LED Bulb Conversion

[Army_MP_From_MO]

I'm going for a full LED bulb conversion in my Cat. I put in some Jam Straight side marker lights and they look great. Today I received my 57 LED rear turn signal bulbs 7507. I put them in and nodda. Wouldn't light up. I found that I'm going to have to put in load resistors to get them to light up. Anyone got an idea of I need a 25 or 50 watt resistor?

[Cadi Cat]

just grab yourself a multifunction turn signal relay from autozone.

[cateraowner]

reverse the polarity of the bulb... incondensent lights it doesn't mater.. but led it does. you only need to use load resistors it it's flashing too fast

Let me know if it works

[Army_MP_From_MO]

So I just need to switch the wire going into the socket?

[cateraowner]

yep.. that's what I would assume. if it's something that requires a resistor it it'll just flash really fast

if you're skeptical you can use a 12v supply and test it out. it should show that the led is directional.

[Army_MP_From_MO]

I did what you suggested and they do light now, along with the brake lights, and the third brake light flashes opposite of those. It'd be great if it was an unmarked squad car.

[Cadi Cat]

I bought the 57 Red LED bulbs for my brakelights. They look great.

[cateraowner]

sorry I don't know if i'm following..

did you change the berak lights to led too?

is the brake light and the 3rd brake light lashing alternatly from the turn signal?

my only suggestion is a resistor. the only difference from the led and normal bulb is that the leds is the lad has a much lower load. so if you replaced both turn and break lights to led, the car might not know what to do with such a low load.

I'm getting my led in a week or so, if you figure something out before then let me know. if not I see if we can work through it together

[Army_MP_From_MO]

I just started out with the rear turn signals. I wanted to see if they were what I was looking for. They do look great! I just got to figure out how to get them to work right. I think I'm going to try a resistor and see if that will work.

Cadcat, did you have to do anything to get them to work?

[Cadi Cat]

Originally Posted by Army_MP_From_MO

I just started out with the rear turn signals. I wanted to see if they were what I was looking for. They do look great! I just got to figure out how to get them to work right. I think I'm going to try a resistor and see if that will work.

Cadcat, did you have to do anything to get them to work?

No, the brake lights were plug and play. You just have to make sure the polarity is right or the light pattern will be backwards. But I used to have another vehicle I used leds for the turn signal and I had to get a new turn signal relay because the load was higher with the added circuits of the extra leds (not to say its using more power because they don't). Instead of lighting two lights (which the factory relay is capable of handling) the relay is overloaded with the extra lights to illuminate that's why it won't flash. It just stays constant on. So I think if you just go to autozone and buy a new turnsignal relay for mutipule lights it will work. It's the same concept as towing a trailer or something adding extra turn signals

[Army_MP_From_MO]

How do I check the polarity? My problem is that with the wires hooked up like they would from the factory they wouldn't light up at all. When I rewired it at the socket they began to flash, so did both brake lights, very faint and the third brake light began to flash opposite of those. Are you saying if I replace the flasher relay it will fix all of this and I can rewire back to original configuration?

[Cadi Cat]

First of all you don't want to rewire anything! This is why the other lights are flashing. Secondly is the bulb dual power or single? If it's single power you don't need to worry about the polarity. Just plug it in and go. And since you are putting leds in the turn signal you only need a single powered bulb. But it should stay lit. A dual powered bulb will not work in a single powered socket. And if it does it won't opperate properly. Do the other turn signals flash or light up?
Here is my LED brake/tail light. It's dual power.



I have a 2000 and the turn signals are factory led panels. So posting pics of mine won't help you any. How about turning on the hazzard 4-way signal? Does it flash or light then? You don't need to mess with any of the factory wiring. You're gonna end up like that guy I see on the road with turn signals for brakelights and reverse lights for turn signals and brake lights for.....well you get the point, haha.

[kmcatera00]

Cadi Cat - I have a 2000 Catera Sport and want to make the Tail/Brake LED conversion to match the turn signals. Where do I get these bulbs? My only hesitation in installing these bulbs is that I am afraid that they will appear as "bright clump" and not illuminate the entire area the way the regular bulbs do. Does that make sense? How do yours look? Any pictures you have of the brake lights w/the conversion would be appriciated. Although, it may be hard to capture in a photo. Thanks for your time! - kmcatera00

[Cadi Cat]

I got these from ebay. They really do illimunate the entire housing. It really looks awesome. You can also see the top layer leds in a circle but that even looks sweet. I only bought one to try it out because I was skeptical but I'm definatly buying one for the other side. I also have them in the reverse lights. Those are also really bright. I tried to take a piture but it's nothing but blur. Weird thing is though the brakelight led only works when the bulb it NOT anchored. So I gotta figure out how to keep it from vibrating out.


ARMY this may be your case. Try just setting the bulb in the socket not anchoring it in and see if it works. I just realized this out myself tonight by playing with it.

[MichBiz]

Cadi Cat, what color did you buy? Some sites I see recommend the Red bulb and some recommend White. With Red I feel as if it might not be bright with the Red Tail Light lense but with White I think it might turn the color purple due to the bluish tint of the while LED. I might be crazy... HAHA!