80W Cree Stop/Tailight bulbs
Discussion
Apologies for the thread resurrection...
I was at Str8Six today to get them to diagnose why my car has a “thunk” from the drivetrain. (It turns out it’s the poly bushes on the diff that have enlarged due to heat - so nothing to worry about and we’ll replace them when it next goes in for a service.)
While it was being manoeuvred into the workshop I was struck by how damn good the LED stop/tail lights are.
Seriously, I strongly recommend them. Yes, they’re not cheap - although cheaper now than they were when I bought them - but very, very good:
https://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/380cree-80-rx2-pair...
I was at Str8Six today to get them to diagnose why my car has a “thunk” from the drivetrain. (It turns out it’s the poly bushes on the diff that have enlarged due to heat - so nothing to worry about and we’ll replace them when it next goes in for a service.)
While it was being manoeuvred into the workshop I was struck by how damn good the LED stop/tail lights are.
Seriously, I strongly recommend them. Yes, they’re not cheap - although cheaper now than they were when I bought them - but very, very good:
https://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/380cree-80-rx2-pair...
I can also 100% vouch for these on a Cerbera at least.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...
Brightness is fantastic but the real win is the contrast of brightness when brakes are applied leaving the driver behind in no doubt!
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...
Brightness is fantastic but the real win is the contrast of brightness when brakes are applied leaving the driver behind in no doubt!
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Apologies for the thread resurrection...
I was at Str8Six today to get them to diagnose why my car has a “thunk” from the drivetrain. (It turns out it’s the poly bushes on the diff that have enlarged due to heat - so nothing to worry about and we’ll replace them when it next goes in for a service.)
While it was being manoeuvred into the workshop I was struck by how damn good the LED stop/tail lights are.
Seriously, I strongly recommend them. Yes, they’re not cheap - although cheaper now than they were when I bought them - but very, very good:
https://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/380cree-80-rx2-pair...
Thanks.. I purchased for the Chimaera and they're great. I'd like to upgrade the indicators also, in ideally orange. Is there an option?I was at Str8Six today to get them to diagnose why my car has a “thunk” from the drivetrain. (It turns out it’s the poly bushes on the diff that have enlarged due to heat - so nothing to worry about and we’ll replace them when it next goes in for a service.)
While it was being manoeuvred into the workshop I was struck by how damn good the LED stop/tail lights are.
Seriously, I strongly recommend them. Yes, they’re not cheap - although cheaper now than they were when I bought them - but very, very good:
https://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/380cree-80-rx2-pair...
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Apologies for the thread resurrection...
I was at Str8Six today to get them to diagnose why my car has a “thunk” from the drivetrain. (It turns out it’s the poly bushes on the diff that have enlarged due to heat - so nothing to worry about and we’ll replace them when it next goes in for a service.)
While it was being manoeuvred into the workshop I was struck by how damn good the LED stop/tail lights are.
Seriously, I strongly recommend them. Yes, they’re not cheap - although cheaper now than they were when I bought them - but very, very good:
https://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/380cree-80-rx2-pair...
Thanks.. I purchased for the Chimaera and they're great. I'd like to upgrade the indicators also, in ideally orange. Is there an option?I was at Str8Six today to get them to diagnose why my car has a “thunk” from the drivetrain. (It turns out it’s the poly bushes on the diff that have enlarged due to heat - so nothing to worry about and we’ll replace them when it next goes in for a service.)
While it was being manoeuvred into the workshop I was struck by how damn good the LED stop/tail lights are.
Seriously, I strongly recommend them. Yes, they’re not cheap - although cheaper now than they were when I bought them - but very, very good:
https://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/380cree-80-rx2-pair...
Tekno said:
Thanks.. I purchased for the Chimaera and they're great. I'd like to upgrade the indicators also, in ideally orange. Is there an option?
Depends on the pins...https://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/382cbcob-a-canbus-3...
https://www.car-mod-shop.co.uk/581cbcob-a-canbus-5...
So as the OP of this post and having fitted these 80W Cree Stop/Tailight bulbs some 3.5 years ago I can also vouch for their reliability and longevity so far. Saying that a traditional incandescent stop/tail light bulb should easily last at least this long and often many years more, I think when I get to year 10 on the LED that's when I'll be able to confidently call them longer lasting.
However..... performance wise there's absolutely no comparison, so I for one will never be returning to incandescent bulbs, the only way I'll swap out my 3.5 year old LEDs is when something even better comes along, and to be honest I'm surprised that hasn't happened already given the rate of progress in LED technology in recent years.
I've also been running LED H4s in the headlights for years now and would never go back to incandescent bulbs here either, overall they're still not quite as good as my 2 year old Audi A3 that has the latest OEM quality HID headlights, but they run them a pretty close second and in my Mk3 headlight setup my super powerful LED H4s do deliver much better light than even way more modern cars that still use incandescent bulbs.
If you think about it that's a huge step on from what TVR originally gave us even when the reflectors are in good order, and if you look closely most Chimaera reflectors are in a shocking state these days, which makes the situation ten times worse. I can highly recommend the latest generation of LED H4s, you will need to adjust your headlights down a bit to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers but the latest versions of these LED H4s allow you to make an 'LED to reflector' adjustment without touching your actual headlight adjusters.
This latest LED to reflector adjustment system a better approach in my opinion, because with the adjustable LED H4s you're actually fine tuning the refractive angle between the chip and the reflector itself, rather than keeping it the same and crudely adjusting the whole reflector down which definitely achieves the desired anti-dazzle objective but also has the effect of pushing the light further down into the road so creating a more intense but smaller pool of light right in front of you on dip beam.
Because the adjustable LED system hadn't appeared on the market when I fitted my LED H4s I solved the dip beam reach problem by adjusting my Mk3 headlights down, and then fitting a set of Piaa LP270 led driving lights which were expensive, but are lovely and small and devistaingly good at filling the dip beam reach issue with my adjusted down LED H4 equipped Golf Mk1 Hella units that are used in the Mk3 Chimaera headlight conversion.
The end result of all this work to improve my Chimaera headlights is outstanding dip beams that don't dazzle or trouble oncoming drivers, then when I flick the system to full beam I have headlights that go from just outstanding to devastatingly good, better than my HID equipped 2 year old Audi in fact! Please excuse the pun, but my fully developed and adjusted all LED Mk3 faired headlight setup with the brilliant LP270s is not only safe and respectful to other road users, but is also genuinely 'night and day'
better than what the car came with from new 
As with my success fitting these Cree LED stop/tails, I'll never go back to incandescent headlights
All in all the use of correct selected and properly adjusted LEDs is highly recommended
, but I see no reason to change to LED indicators as I feel my good old fashioned incandescent flasher bulbs work just fine and are perfectly visible to other road users left just as they are. It's also worth noting that going LED on the indicators can cause all sorts of undesirable and well documented issues, so for these reasons I've decided to leave my indicator bulbs well alone.
I hope all this this helps others, because the tail lights and headlights TVR put on this car weren't exactly brilliant when brand new in the 90's, but with a bit of reflector corrosion added in for good measure I'd say they can end up downright dangerous, and there's no arguing the fact that compared with the lighting on modern vehicles the standard setup.. even in perfect condition....... is a bit of a joke really.
Dave.
However..... performance wise there's absolutely no comparison, so I for one will never be returning to incandescent bulbs, the only way I'll swap out my 3.5 year old LEDs is when something even better comes along, and to be honest I'm surprised that hasn't happened already given the rate of progress in LED technology in recent years.
I've also been running LED H4s in the headlights for years now and would never go back to incandescent bulbs here either, overall they're still not quite as good as my 2 year old Audi A3 that has the latest OEM quality HID headlights, but they run them a pretty close second and in my Mk3 headlight setup my super powerful LED H4s do deliver much better light than even way more modern cars that still use incandescent bulbs.
If you think about it that's a huge step on from what TVR originally gave us even when the reflectors are in good order, and if you look closely most Chimaera reflectors are in a shocking state these days, which makes the situation ten times worse. I can highly recommend the latest generation of LED H4s, you will need to adjust your headlights down a bit to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers but the latest versions of these LED H4s allow you to make an 'LED to reflector' adjustment without touching your actual headlight adjusters.
This latest LED to reflector adjustment system a better approach in my opinion, because with the adjustable LED H4s you're actually fine tuning the refractive angle between the chip and the reflector itself, rather than keeping it the same and crudely adjusting the whole reflector down which definitely achieves the desired anti-dazzle objective but also has the effect of pushing the light further down into the road so creating a more intense but smaller pool of light right in front of you on dip beam.
Because the adjustable LED system hadn't appeared on the market when I fitted my LED H4s I solved the dip beam reach problem by adjusting my Mk3 headlights down, and then fitting a set of Piaa LP270 led driving lights which were expensive, but are lovely and small and devistaingly good at filling the dip beam reach issue with my adjusted down LED H4 equipped Golf Mk1 Hella units that are used in the Mk3 Chimaera headlight conversion.
The end result of all this work to improve my Chimaera headlights is outstanding dip beams that don't dazzle or trouble oncoming drivers, then when I flick the system to full beam I have headlights that go from just outstanding to devastatingly good, better than my HID equipped 2 year old Audi in fact! Please excuse the pun, but my fully developed and adjusted all LED Mk3 faired headlight setup with the brilliant LP270s is not only safe and respectful to other road users, but is also genuinely 'night and day'
better than what the car came with from new As with my success fitting these Cree LED stop/tails, I'll never go back to incandescent headlights
All in all the use of correct selected and properly adjusted LEDs is highly recommended
, but I see no reason to change to LED indicators as I feel my good old fashioned incandescent flasher bulbs work just fine and are perfectly visible to other road users left just as they are. It's also worth noting that going LED on the indicators can cause all sorts of undesirable and well documented issues, so for these reasons I've decided to leave my indicator bulbs well alone.I hope all this this helps others, because the tail lights and headlights TVR put on this car weren't exactly brilliant when brand new in the 90's, but with a bit of reflector corrosion added in for good measure I'd say they can end up downright dangerous, and there's no arguing the fact that compared with the lighting on modern vehicles the standard setup.. even in perfect condition....... is a bit of a joke really.
Dave.
Good write up Dave.
I changed my stop and tail lights for LEDs and as mentioned the difference is night and day. Having done this it was pointed out to me that the rear indicators on my Griff were difficult to see because of the brightness of the other lamps so I changed my rears only to these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CANBUS-382-PY21W-12V-CO... and the difference is amazing again and there were no errors or flash issues literally plug and play.
See this quick video for results
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxXgfBqO-Rw&fe...
I changed my stop and tail lights for LEDs and as mentioned the difference is night and day. Having done this it was pointed out to me that the rear indicators on my Griff were difficult to see because of the brightness of the other lamps so I changed my rears only to these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CANBUS-382-PY21W-12V-CO... and the difference is amazing again and there were no errors or flash issues literally plug and play.
See this quick video for results
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxXgfBqO-Rw&fe...
Stever said:
Good write up Dave.
I changed my stop and tail lights for LEDs and as mentioned the difference is night and day. Having done this it was pointed out to me that the rear indicators on my Griff were difficult to see because of the brightness of the other lamps so I changed my rears only to these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CANBUS-382-PY21W-12V-CO... and the difference is amazing again and there were no errors or flash issues literally plug and play.
See this quick video for results
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxXgfBqO-Rw&fe...
Wow, great result Steve... and no crazy speed flashing faults either.I changed my stop and tail lights for LEDs and as mentioned the difference is night and day. Having done this it was pointed out to me that the rear indicators on my Griff were difficult to see because of the brightness of the other lamps so I changed my rears only to these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CANBUS-382-PY21W-12V-CO... and the difference is amazing again and there were no errors or flash issues literally plug and play.
See this quick video for results
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxXgfBqO-Rw&fe...
I'm tempted
Did you just fit to the rear?
Stever said:
Good write up Dave.
