email4walker Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 I switched all my lights to LEDs (and I do mean all, inside and out)! To see how to switch the inside lights to LEDs, see this posting: http://www.dodgejourneyforum.com/index.php?showtopic=297 If you want to switch all the outside lights to LEDs, there is a few things you should know: - I have the Journey SE, and there is not a bulb out warning signal or light. I even read the manual and it does not say anything about a bulb out warning signal or light on any of our trim levels (SE, SXT, or R/T). -Use a 3157 to replace the 3757. They are pretty much the same, but you will need to sand down the little bump on the side of the plug on the bulbs. It is really easy. Once you get your bulbs and try to plug them in, you will see what I’m talking about. It is easy. -Get as many LEDs on each bulb as you can. For example, each one of my brake lights has 39 LEDs. Get that many or higher on your brake lights. Anything less is not bright enough. -For the turn signals, buy amber color LEDs. Honestly in the front, the LED turn signal bulbs look sweet, but in the rear, you can’t tell if it is LED or not. I changed mine anyway so all of them are the same color amber (the stock bulb is a different color amber compared to the LED amber). -for the brake lights, buy red color LEDs. Bright white LEDs in the red lens will turn out to be a very washed out red. Not a good look at all (it will look worse than the stock bulbs!). -Don’t switch the front side markers to LEDs. Leaving those really makes your turn signal LEDs stand out and adds contrast. Trust me, it looks nice. These are the bulbs I used. What you use is up to you. Different LED bulb sets give off different shades of light. Example, my turn signal bulbs are bigger than my brake light bulbs, but they give off less light and the amber color is a real deep amber. It looks nice. You may want to buy two different types of each bulb and try them out. Just return or sell the ones you don't use. I did that for my reverse light bulbs. Turn signal LEDs: Stop light LEDs: The reverse LEDs look just like the stop light LEDs except the color they give off is bright white: Here are some pics (the bulbs/colors look better in real life): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remline Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 I switched all my lights to LEDs (and I do mean all, inside and out)! To see how to switch the inside lights to LEDs, see this posting: http://www.dodgejourneyforum.com/index.php?showtopic=297 If you want to switch all the outside lights to LEDs, there is a few things you should know: - I have the Journey SE, and there is not a bulb out warning signal or light. I even read the manual and it does not say anything about a bulb out warning signal or light on any of our trim levels (SE, SXT, or R/T). -Use a 3157 to replace the 3757. They are pretty much the same, but you will need to sand down the little bump on the side of the plug on the bulbs. It is really easy. Once you get your bulbs and try to plug them in, you will see what I’m talking about. It is easy. -Get as many LEDs on each bulb as you can. For example, each one of my brake lights has 39 LEDs. Get that many or higher on your brake lights. Anything less is not bright enough. -For the turn signals, buy amber color LEDs. Honestly in the front, the LED turn signal bulbs look sweet, but in the rear, you can’t tell if it is LED or not. I changed mine anyway so all of them are the same color amber (the stock bulb is a different color amber compared to the LED amber). -for the brake lights, buy red color LEDs. Bright white LEDs in the red lens will turn out to be a very washed out red. Not a good look at all (it will look worse than the stock bulbs!). -Don’t switch the front side markers to LEDs. Leaving those really makes your turn signal LEDs stand out and adds contrast. Trust me, it looks nice. These are the bulbs I used. What you use is up to you. Different LED bulb sets give off different shades of light. Example, my turn signal bulbs are bigger than my brake light bulbs, but they give off less light and the amber color is a real deep amber. It looks nice. You may want to buy two different types of each bulb and try them out. Just return or sell the ones you don't use. I did that for my reverse light bulbs. Where did you get them from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
email4walker Posted October 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 I bought all mine off ebay. I made sure they were all american sellers so I could get them quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llamasson Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Led 3157 will replace the front turn signals 3157AK 12v 27/7w bulbs right? How many led's should be good for the front turns? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
