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LED running lights?

Schlepporello
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Schlepporello

Schlepporello

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As a seasoned professional truck driver, I've seen and welcomed the arrival of LED running and tail lights on our equipment. I immediately noticed that they are much easier to see, even if the lense is dirty. So, I got to wondering if I couldn't swap out some of the running lights on my VR with some of these LED running lights. The only drawback I've seen so far is that the LED truck running lights aren't as stylish as the original equipment, but they ought to be easily more visible. I've got one light mounted, but haven't tested it yet due to fears that I may put too much of a strain on my stator. Have any of you good folks experimented with this? Have you tried replacing this?

http://i32.tinypic.com/2vv9ge0.png

 

With this?

http://i27.tinypic.com/m8gok2.jpg

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rhncue

rhncue

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As a seasoned professional truck driver, I've seen and welcomed the arrival of LED running and tail lights on our equipment. I immediately noticed that they are much easier to see, even if the lense is dirty. So, I got to wondering if I couldn't swap out some of the running lights on my VR with some of these LED running lights. The only drawback I've seen so far is that the LED truck running lights aren't as stylish as the original equipment, but they ought to be easily more visible. I've got one light mounted, but haven't tested it yet due to fears that I may put too much of a strain on my stator. Have any of you good folks experimented with this? Have you tried replacing this?

http://i32.tinypic.com/2vv9ge0.png

 

With this?

http://i27.tinypic.com/m8gok2.jpg

 

I've got 18 of that same style but mine each have 2 incandescent bulbs in them. The stator handles all of them. I'm getting ready to start changing all of mine over to the L.E.D. type as they use so little wattage compared to the incandescent type.

 

Dick

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bongobobny

bongobobny

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Truck stops are one of my favorite places to look for extra lights for Goldie! I agree the LED's can be more visible. They draw so very little that you could hang a hundred of them on your scoot and hardly draw anything off the stator.

 

You can replace the bulbs with LED bulbs, but unfortunately on that aftermarket bumper the bulbs point sideways and with LED's they are directional so they won't show as well...

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skydoc_17

skydoc_17

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Hi Wayne,

So far I have swapped out the 1157 bulbs in the tail light, and the 194 bulbs in the light bar on the trunk of my 87' VR with out any problems what so ever. I have been using an imported brand called GP Thunder for all of my bulbs because you can order them with just a few led's or many. I went for many. One thing to keep in mind is that colored lenses (ex: red lense or amber) work best with a colored bulb. For some reason the light from a colored bulb passes thru the colored lense better than a white bulb. I wasted a few bucks to find that out. The other issue I ran into was with turn signals. When I replaced the rear 1156 bulbs and the 194 bulbs on the trunk light bar and the front 1157 bulbs in the fairing they drew such a small amount of amprage that the bike acted like I had a burned out bulb. Basically no flashing, just a buzz. I purchased a pair of 7ohm 50 watt resistors from the company I bought the lights from and that solved the problem. The cost of (2) 1157 amber, (2) 1157 red, (2) 1156 amber, all with 39 leds, and (6) 194 bulbs with 5 leds and the (2) resistors was about $70.00. The last project I want to do is to replace all of the 194 bulbs in my trunk mount light bar with a pair of led light strips, they cost about $37.00 for the pair and at that point there will be no incandesant bulbs on the bike except for my dash lights and fog lights. I will try to take some pictures Sunday and post them so you can see them as far as brightness goes.:sun:

Hope this helps.

Earl

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Schlepporello

Schlepporello

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Thanks Guys!

In installing the one light last night, I applied power to it before I put the lense back on and noticed that the LED's on this red running light were in fact red. Ifigured there must have been a reason. I'll go ahead and start swapping them out.

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Black Owl

Black Owl

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You can replace the bulbs with LED bulbs, but unfortunately on that aftermarket bumper the bulbs point sideways and with LED's they are directional so they won't show as well...

 

 

Bob,

 

You can replace the bulbs with the WLED x5 sold by Superbright see www.superbrightleds.com

 

this is a 360 degree bulb. I installed them in my trunk guard last year and they work great.

 

 

:15_8_211[1]:

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Venturous Randy

Venturous Randy

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Bob,

 

You can replace the bulbs with the WLED x5 sold by Superbright see www.superbrightleds.com

 

this is a 360 degree bulb. I installed them in my trunk guard last year and they work great.

 

 

:15_8_211[1]:

 

I replaced the 18 bulbs in all my running lights from this source and have been very happy with the results. I figured the 18 bulbs take about the same power that 3 of the old bulbs took. You can get them in about any color and have them shine in about any direction.

RandyA

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  • 2 weeks later...
Schlepporello

Schlepporello

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I've got 18 of that same style but mine each have 2 incandescent bulbs in them. The stator handles all of them. I'm getting ready to start changing all of mine over to the L.E.D. type as they use so little wattage compared to the incandescent type.

 

Dick

Hey Dick, I'd sure like to see a photo of how you arranged yours on your bike. I've got a few ideas, but I'm always open to other ideas as well.;)

 

 

By the way, I stopped by the Love's Truck Stop today and they have an alleged LED replacement for the 1157 bulb. It's got the "Road Pro" brand on it and it sells for $12.99. Don't buy it! Take your wife out for dinner or stock up on Cokes, do not buy this bulb. It's not any where near as bright as the 1157 you're seeking to replace.

 

I bought two of them today and they're now in my toolbox (in case I have a use for them later). I'm not out any cash for the bulbs, and here's why. I drive a truck for a living. When I buy diesel at Loves, I get a 1 cent per gallon credit on my Loves Rewards Card. I had $40 worth of credit built up and had nothing better to do with it, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Glad I didn't spend any money on them.;)

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Schlepporello

Schlepporello

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"seasoned"???? Is that something you get done in a Pickle Park?

