Brighter tail light.

[GS750GUY]

My brother was following me the other day during a nice sunny day. I had my lights on and he commented that when I applied my brakes he could just barely see my brake light come on and said it was not very bright at all. Are there aftermarket bulbs that I could use that would be much brighter than the stock bulb? And would I have to do any special wiring to make them work. Is there a bulb that I could just replace my stock bulb with without doing any fancy rewiring jobs?
Thanks for your help!
GS750GUY

[Poot]

it shouldn't be too bad if it's a stock one. What you could try doing, is taking the cover off, and replacing the bulb if it's an old one. Could also be dirty on the inside, but I doubt it.

I put in extra relays for the headlights + horn on my 850, the rear light has always been pretty good despite the crappy electrical system.


They do sell LED lights, but if I remember correctly, it will actually draw LESS voltage than your regular light, and thus wont even light up when you apply the brakes.


POOT

[TheRedlineMan]

it shouldn't be too bad if it's a stock one. What you could try doing, is taking the cover off, and replacing the bulb if it's an old one. Could also be dirty on the inside, but I doubt it.

They do sell LED lights, but if I remember correctly, it will actually draw LESS voltage than your regular light, and thus wont even light up when you apply the brakes.

POOT

Yeah LED's do draw far less power, but for the same or, often times, brighter light. I have LED indicators that draw 200 MilliAmps that are brighter than the stock ones that draw 2 Amps.

The original should be easily visible though, check that the cover isn't too faded/dirty, go over the connections for that circuit with some electrical contact cleaner, and replace the bulb.

[BassCliff]

Mr. GS750GUY,

One of the first things I did to my bike was to replace the headlight bulb with an H4 Sylvania Silver Star and then replace the tail light lens with a brand new one. The old tail light lens was cloudy from age. A also replaced the tail light bulb with a Superbrite LED, a Luxeon 3 watt red LED. I picked up the 1157 replacement and stuck it in my tail light. It's mighty bright.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Steve]

They do sell LED lights, but if I remember correctly, it will actually draw LESS voltage than your regular light, and thus wont even light up when you apply the brakes.

Sorry, but it's been a long time since I have seen anything quite this misleading.

Bulbs don't draw any voltage. What they draw is current, which is measured in amps. LEDs will draw considerably fewer amps than a regular bulb, but tend to be rather directional. If you look inside your tail light, you will see a reflector that captures the light that comes from the sides of the filament and re-directs it to the rear, through the lens. Most LED bulbs will not do this. There are, however some that are available that have several LEDs arranged around the sides of the bulb and several that face directly back. They might work, I have not actually tried them.

I am in the process of prototyping some LED replacements for our bikes. I have drawings made for most of the L models and now have a drawing for the '80-'82 750E and 1100E. I need the loan of one of the more popular tail lights to prototype the others.


.

[GS750GUY]

Thanks guys for your replies. Faded and weathered plastic isn't an issue in this case. When restoring this bike I did spend considerable time cleaning and polsihing the complete tail light assembly and restoring it back to its original pristine condition.
I did see a cluster LED in one of the bike parts catalogs and it illustrates how the LED's a arranged so it throws light in almost all directions. The bulb costs about $40.00 a pop. I hate to spend that kind of money and find it does not work. And then I'm not sure I can just pop it in without doing some wire work. I saw a notation regarding some bulbs that with some systems you need to use what I think is called an equallizer?????? I'm not sure if I would need that or not.
GS750GUY

[Buddy]

Try a 2357 bulb. It's rated at 40 candle power for the brake light compared to 30 on the 1157.

I've tried a 24 LED replacement on my 850 and found it not as bright as an 1157. In daylight I could see very little change when the brake light came on. Also the LED did not light up the tag.


Buddy

[bakalorz]

Sorry, but it's been a long time since I have seen anything quite this misleading.

