connecting led's to 2057 socket/bulb

Hello all, I am new and i have not quite found what I have been looking for throughout this and other forums yet. Excuse me if I happen to double post a topic. I am currently undergoing an LED tail light conversion and I have a set up with 7 LED's as follows     +----|>|----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 180 ohms     +----|>|----|>|----|>|----------/\/\/----+ R = 330 ohms I am looking to make dual intensity (which I am still researching how to do in recent posts) but my main obstacle is connecting these LED's to a 2057 socket. What I have done so far is connected the LED's to a broken 2057 bulb and I have yet to get a hold of my desired results. I am looking for a cleaner and safer way to connect the LED's without having to cut or modify any of the original harness. I do know of doing two sets of LED's for parking and braking but I can not go that route do to my project. The project I have is designing a custom housing for The LED's to give my car an Audi style conversion and having to redesign for more LED's would be costly. I have also looked into getting custom boards made by CNC so that installation of the LEDs and soldering are easier. Here are some pics of what I have so far from experimenting. I'm learning as i go and you guys are the experts, I thank you much for any help.

What's wrong with a commercially available LED 2057? (At least that way, if LEDs are not approved for your vehicle, you may be able to feign ignorance etc.) Otherwise you have done much as I - used lamp bases for the interfacing. Otherwise I make a harness interceptor - male to female with the taps that I want and insert that in the harness/light assembly connector. But I too am keen on "bulb plugs" - especially for the smaller bulbs (BA15? - typically 3W-5W parking bulbs etc).

using premade led bulbs would dfeat the purpose of my project. I have made an LED housing, basicalliy redesigned the inside of my tailight.  if anyone can possibly show me how to wire up these leds with graph or pic that would be soooooo awesome.

Heres a pic, again if someone could repost a drawing using this pic or whatever would be a great deal of help. Thanks so much in advance!

Your pic didn't post. But I assume you have the dual intensity figured out? I/we need that specified as well. Typically if done with resistors on a single string of LEDs, the brake +12V simply bypasses the (first) resistor (the tail +12V goes thru that resistor).

Thanks for the quick response. I unfortunately dont have the dual intensity figured out at all with the bulb and i have been stressing to get this to work. I am  not completely clear on what you mean with the bypassing, Im a bit  more of a visual leaner. I am trying to learn the best i can though.  When i recently tried, as seen in the pictures, when the running lights were on they all turned on, but when i applied my brakes, they all shut off.  however it did work when i used a single source on my battery.  when i touched one end with the resistor it was dimmed, and without the resistor in the way it all brightened ( i guess thats bypassing?) I am very puzzled why it wouldn't work with the bulb,

here is another upload attempt of the pic

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Well let us know when you figure out how you change the intensity, and how many LEDs you will use. Having tail lights on with EITHER brake or running lights but not both means there is no ground connection.

you should search for info on converting 3 wire signals to 2 wire signals. its often done for trailer wiring but i know theres some people with jeep converting to LED and its a 2 wire LED hooking to a 3 wire system. they ususally use resistors in 1 leg to make it dimmer. should be able to find some stuff online, wish i had a direct source for you but at the moment i do not.

If you look you will find a few LEDs that output full intensity at one voltage, say 13 volts, and a lower intensity at a lower voltage, say 11 volts.  This requires selecting the proper set of LEDs.  Once selected, place a resistor in series with the LED string attached to the "Running lights" lead of your 2057 socket.  This will run the LEDs in a dim mode.  Now run a second wire lead from the "brake light" lead of your 2057 socket and attach it to the LED string after the resistor.  Some LEDs you might consider:  http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2Fr_specs.htm   or  http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2Fr2_specs.htm.

If you do not want to use the resistor method, you could install two rows od LEDs that operate at different intensities at the same voltage level.

Hope this helps,

Newton1Law

Newton1Law

Brightness varies more as a function of current. Hence why the Luminosity versus Current graphs (rather than versus voltage). And at the risk of defeating the purpose of this exercise, below is a typical hi-low output connection diagram using a single string of LEDs. (Other options include one resistor only - maybe with an added LED; or using only LEDs and bypassing one of them; etc) The number of LEDs depends on the LEDs and voltages involved.