Brighter tail lights

[Nolowrider]

While taking a afternoon cruise the local PD decided to pull me over. I get the whole nine yards, lights, siren and a voice over the PA telling me to "exit the vehicle with my hands up" . I was not speeding, I always do aleast 10 mph under the limit because I know they are looking to pull me over. I get out and he gets all of my info, license, registration, insurance and he ask me "do you know why I pulled you over?". I said no, "I know I was not speeding", he "No, because your tail lights are not bright enough". Aftet I tell him that "Look, my truck is almost 35 yrs old, he lets me go with a "warning", and "oh by the way what size motor do you have in there and is nitrous legal on the highway?. I think he just wanted to know what I have. I cruise through town below the speed limit, always use my blinkers, ect. I have NEVER got a ticket in my life.

So, what can I do to get my tailights brighter? I am already using the LED replacedments for the 1157 bulbs. I have checked for shorts and can't find any. I just need to keep them off my asz. I have 12.4 volts to the lights, I don't know what else I can do?

[HuggerCST]

Sounds like he was just using that as an excuse to check you out. A friend of mine got pulled over once in his 69 chevelle (very fast) for no apparent reason. After hassleing him about his dot approved rear tires, he says (cop)- What size engine do you have in there? (my friend)- It's a 454. (cop)- Don't you think that's a little excesive?

[C&C Chevy]

I am already using the LED relacedments for the 1157 bulbs

Maybe your problem. I was behind a truck the other night and he had LED's. They weren't very bright and didn't light up his tail light housing at all. And when he stepped on the brakes, the LED's never got any brighter. Looked odd. Maybe the officer noticed the samething. ???

1157 bulbs have 2 filaments, 3w and 23watts. They run constant at 3w with lights on and 23w when the brakes are applied.

[Nolowrider]

When I got home I did take one of the LED's out and put a regular 1157 in and the LED was alittle brighter, but not much. I do have 70 Camaro tailight housings in my truck, but you can't get more thatn 12.4 volts to them.

[HuggerCST]

Originally Posted by Nolowrider

When I got home I did take one of the LED's out and put a regular 1157 in and the LED was alittle brighter, but not much. I do have 69 Camaro tailight housings in my truck, but you can't get more thatn 12.4 volts to them.

Have you checked to make sure they have a good ground?

[Nolowrider]

Originally Posted by HuggerCST

Have you checked to make sure they have a good ground?

Not really, good point. I will check that tomorrow when I get home. Thank you. Too cold tonight

[HuggerCST]

Originally Posted by Nolowrider

Not really, I will check that tomorrow when I get home. Too cold tonight

I bet that you will find the problem in the ground wire somewhere. Maybe even between the bed harness and frame. I think there is a ground wire back there that bolts to the frame, probably at the back of the left frame rail, but I can't remember. Just run a jumper wire between the metal light socket and the frame, or bumper, and that should let you know if there is a ground problem.

[Nolowrider]

Thank you, guys. I will def check that tomorrow. Has to be a ground problem. Thanks.

[magnethead]

Is that with ignition on? 12.4 sounds like a engine off voltage..the alternator charged at 14.2-14.4 volts, a battery with no motor load registers somethign like 13.2

[N2TRUX]

If it's not a problem with voltage or ground, then pull the lens and paint the inside with chrome silver paint.
You could add a set of these lights. Sorry about the pic quality. I did the best I could to clean it up.

[84 400]

yeah like n2 said the chrome tape or chrome paint mod works very well my freind did the chronme tape on his 95 impala years ago and it works great!!!

[Russell]

I spraypainted the backing plates of my 77 stepper's tailights chrome, and it made a huge difference in the light levels of the tail lights. I found I usually only get around 12 volts to my tail lights too, it must have something to do with the length of the relatively light gauge wire that feeds the tail lights.

[1LoC10]

if you have the LED replacements behind red lenses they dont light up for crap in the day time.. and when you brake there is no big diffence in brightness.. thats your problem.. put regular bulbs in and you will be set

[eagle23]

On my '77 I found the lenses themsleves had darkened with age, probably due to oxidation, and that limited how bright the lights looked. They weren't red as much as they were purple

I ended up getting (aftermarket) light assemblies with regular bulbs and it really brightened up.

[ghetto_superman]

would there be any benefit to getting your taillight housings chrome plated if you were already getting some other stuff done? that seems like it would work super well... i always thought chrome paint was kinda hokey.. just like silver.. just my .02

[boatpuller]

on the subject of tailights,i just got today,new tailight lens and backing housing's which by the way are bright silver almost chrome, and new front side marker lenses.all with metal trim.from mr.tailight for 25 bucks.am very happy with quality and here's the shocker made in the usa.they did brighten it up quite a bit.by the way mr.tailight is on ebay or mr.tailight.com.