email4walker Posted October 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Led 3157 will replace the front turn signals 3157AK 12v 27/7w bulbs right? Yes, 3157 will replace the front turn signals. You will need to sand down the little bump on the side of the 3157 bulb plastic connector. It is easy and takes like 30 seconds to do. I don't know why they put that odd bulb type in there in the first place. The 3157 and the 3757AK is pretty much the same except for where that little bump on the side of the bulb is located. It might have been cheaper to use the 3157 anyway because it is a common bulb were as the 3757 is a little rare. But anyway......... How many led's should be good for the front turns? That depends on the LED type. My turns signal bulbs have 20 LEDs each. That is fine for the rear because the lens does a lot of reflecting. The front does not do as much reflecting as the rears, so on a sunny day, it is a little harder to see the fronts with 20 LEDs per bulb (don't get me wrong, you can see them on a sunny day, it is a little dimmer and a darker shade of amber compared to the stock bulbs, as you can see in the earlier pics). I like the 20 LEDs myself, but if you want to make sure the front turns can be clearly seen, go with a 39 LEDs per bulb set. The price of 20 LED sets all the way up to 39 LED sets is around the same price, so it is really a matter of choice, not money. Whatever you decide, just keep in mind that the rears will be brighter than the front because of the lens types. Another thing to think about is if you decide to go with, lets say 20 LEDs in the rear and 39 LEDs in the front, there is a good chance that the shade/type of ambers will be different. Also, in this case, the fronts will be brighter than the rears because the fronts has double the LEDs. Either way, you never know, two tone turn signals might look pretty cool..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkfrunk Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 how much of a difference in brightness is there when you having the parking lights on and hit the brakes? I had some LED retrofits off Ebay and from superberightleds.com and neither had a noticable difference when I hit the brakes at night so I went back to good old incandescant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
email4walker Posted October 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 how much of a difference in brightness is there when you having the parking lights on and hit the brakes? I had some LED retrofits off Ebay and from superberightleds.com and neither had a noticable difference when I hit the brakes at night so I went back to good old incandescant They have the same brightness as the incandescant, at least the 39 LEDs per bulb is. For me, the difference is the pattern and type of light they give off. It is hard to explain. When I stop, you can tell it is not a incandescant bulb because of the pattern of light it gives off. It is more localized light were as incandescant is kinda all over. How many LEDs per bulb was yours? I have seen some LEDs that have 64 and 80 LEDs per bulb. They cost about $20 per bulb. Kinda pricey to do a whole car. With that many LEDs per bulbs, if you ever get rear ended, the cops will ask the other driver, "How could you NOT see him stopping?!", LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkfrunk Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 I think mine were 24 facing out and 8 around the outside, I know how the pattern is but the problem I had was the change in the brightness when I hit the brakes, if I didn't have a third brake light you wouldn't even know I hit the brakes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
email4walker Posted October 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 I think mine were 24 facing out and 8 around the outside, I know how the pattern is but the problem I had was the change in the brightness when I hit the brakes, if I didn't have a third brake light you wouldn't even know I hit the brakes I was worried about that problem too, so I read a few other fourms about LEDs. What I found out was in order to get the best results, use the same color LEDs as your lens and get as many LEDs around the outside edge as you can find (If I remember right, I think this style of LED bulb is called piranha style bulbs. It is based on the way the LEDs is stacked to form a bulb. The ones I have is piranha style). When you get this kind of bulb, the lens reflection properties is being used more as it should be. You can see in the earlier pics, with the brakes pressed, they are just as bright as the third brake light (I did not change my third brake light because our third brake light is LEDs already). The ones I have are 12 facing out and 27 around the outside edge. I would not do anything less than that for the brake lights. I forgot to mention the reverse lights. Changing them looks really nice too, if you want a different kind of look. I forgot to get some pictures of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
