Bright LED Tail lights for Civic, type 7443
 

I finally got a pair of nice LED tail light bulbs installed in the '97 Civic, and have pics for you. I'm happy with them.

I used 7443-R45-T from SuperbrightLEDs.com, about $25 each.

They are very bright in "real life", brighter than the standard tungsten bulbs that I left installed along side for comparison. The photos don't show the actual visible brilliance compared with the surrounding area BUT you can see that the LED bulb is brighter than the tungsten next to it.

My primary aim was to reduce electrical load from the "running lights" when the headlights are on. The car runs on two deep cycle batteries, the alternator is disconnected nearly always now. So conserving electrical power is an important consideration on this car. I have a long commute without much braking so the brake light wattage - while much higher - is of less concern to me than the running lights.

For safety reasons I want both tail and brake lights to be at least as bright as regular tungsten bulbs.

For the rear, the car takes four #7443 bulbs, two on each side. These are bulbs with two brightness levels. Plus a #7440 in the center high mount brake light. A 7443 can be substituted there.

That's five bulbs for the rear, plus two in the front if I had wanted to swap those out. These bulbs are approx $25 each so swapping out all would have cost me a good chunk of change, not available right now. But I decided I could spring for two bulbs, one for each of the rear outer corner locations. I snipped the leads for the two running lights in the two inner locations. I left all the brake light leads intact. (Wattage decrease calcs at the end of this post)

These bulbs are model 7443-R45-T from SuperBrightLEDs.com. I'm happy with them. They fit nicely, both installing into the bulb holders and then into the housing.

In the photos, you can see the LED is brighter for both the brake lights and tail lights. The photos were taken in fairly bright light, so you wouldn't see the hot spot usually seen in photos of tail light bulbs, especially if taken at night. The photos' bright environment reduces the apparent brightness of the bulbs, but the effect in the photos is equal on both the LEDs and the regular bulbs. In all photos the LED is in the outer position, tungsten bulb is in the inner position.

Brake lights on. LEDs in left (outer) position:
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...0709brakes.jpg
Above: Brake lights, LEDs on left. Easily visible even in full sunlight.

Tail lights on. LEDs in left (outer) position:
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z..._0699tails.jpg
Above: Tail lights, LEDs on left. Easily visible even in full sunlight.

This photo taken in shady location, shows hot spot for both bulbs. I don't think this kind of photo tells the story as well, but pics like these turn up often so I thought I'd include it. LED bulb in the left (outer) position.
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...704HotSpot.jpg

Wattage Decrease Notes:

Running light wattage, tungsten:
2 front bulbs: 5W x 2 = 10W
4 rear bulbs: 8W x 4 = 32W
Total watts for running lights: 42W
That is nearly equal to one headlight bulb, which is 55-60W.

Tungsten bulbs put "out of play" by this change:
2 center bulbs disabled: -16W
2 outer bulbs replaced with LEDs: -16W
Eliminated: 32W of tungsten bulbs
Added: .3W of LEDs
(Each draws 25mA, so 50 mA for both, that's 0.3W in a 12 volt system.)

Still in play: 10W, those are the front corner running lights. I can live with that!

The brake light circuit draws 165mA per bulb. Again, this is considerably less than the 25-28W draw of the tungsten brake light bulb filament.

Very cool; this is a modification I've been wanting to do for a while on my '96 DX as well. Do you have any night time pics you can post?

For safety considerations, I would consider replacing the brake lights. The fact that LEDs activate much faster than incandescent give cars following behind extra notice that you are on your brakes. I've read that at 60mph, that can translate to an extra 20ft of stopping distance for someone following behind.

Thanks for sharing; I'll replace mine soon.

Glad you like it, thanks.

Sorry, no night pics because they really can't show you how they look to the eye at night. Do a google search on. "LED brake light pics" or some such and you'll see plenty. A yellow dot, or maybe red-orange, where the bulb is and dark all around it. But in actual use they're a really bright strong red. So no night pics from me on this topic.

Thanks for telling me what to google. I never would've thought to google something.

The OP is clearly a talented photographer, and even took time to explain why a nighttime photo is pointless. You then went on to request said pointless picture, and the OP again took the time to explain why that will not be included. You repay the patient teaching by being a smart-ass. Your foolishness has been permanently recorded and observable to the multitudes.

OK, ok. No insult intended. Just sayin' why I'm not posting night pics.

:confused:

Your previous post, which was commented on by redpoint5, is now permanently displayed in an area accessible by anyone, I.E-multitudes.

In other words, you were being foolish and now everyone knows it.

You nerds take yourselves way too seriously.

You go from asking for help in your first post

to calling people names in your second thread of posting?

Welcome to the forum. But I can't say I am lining up to help you.

The point of these topic to add value or discuss things related to the topic. I really don't see what value you are adding to this forum. You might want to spend so more time reading theads and seeing how they work before spouting off again.

Bumping it.

Recently replaced my 7443 bulbs with LEDs and with the headlights turned off when I press the brake pedal the instrument cluster lights up and so do the trunk lights, with my headlights turned on the brakes operate normally. Basically with the light switched to off when I press the brake pedal the dash lights and the hazard lights come on, and when I saw hazard I just mean the turn signals illuminate

Sounds like a Wierd question but I never see any other civics on the road anymore, are the trunk lights suppose to come on with the brake lights, or are they just running lights. Are all the bulbs 7443 my trunk lights seem to only be running lights

I have been eyeing the Silverstar 7443's at work for their extra brightness, the LEDs are triple the cost and a wattage saver but I don't really want to put the $$ into this car. I am delighted to see they are truly more effective, though.

