Led Taillights and ABS Breaks

[Fred H.]

The superbright taillight bulb replacements look like they have a bigger diameter than the auto direct model. I'm thinking that the auto direct ones may fit in through the same hole as the original. Waiting to hear from Fred to see.
I would like to replace the directional light bulbs with these if they work out. It may need a resistor in series with the led, but it will be worth it if they are bright enough.

Yea, I was thinking the same thing when I looked at them. The ones I ordered should fit into the hole, as long as they aren't too long.

The real question in my mind is, did they use good quality LED's or not. Many of the newer LED's can provide up to 3,500 mcd in a 5mm round LED in red, and I have seen the clear ones go as high as 11,000. I just hope they are using the latest technology in LEDs cause they have changed a lot in just the past year.

By the way, there is a better way to make the turn signals work than adding a resistor (which just eats up watts). There are some new plug in electronic blinker relays that don't need a heavy load to work. Here is an example of one.

https://www.vehiclelight.com/ef33l.html

Here is a bulb that looks interesting to me. It uses one of Luxeons new 3 watt LEDs.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/115x-xLX3.htm

 

[Fred H.]

Got the bulbs in today. They fit. They are just a bit brighter than stock, but it does not appear to be a huge difference.

Having trouble getting photos that really show the difference. Will have to play with the shutter speed on the camera so the lights don't blow out the exposure on the photo. Hope to post photos sometime later today.

 

[Geezer]

Thanks for the report Fred. Guess I'll save my money and pass on these.

 

[twowheelnut]

I rode with a guy on a Connie a while back who put these in:

https://www.homebody-design.com/index.html

These are some seriously mega-bright, blinky-blink tail lamps, but their offering does not include the FJR. I think you might be able to tweak some of their existing stuff to fit. I've e-mailed them a couple of times with no response.

 

[Fred H.]

Ok, the results are in.

First off, I did a current measurement of a standard 1157 against the 18 LED 1157 from Autodirect.

Single Tail light filament current draw

Standard 1157-- .430 amps

LED-------------- .070 amps

Single Brake light filament current draw

Standard 1157--- 1.84 amps

LED----------------- .257 amps

So combined brake and tail light on the standard 1157 is about 2.3 amps.

On the LED bulb it would only be .33 amps (or 1/3 of an amp).

As you can see the LED lamps offer a significant benefit in reducing current draw. This will free up a few watts for other accessories, and if you are at the limit on your wattage, this is one place you might look to find a few free watts.

By my calculations, if you replaced all 6 turn and brake/tail light bulbs out in the FJR, (at a cost of $14 each) you would save the following in amps/watts (if my math is right )

Normal riding savings of 1.44 amps or about 18 watts (@13 volts)

Braking savings of 4.25 amps or about 55 watts

Braking with turn signal on savings of 6.1 amps or about 80 watts

As for the brightness, I think I can say that the regular 1157 is actually brighter, though the LED did produce a more red light. By the way, I was told not to use white LEDs in a red tail lamp, as it would make it look orange instead of red, so I got the red LED's per their recommendation.

See for yourself. The full photo gallery is here:

https://www.pbase.com/fredharmon/ledtaillights

The off axis beam pattern from the Autodirect LED was very good, and it was bright from any angle. One thing I quickly discovered is that the reflector for the tail lamps on the FJR is poorly designed, as it focuses the main portion of the reflected light down. To get full brightness from the reflector, you have to actually be sitting on the floor at a point lower than the rear of the bike. This doesn't help matters any.

LED on the LEFT Standard 1157 on right, with brakes applied

Off angle

 

[Blueliner]

Last week, a friend of mine who is looking to save some watts bought two of these:

https://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm

They are a 20 led light with 15 on the sides and 5 out the top. We tested them on several different bikes and with several different sets of eyes and came to the conclusion that they are VERY close in intensity in running light mode. I have tried many different leds from cheap to expensive and found that getting identical brightness for the running lights is easy to do. The hard part has been getting the brake light to be as bright. These were estimated by us to be only 5% dimmer than the incandescent when using the brake light. Sorry, I did not take pictures.

So, here is another alternative that works very well.

 

[HIS2006]

Fred,

Great job, thanks for taking the time to purchase the LED lights, install them, and take pictures of them. The information you've provided here is excelllent. :clapping:

 

[crizyal]

I just purchased the bulbs from autodirect and it seams that the running light doesn't work though the break light does. I was wondering if when you ordered you specified duel intensity, or did I receive defective bulbs?

 

[Fred H.]

I had the same experience. No running lights, only brake when I had one LED installed.

For some crazy reason (don't ask me why) you have to install BOTH LED bulbs in the two tail lamp sockets or else the running lights won't work. If you have a standard 1157 in one socket, and an LED in the other, the brake light on the LED will work but the running lamps won't.

By the way, I installed some Lumex LEDs in my Givi trunk today and they are absolutly awesome. These are every bit as bright (if not more) than the Life Brights and Hyper Lites. And they really look good in the Givi V46 too.

 

[OhioFJR1300]

Fred, can you provide more info on the LED install on the Givi box? Looks great and I'd like to do the same to my V46.

 

[Fred H.]

I'll start a new thread with the details, as this may be of interest to others.

--> https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=11354

 

[OhioFJR1300]

Thanks, super job :clapping: :clapping: