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High quality LED Tail light upgrade/mod

4K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  NoRalPh 
#1 ·
Hello,

I just upgraded my tail lights and though i would share some of the info on here.

For background, i like to keep my truck looking more stock, it is a daily driver for work and i feel like most of the china/"performance" upgrades are really cheep and always leave something to be desired.

I have however always loved the high output of ambulance tail lights, and how they have that little strobe each time you hit the brakes to get your attention is awesome, i am sure you all have times when your on the freeway and people pretend not to see your turn signal, with that little strobe i now have a much better time merging on the freeway.

The little strobe is actually called "Signal Alert" and it is on most of the LED Whelen light heads. What is does it when you press the brake/turn signal the light flashes about 3-4 times very quickly then goes steady.

They make a few rectangle light heads with "signal alert" built in to them all different sizes, lucky for us the 400 series fits in our tail light housing perfectly.

What you will need:
8mm / 5/16 wrench
Dremel tool/oscillating tool
Silver Sharpie
Pair Whelen 400 series light heads (400 Series - Whelen Engineering Automotive)
Hot Glue Gun

It took me about an hr to complete so not a large time commitment. Best advice though is go slow make smaller cuts and take your time for the best fit.


First remove your old lights. There are 2 5/16 / 8mm bolts located in the tail gate jam that holds the light housing. Once you remove the bolt you have to pop the lights out with a little force, you do not need tools just your hands. Don't rotate the housing too much pull straight out. The bulbs just rotate to pop out.

Once you have your lights out find a good work place.


This is how the light heads arrive (they will also have a red cover i did not take a photo of.


As you can see it comes with a rubber gasket and mounting bracket of sorts, this is all used for a flush mount, but we are just going to use the mounting bracket as a template to make our cuts.

You can place the plastic bracket on the back of your housing and where the points make contact make a mark for your 4 screw holes.



Make sure you do not cut in to the screw hole areas, you can get away with just hot glue and a tight fit but the screws make me feel like it is lifetime quality.

Also when you make the screw hole locations keep in mind you want for them to be as close to the flat side as possible (top of image) and keep about 1/4" to 1/2" clearance from the metal grommet (you will see in a later step how i clear this gap out.)






Now you get to start cutting, in my last images you can see i already cut out my hole, I begin with cutting a tight line along the flat side as close as i can, then using the plastic mounting bracket you can gauge your other cuts, keep in mind little cuts and test fitting is the best way.

Even though the left and right sides in the photo above appear curved they are actually straight lines if you look at it from the top of bottom, it is the curve of the reflector that created that curve and it worked out to perfectly cup the led's in the light head.

This is the next cut, on the flat side you need to cut approx. 1/8" off of the edge to flatten the top out.


Idealy you want a tight fit, the light head will not fall in to it's location you should have to push it in firmly and it should hold it self in under friction alone.
Here is a photo from the end with the light head just resting on the fixture, you can see how i cut a little too much from the right hand side but that is what the hot glue is for.





all you have to do is press down and it pops right in.
 

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#2 ·
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Finally we need to clearance out the gap by the little grommet pressure fitting. You need about 1/4" of room to fit the grommet, you can fudge the whole light head down a little but but you will also need to shave the light head a little bit.

Here is the before.


this is the after


I would try to make the cut as small as possible so do some trial fitting so you do not over cut, you will end up cutting slightly in to the screw hole.

Finally install the screws, i used a long small drill bit and left the light head in place but i had trouble with the angle of the reflector trying to bend my drill bit so go slow, it also helps to use the drill but to mark the perfect spot, remove the light head, drill the hole then replace the light head and install the screw and move along to the next one. This way you get it perfect.

Finally use some hot glue to help keep dust out, there are water drains already in place so don't feel like you have to make it water tight.


Your lights are now ready to be mounted but one last note.

These light heads have a "program" wire to turn on and off the Signal Alert mode, read the instructions and make sure you program the lights before you wire them up because you have to cross some wires in order to activate them. Once activated you do not need to re activate the mode again. I just touched the raw wire ends to my truck's battery before wiring them up to make sure they were in the proper mode. I also just used the little blue wire taps to wire it in, on the bulb holder there are labels engraved above each wire (GND) (High) (Low) you can easily see which wire is which this way.

Finally reinstall the housing and stand back and enjoy your work.

Before and after
 

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#4 · (Edited)
Finally we need to clearance out the gap by the little grommet pressure fitting. You need about 1/4" of room to fit the grommet, you can fudge the whole light head down a little but but you will also need to shave the light head a little bit.

Here is the before.

this is the after

I would try to make the cut as small as possible so do some trial fitting so you do not over cut, you will end up cutting slightly in to the screw hole.

Finally install the screws, i used a long small drill bit and left the light head in place but i had trouble with the angle of the reflector trying to bend my drill bit so go slow, it also helps to use the drill but to mark the perfect spot, remove the light head, drill the hole then replace the light head and install the screw and move along to the next one. This way you get it perfect.

Finally use some hot glue to help keep dust out, there are water drains already in place so don't feel like you have to make it water tight.


Your lights are now ready to be mounted but one last note.

