Got 1157 led bulbs for the brake lights, they work when you press the brake, and they turn on when you turn on the headlights, but they don't light up any further when the headlights are on and you press the pedal.

 

Removing them and try rotating them 180 degrees and see if that helps.

 

I tried that and they don't seem to fit in the socket when I rotated them 180 degrees. They only go in the socket correctly one way, where you can push down on them and turn them into place. The other way they wouldn't turn into place properly. I am bummed! I wasted $5 on these and now I have to use them for my parking lights and they are just a little bit brighter and you can't even really tell they are led.

I tested them as brake lights and they would turn on when I pressed the brake pedal, but when I turned on the lights and tried pressing the brake pedal, they would not illuminate any further, so only my 3rd brake light was working as a brake light. These bulbs were supposed to strobe when you pressed the brake and they weren't doing that either. They would only strobe once when you turned on the headlights.

 

I'm mad, waste of money. Thought I was going to have the coolest brake lights, now I'm back to my regular old bulbs.

 

04xtype04, are you sure that you are turning the bulb all the way into the socket. Granted, it could be that they are not 100% compatible with the style bulb we need and therefore you are not getting the proper connections. That is about the only thing that I can think of other than they are just a knock off bulb and won't do what they say that they would.

 

For them to work as a tail light and brake light they need to be equal to a double filament bulb with one filament being brighter than the other.

There should needs to be 2 contacts on the bottom of the bulb for this to happen

 

Just buy better bulbs from carid

 

They have 2 contacts on the base. The problem is in the ad they say they can be used a brake lights, so I assumed they would work, but it says they strobe for a few seconds then stay on. I assumed that meant stay on while your foot was on the brake pedal, but it looks like they actually meant it stays on. So once you turn the headlights on the bulbs would strobe for a second then stay on full brightness (not when you pressed the brake pedal though for some reason at any time did they strobe like they were intended). So I am confused as to what the point of these bulbs are. I contacted the seller so I'll see what they have to say. Even when the headlights were off and I pressed the brakes, they didn't strobe, they just lit up like normal bulbs. So I have no idea what the strobe effect is supposed to do here. Maybe they work with other cars' voltages better, idk.

 

The problem appears to be the bulbs are designed kind of retarded for brake lights. When I press the brake (with headlights off) they light up dimly. When I turn the headlights on, the led bulbs would strobe then turn to full brightness and stay that way, so no matter if I pressed the brake pedal or not, they would not light up or strobe. I was reading another tread and I think it might need a resistor, but the problem is that they light up dimly already when the headlights aren't on, so a resistor might make them super dim. I decided to just use them as my rear parking lights which they work fine for, so it's not a total waste, they just aren't well designed to be brake lights. I had hoped it would make my brakes look cool but didn't work out like I expected so I'm back to my old bulbs. Guess I need a higher-quality "Dual fillament" LED brake light bulb that is designed with a resistor in it.

 

Actually I'm not sure which LED bulbs to get for my brake lights that wouldn't need resistors. Anyone know of any bulbs that work well for your brake lights?? Don't want to waste money again on the wrong bulbs.

 

04xtype04, if you are getting a manufacturer LED bulb (ie, has the bulb base already on it), then there is no need for a resistor as it relates to the brake lights. Turn signals, that is a different story. THe brake light LEDs have a resistor built into them that limits the current the LEDs see to prevent damaging the LEDs (as they will tend to pull as much current as they can get their hands on unless they are limited in some manner).

From the sounds of things, you have an internal problem with the LEDs that you bought or they are meant for a different style bulb and have simply been mis-labeled as something that you can use.

 

Yea these were supposed to be flashing bulbs (flash for 3 seconds then normal). I assumed they would flash whenever I pressed my pedal, but in the fine print of the ad it says they flash for 3 seconds then stay on! What's the point of that!? They stay on? Why! It makes no sense. So as far as I can see they are only useful as parking lights. So you are saying most any other 1157 style LED bulb should work fine for the brake bulbs? When you turn on your headlights and the brake light turns on, and you press the pedal, they will brighten more? I am looking at just a red 18-bulb 1157 LED. On another Jaguar thread he went through the process of installing like 4 resistors in his taillights to upgrade to LED, including the brake bulbs. So I was afraid I would have to use resistors too, but now I'm not sure!

