New P-15 LED brake light

[Plymouthy Adams]

My third eye on the big butt...I have not decided what light or where to mount it on the wagon..thinking upper tailgate. I only know I do not intend to go with a billet setup at this time..second problem is that the inner area of the tailgate is completely unaccessable.

 

Edited May 20, 2017 by Plymouthy Adams

[Don Coatney]

That sure is a tiny light to cover all the real estate on that big butt.

[Plymouthy Adams]

yessir..I could have found a larger one I guess but i would need a co-signer on the loan, truth is I cut this down about 50% from the original application..and better yet..should the trunk lid be up it is clearly visiable then also..(dumb luck)

As thing so on the average..was going to put the wheels back on the 54 and drive it out of the shop (do a Norm) and what happens first thing this morning..yep..rain..we need it..shop can wait to be cleaned I guess...did the last of the body work last night and primed it all in..

I got this bad habit of working out in the shop after working all day and pegging my fun meter and just leaving everything helter skelter..just too pooped to continue or clean up....

[Young Ed]

Tim you're just gonna mess it up again the next day!

[Norm's Coupe]

Not to take away anything from the P15 LED lights. After all, if you need new bezels, it is a deal. However, if you're just after LED stop and tail lights you can save a bundle making your own. Don't know what Technostalgia is charging just for the inner workings but when I look at the picture I only see about $5 or $10 worth of parts there. Circuit boards, LED bulbs and resistors are dirt cheap at any electronics parts store. My son made the light below to fit my backup lights to work as extra stop and turn signals. As you can see, there are a lot more LED bulbs in it, plus the resistors. So.........if you wanted the light to also serve as a tail light you would only need to simply hook up half the LED's to the tail light circuit and the other half to come on in conjunction with the tail lights for turn and stop signals. No, you won't have the rapid fire. However, if you have an electric stop light switch from Watson's you can just lightly tap the brake pedal quickly 3 times before applying the full brake. To get a gasket you can make your own out of a piece of scrap inner tube or any other piece of rubber.

Another nice thing about making your own is. You can make them as large or small as you want, or in any shape or form you want that will fit your car.

With the stop lights on, can you see any difference between the stock light bulbs and the LED lights. I don't. The three original stop lights are just regular bulbs, not LED's. The only LED's are the converted backup lights.

Just a for what it's worth post here. By the way, those lights are running off 6 volt positive ground too.

[Don Coatney]

Norm;

For years the folks on this forum (yourself included) have questioned why all the vendors make reproduction parts for Ford and Chevy but not for Mopar. Now we have someone making reproduction parts for Mopar. I think it would be nice to give this vendor a little support.

If your son elected to go into business making workable LED light fixtures I am sure you would support him and not tell everyone that he only pays five bucks for the parts. I have no idea what the manufacturing costs are for Technostolga to produce these light fixtures nor what there profit margin is. I simply applaud them for sailing uncharted waters with hopes of turning a profit.

[Norm's Coupe]

Don,

As I mentioned, the lights Technoslgia makes are well worth the money, especially because of the bezels. However, they are only making them for the P15's. While the inner workings may be cheap and easy to make at home, those bezels are not. That is probably the highest cost for them to produce and the major cost of their lights. So, again they are worth the money.

Again though, many people don't have P15's on the board. It's much easier and cheaper for those people to be able to make their own from scratch to the actual size they need, instead of trying to adapt the P15 inner workings to theirs. All you need is some wire clippers and a soldering iron to make them, and don't need to be an electronic guru. And, that's why I posted this.

I did not say I don't support what Technoslgia is doing because I do. However, I believe people should know how to do something on their own if they want. Also, in my pictures it does show if everything is working right they may not need LED's or Halogen bulbs, etc., or even convert to 12 volt to get brighter lights.

[jd52cranbrook]

For $30 a light, it was a deal for me. Time is money, maybe not so much in a hobby, but still. I'm not sure you can get wide angle LEDs, a board to mount them on, resistors, plus the rapid fire safety feature circuitry, for that same cost.

Good idea about the third brake light on my 52 Plymouth, will look into that further.

It may be true for cars of those years with the third light built in the original may work well. But you have add the cool factor in.

Last night I was cruising the local boulevard, (yes I still do that), and had a vette who was behind me for awhile pull up next to me with a positive comment on the the tail lights. Made my $30 justified right there.

[Norm's Coupe]

LED Bright lights.........about $30 for package of 100 bulbs (you can buy individual bulbs also).

Resistors 470 ohms.....about 4 to 5 cents each. One resistor required for each bulb.

1 Blank circuit board approximately 1 sq foot...........about $8.00 or less depending on where purchased and type.

Time to make. My son claims he did both my lights in about 30 minutes.