Bulbs don't draw any voltage. What they draw is current, which is measured in amps. LEDs will draw considerably fewer amps than a regular bulb, but tend to be rather directional. If you look inside your tail light, you will see a reflector that captures the light that comes from the sides of the filament and re-directs it to the rear, through the lens. Most LED bulbs will not do this. There are, however some that are available that have several LEDs arranged around the sides of the bulb and several that face directly back. They might work, I have not actually tried them.

I am in the process of prototyping some LED replacements for our bikes. I have drawings made for most of the L models and now have a drawing for the '80-'82 750E and 1100E. I need the loan of one of the more popular tail lights to prototype the others.


.

I got some of the the LED bulbs. Both rear facing, and ones that had LEDs firing out the sides.
I tried both of these and others, and none of them were bright enough

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-RED-24-LED-BRAKE-TURN-LIGHT-TAILLIGHT-BULBS-1157-2057_W0QQitemZ280166183309QQihZ018QQcategoryZ33713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VLEDs-HPR-13-LED-RED-PARKING-TURN-BULBS-1156-1073_W0QQitemZ280116773300QQihZ018QQcategoryZ33713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I eventually got some LED assemblies made for trucks like these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33713&item=190156743032

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50466&item=190164611720

(these are amber, I couldnt find the red ones right now)

The 22 LED ovals, and 39 LED rounds were good, the others were "ok" but not quite as bright.

Based on my experiences, NONE of the 1156/1157 type LED assemblies are good enough, but the truck ones will probably be ok.

If anyone wants to buy some of the 1156/1157 type to experiment with, I'll sell them for a slight loss, but I would recommend getting the truck taillights and building something instead ...

Also, there should be tail-lights visible from all around the side too, and red reflectors to side and rear, and a white license plate light

[bakalorz]

The 22 LED ovals, and 39 LED rounds were good, the others were "ok" but not quite as bright.

Based on my experiences, NONE of the 1156/1157 type LED assemblies are good enough, but the truck ones will probably be ok.

BTW, the point of all my efforts is not to reduce the amp draw, but to get more light for about the same amp draw as currently ...

The current plan is
3 ovals side by side making the tail/brake light, with one more mounted high on a sissy bar as a "CHMSL"... one red oval each side facing sideways at the taillight to provide better visibility from the side.

4" LED Round turn signals (front also running as marker lights), with another pair of yellow ovals facing sideways in the front to provide better turn signal visibility from side, (also acting as side markers)

And also a headlight modulator, and airhorns ...

And should I find a good deal on Ebay on one of those lime green riding suits ... well, the fashion police will be shooting on sight ...

[Clone]

line the reflector with aluminum foil, and clean the inside of your lens. then attack the outside with paste turtle wax, to polish out the scratches and make it nice and transparent. Then get yourself some lexan, drill 48 little holes in it and mount 48 3cd leds in them in six groups of eight and mount that to the inside of your lens. The 1157 bulb remains, and then when you apply the brakes the leds light up and then let anyone tell you they can't see your brake light.

[Steve]

And should I find a good deal on Ebay on one of those lime green riding suits ... well, the fashion police will be shooting on sight ...

Here ya go, Martin. It's not on eBay, but here's your suit. 8-[


.

[saddlewarmer]

Another check would be to make sure you are getting 12 volts or more to the bulb. On the 850 i picked up it was only getting 10 volts. cleaned all the connections going to the light (including grounds, brake light switch, etc). made sure i had 12 volts, it works good now.

[mriddle]

Here ya go, Martin. It's not on eBay, but here's your suit. 8-[


.

Loud Suits Save Lives


Mike

[dpep]

Loud Suits Save Lives

Mike

I like it. \\/

[GS750GUY]

Try a 2357 bulb. It's rated at 40 candle power for the brake light compared to 30 on the 1157.

I've tried a 24 LED replacement on my 850 and found it not as bright as an 1157. In daylight I could see very little change when the brake light came on. Also the LED did not light up the tag.


Buddy

Thanks Buddy! Where can I get a 2357 bulb? Are they available at the automotive stores?
GS750GUY