Led bulbs

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Dapper dan2
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Led bulbs

Post by Dapper dan2 »

Hi All.

Read a thread on LED bulbs etc...
Has anyone replaced for an led recently ?

There are a few on eBay I'm thinking about purchasing, but still a bit unsure.. :? ..any advice would be great!

Cheers
Dapper Dan. :D
andybaggies
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Re: Led bulbs

Post by andybaggies »

Prompted by following another motorcycle on the motorway, who's rear light was pretty much indistinguishable until you were right on top of it, I replaced the rear bulb for an LED and it makes a considerable difference. Much much brighter & easily seen.

I've reasearched replacing the headlight bulb but it's way too much faff, especially on a V-rap, with fans and/or power modules. I'm also yet to be convinced that the cheaper ones are in fact any better as many don't have those little reflectors around the 'bulb' that help direct the beam. And those that do are 'kin expensive.

Can't find any replacement LEDs for the indicators & if I fitted after market ones you then need resistors or a different relay.
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Crap Tartan
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Re: Led bulbs

Post by Crap Tartan »

You can get plug in replacement indicator bulbs but will need ballast resistors or wont flash correctly due to low current draw.
Rear LED bulbs/lights work much better but headlight replacement is more difficult and more expensive for anything thats going to give you decent light. Dont go cheap on headlight, it can be a faff around with the extras you need to make it all work but consider getting a pair of LED DRL`s to work with your dip beam. The can be pretty cheap and small and can bolt on almost anywhere.
Gives you a bit more light at the front and makes you far more visible to others.
nil illigitimae carborundum
Dapper dan2
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Re: Led bulbs

Post by Dapper dan2 »

Good idea with the extra lights ...sounds like the easy practical option.
I've had headlight bulbs die at the wrong moment a few times....so extra lighting is a great idea!
nickst4
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Re: Led bulbs

Post by nickst4 »

Dunno how I missed this thread!

I'm an LED-aholic! I have them in all my headlights and sidelights, some cheap and some expensive. Don't bother with LED headlamp bulbs that don't have some form of heat management because they are very low output. I have examples with passive braided heatsinks and several types of fan-cooled units. The more you pay, the more likely it is that the LED will match the reflector adequately. A 'messy' headlamp beam will be very visible to other road users but not good at night and may not pass the MOT inspection, so be prepared to fiddle with the orientation of the LED bulb while shining the light on a flat surface.

My enthusiasm for LEDs definitely doesn't extend to turn signals! The reason for this strange situation is that functioning LED turn signals stay off for much too long to be effective, for me at least. A pulsating filament bulb is actually alight for maybe 80% of the time and my brain can log the intention of the user without concentrating on it, whereas a 50/50 LED is bright then dead and requires checking, causing distraction. It ought to be possible to make a flasher unit that provides a slow decay of the light as with filaments but no-one seems to have done it yet.

As for LED tail lights: they do appear brighter than conventional bulbs but no-one makes one (I've tried dozens) that gives sufficient contrast between the tail and stop functions. This was brought home to me following one of my bikes ridden by The Missus. It simply wasn't obvious when or if she'd put the brakes on because the basic light was so bright! The old filament ones are 5/21w in favour of braking. LED ones put almost all their power into the tail function, with very little left for brakes. I'm now back to filament tail/stop bulbs, but long-life ones; Osram UltraLife. If you do want to have more red on show behind, fit a supplementary LED array. Leave the startling difference of illumination to indicate the need for retardation.
It should also be pointed out that almost all tail-lights are designed to project a beam for the braking function, and LED arrays rarely match the optics.

Enough for now. DRLs are another topic!

Nick
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Post by HiFi »

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Last edited by HiFi on |March 12th, 2018|, 6:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
ozzraptor
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Re: Led bulbs

Post by ozzraptor »

Cant remember where i bought my tail light but its killer bright on the stop lamp ,couldn't be happier with it.
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Re: Led bulbs

Post by nickst4 »

ozzraptor wrote: 6 years ago Cant remember where i bought my tail light but its killer bright on the stop lamp ,couldn't be happier with it.
Looks like that's a dedicated LED unit? I was thinking about replacement LED versions of conventional bulbs to fit in OEM optics. On my ST4, I grafted-in two LED bulbs beside the OEM filament bulb to brighten the tail light, but the beam from the stop filament is still so much brighter since it makes better use of the inbuilt reflector.

If anyone has found an LED stop/tail bulb where the difference between the functions is as marked as in a 21/5w bulb, please let us know!
ozzraptor
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Re: Led bulbs

Post by ozzraptor »

Yes it is a dedicated unit. Not relating to leds but while on electrical why not junk a couple of kilos of lead and go with a lithium iron battery. I have had mine over 3 years now, more cranking power on startup, never had a flat battery even though bike does not get ridden all the time. Best investment yet :happyhappy:
nickst4
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Re: Led bulbs

Post by nickst4 »

ozzraptor wrote: 6 years ago Yes it is a dedicated unit. Not relating to leds but while on electrical why not junk a couple of kilos of lead and go with a lithium iron battery. I have had mine over 3 years now, more cranking power on startup, never had a flat battery even though bike does not get ridden all the time. Best investment yet :happyhappy:
Lithium batteries may be The Future but their weight saving is probably only equivalent to a couple of pies, and I've heard of too many disastrous fires that have wiped out whole collections of bikes due to problems with them overheating. Maybe caused by inappropriate battery chargers, but lead/acid batteries rarely combust!

Nick
ozzraptor
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Re: Led bulbs

Post by ozzraptor »

nickst4 wrote: 6 years ago
ozzraptor wrote: 6 years ago
Lithium batteries may be The Future but their weight saving is probably only equivalent to a couple of pies, and I've heard of too many disastrous fires that have wiped out whole collections of bikes due to problems with them overheating. Maybe caused by inappropriate battery chargers, but lead/acid batteries rarely combust!

Nick

I want one of those pies ! You are getting ripped off on your pies dude. Seriously , lithium batteries rarely need charging, and if you believe the internet that bikes are just bursting into flames all over the world :lol: its mostly because of people that don't use the correct chargers, or incorrect wiring,or incorrect use of the product. Sure their may be a couple of instances due to faulty batteries but compared to the actual number that get sold is in significant , well go buy a lottery ticket, more chance of winning that mate. Got to love the aussie meat pie, value for money :D
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