Direct replacement LED bulbs

The rear light on the DL is, well, a bit dim.

Has anyone tried those direct swap LED bulbs that M and P sell (basically
the normal size/shape/rating but instead of a bulb, they have a load of
LEDS)?

At £12.99 a bulb I'd rather not find out they're crap the hard way

 

"What's behind you doesn't matter" - I know you've been hit from
behind recently, but that was in broad daylight. What does the
rear light matter?

 

They're good and bright, but £12.99 is a lot of money.

Perhaps you'd be better off finding out why the rear light is dim,
then replacing the standard '380' bulb for 70p instead.

 

In

Nothing really matters.

 

Good point - but so old fashioned.

It's not the bulb is particuarly dim (there are two of them in fact) but
rather than the design of the rear doesn't make them stand out (I know that
doesn't make a lot of sense).

 

I'd like to a) be seen better at night [1]b) make sure the fact that I'm
slowing down registers with those behind.

One can't really cater for those who wouldn't have stopped had the sun been
hovering a foot in front of them.

[1] driving the cage at night doesn't half make me appreciate how invisible
bikes can be at times - both from the front and behind - and that's with me
looking for them.

 

Although an LED bulb may appear brighter if you're standing right
behind
it, the arc of the light is much narrower and it may be less visible
than the equivalent hot-wire bulb if you are off to the side.

I believe that this is the reason why they are not e-marked and
thus illegal to use - not that it stops us rufty, tufty bikers
from bothering about little things like the law, eh?

 

How has Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha got round that then considering they're
standard fitment to the R1, Fireblade, GSX-R and SV?

 

Anyone can see

 

Well yes, but the back of your bike caught fire when you were using LED
bulbs, so I'm not sure if I view your example as a postive!

 

Anyone can see.

 

Nice site BTW - hell of a lot better prices.

 

Although an LED bulb may appear brighter if you're standing right
behind
it, the arc of the light is much narrower and it may be less visible
than the equivalent hot-wire bulb if you are off to the side.

I believe that this is the reason why they are not e-marked and
thus illegal to use - not that it stops us rufty, tufty bikers
from bothering about little things like the law, eh?


they are not illegal to use , many of the manufacturers fit them as standard
on new bikes

 

Curses - beaten by 11 seconds!

 

Clever design and type approval, I would expect. If you use the
OEM bulbs matched to the OEM holders then I'm sure it's legal.

However, replacing your normal bulbs with aftermarket LED ones
may not be of benefit, the point which I was trying to get across.

For an interesting article on LED viewing angle (albeit in relation
to LED signs) read this: http://www.grandwell.com/vw_angle.htm

"In summary and as reference:
Viewing angle is the angle at which the LED's brightness is halved."

Some cheap LED bulbs may have as low as a 5 degree viewing angle
and may not be as bright. The best ones will have around 120 degree
viewing angle and put out 4,000 mcd per LED, but will be expensive.

 

nothing really matters to me ...

 

As a point of interest - the tail stop leds are red, what effect does
that have if you put them behind a red lens? Do you loose brightness?

 

LED bulbs at a couple of quid from a webshite are not the
same as the OEM bulbs and mated housing from a manufacturer
which has submitted its product for type approval.

 

Not the fault of the bulbs - a botched light unit with silver foil used
to make a connection good. Or in that case, bad - it was shorting. Hence
the unit was rapidly disposed of a few days after that outing.

 

Not overly - red lenses don't filter red light - ie a white bulb behind
a red lens would appear dimmer.

That's my understanding of it anyway.