taillight bulbs

[davidz71]

The rear taillight bulbs on my '77 Excella 500 are not as bright as I would like. I replaced one several months ago and I noticed that the other was not working yesterday. I found that the bulb had seperated slightly from the metal base. Since it is a 1156 with single element/single contact on base, will the 50 watt halogen backup bulb advertised in J.C. Whitney or sold in auto stores work as the running tailight? I have also thought about replacing the other 1157 stop and turn signal bulbs with halogen. Also, is there a source of LED bulbs that emit light at a 90 degree angle from the base so that the LED is projected straight to the rear of the trailer?

[john hd]

craig

i'd shy away from running lights that are too bright, people behind you might not see your brake lights when they come on!

maybe they are dim due to a poor or corroded ground.

john

[3Ms75Argosy]

I have seen more and more LED lights on the Metro buses and trucks. Is there a source of lights that would replace our 70's style square lenses? Or is it too much trouble to replace them. I know someone also replaced their yellow and red running (roof) lights with LED's, they must be fairly generic. Any sources out there?

I use a fifty watt halogen over my sink at home..... ouch, that'd be bright on the eyes at night, but it'd be a great back up light.
Marc

[Pahaska]

I followed a FedEx truck in the fog and rain today that had round LED tail lights that probably could be transplanted into a lot of old Airstrean tail lights I have seen. They were really bright.

[Inland RV Center, In]

LED lights are available for replacements on the vintage trailers that used the "wedding cake" style tail lights.

They however, are not cheap.

Best 7 inch one we could find, goes for almost $80.00.

BUT, the big advantage, is that the LED lights, are brighter in the daytime, than the old lights are at night.

Smaller lights are available possibly for the 4 1/8 taillights used from 69 to mid 70's. Our tests so far say that the LED's cannot easily be mounted in the original tail light bezels.

You can see a picture of an 7 inch LED tail light, on our web site, inlandrv.com, part number 65601.

Andy
inlandrv.com
airstreamparts.com
airstreamcandy.com