Everything You Need to Know About T10 Bulbs

Are you familiar with T10 bulbs? In fact, they're the most prevalent lightbulbs found on any vehicle on the road right now. The issue with switching to LEDs is that most individuals are unsure of what to use. There are several different bulb models that come with your glove box, dome light, map light, door lights, cargo lights, rear lights, license plate lights, and 194, 168, T10, T15, 912, and 921. However, LED lights can take their place.

We'll describe a T10, the various sizes available, why you can replace them all with the same LED, and what we suggest for your upcoming project. If you don't want to wait until the very end, you will be pleased with the XENONDEPOT T10 and the GTR 6 LED T10. If you continue reading, you will learn why.

Different Types of These Mini Wedge Bulbs

You'll need to know what you're looking at if you discover one of these three varieties of small wedge bulbs when disassembling your car.

The T5, T10, and T15 are the three fundamental styles. The most minor kind, the T5, goes under a lot of various names. In actuality, however, any T5 LED bulb will function due to its tiny size, low power consumption, and lack of alternatives. Don't worry about choosing a T5 LED bulb; GTR Lighting only produces two kinds, so whatever you can obtain from them will work well.

The T10 bulbs, which are a more extensive version of the T5 bulbs, are what you should mainly watch out for. It's a T5 if you are disassembling stuff and believe you have T10s, but instead, you find these small bulbs. Seek out another kind.

It all Comes Down to Wattage

All of the T10's models—194, 168, W5W, 147, 152, 158, 159, 161, 168, 194, 192, and 193—basically have the same appearance. Actually, they are all constructed with the same incandescent filament and share the same base; the only thing that differs is the power. The only difference between bulbs with numbers 194 and 168 is that the former determines how many watts the latter draws. The brightness of the bulb increases with its wattage draw.

Therefore, a manufacturer may choose to utilize a very dim lamp in a glove box compartment. They don't want anything you're putting in the glove box to be exposed to a lot of heat. Now that LED bulbs don't get as hot as incandescent bulbs, you don't have to worry about it.

Thus, the fundamentals are essentially the same when considering an LED light. Although they are constructed of different materials—metal and plastic rather than wire and glass—they fit in the exact location. With an LED bulb, I can remove any of the numerous T10 part numbers (194,168, etc.), and it will function flawlessly. Unlike the incandescent bulb, my T10 LED bulb has one part number and does not exist in different wattages.

T10 vs T15

In general, an LED bulb will be at least five to ten times brighter than a T10 bulb. The T15 is one of the three varieties of small wedge bulbs that are available. This denotes a more oversized style bulb, such as this one.

The wedge bases on the T10 and T15 are identical, as you can see. They're compatible with the same connector. The T15 is made for spaces that are larger than a T10. You will find a T15 in a truck's cargo light and on reverse lights, but that's about all.

Accordingly, you might use a T10, like one of these smaller bulbs or a T15, like one of these larger bulbs, if you have a T15 bulb with the same base as the T10. The T10 and the T15 share the same base, as you will see. These can actually be used in the same way, so why would you place a tiny T10 when a T15 would fit?

T15 LED bulbs produce more light than T10 ones. Additionally, the original T15 incandescent bulbs produced far less light than the T15 LED lights. Will there be enough for a T15 LED if you remove the smaller T10? Then, attempt it.

If there isn't room for a T15 in a T10 location on your vehicle, you'll have to choose one of the other T10 bulb options. Conversely, you might use a T10 replacement in place of a T15 incandescent bulb. Likely, your previous T15 bulb will still be less bright than the T10. You could go even farther than that, though. Now, if you want to go ahead of the competition and purchase the largest, brightest, and best bulb available, choose the GTR Lighting High Output LED Reverse Light.

What to look for in a T10 or T15 Bulb

Next, let's discuss what a T10 or T15 bulb should have. Regarding T10 LED bulbs, there are essentially three types to choose from:

The first one will be your forward-facing, with all of the LEDs pointing in the same direction.

With all of the LEDs oriented horizontally to the left or right and none facing forward, #2 will be side-facing.

These will be your 360-degree light bulbs #3.

