[scooby1956]

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I was told once to make sure when ordering LED replacement bulbs for my tail lights/brake lights, that I get red LED's, not white/clear. My concern is that white/clear LED's have more than double the luminescence of red LED's.

The incandescent bulbs currently in the bike are white/clear.
Is there a particular reason for using red LED's rather than white/clear?
All your doing is illuminating the reflective cavity behind the already red lens, right?

Ted

 

[1TallTXn]

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The Red lens will filter all but the red light going out, so all the extra light is actually wasted.

At least that's the theory.

I put Red and Amber lights in my '83 Aspy and they're brighter than stock.

 

[scooby1956]

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If that's true, and I'm not saying it isn't, I wonder why you seldom if ever see a red 1157 bulb?

 

[1TallTXn]

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Beats me.

I know there's starting to be more colored bulbs out there with vehicles going to the clear lenses, but they're not the 1157s either.

 

[Motorcycle Jack]

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A red tail light is red because the plastic lens absorbs all light in spectrum except red. A white light puts out all spectrum of light, behind a red lens it then absorbs all others except red and you see the red brighter.

You should be able to find red leds that are nearly as bright as the white ones. I would use them instead of white ones if it were me.

 

[Rudy]

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scooby1956 wrote:

If that's true, and I'm not saying it isn't, I wonder why you seldom if ever see a red 1157 bulb?

An incandescent is full spectrum, higher wattage and omnidirectional, whereas the white LED is limited in spectrum and viewing angle.

There is still filtering going on with the white incandescent but it also produces a lot of red and infrared where the white LED does not produce much at all.

 

[monkeytrucker]

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Back in the 50s and 60s my dad stocked red 1157 bulbs. We sold them for people that had their tail light lenses broken out. Kept them from getting tickets. Today we have the red tape to repair missing lenses.

 

[Silicon Sam]

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monkeytrucker wrote:

Back in the 50s and 60s my dad stocked red 1157 bulbs. We sold them for people that had their tail light lenses broken out. Kept them from getting tickets. Today we have the red tape to repair missing lenses.

The tape won't pass inspection in Texas, so what this one inspection station does is have little miscellaneous pieces and shapes of red and amber acrylic or plexiglass and superglues them onto the broken area. Passes inspection then.

 

[sandiegobrass]

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reread Rudy's post... use the same color LED as the lens when available

 

[RayJay1959]

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I was going to put led's on my 1200, but 1/2 of the bulbs go in vertically and led's that I found only put light straight out. Do they make led's that put out light in most directions?

 

[ebanjo]

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Just a site to check out what is available. After I get a part number I'll check around to find a better price.

This is just the first blub I looked at. I have some different leds that do light on the side and top. I'll take a picture of the bulb in the morning.



http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2FBA15-ARA.htm



Mine are similar to the one posted except with the 1157 base

The one above is a smd led and are pretty bright. They also sell them as fog light blubs, but the ones I got were not as bright as I wanted and went back to a incandescent fog light.

 

[Rudy]

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RayJay1959 wrote:

I was going to put led's on my 1200, but 1/2 of the bulbs go in vertically and led's that I found only put light straight out. Do they make led's that put out light in most directions?

The light emitting die inside the LED housing emits light in a straight out beam (perpendicular to the die). This beam can be widened up to 120 degrees but it get weak around the edges. Optical tricks are used to widen the view such as adding diffusers behind the LED or even making the LED housing diffused. But diffusing the beam also distributes the little amount of energy being emitted so those work best as dash indicator lights etc.

Of late, most manufacturers of automotive replacement LED lamp assemblies use multiple LED dies attached around the sides of a barrel and then some across the end of the barrel to give the all-over effect (or at least the perception of it).

These can get large and may not go through the lamp opening and many are weak but if you get the right size, power and base type, these represent the closest replacements to onmi-directional incandescent automotive lamps.

