LED rear bulbs

[tripe]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TALL-115 ... 8077041794

Came across these on ebay last night. Anyone come across or heard of them before?
Seem like good value which can of course translate to "if its too good to be true then........"

Henry

[sproggy]

They sound pretty expensive and rather gimicky to me - not sure about good value! I've used normal LED bulbs before (with all the LED's facing outwards) in various bikes and they've been great. Like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0005614932

As for those 360 degree jobbies - not worth it IMO. What benefit would they give in a small 'rear-facing-only' tail-lamp on an S?

[oyster]

A ballast resistor will be required for ANY led light put on the R; otherwise the bikes brain will think the bulb has blown or the indicators will not flash. I tried to save power with led, but it wont work. May be useful if the bulb is prone to blowing due to vibration, not much else.

[tripe]

thanks for that chaps. 5.99 against 20 odd quid for a gimmick there is no contest really,

most grateful

Henry

[tripe]

Sproggy,

just fpound these on the link you gave me. Do you know wheter an extra five LEDs will give a noticeable gain in light output?


Henry

[tripe]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-X-24-LED-STOP-T ... dZViewItem
the link is always useful!

[sproggy]

Do you know wheter an extra five LEDs will give a noticeable gain in light output?

The seller claims the same 1500mcd output for the 24 and 19 LED arrays so I gues the answer has to be no. They may give a different pattern, but the light output will be the same if the figures are to be believed.

I'd suggest asking the seller what the practical difference is (if there is one other than appearance).

I've only ever used the 19 LED type - there may be space issues with the larger array? I haven't been inside my taillight yet as I've only recently bought the bike so I don't know how much clearance there is between bulb and reflector/lens.

[Harry]

from an earlier thread:
viewtopic.php?t=970&start=0&postdays=0& ... ppy+norman

i've had this bulb in ever since I posted this and never had any problems.


by the way henry, I'm hoping to visit your gaff tomorrow (tuesday), will you be there? Harry.

[madman]

We have run LED rear light bulbs in both ths bikes for 2 years now with no problems. Why should a ballast resistor be required? I thought that was only for indicators to keep the flash rate normal. An LED bulb uses a fraction of the power of the standard bulb and does not suffer from vibration.
Many high quality cars now have LED rear lights fitted as standard.

[sproggy]

Why should a ballast resistor be required?

On a bike with 'normal' brakes no ballast resistor is necessary. But some of the BMW setups do a system check including the brake light (can't remember whether it's regular ABS or servo ABS or both) and in this case an LED bulb would cause an error to be registered. A ballast resistor is required to simulate the load of a regular filament bulb and fool the system.

[andrew s]

I have a Clear Alternatives clear rear lens and L.E.D bulb, to fit.

As Sproggy has said, I need to fit the resistor, as when I replaced the bulb a warning light came on.

I have the resistor but no instructions on where to place it. I have servo assisted ABS on my bike.

Andrew

[sproggy]

The ballast resistor would need to be connected in series with the bulb - i.e. in either of the two feed wires. For example, disconnect a feed wire (either positive or negative - it doesn't matter) from the lamp unit and connect one end of the resistor to the connector on the lamp and the other to the feed wire. There may be more convenient/elegant ways of achieving this but the principle is the same.

[tripe]

Quite remarkable, fitted LED (5.50 for 30 bulb unit) turned on lights and it works, not much difference using the red lense but suspect will look better when I get round to replacing lost clear lense.
Looks very nice without cover lense

Henry