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Can I switch sockets???

1K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  jaged 
#1 ·
Ok, so here's the low down... I have a 2000 Coug, ATX. Been doing an LED make over.. thought blinking brake lights would be quite neat-o.... The bulb is an 1157, which is great if they were for the tail lights. I need an 1156 but there is no alternative I can use available and I demand instant gratification... So my question is this... Is there any way I can make this work?? Can I swap tail light/brake light sockets and wire in such a way that everything works as intended without screwing up current flow? I feel like this is not impossible, and a nice crisp high five goes to anyone with a decent solution that doesnt include me buying a 1156 bulb. I do things the hard way, not the easy way....
 
#2 ·
#4 ·
This is exactly why I have mixed feelings in my head about whether or not it will work... I'm wondering if for the 1157 if I were to just splice the 'hot' wire with any other bulb that stays on constantly, it would keep it lit and still blink when brakes are applied?
 
#8 ·
The wiring is what makes it flash. To make it flash you’d have to wire up a turn signal flasher relay...but don’t do this, because that would, I think, be extremely confusing for cars behind you, and the last thing I want is for other drivers to be confused when they’re heading in the direction of my car.

If it did something where it blinked twice then went solid, I’d be okay with it. But having your brake lights blink like a turn signal sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
 
#9 ·
Rejoice!!! I have succeeded and got the desired results with ease! Now I shall explain so if anyone else is interested in doing things the hard way, I gotchu...

So, the brake lights (stop lights) are in the largest bubble of the tail light housing... There are 2 bulbs for this; both being 1156 bulbs, but one of the sockets has 3 wires... I bought 1157 sockets from Autozone (cringe) but you have to make sure they also are wired with 3 wires... ($5.99 each).
I basically just spliced them with the brake light socket that was also wired with 3 wires... The only tricky part after connecting the obvious green/orange wire to the yellow socket wire was getting the 2 black ones connected to the right ones from the socket itself which basically you can only get wrong once.
NOTE after connecting one new socket and testing with new blinking LED bulb will NOT determine if you did this correctly or not. BOTH new sockets must be installed and equipped with new LED, THEN tested to get accurate test results. A single connected socket and LED will not blink whether it is wired correctly or not. I think it has something to do with the flow of current.
Then you simply attach housing as usual, reconnect battery and enjoy! My blinking stop light starts solid red, then blinks quickly 6 times and then stays solid until brake it fully released and applied again. If anyone is interested, I can take a video so you can see the end result.
 
#10 ·
see I think I'm pretty good at seeing this in my head, but I have no idea what that looks like. a video would be pretty swell.

nice work. welcome to the bunch. Also - how do you like that protégé? my Probe is on the same platform and is tons of fun in the curves.
 
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#11 ·
My Mazda? I still love that car! So much fun to drive, and with regular maintenance, that car will last me several more years. She ain't much to look at, but she hasn't ever let me down.

As for the video, I'm trying to figure out how to post it here lol
 
#14 ·
Okay, that's pretty neat. No one could ever miss that.

Spruce green, by the way. Your car is spruce green. :D
 
#15 ·
Spruce green, by the way. Your car is spruce green. :D
[/QUOTE]

Spruce green?
Not fair, everyone got cool names, like LASER red, Grabber green, Zinc Yellow, Sunburst something-or-other.....
Spruce green......
 
#18 · (Edited)
Spruce Green is a pretty cool color. Not very sporty, but rare enough that its a treat to see one.

Aren't the silver cars "Silver Frost"? That's a pretty cool name...Sounds like a geriatric superhero. "Zinc yellow" doesn't even make any sense :LOL:

Anyway, congrats on the blinky lighty thing, its good to see people still having fun with these cars. You could probably make a small amount of fun money doing that conversion for people. Maybe pick up a spare set of lights, convert them, then sell them with a "core return" as part of the deal. Rinse and repeat. Nobody ever got rich off this community, but it might fund additional tinkering.
 
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#19 ·
From now on Memom will be called 'Silver Frost' 😂.

And I love to tinker, it doesn't matter what I drive, I like to make it my own. I just put LEDs in my instrument cluster, was going for something totally different but I like how it turned out. Looks almost like blacklight... And I did my headlights and foglamps so I feel pretty cool driving around lol
 

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#21 ·
And there was also a "Satin Silver" in 2002! How can there be 2 different silvers? Or three?
 
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