These light heads have a "program" wire to turn on and off the Signal Alert mode, read the instructions and make sure you program the lights before you wire them up because you have to cross some wires in order to activate them. Once activated you do not need to re activate the mode again. I just touched the raw wire ends to my truck's battery before wiring them up to make sure they were in the proper mode. I also just used the little blue wire taps to wire it in, on the bulb holder there are labels engraved above each wire (GND) (High) (Low) you can easily see which wire is which this way.

Finally reinstall the housing and stand back and enjoy your work.

Before and after
NICE WRITE-UP.....BUT HOW MUCH DID THE LED LIGHT INSERTS COST?....

WHERE DID YOU PURCHASE YOURS?....

ALSO.....DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE MEASUREMENTS OF THE INSERTS ARE?....(LENGTH.....WIDTH.....DEPTH).....

THANKS.....
 
#5 · (Edited)
Found this thread last year and thought it a Very Interesting idea. Then, after seeing what these suckers cost, I kinda put it aside. BUT, I did really did like the concept. Along came my wife asking "What can I get you for your birthday this year" and it came back into my head (and isn't the perfect gift, one that you can't bring yourself to buy because of the logic that says it's too extravagant ;))

So here I go! I liked zamanica's install but wanted a couple of changes.

**It should be able to use the stock connector so the trucks wiring isn't modded beyond returning easily back to stock.

** I'm not convinced that glue alone should be holding it in place.

**And I need to know it's sealed-up tight so water never collects in the lens.

I start with cutting a slot in the housing that the led module will slide into.




It clips in secure and tight.





Don't know of you're using E6000 but it's the greatest silicone Replacement (it's NOT silicone, available at hobby/craft stores). I glue and seal it in the housing.





By gluing two pieces of PC board back-to-back, cutting a slot between the pads, tinning with solder, I make a "chicklet" that's the right size to replace the bulbs connector side.




I was surprised to find that, despite the lg amount of high powered leds, the turn signals still did the Hyper Flash so, added the load resistor (bolted to the sheet metal in the background).



And finally, how they work.

View My Video

Hard to tell in the video but these are Really Bright and the Strobe Effect is very noticeable. Those 4-way flashers, at night, are indistinguishable from a lightbar and unlike any civilian light you'd see.

This is what Whelen calls "Signal Alert" and it's programmed into the module. This was an important feature and as I shopped for these on eBay (trying to save money) I found sales of the 400BTT called "Edge Ultra Freedom" but couldn't determine if they had this or not (the guy wouldn't answer the question). Here's how you can tell (the eBay ones DON'T) you have to see 4 wires from it ( Turn/Brk, Tail, Gnd, and the 4th is to program w/application of power). The best deal I could find on them was $85ea here-> https://911custom.com/400-Series-Red

It was a pretty simple things to do and I'm really happy with the results, something different to have and should make it more likely to be noticed by the distracted drivers we're all surrounded by :)
 
#6 · (Edited)
UpDate...

Been a year since I did this and I have to say it's one of my favorite mods that I've done to my truck. And recently,,, I ran across a guy on eBay selling these Whelen lights at a really good price (the sales link above no longer works). I'm putting them in my trailer because of how cheap they are ;) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Whelen-400-Series-5mm-LED-Off-Road-Usage-Only/173148892008

I have no affiliation with the seller, he is asking $26.95 AND has a "Best Offer" button. I bought one at the regular price, with shipping it goes to $36.90, made an offer for 3 more and got them for $20ea BUT,,, no break on shipping, it's $9.95X3 (came out to $30ea.).

The difference in these units are that the LEDs are RED and it has a Clear lens but, when inserted into our housings you don't even use that lens anyway. They Are Programmable (the reason I started with one) and Very Bright (why he says "Off Road Only" ;) )

So, if cost alone has kept you from trying this, it's a new day...

EDIT: Not what I thought these were :( ...

If it "seems to good to be True", I find when I go to put these in my trailer that, despite being called BTT (Brake Tail & Turn, these are Brake Tail or Turn) as they have only One Power wire (I guess, on a big body you'd have 2 of these on each side) so, when the tail lights are on, it's already illuminated for the Brake & Turn.

Up Side; my work-around. You need a Diode to prevent the, now connected together, Turn wire from illuminating the opposite side through the Brake wire. The other thing the diode does is to drop the voltage slightly, 4 diodes in series drops the voltage enough (though still Very bright) to see a marked difference between Tail and the Brake/Turn light levels. Connect the Tail wire (Parking lights, Head lights ON) to the 4 diode side and the Brake Turn wire to the 1 diode side (I used 1N4001's). Here it is before I slide Hot-Glue lined Heat Shrink Tubing over each diode line (separately) and a larger piece over the connection to the red wire.



Down Side; not what it should be. When the tail lights are On you lose the "Signal Alert" to the Brake & Turn because the array is already lit. So, at night, you get Brake & Turn just fine, just no triple-flash first. No big deal on my fireworks trailer I use less than 10 times a year. But I'd miss it on my truck.

Sorry about my confusion, if you look at my pics you'll see 3-wires from these cheap ones (+,-,Program) and 4-wires from the expensive ones (+for Brake/Turn, +for Tail, -, Program). My Bad....
 
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