LED Tail Lights, Stop Lights and Turn Signals

[fulltiming]

I just completed a change over to LED rear lights from the original sealed beam units. Three advantages of LED lights are fast response, long life and low power consumption.

My Newell was originally wired with 1 amber turn signal, 1 red brake light and 2 red tail lights on each side.

http://www.patrick-irish-wolfhound.com/fulltimersrv/images/OrigBrake_1101.JPG
Note photo taken after installation of LED turn signal.

I purchased a pair of amber turn signals and 2 pairs of red tail/stop lights. The units are Dialight Series 80 LED.

I modified the wiring to the red LED's so that while the lower two remain the tail lights, when the brakes are applied, all three red lights come on as brake lights.

http://www.patrick-irish-wolfhound.com/fulltimersrv/images/LEDBrake_1102.JPG

[Richard and Rhonda]

Nicely done !!!!

Would you mind revealing source and cost for the lights?

[fulltiming]

Bought them off ebay. There is a seller named shotofgas who lists truck led lights. They are tyically listed for about $70/pair for the red and a little more for the amber. He doesn't carry many in stock at any given time so it may take a couple of orders to get the number a Newell needs.

[fulltiming]

On the outside wall, at the rear of the engine compartment, is a block connector for the rear lights. Below is the sequence of connections. I added the grounding lug. Normally, the ground wires would be attached directly to the two existing ground wires located in the bundle of wires going to the connector block.

When I converted mine to LED's which draw less amperage, I increased the number of brake lights from one on each side to three. With the standard lights, the brake light would only contain the wire from the one brake light.

http://www.patrick-irish-wolfhound.com/fulltimersrv/images/Newell%20Rear%20Light%20Connector%20Blocks.jpg

[encantotom]

hi,

i did the same tail lights with the led's that michael used.

i took before and after current measurements on the tail lights.

the configuration i did was three led red lights on the outside (all 3 hooked as brake and tail), backup on the bottom inside, reflector in the middle and amber turn upper inside. so the same as michael.

on mine, the two tail lights that were red were tails only (on each side), the backup light was solo, the turn was solo and one red was brake and two reds were tail.


as individual lights....

OLD New

Tail 460 ma 60ma

Backup 2.05amp 2.05 amp (i put new backup lamps in, but they were still bulb style)

Stop 2.05 amp 510ma

Turn 2.07 amp 780 ma


for each side..... old new


Tail 2 x 460= 920ma 3 x 60= 180 ma

backup 2.05 amp 2.05 amp (just new bulb style)

Stop 2.05 amp 3 x 510= 1.53 amp

Turn 2.07 amp 780ma


so for the tail lights, there are 1.5x more and brighter and a 740 ma savings, for the stop lights, 3x more and a 500 ma savings and for turn a 1.2 amp savings.....

so a ton brighter and more lighting all for a savings of 6amps for both sides if you are driving at nite, turning and braking all at the same time.....

later

tom

[encantotom]

i thought i would update everyone with part numbers for these lights.
i converted my rear tail/turn/stop to LED's and the part numbers are as follows:

Dialight 80 Series 801-31RB 31 led'S, 100K hour lifetime (RED)

The turn signals are:
Dialight 80 Series 801-31AB (Amber)

i also replaced all my red and amber marker lights top and bottom, front and rear with LED versions as well. they are Dialight Series 45

in addition i have square turn/stop/tail lights that stick out mounted in front of the front windows right before the front cap about 3 feet high that are about 4" square. Red facing back and amber facing front. i know none of the 91 and up coaches have them, but the later ones might. i replaced them with LED versions as well. Grote 5530 and 5540's. (Left and Right)

for the dialight ones, they came with misc plugs on them so at least what i did and i know what michael did was to cut the plugs off and hard wire them in. the same for the marker lights. (on mine the marker lights were already hard wired in).

by far the hardest to do were the marker lights. they are all silconed in and the you have to break the old ones to get them out by pulling on them with a hook tool. you also have to make sure you wire them in right or the diodes wont work. so, i tested each one to make sure it worked before i siliconed it back in. generous amounts of silicone to make sure they dont leak in those recessed areas. a few of them that were mounted on the sides of the coach at eye level were survface mounted and they were the easiest. the ones that were recessed on the front and end caps and along the top were the least fun. it took me a while, but he results are pretty dramatic with all the lights being led now.

i paid 250 dollars for the 6 red and 2 amber series 80 combined.

i paid 104 dollars for the pair of Grotes

i paid ten dollars apiece for the red and amber marker lights. i believe i have 24 of them if i remember right.

later

tom

[paultracy3]

im new to the forum . i want to replace me tail lights , because i do more night driving . where can i find these lights to buy online ?

