LED wedge bulbs for parking & side lights.

I have ordered similar bulbs, will be getting them in a week or two. But I do not plan to put it as parking lights (questionable legality of using them), instead planning to use them as interior. .I previously bought 1 led (old school type), that was very bluish and weak output for the map lights, will be replacing with these LEDs soon. For the dome and trunk lights, I bought the smd panel from lexen123, pretty happy with the purchase.

The crappy LED:

 

These are the bulbs that will not last longer and if used on the exterior. I use philips and they last for a long time.

 

I've gone through a ton of these 2825 bulbs. I can tell you that ones like these burn out in around 3 weeks. The JDM ASTAR ones on amazon seem to last a little longer, and are brighter, but still don't last that long.

In my experience (and I also read this in another forum) the ones that look like they have a dome on top seem to work the best.

On amazon:
SYLVANIA 168/194/2825 LED Premium White Miniature Bulb, (Pack of 1)

www.amazon.com/SYLVANIA-2825-Premium-White-Miniature/dp/B00AIJY2ZM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432043807&sr=8-1&keywords=philips+led+2825

 

Those are crap in my opinion and don't last long at all especially exterior, they start to flicker then die. I went back to OEM for exterior parking lights and license plate. I did leave them in the interior tho and they still seem to be working ok!

 

The best replacement LEDs Ive used and seen are from VLEDs. They are a bit pricey, but Ive been running their t10 LED bulbs for at least 4 years without a problem.

 

I bought this exact bulb 10pcs for $2.30 on bidding, they don't last a week each, buy this instead JDM ASTAR 10pcs Super Bright 5630 SMD 194 168 175 2825 W5W T10 LED Bulbs,Xenon White(Best Value in the market)

iPhone ?

 

Oh, No! I just bought $4 worth of similar bulbs: cheap LED conversion | PriusChat

why would they fail outside and do well inside? makes no sense.

 

I have no idea but that happened to me, out of 10 only one left and it is not even a month, best of luck.


iPhone ?

 

Besides VLEDs, the only other decent company that makes bulbs that last for a long time is JDM ASTAR. Ive tried ebay bulbs, and they always fail, start to flicker, or get dead LEDs in the bulb.

Amazon.com: JDM ASTAR: Automotive

 

that's bad. thanks for heads up. the cheap LEDs on ebay is a lottery. i bought quite of few batches of cheap LEDs for home use from different sellers a couple of years ago. some batches were bad and most of them died with light use, but some other batches are durable with no or few duds yet. most of them were not consistent with the inflated specs. the good news was i paid little, and same were free after i complained about quality.

 

i thought about it more. most people in US don't use parking lights for actual parking, so they are mostly on when driving at night or even during day as some people do with light always on. if so, the parking/license lights are supplied approximately 13-14V (or even slightly more, depending on the state of charge of the 12V battery).

the cabin/trunk/map lights are usually used when engine off and then they are supplied about 12.6V or so.

looks like some cheap LEDs are designed for exactly 12V and anything above it overdrives them shortening their life.

 

That is a good thuoght, the cheap LED probably do not have enough resistors etc, to account for higher driving voltage.

We should also consider the fact that the LEDs on eBay probably are from reject bins. There are a lot of variations when a wafer gets manufactured (thus you find CPUs with different speed ratings. The ones with lower speed ratings typically are processors that did not meet the faster speed ratings. If the manufacturing process matures and the chip maker gets all "fast processors", they will add additional resistors to intentionally lower the speed, these chips hackers find a way to unlock the potential). These LEDs probably have a similar issue where the quality is not acceptable by the top tier vendors, hence it is sold to lower tier vendors who are able to provide "affordable solutions" to eBay sellers. I brought a few LEDs just for fun, and then what appeared to be better (not good) quality (the "lexen" brand I mention above). I am sure the "lexen" brand is not the top brand, but still I see marked difference in the LED/SMDs between the Lexen ones, and the $0.01 LEDs that I got.

 

There aren't many semiconductor manufacturers, all of them are reputable (takes billions to set up a plant), just because it comes out of Samsung, does not make it any better (if it is being sold on eBay). For reference, each Osram/Sylvania bulbs are $10. Aren't these 10 for $7? So it is going to be a hit and a miss, as the SMDs are not the only thing making up the light,and as mentioned before even it is from Samsung, it is probably coming from the reject bin.