Jump to content
IGNORED

LEDs for Baron Twin lights


Recommended Posts

My Dart trailer has a chrome bumper/light bar with six Baron Mini Twin light units for a total of 12 #161 bulbs at about 3 watts each for a total of 36 watts. I felt it would behoove me to reduce the electrical load created by all the lights on the trailer. I have replaced the brake, turn, taillights with LED units and wanted to replace the #161 incandescents in the bumper too, but equivalent LED "bulbs" were $10 each and I needed 12! Then I found these LED "bulbs" on eBay:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Pcs-Lot-T10- ... es&vxp=mtr

 

I won the auction as the only bidder for $0.99 ! Shipping was $8.00 but I had some eBay bucks accumulated that knocked a couple dollars off. I ended up paying $6.13 for ten LEDs. Granted they are from China, but so are the ones JP Cycle and Dennis Kirk are selling for $9.99 EACH!

 

The seller noted that these 161/194 equivalent bulbs are larger than the incandescent bulbs, but WTH, for 61 cents each, I'd try them.

 

After ten days the packaged was delivered. Ten LEDs in a padded envelope.

 

I removed one of the lens from the Baron Mini Twin and removed the incandescent with a pair of needle-nose pliers, but I couldn't fit the LED into the socket. The LED was too large to fit past the lens bezel. I removed the other lens and the four mounting screws that held the light assembly to the bumper. Now, I had enough room to insert the larger LED into the wedge socket. The Baron Twin light utilizes a chassis ground; i.e. one must touch the light chassis to the metal bumper in order for the circuit to be complete. The LED did not work. I cursed under my breath about cheap Chinese junk, until I remembered that LED lights are polarity sensitive. I removed the LED, rotated it 180° and re-inserted it into the socket. It worked! Curious, I left one incandescent bulb in the Twin and reinstalled the lenses. The LED was noticeably brighter then the incandescent in this side-by-side comparison. I replaced ten of the twelve bulbs with the LED and all ten worked. I reduced the total electrical load from 36 watts to about 9 watts.

 

Of course, only time will tell if the these cheap LEDs will endure. But for all you First Gen guys out there running Baron Mini Twins and Minis (and perhaps the larger Baron lights) this looks like a good way to reduce the load on our marginal alternators.

Edited by Prairiehammer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I experminted with LED replacment type bulbs like these in the turn signal/running lights on the RSV. Aside from making the turn signals flash fast, this was my findings. For whatever reason th rear brightness looked better. The front when on in the running light position in daylight you couldnt harly see them, on signal they were about the same as incandecents. I had one in the tail/brake light position also. It was suposed to be one of those flashing stop type. It flashed pretty quickly and you couldnt hardly notice it. The difference between tail and brake wasnt significant enough so I swapped it back to OEM bulb.

If yours work thats great. Sometimes with these china stuff its the luck of the draw. I went thru 2 sets of the rear bulbs before I got ambers. But for the price you cant hardly bitc#. :080402gudl_prv:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1 on the superbrightleds.

 

I used their products to replace every wedge type bulb I could find on the bike. That was about 20 bulbs. I had only one fail when installed they replaced that no-charge in two days. I haven't had a bulb fail since. It's been over three years now.

 

The nice thing about superbrightleds web site is it give each and every spec for the bulbs. You will pretty much know if it will fit or not before you order.

 

In the rear light bar pic only the top row had the LED's in at the time. Bit brighter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...