LED exterior lighting

Discussion in 'Electrical' started by Brinker88, Feb 24, 2012.

  1. Brinker88

    Brinker88 Black sheep o' the family

    This thread is for informational purposes ONLY. ANY off topic discussions/posts WILL be deleted. Please feel free to add to this thread as it will become a sticky for other members to use.

    If you're converting your exterior lighting to LED you will need to know a few things. LED puts out far less amperage than incandescent bulbs. When swapping your turn signal lights out for LEDs, you will need to change the flasher to a low amperage LED flasher.

    1st gen-3rd gen (to 1997) use a 2 prong flasher. The new part number needed for this conversion is EL12L2. What you need to do is make 2 short leads. Install the leads OPPOSITE from how they should be installed.

    1998+ rangers use part number EP27 for their conversions if hyperflash occurs.

    If you're cheap, you can skip the flasher installation and just hardwire an incandescent bulb on both the passenger and driver side turn signals and tuck it out of the way so that the OE flasher can have the amperage it needs to operate.

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    Last edited: Mar 2, 2012
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  3. buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    LED puts out far less amperage than incandescent bulbs.

    The led's will actually create less of an amperage current draw than incandescent bulbs & they have a lower resistance than incandescent bulbs. :)

    Most of the trucks will see the led bulbs as a burned out incandescent bulb & create the hyper flashing or in your case the slow flashing.

    The electronic EP-27 flasher, also known as a heavy duty flasher or LED flasher usually takes care of the hyper flashing.

    The electronic flashers will normally give you increased load capabilities in cases where you may have a trailer that has a lot of extra incandescent bulbs.
    I took a pre-emptive strike and changed all my utility trailer lights to led's :)

    My 96 uses the EP-27 flasher & most of the newer trucks should as well.

    I'm guessing 94 was the last year for the el-12-l2 flasher, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
     
  4. OP
    Brinker88

    Brinker88 Black sheep o' the family

    I looked on advance auto and the EL12 was used up until 1997 for the standard flasher. Maybe it was wrong. I'll have to verify it again and see what the outcome is. Thanks for the input Bugg
     
  5. 2004xlmiller

    2004xlmiller Member

    im gonna post pics of my LEDs, if you dont think its helpful to the thread you may delete them.
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  6. Scrambler82

    Scrambler82 Old Guy User

    The last post was six months ago but I will see if this Thread accepts mine.

    I added LED Tail, purchased them on eBay, got a great price, expected them to crap out but they are still going strong.

    These are (I think) ’03 Tails, LED Brake/Turn/Running Lights with separate Bak-up Lights. They have been mod’d so the Bak-up Lights are now the Separate Turn Signals (requires rewiring of the vehicle). High Output Incandescence Bulbs are being used for the Turn signals (27 Watts) yes BRIGHT !

    [​IMG]

    Another LED Lighting happening… Blinker Mod/Side Markers :

    I did the Blinker Mod, this is where the Side Markers flash alternately and sometimes not alternately with the directionals. I used incandescent bulbs at first and the mod work really nice. Then I changed to LEDs and guess what the mod went away, no flashing… why you ask. Since LEDs are a polarity sensitive component (there is a positive + and a negative - pole) it only can wired up one way, “EDs only allow the flow of electricity in one direction and still work (incandescent bulbs either way and still work). Well you guessed it, the LEDs did not work as the incandescent bulbs did, so out went the LEDs and I am now reusing the std bulbs.

    Anyone that has a fix for the Side Marker / Blinker Mod using LEDs please post something.

    And here is another LED Mod that is not for the faint of heart.
    Replacing all of the SMT (Surface Mount Technology) LEDS in the Radio Face, green to RED, to bad they are not E4 RED/;

    [​IMG]

    I have a write up on this, not sure if it is posted on this site but will check.

    Time and patience is a must when working with surface mounted LEDs, but if you want things to match inside of the vehicle it is required.

    I am removing this radio soon and replacing it with a Pioneer DD but I forgot to check if it has a red mode, first thing to check when install starts, maybe two radios up for sale.

    Third Brake Light - Added an LED Unit/
    LEDs are for the Brake Lights only as purchased, the Cargo Lights are setup for incandescent bulbs but depend on your vehicle wiring for sockets.
    I changed the Cargo Lights to Directionals and added Amber LED replacement bulb, not as bright as I would like it to be but OK, especially at night. (this is a mod by another Ranger Owner, I just found it and wham-bam got it done).

    Good Luck with any and all LED Mods and post them up.

    Also, check out Buggman’s LED Mods, he is doing a lot of work (without proper pay) to make sure we as Ranger owners are up to date in the lighting arena.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2013
  7. Scrambler82

    Scrambler82 Old Guy User

    Anyone try the new LED Fog Lights ?
     
  8. JonathanBoyd

    JonathanBoyd New Member

    Looks like I got the information I was searching for.. Sorry for old thread reply but I need cheap lights which consumes less power.. Thanks for sharing information:):)
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2013
  9. maranger

    maranger New Member

    i converted all my lights to led, hyperflash occured so i went to the local parts store an got a "variable load" relay and i worked perfect cost like 5 dollars

    1 dash light bulb requires 110 led bulbs to equal the same amount of power.
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2013

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