The manufacturers have to engineer in a failure rate or they would be out of business.
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led
- Thread starter ob1
- Start date
The bulb I put in my tail light is very bright and when I hit the brake it will flash brighter for a moment but doesn’t appear to stay much brighter. I’d prefer it the other way around.
I've run into "not enough difference in brightness" LED bulbs too.
So have are You saying different bulbs behave differently? They are inexpensive enough to try a different one.
The lamps I linked in post #8 went into the lights on my Eleven Special. I can attest to the fact that those go significantly brighter when the brakes are applied. There is no mistake. (I am not running an LED headlight linked in the same post, only the red and amber bayonet bulbs.)
Something like this may be the cat's PJ's
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1930211373...1291&msclkid=cc9b627551c11e426d69066279736054
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1930211373...1291&msclkid=cc9b627551c11e426d69066279736054
Another possibility
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1748429518...uYO0BiZPlgdWG7+wB2XQUxih+M|tkp:Bk9SR8zK4qffYQ
an amber /white 1157 bulb uses white for "tailight" then "Amber brake light" Kills the white part of the bulb while on.
It would give you a white license light when in taillight mode.
again no idear if will be ideal as a tail/brake light bulb..
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1748429518...uYO0BiZPlgdWG7+wB2XQUxih+M|tkp:Bk9SR8zK4qffYQ
an amber /white 1157 bulb uses white for "tailight" then "Amber brake light" Kills the white part of the bulb while on.
It would give you a white license light when in taillight mode.
again no idear if will be ideal as a tail/brake light bulb..
I just use an 1157 white replacement led bulb in my tails and they work fine. The XS used to have a red / white led bulb but it wasn’t very bright. It also did not work with my brake light modulator.
Mine was just a dual filament 1157 that I replaced with the equivalent LED replacement (supposedly) I’m not sure if the headlight has anything to do with it on mine but it has the same brightness with the lights off. I have a feeling it’s the LED.
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I ordered a new goodie for the tail light. Cheap, easy to install and I like it!
OK Jim ya beat me to it but I’m glad I guessed right on which one to order. Does it make your running light modulate a little bit?
They have no affect on anything except the brake lights. They're still working great on my bike.
As an early adopter of cheapskate LEDs, I can assure you you're lucky if the cheapies last a month.
Fortunately, the supplier came good with replacements, but even so...
Since then I've only bought household LEDs from local stockists and they've been much better.
Funnily enough, the cheap auto LED instrument bulbs are generally ok, with the odd failure after a year or two. All of my LED H4s have survived for years so far.
Finally got around to installing LEDs for the instruments and taillight.
I chose these from SuperBrightLEDs:
BA9 base for the instruments.
(3/8" or 9mm diameter with BAyonet base)
Nice to have choices for color and view angle.
White with wide 90° angle for instrument illumination, since the bulbs are shielded on top, within the instrument, for horizontal light spread.
Green and Amber with narrow 32° beam angle for neutral and turn indicators, since those only need to illuminate straight up.
The 1157 bulb has hi/low red illumination aimed rearward, and white illumination to the sides (for license plate lighting).
Plugged into their sockets, odd looking things.
But they're really bright.
The taillight and brake light appear to be brighter than the original incandescent 1157.
Now, need to do some nighttime riding...
I chose these from SuperBrightLEDs:
BA9 base for the instruments.
(3/8" or 9mm diameter with BAyonet base)
Nice to have choices for color and view angle.
White with wide 90° angle for instrument illumination, since the bulbs are shielded on top, within the instrument, for horizontal light spread.
Green and Amber with narrow 32° beam angle for neutral and turn indicators, since those only need to illuminate straight up.
The 1157 bulb has hi/low red illumination aimed rearward, and white illumination to the sides (for license plate lighting).
Plugged into their sockets, odd looking things.
But they're really bright.
The taillight and brake light appear to be brighter than the original incandescent 1157.
Now, need to do some nighttime riding...
Looks great Steve! Good to see you on here.
Thanx, Wingedwheel.
Oops, something I forgot to mention.
Another advantage to having LEDs, is that they're not as sensitive to poor connections.
My incandescent neutral light would occasionally get dimmer, requiring that the neutral switch be pulled and doing the "plunger rotate" refresh, as mentioned in this thread:
Posts #9-#10
https://www.xs650.com/threads/neutral-light-switch.36282/post-478765
The neutral switch would demonstrate about a 1-2 ohm resistance, enuff to cause the dimming of the incandescent bulb. With the low current draw of the LED, that small resistance is negligible, and appears (as far as the LED is concerned) as a direct short to ground. The LED still glows bright...
Oops, something I forgot to mention.
Another advantage to having LEDs, is that they're not as sensitive to poor connections.
My incandescent neutral light would occasionally get dimmer, requiring that the neutral switch be pulled and doing the "plunger rotate" refresh, as mentioned in this thread:
Posts #9-#10
https://www.xs650.com/threads/neutral-light-switch.36282/post-478765
The neutral switch would demonstrate about a 1-2 ohm resistance, enuff to cause the dimming of the incandescent bulb. With the low current draw of the LED, that small resistance is negligible, and appears (as far as the LED is concerned) as a direct short to ground. The LED still glows bright...
Well my red LED under the stoplight indicator didn’t last three trips out. That was a not-so-cheap bulb and when I looked up my order that particular bulb is discontinued. Go figure, I just ordered an assortment this time…..
Same story here with some auto LEDs I bought several years ago. Discontinued, poor quality imports. Recently replaced with SuperBrightLEDs. Much better, I think I'll stick with SuperBrightLEDs offerings...