Consider the application while determining the sort of T10 you require. Anything that goes left and right isn't really necessary. If it's a cargo light on your roof or lighting backward on your truck bed, as much light as you can in one direction or backward is required. Therefore, a bulb similar to this one from the GTR Lighting Carbide Series would be a suitable choice for anything that shines in a certain direction.

Low Profile T10 For Tight Spaces

Now, the GTR Lighting Carbide Series is likely too bright for many situations, so where will this be? Since the Carbide T10 from GTR Lighting is so bright, it might not be a good choice if your car has directional lights. In your vehicle, it will be uncomfortable. It is possible to have an LED that is too bright. I suggest something similar to GTR Lighting's Low Pro T10. Even though it's not nearly as colorful, all of the LEDs are blazing in the same direction. Also, the GTR Lighting Low Pro T10 will fit nicely if your clearance is so low that most LED bulbs won't fit.

People often assume that whatever bulbs they purchase will work, which is a very typical problem. Now and then, they discover that they have something similar, but it will never fit. Thus, you require something discrete.

You, therefore, require something low-key.

The majority of LED license plate bulbs are too big, so the GTR Low Pro T10 is the ideal choice. This is an excellent application if you are worried about fit or have any issues with it. Since there are far brighter and more capable bulbs for that use, it is not recommended to use these in reverse light applications.

Left or Right Facing

Let's now discuss horizontal distribution with a left-to-right orientation. This Morimoto bulb is a very intriguing alternative. As you can see, none of the LEDs are glowing from the front; instead, they are all surface-mounted on this side of the PCB.

It has a white cover over it for diffusing purposes only so that you can see a pleasant glow rather than the light source from all those individual LED chips. Something like this T10 from Morimoto is a fantastic choice if you have an application where the light is beaming directly down or if you really need to use the reflectors in the left and right assemblies.

Here's another illustration of a left-to-right particular bulb. We purchased this generic model from Amazon, and while it appears to be plenty bright, it has two issues. The first is that many of these circuit boards are poorly constructed, so if you see something with bare circuit boards, hope it doesn't collapse on you when you put it in.

Sometimes, there are problems with the clearance of each of these components, and you may encounter them when you insert them. Other times, the terminals inside the connector may simply scrape off the printed circuit.

I've seen a lot of problems with these, either not fitting at all because they're too wide or the people who made them never even measured or installed them in the first place; they downloaded a blueprint from the internet and said, "Let's make a T10 bulb that looks like this." If you're going to get something with a bare printed circuit board, make sure it comes from a reputable brand.

Additionally, when you have a variety of LEDs with specific faces from left to right, each one will produce its light output based on the reflector it is placed in, such as a map light, dome light, or something similar.

As a result, you'll have a spider web effect with many distinct shadows, which is likely to produce a disco-like circular light pattern inside your car. Even if it is cool, you won't enjoy it. For this reason, left and right applications are better suited for the Morimoto bulb.

360 Degree-type Bulbs

The GTR Lighting 6 LED CANBUS T10 is ranked first. This is a very high-quality lightbulb with a single, bigger chip rather than several smaller ones and soft circuit boards. Because of its construction, it can be driven a little bit harder and brighter because it has a metal ring around it that serves as a heat sink.

The alternative design you may encounter may resemble this: a large number of distinct LEDs are crammed onto a single surface. Two things are going to happen, even if this might appear fantastic and provide you with a lot of coverage. First, the lightbulb will either be significantly underpowered since they don't want so many high-power LEDs in such a compact container to spark a fire, or it won't be underpowered and will burn out.

These bulbs don't provide the dependability you desire and get really hot. Having to deal with burned-out T10 bulbs continually is the last thing I want to do while I'm replacing my map lights, dome lights, or glove box lights. If you have to replace them often, it might be a bit of a hassle.

Quality Connections Count!

Another item you should be aware of is the type of connectors on each of these bulbs. You must pay special attention to the backside. Because the GTR Lighting bulbs are wide and have excellent contact with the socket you're plugging them into, I enjoy their design.