 

04xtype04, I am not sure why they would do the 3 second flash only for the first time ever of being powered up. As for other styles of 1157/7528 bulbs, when playing with LEDs, you have to know a lot more about the bulb than just "it is a 1157 bulb" or "it has XX number of SMD chips on it". I can take 2 identical looking LEDs, power them up the same way, using the same amount of power, but one bulb will be dimly lit, the other I won't be able to look at. This is where you have to have a different reference to base things off of than simply "it is LED" or "it has XX number of chips". This reference is called lumen (ie, light intensity). In short, the higher the number, the brighter the bulb. That is what I would be telling you to look at. The halogen bulbs (factory equipped), they output 35 lumen when just a running light and output 440 lumen when you are applying the brakes. This gives you a starting point to put the bulbs on an even playing field. Whoever you are buying bulbs through, before you buy anything, either see in their sales brochure the lumen rating of the bulb or ask them specifically what the lumen rating is of the bulb. That way, if you get a dim bulb, you can have something to stand on to make a case about getting a refund.

With all this being said, if you are after a high intensity light, forget about LEDs and step right up to CREE. CREE is a form of LED, but that is like trying to compare a Geo Metro to a Porsche. LEDs are normally rated in milliwatts with maybe a lumen or so of light. CREEs are rated in watts and rated in 100's of lumen (general rule is every watt will result in 100 lumen of light, so, a 5W CREE bulb will output about 500 lumen). The other "benefit" is that the CREE tends to have a very focused beam for the most part. So, this results in the light looking even brighter (down side is that it doesn't shine to the side quite as well). But, you will notice that a lot of the CREE bulbs have the SMD chips on the side to do the parking light bit and the CREE bulb to do the stop light. Do this CREE bulbs cost more. Of course. But, you can spend $5 on a set of LED only bulbs and keep hunting around till you find what works. or spent the $15-30 once and get something that will work the first time.

If you have any more questions, keep them coming. The only place that CREEs are not highly useful is in for the backup lights. Because they are LED based, LEDs do not seem to have quite the reflective quality that a normal incandescent bulb does. So, that makes looking in the mirrors a bit more difficult.

 

if those LEDs you had that you thought would flash/strobe when the brake was pressed might not be legal. You would have to check the local laws, but I think a break light has to be bright and steady.

 

Just buy better bulbs from carid.

 

Yea the strobe brake lights weren't going to be technically legal but a few new cars are starting to have them so I figured I would just be ahead of the crowd. Anyways, forget strobing brake lights, now I am just after an led bulb that works. How about a CANBUS approved red LED bulb for the brake lights? Those are supposed to have built in resistors, so maybe they would function better in these cars. Anyways, they are only about $6 for the pair so they're not expensive either. I probably can't afford cree bulbs right now, but they sound good.

 

Just buy better bulbs from carid..

 

Actually after looking just now I found some 5w cree bulbs that would do the trick and weren't that expensive

 

If you own a Jaguar, you aren't supposed to be broke dude.. Lol. If you can't afford high quality bulbs then you are a disgrace to jag owners.. Just sayin'

If your car blows an engine tomorrow what are you going to do? Let it sit for a while, right?

 

The problem is I can't figure out which bulbs really work and if I need to add resistors which I don't want to do. It seems no one knows for sure or can agree on the answer. I'm thinking they need canbus bulbs but I hate to buy them and have them shipped only to find out they don't work right or I need resistors, or I should've gotten the non-canbus type. It's just confusing. I just wanted led bulbs for my brake lights. I wish having a jaguar meant money fell out of the sky but it doesn't. I still have to live in the real world where my job doesn't give me enough hours and I don't get paid enough and I have more in student loans than I can pay off in 25 years.