Anyone have any recommendations on good quality LED 194 bulbs and where to get them? I heard a while ago about some of them not working (shortly after people started selling them)... are there still problems?

TIA...

Doug

 

Yes, it seems that the LED's burn out in a short time. It seems the manufacturers aren't using the correct resistors to keep the LED's from burning out. 12 volts are a lot of "juice" running through them, but if you don't have the correct resistor to minimize the voltage, they will eventually burn out.

 

Surprising enough, I found them for like $3-4 for 2 of them, and in the best blue color you can find.

Now it's your turn to ask... WHERE?

And my reply is: AutoZone

They are in a ugly brown/orange package with a red, yellow, and orange stripe on them. They are rated 12volts 5watts, and I think they even have 12v 3w as well. Just my $0.02 worth, since I've seen people spend $10-20 for 2 bulbs that burned out in like 60-90 days. I've had mine in since December, and nothing has burned out yet.

 

wow.. do you know what brand? There is an AutoZone near me and they have AMBER ones, but the guy I asked (who didn't seem very knowledgable, to be honest) said they couldn't order blue for some reason. Please respond soon so I can maybe stop my online order before it's shipped!

 

I don't know of the brand name, I just know that they were cheap. Like $3-4. I can make a run to my AutoZone and see what the brand name is. If you can't get them there, it's possible that I can buy them, and ship them to you (not a good idea if you only need 2 bulbs, but great if you need about 6 or more).

 

Yes, I need 6! I checked my AutoZone again and they can't do it. I'm going to figure out if I can cancel my order and then I'll get back to you.

thanks....

Doug

 

well, I couldn't cancel my order. I got them yesterday and they are not so bad. "Champs" brand, obviously from Japan because there is very little English on it. So far they seem good- they illuminate evenly and have a very deep blue shade to them. The only problem is that I'm not sure if they're bright enough. I got the single-LED kind (it's one big fat LED) but they also had a "high brightness" 4-LED bulb for a little bit more money. I'm kind of afraid to try them because I don't think the 4-bulb lights will illuminate evenly. I think I'll keep these in for a little bit. They seem bright in my peripheral vision but then when I actually look down it feels like it's a little hard to read the guages. That's the problem with blue.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know what was up, and thank studman for the offer. I think I'm all set for a while