On my first outing after installing the Watson electric brake switch and the extra stop lights, I had a large dump truck sitting on my tail at about 40 or 45 MPH. I gently tapped the brake pedal a couple of times (without actually slowing down) and he immediately backed off my tail. That was on a bright sunny day heading west so the sun was also shinning on the back of the car. When it comes to getting peoples attention, I really think an electric switch is all thats needed. The old pressure brake switches do not activate fast enough, like the electric switches do.

I will agree, adding a third brake light if you don't have one is a very good idea. People are looking for those today because all the new cars have them. My brother in law got one out of a junk car for use on his 38 Ford Coupe. Just changed the bulb to a 6 volt bulb, made a bracket and installed it on the package shelf. Works very good.

[jd52cranbrook]

I know theres a "Priceless" joke in there somewhere...........

Go for it, whatever works,

[JerseyHarold]

I think Technostalgia is providing a great service to the hobby by producing complete ready-to-install rear lamp assemblies for the P15. They deserve to make a profit for their efforts.

Something that has been relatively unspoken is their ability to reproduce the chromed metal and gasket components of the the lights.

I would be interested in finding out if they can make taillights for 1950-51-52 Plymouths. The same lights are applicable to all body styles for all three years except fastbacks and station wagons, and the production figures for the later cars must be comparable to the number of P15's built. The only issue that I see from a business point of view is that the 1950-52 models aren't as popular in the hobby as the P15's are now, but that situation is changing rapidly.

Any other '50-'52 owners interested?

Harold

[Taylormade]

I noticed in Technostalgia's ad on Ebay, they mention that the bezels are made from "composite." Are you guys sure they are metal? Not a real big deal as far as I'm concerned, but I wonder what the "chrome" is if they are not metal. Probably a vacuum process like plastic plating. It'll be interesting to see how they hold up in the long run - probably better than the zinc pot metal the originals were made out of.

RT

[Norm's Coupe]

I noticed in Technostalgia's ad on Ebay, they mention that the bezels are made from "composite." Are you guys sure they are metal? Not a real big deal as far as I'm concerned, but I wonder what the "chrome" is if they are not metal. Probably a vacuum process like plastic plating. It'll be interesting to see how they hold up in the long run - probably better than the zinc pot metal the originals were made out of.

RT

I thought Don said they were metal. After your post I checked their site and you are correct. Here is what the second paragraph says on the P15 page.

QUOTE:

Construction: Includes polymer taillight housing, stainless steel mounting studs, nuts, and washers, custom designed acrylic lens to maximize the LEDs visibility, original style red reflector in bezel for lights off safety, pressure cast and chrome plated bezel, custom molded rubber taillamp to body seal. Completely assembled in our Indiana factory. http://www.cool-leds.com/46ply.htm

QUOTE:

The second word in the paragraph says "Polymer", which is, another form of "Plastic", only a stronger plastic. It's like all forms of urethanes and epoxies. Although many company's use the term Polymer, etc., it's all in the Plastics family. GM says my Lumina is a composite body car, long term word for a form of plastic. But..........it sounds better than saying plastic, but it is stronger and more flexible than just plain plastic.

That said, the grill in many cars are chrome plated "Polymer" (or plastic) today. The chrome plating on those will pit and fade also after a few years. The bow tie emblem in my grill started doing that a few years ago. It's a 95 Lumina.

A lot of the cheaper, light weight garden ornaments you see in the stores today are also made of a "Polymer" composite material.

[RHDSP15C]

Next thing Technostalgia needs to make is the high beam indicator with a turn signal repeater that was a factory option.

[Don Coatney]

Call them polymer or whatever you please. I had to file a burr off of one of the mounting studs. The file removed metal shavings. The black base is a polymer. The shinny chrome part appears to me to be metal. But who cares? They are new and look good and will last a lot longer than I will.

Early this morning I gave the new P-15 tail light bezels the magnet test. They are not magnetic. Then I gave the factory pot metal bezel the magnet test. It is not magnatic. I then gave the side trim stainless the magnet test. All of the side trim IS magnetic. I then gave the grill the magnet test. It is not magnetic. Then I gave the pot metal nose piece on the hood the maganet test. It is not magnatic.

Someone else should do a magnet test on there P-15 trim pieces to insure my reporting is accurate.

[martybose]

(snip)

Early this morning I gave the new P-15 tail light bezels the magnet test. They are not magnetic. Then I gave the factory pot metal bezel the magnet test. It is not magnatic. I then gave the side trim stainless the magnet test. All of the side trim IS magnetic. I then gave the grill the magnet test. It is not magnetic. Then I gave the pot metal nose piece on the hood the maganet test. It is not magnatic.

Someone else should do a magnet test on there P-15 trim pieces to insure my reporting is accurate.

Interesting; I thought that the side trim was stainless just like the grill. I'll check mine when I get home tonight.

Marty

[Norm's Coupe]

Call them polymer or whatever you please. I had to file a burr off of one of the mounting studs. The file removed metal shavings. The black base is a polymer. The shinny chrome part appears to me to be metal. But who cares? They are new and look good and will last a lot longer than I will.