Some things are considered "trade secrets".;)

LEDs use less juice than regular bulbs and you should know that Mr. TruckDriver.

Yep, I know this. And I reckon I should have clarified my post just a bit by saying that it was this particular LED bulb that wasn't worth wasting money on. I've put a red LED marker light on the side of my bumper that is amazingly bright and very visible. But on this one particular bulb, my brake light was at least 50% dimmer. I'll find on that'll work eventually, but I figure I'll have to order it.

 

Again, the bulb not to buy is the "Road Pro" LED replacement for the 1157.

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MAINEAC

MAINEAC

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Posted (edited)

Here's what you need Shlep....

 

http://www.bigrigchromeshop.com/Merchant2/sl_sm/SP-42100A.jpg or http://www.bigrigchromeshop.com/Merchant2/sl_sm/SP-62120AC.jpg or any of the hundeds of other lights this site has... Don't waste your money on those LED replacement bulbs they're junk

http://www.bigrigchromeshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?page=BRCS/CTGY/MCLSP

Edited by MAINEAC
forgot link
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rhncue

rhncue

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Hey Dick, I'd sure like to see a photo of how you arranged yours on your bike. I've got a few ideas, but I'm always open to other ideas as well.;)

 

 

By the way, I stopped by the Love's Truck Stop today and they have an alleged LED replacement for the 1157 bulb. It's got the "Road Pro" brand on it and it sells for $12.99. Don't buy it! Take your wife out for dinner or stock up on Cokes, do not buy this bulb. It's not any where near as bright as the 1157 you're seeking to replace.

 

I bought two of them today and they're now in my toolbox (in case I have a use for them later). I'm not out any cash for the bulbs, and here's why. I drive a truck for a living. When I buy diesel at Loves, I get a 1 cent per gallon credit on my Loves Rewards Card. I had $40 worth of credit built up and had nothing better to do with it, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Glad I didn't spend any money on them.;)

 

I have Markland bumpers on my bike. One goes around the lower saddle bags and the upper goes around the trunk. Each one has 9 lights on it, three on each side and three across the back. I've never tried to insert pictures on this forum. I'll do some reading later to see how it's done.

 

Dick

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Gearhead

Gearhead

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You may have already arrived at this conclusion, but...the LED replacement fixtures are nice. You can hook extras up with no problem to the bike due to low current draw.

 

However...the replacement 1157 bulbs, IMHO, suck. I read essentially that in reviews on WebBikeWorld.com (and input I received here). They did test a 48 LED, 2" diameter, $50 monster that worked pretty well in a taillight, but anything smaller was not much good. I found some at

http://www.customdynamics.com/motorcycle_led_bulbs.htm#32_LED_Replacement_Bulb

called Street Magic (which it appears they are no longer carrying, imagine that) for much less money. They were 1" diameter like an 1157 but had something like 32 LED's - 20 in-axis and 12 around facing radially outward for a multi-directional effect. They were around 10 bucks, and I convinced myself I could beat the odds. I did not. They sucked. I bought two ambers for my front running/signal lights and one red to replace only one brake bulb. This way, my flashers would still work (incandecent bulbs in rear flashers) and the bulb indicator on the dash would not light (one incandecent still in the brake fixture), but I would save some current draw. Problems were:

  • In-axis, running-light (dim) mode was best, but they looked like a 1" dot of light in the fixture rather than making the whole lens glow.
  • Off axis, despite the radial LED's, was horrible. This meant visibility of the front running lights (bulbs face outward) was only halfway decent directly from the side, horrible anywhere else.
  • Bright mode (brake or signal) was not enough brighter than dim mode, so brakes and blinkers don't jump out at you.
  • In general, these bulbs were totally washed out in the sun.
  • In the brake, since visibility is in-axis anyway, it was a little better, but still significantly dimmer. The side of the lens with the LED had a 1" dot of red light, while the entire side with the incandecent bulb glowed.

LED's are so directional that they need to be installed in a unit with a lens designed for them, and even then they tend to be pretty directional. OEM lights are designed for the bright, 360 degree pattern of an incandecent, with the reflector bouncing much of that light back to make the whole lens glow. LED's, even with the radial-facing LED's, just don't do that so the reflector is ineffective. There are some nice taillight units available for certain bikes that work well, but they are big replacement arrays that really fill the whole light with LED's (essentially replacing the reflector) and cost a bunch of bucks, like $100-200.

 

So, if you're adding clearance light fixtures, LED is the only way to go. As a drop-in bulb replacement, they are no good.

 

Jeremy

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Dano

Dano

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If it were me I'd use these Petercar lights for 10 bucks...

 

http://www.bigrigchromeshop.com/Merchant2/up_large/UP39451.jpg

 

Man they got some cool stuff on that site... I'm glad I found it

 

Soooo, the address for that site is: ????????????

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Schlepporello

Schlepporello

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OK guys, now here's another type of light that I've put on the back of my bike. It's really more of an accent type of light, but at least it's red.

http://i35.tinypic.com/2czef5c.jpg

I've put six of them on the back of my bike where the license plate is.

http://i38.tinypic.com/34sfeab.jpg

I got these at the Pilot Truck Stop. They were available in both red and amber. However I have found them in blue also. Anyone else had any experiences with these? I've got some amber ones. I'm thinking of re drilling and tapping the holes for where the bolts go to secure the radiator to the frame, but don't if it's possible to modify these holes. Anybody ever tried this?

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