I changed my stop and tail lights for LEDs and as mentioned the difference is night and day. Having done this it was pointed out to me that the rear indicators on my Griff were difficult to see because of the brightness of the other lamps so I changed my rears only to these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CANBUS-382-PY21W-12V-CO... and the difference is amazing again and there were no errors or flash issues literally plug and play.
See this quick video for results
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxXgfBqO-Rw&fe...
I changed the stop, tail and fogs earlier in the year on our Griff. We ended up taking 2 cars out recently, and the comment about the dim indicators was made... so guess what has been ordered.I changed my stop and tail lights for LEDs and as mentioned the difference is night and day. Having done this it was pointed out to me that the rear indicators on my Griff were difficult to see because of the brightness of the other lamps so I changed my rears only to these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CANBUS-382-PY21W-12V-CO... and the difference is amazing again and there were no errors or flash issues literally plug and play.
See this quick video for results
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxXgfBqO-Rw&fe...
Ok, thanks to Steve's impressive YouTube demo and his confirmation there are no nasty issues with these new type of LED indicator bulb, I've decided to complete the LED conversion on 'Ol Gasbag' by fitting them to the indicators too.
I chose to buy through Ali Express as you can get four of the exact same bulbs for just £32.49, I've purchased from Ali Express in the past and had no issues with the experience. While delivery usually takes three weeks because they're coming direct from China (where they're made), buying the bulbs this way does work out nearly half the price.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4pcs-No-Resistor-R...
I'll be patient.... and take the saving
Many thanks to Stever for the original heads up, great result and well shared
I chose to buy through Ali Express as you can get four of the exact same bulbs for just £32.49, I've purchased from Ali Express in the past and had no issues with the experience. While delivery usually takes three weeks because they're coming direct from China (where they're made), buying the bulbs this way does work out nearly half the price.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4pcs-No-Resistor-R...
I'll be patient.... and take the saving
Many thanks to Stever for the original heads up, great result and well shared
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Wednesday 8th November 11:22
Stever said:
I only did the rears because the fronts are much easier to see being on their own. Ideally it's something I might do when I'm feeling the need to upgrade something next 
Cheers Stever, excellent find mate, I've steered away from LED indicators until I saw your YouTube demo today.If you do choose to add them to the front, they're available for £18.66 a pair if you buy them from Ali Express.
Here's the link....
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/2pcs-No-R...
I've gone all in and bought four for £32.49 (link above in my previous post).
Thanks again for the recommendation
Soon 'Ol Gasbag' will be be almost 100% LED, for many years I've had an LED interior courtesy light which is way better, and obviously the well documented LED headlights, stop/tails, driving lights, plus LEDs behind the number plate.
Just the side repeaters and the fog light to complete the LED exterior lighting conversion.
Dave.
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Wednesday 8th November 11:24
Dumb question, the answer may even be here if a trudge through four pages, but these "cree" bulbs must be a whole different cup of tea to these cheapy things presumably?
cheap led's
phillpot said:
Dumb question, the answer may even be here if a trudge through four pages, but these "cree" bulbs must be a whole different cup of tea to these cheapy things presumably?
cheap led's
There's a massive difference Philpot, if you're going LED anywhere on the car you need to choose carefully as there's lots of toy shop junk out there that actually perform much worse than good old incandescent bulbs.cheap led's
However, if you sift through the rubbish and do your research properly there are good improvements to be had, that's why it's important to only go with the tried and tested recommended products on this post.
Fail to do so... and you run the very real risk of buying utter junk that will go straight in the bin!
FlipFlopGriff said:
I think the Chimp pins are offset where they are opposite on the Griff.
FFG
On my 99 Chimaera they’re 180 degree pins.FFG
I created this thread about LED indicators. It is necessary to fit an LED compatible flasher unit otherwise they flash too fast, but it’s simple to do by just raising the left hand side of the dash top. Reaching past the air intake hose to gain access to the front left indicator bulb was tricky!
There are links to the bulb and flasher I bought, although I’m not sure whether the links are still valid...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...
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