email4walker Posted October 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 **Update** I am going to change my rear turn signal lights from 20 LEDs per bulb to 36 LEDs per bulb. I just want to see how that would look. I'll keep you all posted.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burn Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 **Update**I am going to change my rear turn signal lights from 20 LEDs per bulb to 36 LEDs per bulb. No real reason why, I just want to see how that would look. I'll keep you all posted.... this only my opinion , but this is not what i call ''retrofitting'' ... this only replacing a bulb by another type of bulb (LED) .. a simple swap. I did this on my Dodge SX R/T and not long after i decided to revert back with the original bulb. This replacement LED Bulbs are poorly made , fragile and don't make enough light output during the day in direct sunlight... too much dangerous ... you step on the brakes and the driver behind you don't even see it .... Real led lights are two times bigger ... just look at your journey third brake light .. this is real leds that you can see in daytime what i call retrofitting is taking a big truck LED light assembly and make it fit into the taillight housing ... and by all means a mirrored led assembly like this one for the best light ouput : http://www.superbrightleds.com/store/html/images/pt_both.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
email4walker Posted October 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 this only my opinion , but this is not what i call ''retrofitting'' ... this only replacing a bulb by another type of bulb (LED) .. a simple swap. I did this on my Dodge SX R/T and not long after i decided to revert back with the original bulb. This replacement LED Bulbs are poorly made , fragile and don't make enough light output during the day in direct sunlight... too much dangerous ... you step on the brakes and the driver behind you don't even see it .... Real led lights are two times bigger ... just look at your journey third brake light .. this is real leds that you can see in daytime what i call retrofitting is taking a big truck LED light assembly and make it fit into the taillight housing ... and by all means a mirrored led assembly like this one for the best light ouput : http://www.superbrightleds.com/store/html/images/pt_both.jpg The fourm was named "LED retrofitting" because another user started a thread about a year ago and it only talked about changing the lights/bulbs on the inside of the car. A lot of people already know about that thread and this was a "part two" of that beacuse this only talks about changing the outside lights. I could have used a better name, but I just stayed with what everybody already knows. As far using LEDs in general, that is what this thread is for. It is a "how to" for using LEDs. Did you read the WHOLE thread? Someone already voiced your concern and it was explained what you should do to get around that problem. With the wrong LED setup, your exatly right, it is very dangerous and they cannot be seen. Read the whole thread and it will tell you how to fix that problem, at least on your Journey it will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
email4walker Posted October 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 I switched out my 20 LED rear turn signal bulb for a 36 LED bulb that looked like my brake light. The 20 LED bulb was better than the 36 LED bulb. The light was more intense and eye catching with 20 LED bulb. So, the type of LEDs matter. Also, just like I thought, the Amber 36 LED bulb color was not as good as the 20 LED bulb. Well everyone, my experiment is officially over. If you want to switch you bulbs to LEDs, you have a complete "how to" , even down to what types of bulbs to buy. It was fun. Enjoy B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUV-TELE Posted November 3, 2009 Report Share Posted November 3, 2009 Great post..... reminds me of my Motorcycle forum I frequently visit. You convinced me to swap them out. I've swapped my turn signals ( both front and rear ) with LED's on my bike and they sure are 10x better than the stock OEM ones. The bonus is that you drain less power from the battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llamasson Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 I replaced my front turn signals with led's and after that the display reports that my left and right front turn signals are not ok and they start to hyper flash after a few seconds. I think that I used the same type that email4walker did. I'll change both front and rear on one side to see if makes any differens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
email4walker Posted November 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 I replaced my front turn signals with led's and after that the display reports that my left and right front turn signals are not ok and they start to hyper flash after a few seconds. I think that I used the same type that email4walker did. I'll change both front and rear on one side to see if makes any differens. I am in the U.S. . I researched and read the manual before I did mine and it does not say anything about the car giving you a error/warning signal anywhere. However, the Journey could be different depending on the country it was made. I'm pretty sure the North America versions (USA and Canada) are the same. I'm not sure about everywhere else. The hyper flash is normal when you change over to LEDs. You can stop it with a resistor kit or switching out the relay. I have seen the resistor kits, but I have only heard about switching out the flasher relay. I have never seen one done. As far as the level of work for doing either, the relay would be the easiest way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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