Anyone use LED Tail Light Bulbs?

Ultimate 2022 · March 2, 2017

Can we use LED tail lights without any errors? I can seem to find the answer to this one. Anyone have any suggestions on brands?

amxguy1970 · March 2, 2017

Nope, no one has ever done that yet. Give it a try and let us know, will most likely need a resistor or something...

Tyler

lawn boy · March 2, 2017

didnt need resistors for reverse, license plate, or cab lights...doubt you would need them for the brake lights. our trucks are not CANBUS like dodges are.

cbrsilv15 · March 2, 2017

Reverse, license plate or cab lights are all single filament bulbs. Brakes are dual. Will need resistors if you swap to led bulbs.

Payton34 · March 2, 2017

Turn signals will give lamp out message and hyper flash. I have philips LED in taillights with a resistor

Alfred Arcidi · March 6, 2017

The best resistors are from VLEDS. They are high quality and weatherproof. First I used the cheapo orange amazon ones and they didn't last through the harsh new england winter. The VLEDS are also great because you only need 1 3ohm resistor per side instead of 2 of the cheapos.

njs2247 · March 6, 2017

I plan on doing this real soon. I have the bulbs, just waiting on some free time. I plan on doing front and back turn signals. If time permits, I'll do a how to.

sk · March 7, 2017

Nope, no one has ever done that yet. Give it a try and let us know, will most likely need a resistor or something...

Tyler

I don't know about that. I have heard of people using the Philips ones without any problems:

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-7443-Intense-Vision-light/dp/B00P2D3W0A

https://www.pepboys.com/product/details/1164574/01635

Alfred Arcidi · March 8, 2017

The rear of my truck is completely populated with Phillips bulbs and they are great! You will have hyperflash without load resistors, but the installation back there couldn't be any easier. The front turn signals are more challenging though, if only by a small degree. The wiring for the front bulbs is routed through the headlamp housing. In order to change/remove the directional bulb, one would need to turn a plug on the back of the housing a quarter turn and remove it with the bulb socketed in the other side. There are contacts on the plug that complete the connection when locked into the housing. In other words; there are no external wires going to the back of the bulb that we that can modify with a resistor. I'm assuming the wires we need to address are simply run into the housing, wire loomed along with the rest of the lines going in. I have not yet determined which of the bundled wires are which though (too d@mn chilly here in NH).

njs2247 · March 9, 2017

TarmanAlf, I looked around the front signals today and noticed one blue, one yellow and one black wire going to the turn signal. Are you saying we can't run a resistor inline with these wires?

By the way, I have a 2014 Sierra. Not sure what make you have.

njs2247 · March 11, 2017

So I did the front turn signals today. No need for a detailed how to on this because it's pretty much straight forward.

There are 3 wires going to the bulb. One yellow, one black and one blue. The 2 wires you'll need to connect the resistor to are the blue and black ones.

The resistors I used are from VLEDs.com. I highly suggest getting resistors from them even if you don't get your bulbs from them because these resistors do not run as hot as the cheap gold colored ones. They came with 3M tape to mount them and I thought that the tape would not be good enough due to the heat resistors generate. So I left the blinker on for a few minutes and did a temp check with my hand and was surprised that it wasn't too hot. I happened to have some thicker 3M tape and decided to use that instead of the thinner supplied 3M tape.

I mounted the driver side resistor right above the extra battery tray, simple enough. For the passenger resistor, I had to mount it inside the fender on the engine bay side due to the air intake. I thoroughly cleaned the surface I mounted the resistors to with some grease and wax remover.

The lights I bought are not the Tritons, I couldn't justify spending $130 on turn signals. They are the High Visibility Amber LED

http://www.vleds.com/shop-application/turn-signals-front/turn-signals-front-7443/turn-signals-front-7443-standard/7443-hva.html

I'm really liking the color of these lights. They are definitely brighter than stock and give off a crisp amber color. Unfortunately I was in a rush because I had to get to work and was unable to get comparison shots.

Hopefully this little write up will help somebody trying to decide on buying LED turn signals. The install really is simple and straight forward. One of the easiest upgrades I've done for sure.

Alfred Arcidi · March 13, 2017

Sorry, for some reason I was assuming you had a 16 or 17 Silverado. Here's what my bulb setup looks like for the front of my Silverado.

Bob.M · May 27, 2017

Turn signals will give lamp out message and hyper flash. I have philips LED in taillights with a resistor

What kind of resistors did you use? I installed the Phillips LED bulbs along with the Phillips Error Canceling resistors (one for each bulb) and the turn signals still hyper flashed and the lamp out error in the dash. I connected one lead of the Phillips load resistor to the green wire and the other to the black. The load resistors warmed up with the turn signals on and cooled off when they were off so I assume the connections were good. I have a 2014 Silverado 1500 which I assume would be the same as your GMC. Any help would be appreciated!!

SilveradoSaver · May 27, 2017

I installed the Phillips LED bulbs in my tail lights last year. They look great (not surprised) but I got the hyper flashing. I pulled them out as I didn't want to bother getting a resistor wired in. I still have the bulbs, so maybe one day...

Payton34 · May 27, 2017

The philips resistor didn't work for me either I bought these and they been working for 2 years now

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00L4V9ECY?psc=1

What kind of resistors did you use? I installed the Phillips LED bulbs along with the Phillips Error Canceling resistors (one for each bulb) and the turn signals still hyper flashed and the lamp out error in the dash. I connected one lead of the Phillips load resistor to the green wire and the other to the black. The load resistors warmed up with the turn signals on and cooled off when they were off so I assume the connections were good. I have a 2014 Silverado 1500 which I assume would be the same as your GMC. Any help would be appreciated!!