What is the difference between a wedge, 1w high power, or a 5 LED refractor wedge? Which works best for dash lighting? I want to replace the 194 bulbs with LED's.
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89 CV LX 225/60 x 16 tires, CC819 rear springs, Front & rear sway bar, trans & PS cooler from 90 cop car. KYB shocks, F-150 on rear. Dual Exhaust w/ H pipe. Dark brown door panels, carpet, steering wheel, trim parts from a 87 Mer GM. Power front buckets from 96 Jeep Cherokee. LED'S front & rear. 3G Alt from a 97 Taurus wagon 3.0. Electric fan. Rear axle from a 97 PI 3.27 with disk brakes. Headlight relays. -
**My experience with refractor bulbs has not been good. They've all started dying out on me after a while - One small LED at a time, and they'd usually flicker dimly for a week or so first. I've had single bulb ("bullet style" directional ones) LEDs in my instrument cluster and 8 of 8 are still kicking. After a couple of months (twice), there would be 1 or 2 perfect bulbs (as in, all 5 LEDs on the bulb as bright as when I first put them in) left functional out of the 8 in my instrument cluster.
**This could be because:
- i bought cheap shit bulbs
- voltage going to my cluster and aftermarket gauges was too great for the little guys to handle
- the bulbs i got were a "bad batch" - i have heard of this happening
It should be known that nobody else on here has spoken of similar problems. At all, ever.
I have 5-way refractors still in the courtesy lights and in my glove box - All fine, but they're not getting constant 12v+ like the cluster.
I honestly think you would be fine buying the 5-way bulbs - Most everyone here likes them more than the directional ones.sigpic
- 1990 Ford LTD Crown Victoria P72 - the street boat - 5.0 liter EFI - Ported HO intake/TB, 90 TC shroud/overflow, Aero airbox/zip tube, Cobra camshaft, 19lb injectors, dual exhaust w/ Magnaflows, Cat/Smog & AC delete, 3G alternator, MOOG chassis parts & KYB cop shocks, 215/70r/15s on 95-97 Merc rims
- 2007 Ford Escape XLT - soccer mom lifted station wagon - 3.0 Duratec, auto, rear converter delete w/ Magnaflow dual exhaust
- 2008 Mercury Grand Marquis Ultimate Edition - Daily driver - 4.6 2 valve Mod motor, 4R75E, 2.73s. Bone stock -
Refractors will give more light and more evenly, one ways are very direct. You should use the refractors for your dash lighting."Shakedown"- 1991 Grand Marquis GS Dual exhaust, Magnaflow xl turbos, Rear anti sway bar, Outlaw 1 wheels, 43k miles
1985 GMC 1500
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85CrownHPP (Pete) Is the LED guru here. he's gotten a lot of people including me into the whole LED lighting thing.Comment
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OK, thanks89 CV LX 225/60 x 16 tires, CC819 rear springs, Front & rear sway bar, trans & PS cooler from 90 cop car. KYB shocks, F-150 on rear. Dual Exhaust w/ H pipe. Dark brown door panels, carpet, steering wheel, trim parts from a 87 Mer GM. Power front buckets from 96 Jeep Cherokee. LED'S front & rear. 3G Alt from a 97 Taurus wagon 3.0. Electric fan. Rear axle from a 97 PI 3.27 with disk brakes. Headlight relays.Comment
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I have had the 5 ways with the colored bases flicker and crap out a lot. I think it's because the LEDs have resistors set for 12v, and the alternator charges at 13.9. It goes away when i turn the dimmer all the way down, although the lights don't dim appreciably.91 Mercury CP, Lopo 302, AOD, 3.08LSD. 3g upgrade, Moog wagon coils up front, cc819s in the back. KYB GR-2 police shocks. Energy suspension control arm bushings. Smog deleted.Originally posted by gadget73
93 F-150 XLT, 302, ZF 5-spd from 1-ton, 4wd.
Daily--07 Civic Coupe. Bone stock with 25k miles
Wife--14 Subaru Outback. 6-speed.
95 Subaru Legacy Wagon--red--STOLEN 1/6/13Comment
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Originally posted by 91waggin View Post
this is kind of awesome to read. my car isn't actually an LED hungry version of christine.sigpic
- 1990 Ford LTD Crown Victoria P72 - the street boat - 5.0 liter EFI - Ported HO intake/TB, 90 TC shroud/overflow, Aero airbox/zip tube, Cobra camshaft, 19lb injectors, dual exhaust w/ Magnaflows, Cat/Smog & AC delete, 3G alternator, MOOG chassis parts & KYB cop shocks, 215/70r/15s on 95-97 Merc rims
- 2007 Ford Escape XLT - soccer mom lifted station wagon - 3.0 Duratec, auto, rear converter delete w/ Magnaflow dual exhaust
- 2008 Mercury Grand Marquis Ultimate Edition - Daily driver - 4.6 2 valve Mod motor, 4R75E, 2.73s. Bone stockComment
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I've had several different colors and types of the 5 way "refractor" bulbs fail, mostly the white ones but I have had a few blues and some reds die as well. I wish there was a way to find a reputable LED manufacturer that doesn't make a shit product.
All of my bad ones came from eBay; buyer beware.sigpic
https://www.facebook.com/jason.baker.1614
1985 P43 Crown Vic, "Lightning Interceptor". Project is back on!
1987 P72 Crown Vic, EFI 351W (not my conversion), rusty and crusty parts car.
2006 Ford Fusion, 30MPG, premium sound, daily driver, 200K miles and still going.
2011 Ford Fucus, 36MPG, Sync, wifey / baby mobile.Comment
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3+ years ago they were still made with great quality. Still running the same led bulbs since that long ago~David~
My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz
Originally posted by ootdega
My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."
Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck
Originally posted by gadget73
my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.
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