The silverstars are about 20% brighter I have a 7440 in the 3rd taillight, I also have the 3157 bulbs in my fusion

Has anybody tried the new Philips 12835REDB2 red 7443 LEDs? They are DOT legal in certain cars (http://www.usa.philips.com/content/d...reet-legal.pdf)

Might work well in a 6th gen Civic, if the price comes down a little (currently $24 a pair so I'd need to buy 3 pairs(5 lights)) I may be the guinea pig. The cost will eventually be recovered with the fuel savings years and years down the road.
Haven't been able to find really any pics of how it lights up.

I've tried the Silverstars and they definitely are brighter and whiter, but the life is just dreadful.

When I still had the Volvo with its forty-leven bulbs at each rear corner, that was a fast ride to the poorhouse. But now with the tax refund in the bank and a juicy gift balance on Amazon (TurboTax gimmick and YES I LOVE IT), I think it's time to spring for some LEDs in the brake lights at least. Redpoint 5's comment of the extra distance that comes from faster time to full brightness is not lost on me when I'm already one of the slower vehicles on the road.

These look interesting too and may be brighter than stock during the day. Anybody heard of a 'remote phosphor' coated lense around a single forward facing LED before? If the bulb really takes 7 watts of power, it may be a very bright bulb (truly brighter than stock). The same Ebay seller has a cheaper bulb with a forward facing LED with a lense and some side LEDs but only a 1 year warranty instead of 5, so this may be more reliable and brighter. Basically I am going for the brightest LED tail lights for my '99 Civic as possible while being reliable :) Turn signals are next but doing 1 thing at a time. Side effect is fuel savings but primarily more brightness.

2X 7443 High Power New Remote Phosphor 7W 700LM White LED Turn Signal Light Bulb | eBay

EDIT: interesting link http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/Cr...20Phosphor.pdf

"Remote phosphor" speaks to the design of the bulb. Fluorescent tubes also use a remote phosphor design. An arc is struck and maintained down the length of the fluorescent tube, but it gives off almost exclusively UV light - not helpful. But the UV light excites the phosphor coating on the inside of the tube, which glows brightly in turn in the visible spectrum. Careful tweaking of the phosphor recipe allows the manufacturer to produce colors that are redder or bluer than true white.

Remember the funny-looking Philips LEDs with the orange tops that are nonetheless generate white light? Same deal.

It's worth remembering that phosphor bulbs do not generate pure white light, a blend of the entire spectrum. There are significant gaps in the spectrum that are nonetheless missed by the eye as complementary colors on either side of the gaps still blend to produce what is perceived as white light. But, in the example of a "cool white" fluorescent lamp, the red end of the spectrum isn't well populated, and flesh tones and food that rely on red for true rendition come out looking gray and washed out. This is why many food service establishments, regardless of the obvious cost savings to be had, do not employ that many fluorescent lamps where the food will be seen by the diners. "Warm white" fluorescent lamps help bring the red tones back, but then greens and blues are underrepresented and everything has a ruddy or orange cast. The solution is a mix of cool and warm lamps in the same fixture and indeed you will sometimes see that - looking directly at the fixture you can clearly see that there are two distinct colors of tube up there.

These remote phosphor LEDs work in a similar fashion. The LED generates a wavelength of light that isn't especially useful directly, but it excites a mix of phosphors that, in turn, generate visible light. I'm not terribly familiar with them but I suspect that, like fluorescents, there are gaps in the radiated spectrum.

That said, for use in cars what you want isn't an entire spectrum unless you're talking about fog lamps, license plate lamps, reverse lamps or headlamps. For turn and brake signals a highly specific output wavelength is acceptable, and even preferable over an entire spectrum.

For brake lamps, you want red. 650-700nm or thereabouts, the same color as a laser pointer. LEDs that generate specific colors are far more efficient per delivered lumen (for this purpose) than a white lamp. When the light passes through the brake light lens, everything but the red light will be filtered out, wasted. If all you're generating is red light, then NONE of your energy investment is wasted. Doing that you may be able to install a lower-wattage LED that is less likely to overheat in lengthy use, thus ensuring that it will last even longer and deliver even more bang for your buck.

Same goes for orange for your turn signals. Right around 600nm. No point generating light that you won't actually be using. Choose specific color LEDs instead, and save the remote phosphor white LEDs for places where a fuller spectrum is required.

Sorry for the lengthy response. I'm a bit of an amateur lighting nerd, it's one of my passions. As passions go it's a bit dry, but few things have ever captured my imagination as much as artificial lighting.

Whoah thanks. So my brake lights are red plastic. A remote phosphor 'white' LED output wouldn't be brighter than a red LED of the same lumens output?
Could be dimmer?

Well, the red lens will block out any non-red light. Use red lights not white.

Helpful thread, but totally unwarranted attack on a newbie, who by the way hasn't been back. Some of you should be quite ashamed of yourselves.

The 7443-R45 bulbs are 15/120 lumens and $15 each.

I've ordered four of these 2.5 watt bulbs that are 444 lumens, and one of these 7w bulbs to replace the high mount brake light. The original lights are 8 and 21 watts.