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MG TD TF 1500 - Plug 'n Play 1157

I live on an unlit country road, and tonight, I just about got shunted into oblivion, thanks to what I believe are totally inadequate rear/stop lamps.

I have searched the archives about up-grading to LEDs, but there doesn't seem to be any direct and easy solution for my bone-standard, + grnd TF.

What I am seeking is a rear/stop LED that will simply replace the standard 1157. I want to buy it, and install it without any problems with "no-load' flashers , adding electronic bits and wires. In summary, just plug 'n play.

... and I want it to be much brighter than the standard 1157.

Help !!

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A Clark

I changed my TD to the Halogen version of the 1157 some years ago, it is a lot brighter and works fine with the stock flasher. George
George Butz

My TD was not equipped with turn signals. I upgraded it using an electronic turn signal system which accomodates LED lamps. The LED lamps are far brighter than incandescent lamps and add a priceless measure of safety.

I understand that a turn signal system which uses a mix of incandescent (front) and LED (rear) will have sufficient current draw to operate a standard mechanical flasher unit. LED taillamps are available for a few dollars on ebay. Installing them in your rear taillights would be an easy and inexpensive experiment.

The tailights on the TD are mounted very low, and are not visible to some closely-following vehicles (trucks, buses, SUV's), or to any vehicle stopped behind. As such, I added an LED third brake lamp assembly...very bright and visible. These units are also available on ebay for less than ten dollars. They are easy to add to the wiring harness, and can be mounted in a variety of ways.
Corey Pedersen 1951 TD #7169

There is a lot of information on this in the archives.

A summary of the points to note are;

A good incandescent bulb will put out more light than a poor quality LED set up.

A good LED setup will be made up of an array of bright LED's and will be better than a single incandescent bulb. This solution is not cheap and requires some modification.

There can be issues with "splay" of light as LED's are more directional than incandescent bulbs

Any rear facing bulb be it incandescent or LED must be red. A clear bulb may appear brighter - but once it is filtered through the red rear lens cover it is not
Ray Coyte

Hi Gordon,

Here is a simple solution to your problem, these led bulbs fit straight into the normal bulb holders. The only drawback is that they are NEG earth only, so you would have to swap your car over to neg earth, which is a reasonably easy operation you can carry out yourself.

Heres the link

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product_list/119

Cheers Chris
C A Pick

Thanks all for your input, but I'm still at square one - no quick and easy solution to buy, and simply install an LED rear/stop 1157.

Too much fussing. The + grnd is the problem.

Looks like George's halogen solution comes the closest.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A Clark

Just last week I was looking into this.
I found a company that has polarity independent LED lamps.
I pinged them with pictures of the front ad rear lamps. (Rectangular ones)

Here is their answer.
>>>>
>>>>
Hi-

We have 3 bulbs on this page which will work in the + ground systems:
http://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm

1) 60 led smt tower
2) 10 watt Cree
2) 30 led smt tower.



>>>>

These should be plug and play.

JIm B.
JA Benjamin

And here's another possible source of bulb replacement LEDs. E mail the vendor with your needs. I got some instrument light LEDs from him and some festoon bulbs for interior lights on some of my British cars.

http://www.bettercarlighting.co.uk/
John Quilter (TD8986)

Again, many thanks.

It now looks like I have something to try.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A Clark

Jim, Gord,
please keep us posted on which one your choose, and how they work,,

SPW
STEVE WINCZE

Everyone probably already knows this, but if not, the color of the LED build selected must match the color of the lens used. Regards, Tom
tom peterson

Paul Goff has a lot of lighting/bulb alternatives on his website. They are mostly aimed old Brit motorcycles but that makes them quite suitable for us. He's in the UK but good on shipping.

The reason the third brakelight became standard was not just to get more brightness, but because studies found that drivers tend to focus on they upper center of the vehicle they are following, and the further the tail/brake lights are from it, the slower the reaction time, and the more chance the driver in a following car just won't notice the brakelight. So adding a third, higher up brakelight will probably be superior to increasing the brightness of the little, low, tailights.
kylemorley

Suppose Gord gets the positive ground LED's for his car, would he need to upgrade his flasher to an electric one as well?

http://www.mossmotoring.com/led-installation-and-common-issues/

Let us know how you make out.

Frank

Frank Cronin

Gord - Search the archives for 'litezupp'. Some good info for updating tail lights. I used them and it was easy and they are really bright. They look to be of good quality... John
J Ostergren - 54 TF #3698

This thread was discussed between 13/10/2013 and 16/10/2013

MG TD TF 1500 index

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