LEDs are the way forward.

LED's are more reliable, they look better & they will probably last longer
than the bike.

What will be a good idea are replacement high brightness LED's that can fit
in conventional light bulb sockets.

 

Especially if the light in question, is one that lights up the interior of a
car, eh...

 

Ermmm.. they've been around for a good few years now....

i've got a few on my motorhome.. replaced the side marker bulbs, indicator
bulbs and tail lights with led bulbs.. just remove the tugsten bulb, replace
with the led cluster bulb.

They're pretty expensive for what they are tho.. so i bought 50 or so
12000mcd (fucking bright) white led's from the states a year ago,

now when i want to replace a tugsten bulb with led's, i smash the glass
envelope off the bulb, de-solder the tugsten fillaments wires, make up an
led cluster.. adding the correct resistors for the amount of led's i'm
putting in it depending if they're in series, and/or paralell, solder the
feed wires to the bulb's base, and a splodge of silicone sealant to hold
them in place in the bulbd base,

job done, one led bulb replacement for 5 minutes of my time, and about 40p
per led i use in it.

 

Like the ones you can already buy, you mean?
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Catman emerged from their own little world to say

see here http://www.busters-accessories.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=LR

 

Does this work for indicators?

IIRK most flasher units depend on the current draw from the tungsten bulbs
to operate the machanism.
Hence they don't flash if a bulb blows or go manic if a bulb shorts.

 

Dave Emerson was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

You can stick an additional resistor in to calm them down again.

 

Or a 21W bulb in circuit but concealed inside bodywork for the
non-electronicisti among us.

 

Pip emerged from their own little world to say

The ready made LED arrays have a similar power rating to conventional
filament bulbs. E.g. http://www.lightlens.com/coloredbulbs.htm

 

Defeating the point a bit innit?



frag

 

wessie wrote:

I'm not sure but I suspect they mean equivilant power i.e. you would
get the same amount of light from that wattage of tungsten filament
lamp. An LED array of that size is not going to draw 2.25A unless they
have already added a low value resistor in parallel to the LEDs.

I'm surprised nobody makes after market flasher units designed to work
with LED arrays yet.

 

He's living the dream... On the road to nowhere.

 

We were making "solid state" replacement units 25 years ago with 555 timer
chips. An interesting exercise but they were ten times the cost of the
hardware originals.

 

<sad anorak mode>

I think the original design was an amazing piece of ingenuity. A
bi-metallic strip warms up due to the current flowing through it. As it
bends the circuit breaks and the lamps go out. So it cools and makes
the circuit again, repeat. If a lamp blows then you draw less current
so it flashes slower, if one shorts it flashes in manic mode. The dash
indicator lamp shows that all exterior the lamps are operating
correctly.

Army landrovers had a slight variaton. The flasher had a second
bi-metallic strip which only warmed up enough to actually operate when
there was a trailer attached (more current drawn). This switched a
second dash indicator lamp to remind the squaddy behind the wheel that
he was towing something.

I now work for a large semiconductor manufacturer but I can see that
you can't beat old fashioned common sense like that.

<gets coat>

 

This post was sponsored by Chorley FM.

 

Coming in your ears.

 

rb emerged from their own little world to say

Many vehicles have current draw sensors to tell the driver/rider that a
bulb is blown. Ergo, a manufacturer of LED arrays marketed as direct
replacements for bulbs would get a lot of returns if their product did
not mimic the characteristics of the OE.

These products are marketed as long life rather than reduced power
consumption aren't they?

 

Maybe they do, I've not tried any, it just seems rather wasteful some
how.

What about all these people with 21W lamps under their seats then? Did
they just buy the wrong type?

I didn't think LED buyers needed reasons.

 

A friend of mine had a Huntmaster outfit with home made indicators. They
comprised of a motor, a resistor and some copper contacts. Basically the
motor slowly turned a vane which bridged two contacts causing the lamps
to flash. It never really worked well and would cause the bike lights to
dim.

It was the product of somebody's shed circa 1960...

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the

The Russians put men in space using similar tech.


--

Dave

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