Cheap(er) LED alternatives

[stickypoop]

I've always been told that to get reliable replacement LED bulbs to stick with places like vleds and superbrightleds. eBay is always the wild west. Past experience seems to back this up as I've ordered from all three and the eBay (chinese) bulbs have always ended up being DOA or later began flickering.

I want to change over my turn signals (3457s and 3057s) to LED but don't want to spend $100 or more. Any one have experience with cheapo bulbs that have proven to be reliable and bright?

 

[07TrailyLS]

My advise is you get what you pay for. Relatively if one uses a better product, one gets better results. Sometimes it is better to pay for the good stuff

 

[dmanns67]

I use to go with VLEDs myself when I initially switched over all my incandescent bulbs to LEDs. I cannot recall ever having a failure with their LEDs, but I stopped using VLEDs when their prices skyrocketed. Hard for me to justify spending $18-$25 dollars for a pair of 194 LEDs when I can get a pack of (10) for about $14.

EBay, like you said, is definitely hit or miss. I have been using the seller DT-Autotech and their quality is definitely hit or miss. I have some of their LEDs that are still running two years later and some LEDs that have failed within 8hrs.

I just started using Amazon for LEDs. I ordered a pack of (10) 194 LEDs and its been about 8 months and not one that I have installed has failed. Majority of the sellers I seen on Amazon are US sellers and also offer at least a 2 year warranty, whereas most of the EBay sellers only offer a 30 day warranty.

Another company I have seen through around a lot on the retrofit forum is Diode Dynamics, http://www.diodedynamics.com/store/ . I have heard their quality is very good and they have relatively decent priced LEDs. They make and sell all of their products, located in the US, and also offer a 3 year warranty on their products. I have not used their products personally, but have read posts on the retro forum/FB.

 

[Tiggerr]

I use to go with VLEDs myself when I initially switched over all my incandescent bulbs to LEDs. I cannot recall ever having a failure with their LEDs, but I stopped using VLEDs when their prices skyrocketed. Hard for me to justify spending $18-$25 dollars for a pair of 194 LEDs when I can get a pack of (10) for about $14.

EBay, like you said, is definitely hit or miss. I have been using the seller DT-Autotech and their quality is definitely hit or miss. I have some of their LEDs that are still running two years later and some LEDs that have failed within 8hrs.

I just started using Amazon for LEDs. I ordered a pack of (10) 194 LEDs and its been about 8 months and not one that I have installed has failed. Majority of the sellers I seen on Amazon are US sellers and also offer at least a 2 year warranty, whereas most of the EBay sellers only offer a 30 day warranty.

Another company I have seen through around a lot on the retrofit forum is Diode Dynamics, http://www.diodedynamics.com/store/ . I have heard their quality is very good and they have relatively decent priced LEDs. They make and sell all of their products, located in the US, and also offer a 3 year warranty on their products. I have not used their products personally, but have read posts on the retro forum/FB.

Diode dynamics also makes the electronic flasher for our platform. Haven't gotten one yet but they're suppose to work and no loss of cruise.

 

[stickypoop]

Diode dynamics also makes the electronic flasher for our platform. Haven't gotten one yet but they're suppose to work and no loss of cruise.

The photo they show is of a Novita flasher, which is fairly widely available.... have you heard of others using them with no issues? I'm a big fan of plug'n'play solutions

 

[Blckshdw]

The photo they show is of a Novita flasher, which is fairly widely available.... have you heard of others using them with no issues? I'm a big fan of plug'n'play solutions

No one has bought one yet, now that I think about it, I think I'm the only active member here who has the old LM487... Someone should take the plunge.

 

[Mounce]

Once you get away from 3528 and 5050 chips flickering leds pretty much becomes nonexistent. In my experience at least. 5050's are a terrible little creature and I have a failure ridden experience with them. 5630 leds are my go-to now and have had less issues with them. Sometimes a driver will fail but the leds themselves don't have issues unlike 5050's where they'll start losing diodes (there's 3 per chip) until the whole aray is flickering.

I religiously use eBay for mine but I have bought from Aliexpress a few times which is straight from the source in China and cheaper.

I've never had any of diode dynamic's leds but have bought some pwm dimmers from them. Had one DOA but their customer service was excellent and sent me two to replace the one that failed with no questions. Like Dave said, they make their own products exclusively here in the USA.

 

[Jerry Jastram]

LEDs.... the company I work for goes through 10 to 12 million LEDs every 2 to 3 weeks. I know there is very stringent quality control in the factories in China that makes them. I can't help but wonder if the rejects or seconds aren't sold off and end up in cheap products like a lot of those sold on eBay.
I usually try to buy from DT-Autotech if they have what I need.

 

[Blckshdw]

wonder if the rejects or seconds aren't sold off and end up in cheap products like a lot of those sold on eBay.

I'm pretty sure this is the case, and why they are offered so cheaply.

 

[triz]

No one has bought one yet, now that I think about it, I think I'm the only active member here who has the old LM487... Someone should take the plunge.

You must have forgotten I bought one. It works great. I'm using all Led bulbs up front and back now. Did not lose any cruise control either. Paid about 30 bucks from Advance or Autozone.

 

[Blckshdw]

You must have forgotten I bought one.

For some reason I thought you had load resistors.