Here is the one I use to replace the marker lights next to my headlamp on the GL1500:

 

[Indydragon]

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Just wanted to say here I removed the lens covers only to find out the the only reflective surface is in the very back and it's about a 1 inch high. I bought a roll of that chrome tape that is 4 inches wide. I put it inside top and bottom. Now the amount of light comming out is trippled. Then in the very back on the inside top I put a small row of RED LED's, 6 I think. People who told me before that during the day they couldn't see my lights now tell me that even in the brightest sunlight they can still see my running lights. I have seen other 1500's and they are almost invisable during daylight hours. The 1800's don't seem to have that problem but the lights are different. If you doubt it start your bike in your driveway during the day and walk backwards from it watch how far you are away when the lights dissapear. Then think about how attentive Cagers are and cut that distance in half. Then you should be able to imagine them rear ending you and saying they didn't see you....

 

[scooby1956]

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Seems to me that adding the reflective tape may be a good idea even if you didn't change to LED. Visibility is certainly a key to safety, especially down here in Florida at this time of year, with all the tourist traffic. Their always to busy rubber-necking, instead of watching where their going!

Down here, at this time of year, it's much safer taking back roads whenever possible, then being on major highways. Between the tourists watching all their is to see (not you), and the locals driving like a mad man because they're late from all the traffic, driving on a major highway is asking for a wreck, or worse!

Here are a few things to remember when you visit Florida on your motorcycle:

1. April is the deadliest month of the year for motorcyclists,
with 10.6% of all fatalities occurring in this month.

2. Saturday is the most deadly day for motorcyclists with 29% of fatalities occurring on this day. Sunday is second with 19%.

3. Just over 43 percent of motorcyclists are killed in a traffic
crashes when it is light outside.

4. Of the 446 motorcyclist fatalities last year, 41 or 9% were traveling
at 80 mph or greater at the time of the crash. Twenty-seven
percent of fatal crashes occurred while the motorcycle was
being operated at least 20 mph over the maximum posted
speed limit.

Please be careful when you visit our state on your bike. Florida is one of the worse states in the country for motorcycle fatalities and injuries.

:action: Scooby1956

 

[newday777]

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Here are the tower bulbs to use. The emit the most light radially, similar to incandescent bulbs. The more LEDs to the tower bulb the more light you will get. Use minimum of 18 in the main tail lights and turn signals, 30 is better, 45 will be super bright.

18LED tower bulbs

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&category=CAR&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2F1156-x18-T.htm#photos

45 LED tower bulbs

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-...&category=CAR&Page2Disp=/specs/115x-x45-T.htm

 

[1TallTXn]

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newday777 wrote:

Here are the tower bulbs to use. The emit the most light radially, similar to incandescent bulbs. The more LEDs to the tower bulb the more light you will get. Use minimum of 18 in the main tail lights and turn signals, 30 is better, 45 will be super bright.

18LED tower bulbs

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&category=CAR&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2F1156-x18-T.htm#photos

45 LED tower bulbs

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&category=CAR&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2F115x-x45-T.htm

I put 45-LED units in my 1100 Aspy and it's a slight improvement over stock.
I need to get some nice reflective tape to stick in the back of the running lights (front mainly) to increase the visible output.

 

[Bike...and Dennis]

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Scooby, you just got done getting the electrics working again. Why on earth do you want to start messing around?

 

[ebanjo]

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You will need to get a turn signal flasher for leds as well.

 

[Indydragon]

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If you take offthe rear lens covers you will be surprised just how little reflective surface there is inside Mother Honda was real Stingy with it. I have one of the aftermarket center rear units that have Brake lights in them. They were even more stingy than Mother Honda with the reflective tape. The chrome tape works wonders for them and in fact I intend to do the ones on the trunk next because as far as I can tell they are just as bad. I will take pictures as I do it and show what they look like before during and after...

 

[ebanjo]

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Sounds like a good idea. I'll look for that tape next time I am in town.