These wires are fragile, easily bent, and easily broken if you look at this manner. Additionally, they may push together so tightly when plugged in that they no longer even touch your socket. When purchasing these kinds of bulbs, it is crucial to make sure you are buying them from a reliable company that you know conducts testing and thoughtfully engineers the product to ensure it will function.

The wire connector on the XENONDEPOT XTR T10 is of the same style, but the arrangement is much more similar, and the design parameters are more in line with those of the original bulb. In addition to not breaking or pulling out, these also don't have any contact problems. Among the best available is the XENONDEPOT XTR with wire connectors.

You have several of the same choices for the larger bulbs, such as T15 for your reverse lights or cargo lights; they're larger.

As you can see, each chip in the GTR Lighting Carbide Series bulb is appropriately spaced apart to allow the bulb to function and disperse heat. This bulb has a 360-degree output. In order for this bulb to operate at its maximum brightness, the entire top section is made expressly to dissipate heat.

However, the GTR Lighting Carbide T15's integrated temperature circuit is its coolest feature. It's so big in part because of it. To prevent burnout, this device will begin to reduce its temperature if it becomes too hot. I don't know about you, but I would much prefer to have an LED lightbulb that gradually dims when in use than one that simply burns out after 20 minutes.

There is nothing like the XENONDEPOT Ceramic Series T15. This is a really intriguing concept as opposed to having a number of different LEDs scattered around or one that shines forward.

Inside the LED bulb's cap, there is a single 50/50-style LED chip that shines down onto this reflective cone. This makes this one of the top-performing T15 bulb brands available on the market since it produces the OEM-style reflection type beam pattern. It is similar to the adage "work smarter, not harder."

They installed one LED in a ceramic body—which feels amazing, by the way, and is possibly the coolest bulb you'll ever see—and increased the brightness using a conical reflector rather than powering numerous other bulbs all over the place. These folks simply do things differently.

This guy with the small plus on it is one of the most widely available T15 bulb varieties on Amazon. Due to its extreme brightness, many people utilize this type of bulb, which is known as a CANBUS bulb.

However, there are two issues with this kind of bulb:

First of all, you are exposing all of these sensitive electrical components to the possibility of moisture or water intrusion when you use an application like a cargo light, reverse light, or something else that may be exposed to moisture. There is significantly less chance of it happening because other bulbs that use plastic bases are really cemented together.

The second possibility is that the circuit board itself is too big to fit in, or it does fit in, but your connector collides with all of the tiny components. To ensure that it installs as planned, why not create something that feels and looks like the original?

To Recap

I've been changing the T10 and T15 incandescent bulbs in my trucks and cars for a while, so I know what should and shouldn't be changed. Believe me when I say that if you want a T10 that is really bright, of excellent quality, and works without giving you headaches, these are my suggestions:

The GTR Low Profile is the perfect choice if you have a really low-profile item. It doesn't matter because there isn't anything like this on the market. The best option if you have trouble getting other bulbs to fit is the GTR Lighting Low Pro T10.

The Morimoto T10 is an excellent choice if your firearm needs to fire frequently. I'm not a fan of open printed circuit boards, but if you buy them from a reliable company like Morimoto, they function, and you don't have to worry about a problem.

The GTR Lighting Carbide is what I would choose for a little, really brilliant device. Most applications cannot use them because they are too bright, but the Carbide T10 bulb works well if you don't want to purchase the full-size T15 bulb.

Nothing compares to the 1,000-lumen GTR Lighting High Output LED bulb if you have the space and want the brightest, most insane option available. The brightness of your halogen headlights is equal to that. However, if you want something that will work for the majority of applications and don't even want to consider it, I have two suggestions:

#1: The XENONDEPOT XTR T10. These are of the highest quality, manufactured of ceramic, and have the lowest failure rate in the world. Probably the greatest T10 in the world, they are plug-and-play, robust, dependable, and long-lasting.

Or the GTR Lighting CANBUS 6-LED lightbulb. If you experience flickering problems with CANBUS integrations, the 6 LED CANBUS bulb is a suitable option; many European cars have such issues. You might also choose something a little bit brighter that you know will be of excellent quality without breaking the bank.