Rear bulbs (LED) ?

Mr. Detail · Post by **Mr. Detail** » 12 Jul 2018, 11:12

Just went over to the auto parts store to pick up a couple of #1156 brake light bulbs and noticed they had some LED style bulbs for the same P/N. Very expensive but i am curious if anyone has tried these in their older Volvo's without any error messages or lighting up the dash.
They draw more current than the standard #1156's.

difflock54 · Post by **difflock54** » 12 Jul 2018, 20:17

LED's should draw a lot less current than a normal filament automotive bulb???
Thats what makes them so economic plus their long lifespan.

Mr. Detail · Post by **Mr. Detail** » 13 Jul 2018, 06:37

but what about the increased brightness? The LED's supposedly are much brighter than the standard filament.

Georgeandkira · Post by **Georgeandkira** » 13 Jul 2018, 06:47

OK Mr. Pennsylvania, the honeymoon's over. Do a search on LED bulbs.

Recently I suggested that known, branded LEDs which work should be charted by us. Matthew himself (the man behind the curtain) mentioned extending a masterfully done bulb cross reference someone posted in the 850 forum with such LED data.

LED growing pains have included companies offering LED lamps which run very hot. Nascent companies with no QC have sold countless "white box" junk to unsuspecting consumers. Low draw and unmatched (left-to-right) lamps can cause "bulb out" messages.

The industry is only just catching up. LED lamps are simply a game I needn't play. They're creeping in already. I "love" how Volvo added a strip of them to my '07's taillights. All the LED stop & tail lights out there are no longer a novelty. The LED "eyeliners" on cars have, in my opinion, become passe'. Haven't you seen patches of LED lighting which has burned out or otherwise has become inoperative?

We're racing towards electric cars with out drivers, one piece molded tire-wheels and shared rides. I recommend simplifying one's automotive life. LED retrofits are of limited value.

Wow man, look how bright my license plate lights are!

Post by **Rattnalle** » 13 Jul 2018, 06:50

Mr. Detail wrote: ↑13 Jul 2018, 06:37 but what about the increased brightness? The LED's supposedly are much brighter than the standard filament.

They are much much brighter given the same wattage. The wattage specified on led bulbs is often not anywhere near the real wattage unfortunately so it's hard to compare.

For the bulbs that are monitored you'll need to roughly match the original wattage. The reverse lights and number plate lights are not monitored though so there you can use anything.

The only replacement of any real value in my opinion is sticking the brightest possible bulb in the reverse light so it actually illuminates the area behind the car. The other bulbs last for years anyway.

93SCMax · Post by **93SCMax** » 13 Jul 2018, 09:15

In 2015 I installed the license plate LED bulb kit from IDP. Frankly, I was underwhelmed. For $10, I thought it was worth trying.
My experience would say to stick with regular, high quality traditional bulbs. They really don't seem to burn out that often or cause issues with dash warning lights (error messages).

Mr. Detail · Post by **Mr. Detail** » 13 Jul 2018, 12:05

OK Mr. Pennsylvania, the honeymoon's over. Do a search on LED bulbs.

Really? I thought that folks on this forum like to interact with other Volvo owners. I am sorry.
I won't post for a month.

Post by **Kara503** » 13 Jul 2018, 15:59

My 2 cents-

I have tried LEDs in various forms in many of my cars. Auto store bulbs are a ripoff. Amazon bulbs are a crapshoot but the deal is too good to ignore. LEDs will cause CANbus erros and cause your car to think lights are burned out. Bottom line- I only use LEDs in my reverse lights. Anywhere else the 'bulb out' error is too irritating. Reverse lights help you see where you are going MUCH better when they are ultra bright LEDs. There are a few sellers on Amazon that sell super bright white LEDs with a lens on the front of them that are crazy good as reverse lights.

I can completely understand wanting brighter brake lights in order to be more visible, but I personally can't deal with a light or error message every time I hit the brakes.

Post by **abscate** » 16 Jul 2018, 06:49

From the optics guy. When you bought a 100 Watt light bulb for all those years, you were buying 5 Watts of light and 95 watts of heat. When you buy a 5Watt LED, you buy 5 Watts of light and 5 Watts of heat.

You should call the LED company and ask for your free heat they are holding back.

Mr D - we do poke fun at each other here on occasion, please don't take it seriously - we will miss you if you stay away...

Post by **Rattnalle** » 16 Jul 2018, 08:00

abscate wrote: ↑16 Jul 2018, 06:49 From the optics guy. When you bought a 100 Watt light bulb for all those years, you were buying 5 Watts of light and 95 watts of heat. When you buy a 5Watt LED, you buy 5 Watts of light and 5 Watts of heat.

You should call the LED company and ask for your free heat they are holding back.

Mr D - we do poke fun at each other here on occasion, please don't take it seriously - we will miss you if you stay away...

If it's free depends on who's paying the electricity I guess

Here in the snowy North led rear lights actually have a very distinct disadvantage. They don't melt snow so the rear lights stop being visible. Regular bulbs get hot enough to stay reasonably clear of slow.