LED bulbs ????

[richard1600]

it is clear that this is the future, very low wattage thus current = awesome,,

but i didnt realise they sold them to fit into normal old type original car/bike bulb holders????? is it really that easy bulb out led in ?????

i mean a rebuilt a trike and have 30amps total current draw through entire lighting system,, for example 4x brake lights at 21 watts each,,

if replaced with led's at 1w each thats like 80 watts less roughly 6.6amps less draw????? wow!!!!!!

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/led-motorcycle-indicator-brake-and-tail-bulbs/

???????

any thoughts???

thx

 

[SparkoJon]

Yep, its the way forward - nearly all luminaire/repeaters/lamps are being replaced with LED's - in fact my wife went out shopping on monday for a new Xmas tree - came back with a standard tree and some real cool looking LED lights - i don't want pressies this year, ill sit n watch the lights......

As for cars/bikes - make the dash on cars look ace and the breaks/indicators on bikes more noticable.

 

[Mursal]

Not as good as standard bulbs that you are gong to replace.

The light cluster must be designed to take LED's and get the best from them.

Theres no way a 1watt LED replacement will gave out the same as a 21watt bulb.

But they have no filament so they will never blow due to vibration, and the response time is very good in comparison.

 

[Burnerman]

I bought some of these LED after market bulbs for my van....21W/5W stop/tail. They were a direct replacement for the usual bayonet bulb.
They weren't a success.....firstly, the brightness was only particularly visible when looking directly into the bulb - from any angle the light was poor. Maybe this suggests a reflector issue with LEDs, I'm not sure.
Also I seem to remember from my school days that red light was not successful at passing through a red lens, or something......anyway, popped the original bulbs back in, and left it at that.
If anyone wants these 2 bulbs for nowt, PM me.
John

 

[albysenior]

watch out with indicator bulbs as you may also find they dont flash at the correct rate, and will be a mot fail, i believe you can get a resistor of ebay to make good

 

[Johndug]

I've replaced the sidelight bulbs with LEDs in my Citroen C5 - mainly because to replace them the front bumper needs to be taken off and the headlamps unbolted. I've done it twice in five years so hope the LEDs will last. Funny thing is the sidelights now stay on for 5 minutes after switching off. There's a guy on my Cit forum who changed the tail lights for LEDs and they wouldn't work.

 

[TicklyT]

Some LED replacement lamps feature a loading resistor so they draw as much current as a filament lamp, so they don't upset bulb failure detection, or indicator flash rates etc.

Because of their different characteristics, requiring different lenses and reflectors to make the most of them, it's probably best to design the electrics from the ground up with LEDs in mind, rather than adapt a system and light clusters designed for tungsten filament lamps.

 

[richard1600]

thx for the feedback,,

could you please explain the cct needs to be set up for led's ?? i understand the indicator problem,, and need a resistor or the will flash incorrectly,,,

but your saying if i was to buy say brake light led's they wouldnt be as good????

 

[Mursal]

They wont be as good because they are a diode and do not give out as much light as the filament bulb. The car manufacturer gets around this by placing a large cluster of LED's in place of one bulb.

You cant do that if you want them to fit in where you took out a conventional bulb.
Also as someone already said, they are very directional in the way they give out light. So if you are at a slight angle to the LED you cant see the light from it.

 

[richard1600]

thx for feedback,,,, check out this link,,, what do you think?
they claim 360, and good quality light, some are clusters etc?

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/le...-and-tail-bulbs/?source=webgains&siteid=54264

 

[timtheenchanter]

if you are rebuilding the trike, why not put in LED lamps in the first place, ie the ones designed for LEDs, not retrofits, the retro fits AFAIK are technically not road legal as the dont feature the E mark or somthing like that, whereas the proper LED clusters etc are approved.

just a side not, I have noticed buses swapped to LEDs a while ago, but recently the indicators rather than being straight LED flash on/off have one or 2 LEDs in the cluster that fade out more like a conventional bulb.

 

[neilius]

Hi,

Found this post on Google and felt the need to register here an chime in with my experiences, so hello everyone!

I have replaced a bunch of filament bulbs on my motorcycle (Yamaha YBR125) with LED equivelants that have the same fittings. I ride all year round, 60 miles a day commuting, and through winter that means the ride home is always in complete darkness along some unlit roads, so I really don't want any of my bulbs to fail, hence why I went for LEDs. Also, a busy family life means I spend less time faffing about with bulb changing. Overall, I'm extremely happy with these bulbs. I should also put that it's important to use white LEDs if you're putting the bulb behind a coloured lens.

4 x BA15S for indicators, replaced with white 24 LED emitters. The original bulbs were 10w each. A few of the LEDs face sideways and help light up the reflector. Just as bright, if not a bit brighter than filament bulbs and visible at any angle, when I compared them. Very fast response time as noted from another member above. I needed to purchase a new flasher relay that could cope with them, because the old types rely on the high current draw to operate.

A bunch of T10 and T6.5 wedge fitment bulbs for the instrument cluster (dashboard for car drivers!). These backlight the clocks and warning/indicator lights very nicely indeed. Replaced a lot of 1.7/3W bulbs and have proven not to be distracting at night although brighter.

A T10/501 warm white SMD wedge jobbie for the 'aux'/side light in the headlamp shell, which replaced a 5W filament thing that blew often. Matches the colour of my headlight beam nicely (although has no impact on it when headlight is on).

A BA15D 21/5W replacement for the rear/brake light. In white, as it's behind a red lens although there's a clear section of it where the light illuminates the number plate.

The only bulb that is still filament is the halogen 35/35 BA20D which is the headlight, and that's because I'm unsure of the legality of using an LED as a main headlamp in the UK (I think it's illegal). Regarding the legality of the other bulbs, I believe there is no problem as it is the lenses that have the E mark and such.

So overall I've cut around 15-20W of power usage during normal running, peaking to around 60w if I have the indicators on and am breaking (or 'peak' usage, perhaps). On a small bike like this it makes a difference - braking or indicating would make the headlight dim slightly with the old bulbs due to the extra strain on the generator, now it's fine.

Hope this helps.