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by ghetto_superman

would there be any benefit to getting your taillight housings chrome plated if you were already getting some other stuff done? that seems like it would work super well... i always thought chrome paint was kinda hokey.. just like silver.. just my .02

That would work. You are correct that the silver paint looks bad on the outside. What we were talking about was using it "inside" the housing to help reflect the light. That or the chrome tape works very well inside the guage cluster and the inside of tail light housing.

In the past I have used mirrored plexi-glas too. Anything you can do to reflect the light back through the lens will help.

[SanitysBane]

I used silver pray paint on the inside of our drop light because it was alittle on the dim side, made a huge improvment.

[Zoomad75]

I can say this. the silver reflector will help, but if you are not grounded right or have a high resistance to ground, the light output will suffer.

I've been behind DirtyLarry's K10 in the day and night with him running LED drop in bulbs. I've been able to see his taillight's in the day from 100ft easy. (he was running with his headlights on that day) When he applied his brakes they got brighter like they should. Knowing Larry's truck, the wiring is perfect as are the grounds. I don't think he's touched the reflectors within the lamp housings.

This is where a DVOM (digital volt/ohm meter) helps. Take the bulb out and measure the resistance on the ground circuit. High resistance adds load to the circuit and thereby decreases the light output. (think of having two bulbs on the same circuit having 1/2 the brightness as 1 bulb on that circuit with the same available voltage) Keep in mind, there might be countless things introduced into the circuit. Hacked in trailer harness, scotch locks for a trailer harness or other butchery. Any of these things is going have an effect. Take a close look.

[evan]

Originally Posted by 1LoC10

if you have the LED replacements behind red lenses they dont light up for crap in the day time.. and when you brake there is no big diffence in brightness.. thats your problem.. put regular bulbs in and you will be set

There are many different types of LEDs that give off different amounts of light. Some are much brighter than incandescent bulbs, others not so much.

[boxrodz]

All good advice.

Painting the housing to reflect the light outward will help brighten things up, if you're going back to an incandescent bulb. Check the condition of your lenses as well as boatpuller suggests.

If you stay with the 1157 replacement LEDs, painting the housing shouldn't make that much of a difference since the light output is directed outwards at a specific viewing angle. As evan mentioned, reputable LED suppliers like www.superbrightleds.com offer a wide range of 1157 LED cluster configurations. Check out the superbrightleds site and maybe upgrade to a larger cluster of LEDs for more brightness.

Like Zoomad and the others said, check the wiring. Here's what I have on my current setup using the stock incandescent bulbs. (Light output for the tail lights and brake/signal lights look normal.)

................... Tail Light ........... Brake/Tail Light
.......................................................................
Resistance ... ~2 ohms ............ ~ 3 ohms

Engine Off ... ~11.5 V .............. ~ 12.0 V
(Battery)

Engine On .... ~14.2 V ............. ~ 14.7 V
(Alternator)


BTW, I have a trailer harness plugged into the wiring.

[ghetto_superman]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

That would work. You are correct that the silver paint looks bad on the outside. What we were talking about was using it "inside" the housing to help reflect the light. That or the chrome tape works very well inside the guage cluster and the inside of tail light housing.

In the past I have used mirrored plexi-glas too. Anything you can do to reflect the light back through the lens will help.

yea thats what i was talking about too. if chrome paint (silver) isnt really chrome, then its not gonna reflect like chrome so it wouldnt be as bright if you tried to use it inside the taillight housing instead of actual chrome.. course you know that- i just had to save some face and clarify that i knew what yall were talking about. lol

[mhicks]

I painted the inside of my stepside taillights with chrome colored paint and it helped tremendously.

[eagle23]

Originally Posted by boatpuller

on the subject of tailights,i just got today,new tailight lens and backing housing's which by the way are bright silver almost chrome, and new front side marker lenses.all with metal trim.from mr.tailight for 25 bucks.am very happy with quality and here's the shocker made in the usa.they did brighten it up quite a bit.by the way mr.tailight is on ebay or mr.tailight.com.

That was the same guy I used for my '77 lamps mentioned earlier. Nice guy, and 6 years later they function just fine. If anyone wants to R&R the lamps, he's good.

Re using chrome spray paint, it will help like it does when used on the dash lights, but if the lens is aged dark, no matter what lights you use, they won't be as bright as they could be.

[stepside454]

The LED replacement bulds dont work well unless the bulb is pointed directly facing the lense.
I glued heavyduty aluminum foil around the inside of my stepside housings, helped a bunch. than I bought a pair of Ron Francis bright filement replacement bulbs, that helped even more.