Don,

They do say the bezel is pressure cast composite, then chrome plated. They also say the mounting studs are stainless steel which are molded into the bezel. That would explain why you got metal shavings when you filed the mounting stud.

Anyway, like you said they are new and look good. Lets hope that they don't last longer than you do though. Like I said the chrome plating on the composite grill piece of my Lumina is already fading and pitting and its only 13 years old. That doesn't mean much though. I have an original pot metal re chromed hood ornament and stop light bezel on my coupe. So far they are only about 3 or 4 years old and still look good. However, I'll bet when they get as old as the composite piece in the Lumina grill they will also be pitting a little. Especially, if they were to get the same weather as the Lumina grill sees.

There is nothing wrong with cast composite parts as far as I'm concerned. And, if you tried to re chrome all three original light bezels, it would cost you more than what the Technostalgia lights cost. So, the bezels alone are worth the money if you need to re chrome your old ones. Originally though I thought the bezels were stainless until Richard made his post. Thats when I went to Technostalgia's site to check it out. If they had been stainless they would have been better than the composite or the pot metal. Of course, they would probably cost more then too.

Lets face it, nothing last forever. If it did the company making them would go out of business eventually.

[Don Coatney]

Interesting; I thought that the side trim was stainless just like the grill. I'll check mine when I get home tonight.

Marty

Marty;

Just because it is magnetic does not mean it is not stainless. Some stainless is magnetic.

[Plymouthy Adams]

stainless is a term for steel that has a minimum of 12.9 percent chrominum or close to that ..memory is not the best..the higher the chrominum the less magnetic it is..

As for the lights..I read it as the Polymer is pertaining to the base that houses the LEDs, the arcrylic is the lens, the rubber is the molded gasket and bezel is cast metal, chromed with stainless studs....and when I saw these at the car show..I could not argue the weight and feel...composite means only that it is comprised of two or metal substances..like maybe a bit of aluminum/zinc or other easily formed alloy...

For the money there is no way one can come up with a better working assembly and the arguement was and always has been...replacement for corroded pitted bezels..and for this a hearty thank you and hats off to the company...if you are in need of assemblies..fine..if not..do it your way but please don't insult or knock the company for tying to accomidate our cars..repo parts are far and few between and any effort made should be supported as best possible.

[Captain Neon]

Not sure how the POC will reract to this. The new LED lights are much brighter than the original incandescent bulbs and offer the rapid fire option that blinks the brake lights three times rapidly as soon as power is applied from the brake light switch. I would think this is a major safety upgrade same as seat belts and no points would be deducted. But that is my opinion. Any POC members have thoughts on this?

This POC member could care less if he gets dinged on points at a show because he has LEDs in his P15. I really have no interest in getting judged for points any way. The best judges, IMHO, are the people that enjoy my car as I DRIVE it about. I don't have a lot of respect for trailer queens and trophy rooms. My trophy is the oohs and aahs I get when folks see my car on the road/parking lot, and my pictures on my office wall. I'll go to a cruise-in before I ever spend an afternoon at a car show.

[Don Coatney]

This POC member could care less if he gets dinged on points at a show because he has LEDs in his P15. I really have no interest in getting judged for points any way. The best judges, IMHO, are the people that enjoy my car as I DRIVE it about. I don't have a lot of respect for trailer queens and trophy rooms. My trophy is the oohs and aahs I get when folks see my car on the road/parking lot, and my pictures on my office wall. I'll go to a cruise-in before I ever spend an afternoon at a car show.

Pictured below is my trophy case 1969 vintage. The last time I got one.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Norm ought to get his son to make him some side marker lights so when the car nears the end of its jouney (end of driveway) people will be aware of this and thus his car will be really protected from possible damage..

[Plymouthy Adams]

you betcha it is more than walking distance...but hey..this is one that lives forever...I do plan to visit Norm if we make the Wisconsin run this year...maybe he will greet me with a ball bat..who know..playing on his good nature here...

[RHDSP15C]

Be advised the bezels ARE pressure die cast zinc. Also be careful not to screw the studs too far as they can rupture the outside surface and damage the chrome plating.

[martybose]

(snip)

Early this morning I gave the new P-15 tail light bezels the magnet test. They are not magnetic. Then I gave the factory pot metal bezel the magnet test. It is not magnatic. I then gave the side trim stainless the magnet test. All of the side trim IS magnetic. I then gave the grill the magnet test. It is not magnetic. Then I gave the pot metal nose piece on the hood the maganet test. It is not magnatic.

Someone else should do a magnet test on there P-15 trim pieces to insure my reporting is accurate.

I checked my 47 when I got home, and got exactly the same results. I was surprised; I had always assumed that the same alloy was used for the grill and the side trim.

You learn something new every day!

Marty