LED Replacements anyone?

[focus frenzy]

Godzilla! :shock: Man, all you Texas guys are over the top...

yea I have gotten complaints that my brake lights are to bright, so I had to tone them down some.8-[

[Arie]

I went into my local dealer as listed by parts unlimited.

he had only one type of 1157 led bulb, and I mentioned my concern about brightness. We tried them on the bike, and they were dim!!

the mfg was "Cool" and the only one he had.

anyone remember the mfg of the good bulbs?

don't want to waste money at $15 per bulb. cuts in too much on my beer money.

[Road_Clam]

Hey guys,

I found a parts unlimited dealer near me. But which bulb / manufacturer did you get?

there is a wide variety of prices.

The one I ordered said "Drag Specialties" on the package. I lied in a previous post, my bulb cost me $23

[Einar J Skog]

Hi

If the reason to use leds in the back light,is to save watts,do the same as I have done.Use ordinary 2 watt bulbs in the instruments instead of the original.
Here in Norway the original bulbs are 4 watts.
2 watt bulbs gives plenty enough light in the instruments.

[wharrah]

Whatcha gonna do with the blue bulb?
I did link you to a red one, right?

no, the link you put up went to blue, so I thought maybe you were onto something... I guess I'll find out if they were a bad choice... which might prove to be a good thing I bought two different kinds from the guy.

[8trackmind]

no, the link you put up went to blue, so I thought maybe you were onto something... I guess I'll find out if they were a bad choice... which might prove to be a good thing I bought two different kinds from the guy.

Hmm, red and blue make purple, you may be on to something.

[wharrah]

Hmm, red and blue make purple, you may be on to something.

If they suck i'll stick 'em back up on ebay and take a loss for yet another dumb mistake. never thought about the 'purple problem'.

[wharrah]

Well, I just ordered two different sets of LED bulbs from the same vendor that 8track linked me to... so we'll see if they are better... One set is RED, one set is BLUE... although the blue ones are the ones his link went to... I'm wondering if that's a good thing showing thru a RED lens.

The guy also has 14 negative feedbacks in the last month, although he has over 32,000 positive ones... I hope this isn't a roller-coaster ride in the works...

Stay tuned.

I also hope I have luck saving on multi-item shipping, as he advertises...

Well, here's my update. I received my order of 4 bulbs yesterday.

Two of them i screwed up, and ordered 3157s by mistake it seems... I did a quick search on his 'other auctions' and bought the wrong thing. Oh well. TOTALLY WRONG mount. These are RED.

If anyone wants them and can USE THEM, they can have them for postage... But I won't charge the ungodly postage this guy charged. HE sent all 4 bulbs in a small bubble-wrap envelope, and charged me $21 shipping! (he gave me a $4 discount on shipping the second set, as he normally gets $12 per pair of bulbs... such a bargain...! (not). The package weighed a WHOPPING 4 ounces according to the nice PITTNEY-BOWES stamp on the corner.

The other two are indeed 1157s. Blue sort of color I guess, although they really look white when you turn them on.

In my view, they are as dim as the LED bulbs I already had that almost got me a ticket a month ago.

My Goldwing has two bulb sockets in a w-i-d-e taillight, making a side-by-side test EASY. Pulled the lens, pulled one bulb and put in a new LED.

It was not even a contest... the LED was significantly less visual output than the 1157 incandescent, even naked. Hmmmm.... It was even worse when I put the lens back on. Like night and day. The old bulb was WAY BRIGHTER than these LEDs.

Problem is, this guy charges 25% restocking fee if I want my money back, (plus I pay lose the initial shipping and eat the return ship too); OR I have to pay his horribly high shipping BOTH WAYS if I want to just do a straight swap (as in a defective item). These aren't defective, they just do not begin to live up to this guy's claims. They might be usable if there was no lens involved, but otherwise, no way.

At those prices, I got $18 worth of bulbs (4) plus $21 in shipping in an experiment and ended up with nothing but two unusable and two unsafe LED bulbs (in my view.)

I can't use these. Anybody want 'em? Maybe you'll like 'em better. But, that's ok. I feel I did this as a public service to you all here on GSR. Don't buy these bulbs unless you know for a fact they will be what you hope they will.

(I will send you this guys' ebay userID on-request, so as not to get the board into any hot water.)

So much for this experiment. It was a bust. Guess I'll stick with real bulbs. If people really want to see the test, I can post pics. Let me know.

p.s. I know that based on how this guy operates, I'm debating not leaving him ANY feedback at all. I'd love to leave him a negative, but he'd pay me back with a negative in return, despite my prompt paypal payment. What do you think? Do I risk my perfect 100% in the name of justice? OR, do I just take my lumps and leave it at that. This guy has 5-digit positive, so he's not worried about a gnat like me.

[8trackmind]

That suks! I didn't mean to lead you down the merry path.
By all means, please post pics. The amber and red ones I got are really bright...I can't say I've tried the blue.
I wonder if they are the exact bulbs I have? :?

[wharrah]

its ok 8-track;

I'll take a couple of pics and stick 'em up here for a little bit. Guess I didnt' realize I had to have a specific color, although the link you posted is what I bought...

no harm done. its all part of R&D. Besides, its just my daughter's inheritance money.

oh yeah, you don't have to ask me who the vendor was... just check out the link 8-track posted in the earlier part of this thread... 8-track got good ones, so maybe color is everything.

[8trackmind]

8-track got good ones, so maybe color is everything.

Maybe, maybe not. I'll post a pic too.
Who knows where this stuff comes from (China?) :?
Thats still alot of $$$ to spend on something that dosen't work.

[Brianjonesphoto]

This may be a better source for the 20 LED Towers

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

$20 a pair shipped

[Joe Nardy]

Here's a good article about LED tail lights: http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/led/led.htm

I put some of the Radiantz brand LED's on my KTM and they are so bright that if you look at them from six feet away you'll see spots when you look away. I used the 1.25" wafers. Here's a link to the product review........ http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...light=radiantz

Joe

[wharrah]

This may be a better source for the 20 LED Towers

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

$20 a pair shipped

Have you tried these and know for sure they're a wise choice? I've already donated my limit for 'PUBLIC SERVICE R&D'.

I see Joe Nardy published a link to an article, i need to read it. Thanks Joe.

[8trackmind]

Have you tried these and know for sure they're a wise choice? I've already donated my limit for 'PUBLIC SERVICE R&D'.

How can you properly evaluate your purchase when two are the wrong color, and the other two don't even fit? The link in my post goes to a red 1157. :?