LS430inDE.

Alexus---apparently I needed some inspiration from Beyonce, because after 2 swift, open handed karate chops to the left, I heard/felt the housing unclick and become FREE! Jeez--I must have looked like an IDIOT chopping in the back seat with my head smashed against the rear glass and then yelling YES!..once she unlatched!!! Once I karate chopped it free, I took a couple pics with my cellphone of the original 7440 bulb. Now--picture this, 9:15pm, in the drivers seat, foot on the brake, arm back trying to snap a photo of the incandescent bulb while it's out of the housing, but it was futile.

I then scurried into the rear seat to pull out the incandescent, and now I have like 10th degree burns on my fingertips! OUCH! The original BULB gets DAMN hot after only 25 seconds!!! I had to wait about 4 minutes to replace with the LED...but after I did...WOW is all I can say! I pumped the brakes several times---and now---no burns on my fingertips, but instead, I have the LED image burned into my eyes! An incredibly bright, crisp and intense beam of light!! Words can not do justice how much better the LED is vs. incandescent for the center mount brake light (quick on/off, very little power, never burns out, etc). Unfortunately, good pictures are somewhat difficult..but rest assured it's a GREAT mod...once you build up that umm...testosterone thinking about Beyonce ..lol!

PS---the icing on the cake???....the burned out bulb warning does NOT come on!!!

PPS--don't worry if the inner housing seems to brake off from the outter black housing when karate chopping that baby back ON. You merely have to take the entire unit/housing out of the rear deck again, then snap the inner housing back into the black outter housing (you can easily see where the plug/sockets are for the 2 individual pieces that make up the assembly.

PPPS---if you're a neat freak like me, you're going to need a bottle of glass cleaner and paper towels to clean allll the smudge marks made along the way from your face to wrists to fingertips!

Thanks for the pics and PERFECT way of explaining it AlexusAnja!!!

ARA

AlexusAnja

Remember LS430inDE-SAN... karate for defense, never for ATTACK !!!!

Yeah, it's quite an easy and nifty mod, once you get beyond removing the bloody thing. Here are some pics of mine after the MOD. And as for TEE's question on color, read online and it seems that you match the LED to the lense color (red with red, amber with amber). Not sure the science behind this as I would have thought white on everything would be best.

The colors match perfectly, no "pinking" of the colors. Only when you look up close do you see that there are little diodes lighting up the thing. From afar, they all light up at the same time now, not the .01 second delay of the 3rd light.

AlexusAnja

Here's a closeup, but can't really tell the diodes, but it's pretty bright. I have not seen it in daylight yet, but LED tend to not be as bright in sunlight than incand. lights. I have LED turn signals on my RX and in direct sunlight, you can't even see them blinking...

Boomer01

Did you need 1 or 2 LED bulbs? Let us know how it looks in the daytime.

LS430inDE.

Boomboom----you only need ONE led "bulb" (bulb type 7440) for your center brake light replacement. There are numerous styles----some LED "bulbs" have a numerous (smaller) led's on them. Mine has one HUGE, JUMBO LED at the top of the "bulb". I will post pics of my mod when I get my girl's digital camera. I just need to ensure I don't upload the wrong pics from her camera. lol

Tee

Thx for the pics and info Alex, I will place the order to day. I also will post some pics too.

AlexusAnja

1 bulb and I'll try to get some good pictures during the day with my Canon S3, instead of my cell phone. I'll try to get some in plain light and then in direct sunlight and see if any change.

2SAVVY

Glad you guys got them installed. Taking it out the first time was such a pain in the a$$ but its alot easier now. Alex can you post up where you got your LED light bulb as I would also like to change my bulb to something brighter to match the factory LED tails.

AlexusAnja

I posted the listing on page 1. I got it through E-bay. 2 bulbs for $20 shipped or something.

brio_ls

Bump for the daylight pictures If you guys already have some, how is the light output with the new LED bulb?
And thanks for the great write up!

LS430inDE.

Hi brio...No reason to not be 100% honest with you and the board, so here's my take.....

My center mount brake light LED was INCREDIBLY bright, nearly burning a permanent spot in my eye, beautifully dazzling red, etc, when it wasn't snapped into the brake assembly lens/housing!!!

HOWEVER, when the assembly is all put back together and installed, I don't think I noticed ANY difference between the LED or the incandescent bulb. I compared the before/after at 10pm at night. If I can't tell the difference with my eye, I don't think a camera would be able to show anything either. (It's difficult to get an accurate picture of a LIGHT SOURCE with a camera).

Of course, I know my center mounted should never burn out now.

2SAVVY

Thanks for the link I just placed my order. Great write-up with pictures. Price wasn't too bad either considering he is use pounds as his currency.

AlexusAnja

??? Pound ??? as in the British currency? I'm pretty sure the guy was in HongKong and value was in US currency, but I could be wrong.

Yes, the price was very fair overall. I had a good transaction and a quick mod. to boot.

I still haven't had time to take a picture in day light. I hope to try tomorrow when the sun is scheduled to come out.

Tee

I did mine yesterday and it took all of 5min, very easy to do! Alex thx for the write up, the karate chop work like a charm. I will post some pics tonight of day & night shots, the tint man tinted all the way down in front of my 3rd light. I need to have him cut that peice out but it is still bright, I like how they are all coming on at the same time now.

AlexusAnja

I got this picture following my wife to daycare. First time I actually saw it in daytime while NOT driving. I would say the brightness is equivalent to the taillights at "normal" illumination, not as bright as "braking" illumination. You can definitely tell that the brakes have been applied because you go from nothing to lit, so the driver behind you can tell for sure. Serves it's purpose, to indicate the brakes are stepped on.

I have a video here, but you can't really tell that well. At about 1:16 and 1:40, my wife steps on the brakes. She has a lead foot, so it was hard to keep up in my RX.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfbdNQOWsOI