Topic: LED replacement "bulbs", anyone used them on their MC?

[Kelvin8]

Did they work fine, or were there problems?

[Bodi]

Yes and yes.
I tried some auto store 1157 type LED lamps. Absolute junk, the stop light was not visible in daylight.
I am using the Ledtronics AUT1157M-0RW-014V motorcycle lamp now. It's pretty good; the stop lamp is definitely visible in sunlight but not as bright as the normal bulb. The tail lamp function is weaker, but more that sufficient at night. This lamp also has a white light LED for license plate illumination as required by law.
The Ledtronics lamp is $50.00 but worth it if you want a drop-in replacement LED tail/stop lamp.

[Killer Canary]

It sounds like LEDs are the solution to a problem that doesn't exist. What are the advantages over incandescent?

[Alan F.]

Power consumption!........the alternator has less workto do

Unless you complement the Led swap with a brighter headlight, there's a great reason to go Led.

[rod_f]

When I get round to it I'm going to replace the clock illumination bulbs.
There are 4 of them consuming 10W+ so it'll nicely compensate for the H4 headlamp I'm running.
I assume they'll fit but that may be naive optimism.
Do I go for green or white ?

http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/goffyleds.htm

[rod_f]

indeed,
my only worry was if they are too bright there could be spill through gaps and cracks in aging clocks - so hence a more subtle shade
OK - not likely but hey I was drunk on the colour possibilities

[Geeto67]

I'm surprised it took 9 posts before someone mentioned the word resistor.

I run LEDs on my kawasaki triples and my father's harley. The main advantage fo an LED over an incandescant bulb(besides brightness)? vibration resistance. I used to blow bulbs on the kawi and hd all the time due to vibration (two strokes and v-twins go figure) I went LED and haven't gone back.

I did not use them on my hondas because the honda does't vibrate bulbs to peices like a kawi or hd shake machine.

The problem with putting an LED in a dual stage bulb application is that because LED require less power than an conventional bulb there will be less of a difference between dim and bright stages (it is almost negligible). Without exception when converting to LED from incandescent you have to run a reisitor on the dim circuit so as to differentiate it from the bright beam. Otherwise the LED may not change at all or the change will be minimal. People who buy 1157 replacement led and don't use a resistor call them junk because they don't understand how it works you have to use a resistor. The majority of the LED bulbs I use are 1157 replacements and in conjenction with a reistor they are way brighter than stock in both dim and bright stages.

On cb750s the rear turn signals are not running lights so you can get away with running an LED without a resistor in that location. The front turnsignals are running lights so they need a resistor. On some bikes if there is no resistor the bike will think the rear signal is out  and not blink but I don't understand why on on cb750 it does this and on another of the same year it does not.

There was some guy selling a whiole ago a product called the taillighter made specially for cb750s and had something like 8 individual led bulbs to fit in a stock cb750 taillight. This was a plug and play piece becasue it had a circuit board with internal resistors. It was neat but at $100+ it was way to pricy for me.

The other advantage of an LED replacement bulb is you can get some of them that change patterns within the bulb. Anyone behind a new sportbike will have invariably seen the swirling tailight (moving) that instantly changes to a bright plusing flash when the brake is stepped on. Aside from cosmetics, there is a practical use for this feature - it keeps you from getting lost in a sea of taillights at night.

[rod_f]

I've seen the Load Resistors on many online shops.
They seem to be 6 Ohm and are contained in a hefty heatsink because they get hot, ie- they consume power.
Current=voltage/resistance
 I (current)=12V / 6 Ohms= 2 Amps
The resistor is taking 24W of power to simulate the normal bulb - on each flasher.
So it all works but you have no power saving.
I read somewhere that if you use an electronic flasher unit instead of the ordinary bimetal-strip one you don't need the resistors.
I'm not an electronics expert so please shoot me down on this.

[Bodi]

The load resistors are only to simulate the power draw of a normal bulb, so there's little or no power saving but the LED taillamp lasts pretty musch forever.
Electronic 3-wire flashers will work with LED lamps. Auto flashers usually have an "alternate flash rate" that kicks in to let you know a signal lamp has burned out, usually when less than 4 lamp loads is detected. With LED lamps the flasher will be doing theis "alternate flash rate" which might be faster or slower than the "normal" rate depending on the flasher unless you use the load resistors (mechanical flashers and most 2-wire electronic ones will just refuse to flash at all). You can live with the fast/slow flashing, or open the flasher and do some modification to eliminate that function and use the standard flash rate.
I'm unsure of what the previous post describing resistors was talking about. All 1157 replacement LED units have the bright/dim function built in, either resistors or extra LEDs for the stop/turn brighter operation. My problem has been finding an LED 1157 bright enough to have a visible stop lamp in daylight; I haven't tried every one but the three I bought at about $10.00 each were pathetic so I ponied up the $50.00 for the Ledtronics one because I had heard it was OK. Plus it has license plate illumination built in, police can and do stop and ticket you for doing without that. None of the auto store 1157 LED bulbs I found had license plate lighting.

[Geeto67]

All 1157 replacement LED units have the bright/dim function built in, either resistors or extra LEDs for the stop/turn brighter operation. My problem has been finding an LED 1157 bright enough to have a visible stop lamp in daylight; I haven't tried every one but the three I bought at about $10.00 each were pathetic so I ponied up the $50.00 for the Ledtronics one because I had heard it was OK. Plus it has license plate illumination built in, police can and do stop and ticket you for doing without that. None of the auto store 1157 LED bulbs I found had license plate lighting.

The first LED I bought was for my 75 cb750 and it was one of the cheapo $10 LED 1157 replacements. Even though it has the dual stage built in if there is no resistor in the dim stage you cannot tell the stages apart. I went to radio shack bought a 6 ohm reistor and wired it in the dim circuit of the light and presto it worked. I got this advice from a harley shop who uses the 1157 replacements religiously. Unfortunatly two days later I pirated the system off the cb750 for my 73 triple and went back to a regular 1157 replacement bulb. When using the 1157 cheapo bulbs you have to use a reisitor even though the bulb has a dual stage built in. Even though the cheapo LED 1157s have dual stages they rely on the system to regulate the power going to them.

The license plate lighting is just a clear section of the stock lens where the taillight shines through on to the plate. Even with a reisitor the cheapo LED 1157 was brighter than the stock filament bulb.

The Ledtronics, if it is the one I am thinking of has the reisitance built in as part of the circuit board.

[ProTeal55]

L.E.D Lighting is def. the way to go .....
I have noticed , in some cases , that a regular bulb gives off more light, but these cases are rare...
LED's have a much longer life , Draw less power , and are just all around better and stronger than a glass bulb ever could be.

Everything is going L.E.D now a days , and for good reason.
Stoplights , emergency strobes , even some new cars like most Caddy's have stock LED style light setups...

[Dennis]

L.E.D Lighting is def. the way to go .....

LED's have a much longer life , Draw less power , and are just all around better and stronger than a glass bulb ever could be.

Everything is going L.E.D now a days ,

OK, anyone know where to pick up a 6 volt tail lamp replacement LED? Or one that I can easily get to the resistors already in it to "adjust" it to work on 6 volt?

My MT250 Elsinore (that's a 2 stroke single for the 2 people out there who didn't already know) eats tail light bulbs constantly and that is on relatively smmoth roads, forget about dirt!! 

Anyone???

[rod_f]

These can be ordered 6V/12V, Neg or Pos earth.
Can I just state that I'm not sponsored by these people but if they want to give some freebies i won't fight them off.
Less Leds than other lights so I wonder about brightness.



http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/goffyleds.htm