LED Replacement Bulbs?

[jaybaroo]

Has anyone found LED replacement bulbs for their bikes??



Jay
80 GS1000G

[Steve]

There are several places you can get replacement bulbs, but you have to be careful when doing so. With the types of lights on most vehicles, they rely on a glowing filament in the center, and a reflector/lens arrangement to catch the rays from all around the filament and re-direct them to the desired direction. If you simply install one of the common "rotating, spinning" bulbs in there, you will be very disappointed with the results. LEDs are very direction in their output, so there will be a moderately-intense spot of light in the middle of the lens...and that's it. There are newer lights available, but I have not seen them in any of the stores. They have a "tower" configuration with several LEDs pointing sideways into the reflector to help fill that out, too.

You can get these bulbs from SuperLumination or SuperBright LEDs among other places. Scroll down in either one to see the selection of bulbs. One more thing to keep in mind...use the same color LED as the lens it's behind. Do NOT use a white LED behind either a red or yellow lens, it just does not work well. Use the appropriate red or yellow LED. The only exception to that is that you can use any color LED you want behind a clear lens.


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[JHawkins]

I have a led brakelight on order from www.Besthongkong.com. It should be here in a day or two. I ordered the new red, high power, 5 LED 1157. I also ordered some 12v prewired white LED's to put in for the license plate light (required to be white light by law here). I will post a review when they come in.

They have one based on the new cree LED, which is amazingly bright, but is not released yet.

[jaybaroo]

Great advice and leads! I can't wait to see how they look!!


Jay

[first timer]

anyone know what bulbs are used in the instrument panel/gauges?
i want to swap them out with LEDS, super bright looks like they have some just which ones do i need?

[Steve]

I have not had the bulbs out of the gauge cluster to see what they are. I just looked at the Bike Bandit site, they show two different bulbs. Some locations use a 1.7 watt bulb, others use a 3.4 watt bulb. The drawing is rather unclear, I can't tell if they are bayonet-base bulbs or wedge-base. Your best bet is to take the bulbs out, compare them to see where the brighter bulbs are, then go to AutoZone, Wal-Mart or some other place that has auto-type bulbs and match them up. Once you have the numbers, order them from SuperBright or SuperLumination.


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[JHawkins]

Well, I got my 5 LED taillight installed last night, will try to get some pics of it tonight. First look shows that it is brighter than the stock bulb for a running light, maybe about the same for the brake light. This makes the difference between the brake and running light less.

This is probably counteracted by the quickness to which the LED brake light fires. It is instant, whereas the regular bulb takes 1/2 second or so to come up to full brightness.

So far I am impressed with it, and it will definately be staying on the bike.

Now I just need to install my little LED's for the license plate. I ordered them with chrome holders that have a nut on them to hold them in place. I think I can just drill 2 small holes in the bottom of the taillight cover and have them point down at the plate. As I stated earlier, hopefully pics tonight.

Here is a link to the unit I bought.

http://www.besthongkong.com/product_info.php?cPath=10_58&products_id=516

[longgreensilverado]

boy that bulb is cheap at best hongkong. the same thing thru drag specialties is much more. i ordered (1) tail that you ordered and (4) 19 led amber bulbs. I hope they are bright enough for day turn signal use

[jtolbert]

Gauge cluster bulbs (at least on my '83) are the same shape as 194s. Apparently Suzuki's gauge lights are a bit brighter than regular 194s. I replaced my high-beam light with a 194LL from Sylvania and it is a bit dimmer than the others.

I saw a few eBay retailers selling 194-replacement white LEDs that were apparently built with "proper resistance" already; I'll probably give some of those a shot the next time I need to replace a gauge cluster bulb.