[chockwald]

Depends what year Newell you have? If you have a classic, I have a source. If you have a series 2000, then Tom would be the guy with the source.

[paultracy3]

i have a 1999 , with the stock bulb tail lights , the plastic lenses are starting to fade . so i think it would be a good time to upgrade

[encantotom]

i emailed you the person i got them from.

tom

[paultracy3]

thank you , just got home from canada . just got it ..

[afrench45]

Tom,
could you please email the name of the person you got them from.
thanks, Andrew

[encantotom]

just emailed you

tom

[paultracy3]

just got my new tail lights , cant wait to put them on the bus . i love that kinda stuff . fast delivery and a easy transaction .

[afrench45]

paul,
how did the taillight conversion go? was it hard to do? also did they sell white lights?

Anybody know if these might work for my coach?
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2Frt.htm

[encantotom]

hi,

the lights that you show a picture of do not have the mounting tabs that you need to mount them with the existing holes and cover plate.

the dialight series 80 are direct replacements.

here is a picture of the series 80 so you can see the mounting tabs.

yours uses the same lights as most of us.



tom

[Ron Skeen]

A good sorce for the lights and leveling valves is GlowBal Supplies on Ebay.eBay My World: shotofgas( 2402) Ebay # Item number: 200439698896. I bought from them and prices were good and shipping was fast.

[chockwald]

Ron, that's where I got my LED's! He is a good man!

[afrench45]

From the pics I've seen, it looks like you can only change some of the lights, for example the reverse lights I haven't seen any changed. Is there any way to convert all the lights or does anybody know somebody who sells them all?

[fulltiming]

I replaced my backup lights since the original sealed beam units had yellowed but the new units are not LED. They still use a standard bulb. I believe Tom got LED bulbs for his non-LED backup lights.

[encantotom]

dialight does not make clear backup led lights in the series 80. so what i did was to buy new housings that have replaceable bulbs with a socket, and bought a led socketed bulb. it works just fine and looks good.

then there is one reflector in the 6 on each side as well.

tom

[Ron and Susan]

I recently replaced the front amber turn signals and the 6 rear red lights with leds.
The red leds are all wired in parallel for for each function.
I used butt splices to connect the leds.

I got them from the same place as Tom got his and the same price.
Thank you Tom for the info.

The only problem that I had was that the relays in the rear would not
operate and stayed on all the time when the turn signal was on.

I replaced the flasher relay with a new one that I got on ebay that
that does not flash faster with a burned out bulb for $11 including shipping.
The original flasher was a 2 wire unit and the new flasher had an extra ground wire to connect.

Every thing then worked great.

Ron Gookin

[encantotom]

if you guys contact fred directly with the contact info i can give you, you will likely get a better price than buying on ebay. i did.

tom

[prairieschooner]

Clarke,
Could you post your source, I am ready to get some LED Turn Signals. When we came home from the river the knuckle heads didn't pay much attention to our Sealed Beams.

[folivier]

You need a source for knuckleheads?
Got plenty here!

[prairieschooner]

ask Matt, we have plenty here as well.

[chockwald]

My source is on Ebay. Here is the link for the red ones:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200502557861&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

For the amber ones:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200580535116&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

[prairieschooner]

thanks for the link.

[encantotom]

i did the tail/stop/turn/backup light upgrade on my 2002 today. i did a slightly different config. i made all three red to be tail and brake lights. i did the outer two on top and the middle on the bottom. i was going to do all three on top, but newell had made aluminum brackets to mount the reflector in the middle on the top and the mounting holes were not quite the same so the new light wouldnt fit without some modifications.

i did the turn on the bottom outer and the backup on the bottom inner.

tom

[prairieschooner]

Tom, we're coming to your place to look through your spare parts.

[chockwald]

Looks good Tom......you need to slow down, or there won't be anything left to work on when we get there!

[afrench45]

Anyone have a source for the clear reverse lights? One of mine has water in it and its ready to be replaced! thanks

[encantotom]

hi tom,

i got mine from www.ryderfleetproducts.com

i buy the ones with removeable sockets, not sealed.

that way you can use the bulb that comes or put an led in. you have to buy the socket/pigtail separatly.

they are not stocked but come in a few weeks.

Truck-Lite Back-up light rectangular clear - 07096C

Truck-Lite Socket Stop/Tail/Turn - 95415

tom

[afrench45]

Tom, thanks!!
Do you have a part number for the led bulb? I'm going to get them all ordered and taken care of.

[encantotom]

i dont. i think the pigtail comes with a regular bulb and i used it. in my 90 i put an led but i dont remember which one. i just get them on ebay so you will just have to see what bulb it is and order one. you can reach inside and change it easily.

tom