. I looked up their website and they have a lower lumens rating than Superbright - but still way, way more than 1157 and 2357 bulbs. They don't have as many LED units. My impression is that the flasher and brake element are not especially bright and I think are noticeably less than the Superbright bulb from memory. The tail light portion seems about as bright from memory but is rated lower. I paid about $50/pr for the Superbright bulbs.

Using my friend Google, I found some lumens rating info:

Std 1157 bulb 3/38 lumens - tail/brake

2357 bulb 3/45 lumens

Pilot 1157 red 180 lumens (didn't list dual levels)

Superbrightled
1157 red 120/301 lumens

Pretty sure the 180 for the Pilot is the brake circuit lumen level.

It's remains a mystery to me.