Direct Replacement LED Tail-Lights

[galahs]

All right I tried them all out and took photos but they suck as my tripod conveniently went missing. Its late now so I'll try and post them in the near future.

Anyways....

First of all I must say the stock, incandescent bulbs put up a good fight and really their performance is still hard to beat, especially for the money. They are so cheap yet effective!

But I know some of you have to have LED's for the following reasons:

- LED's are the cool thing to have

- LED's have a faster response time. They light up quicker meaning drivers get a slighty quicker warning that you've hit the brakes.

- LED's use a fraction of the power that an incandescent bulb does meaning less drain on the meagre electrical system that motorbikes like the GS500 has.

- LED's are less sensitive to vibrations as they are completely solid state so should last much much longer


Now first I tested the White High Powered Led vs the Stock Globes. Put them in side by side and judged their performance.



I wont lie. The incandescent bulbs blew them out of the water! The whitish-blue colour light the LED produced is very intense but.... and isn't there always a but ...... the red lens reduced the output of the bulb significantly. The intensity difference between the two globes was massive. And applying the brake saw the old incandescent bulb step further ahead.

The only thing that was good about the white LED was it lit the rear number plate up wirh white light. But even at this task the incandescent bulb did a better job.

So note. The high intensity white LEDs are STILL NOT intense enough for use in the brake lights. Not enough of their colour spectrum makes it through the red tail light lens.



As for the two red LED types I tried. They both were fairly equal when it came to running lights mode. However when it came to brake mode, the incandescent globe was still superior as its light spread further illuminating the entire lens much better. HOWEVER the LEDS had a much more intense brilliant RED light which was pretty stunning.

Of the two red LED's, the red High Intensity LED's illuminated more of the lens than the Red Cluster LED's. So they would be my choice of LED for the tail light. I think this is because they had more radial LEDs than the cluster design so it helped light up the lens reflector better.

So, the high intensity red LED's are what I'll recommend as the best direct replacement LED for the GS500's brake light. I should mention it throws a satisfactory amount of red light on your number plate. Just beware that in some places the number plate must be illuminated with a white light.




So in conclusion, the incandescent bulb is still king as a direct plug in application on the GS500 thanks to it being a cost effective option with superior illumination when the BRAKES are applied, and the fact it throws white light onto the number plate.

The high intensity red LED's I used came in second second place just infront of the cluster red leds. Both shon a brilliant RED light but when the BRAKES are applied the high intensity LED's light spread in the lens was superior.

The white high intensity LED was good, and really is fine to use. But why you would replace the cheaper incandescent globes with an expensive option like this that produces less light output? If you can bring yourself to accept that then these lights do also have to one plus over the red leds in that they illuminate your number plate in white light.



Hope this has helped you understand the pro's and cons of Direct Replacement LED lighting. As for me I think I will use the RED high intensity leds and wire up another white led to illuminate my license plate. So after all that, I'll actually be taking a NON direct replacement procedure   

[mattress]

thanks for the awesome write up!  I hope to see some pictures soon. 
I'm curious if you can see the individual LED's lighting up through the lense, or if it has a unified glow like a normal light bulb?

[galahs]

I'll try and get the photos up tonight, but I can confirm it looks like a unified glow.

[Berowra]

Galahs,

Have you thought about the orange LED?

An incandescent bulb is not white - it does not have much blue (and indigo and violet) in its spectrum and hence appears yellow-ish when compared to a (so-called) white LED.

The coloured filters used on brake (red) and indicator (orange) lights are reasonably narrow-band, as is the spectrum produced by the LEDs.  That is why you saw an obvious decrease in light intensity when you used the white LED for a brake light with the red brake light cover attached and also why it looked soooo red (and much brighter) when you used the red LED.

An orange LED may be the perfect compromise.  It should have enough red so that all the power is not filtered away by the red brake light cover and also enough of the other colours in its spectrum to make the light shining on your number plate closer to the bulb.

Another thing to note is that the light intensity from the bulb is much higher than from the LEDs you have tried - to prove this, compare the bulb and any LED directly (no coloured filter in front).  The bulb will light up your shed much easier than any of the LEDs you have.

The only LEDs that I have seen that come close to bulb brightness are the single LED side launching style (inside the plastic head of the LED is a little cone reflector that pushes all the light out the side - none of the light goes directly forward) - there is a picture of these in one of the other discussions about LEDs.  These type of LEDs are powerful enough to go up against a 3W globe, or maybe even a 6W globe - not sure if they have a version that has two intensities for brake lights though.

What are your thoughts?

[galahs]

The orange LED is an interesting idea. Sounds like it has good merit. You wont get the amazing red intensity that a red LED gives but yes, it might be the best direct replacement compromise.

You are right that an incandescent bulb lights up a room better. I'd put it down to the fact an incandecent bulb has approximately a 320 degree beam. The leds would have approximately a 220 degree coverage. They don't shine backwards towards the socket very well.


Anyways I'll try and get some photos up. I have a few minutes to spare atm.

[galahs]

Ok, looking at my photos they suck! Too blurry. I really needed to do it with a tripod.
So I will only post the two that clearly show something worth showing.


First is the White Incandecent Blub vs the White LED






the second is 2 red hight output LEDs and how it changes the colour of my yellow numberplate

[Egaeus]

Galahs,

Have you thought about the orange LED?

An incandescent bulb is not white - it does not have much blue (and indigo and violet) in its spectrum and hence appears yellow-ish when compared to a (so-called) white LED.

The coloured filters used on brake (red) and indicator (orange) lights are reasonably narrow-band, as is the spectrum produced by the LEDs.  That is why you saw an obvious decrease in light intensity when you used the white LED for a brake light with the red brake light cover attached and also why it looked soooo red (and much brighter) when you used the red LED.

An orange LED may be the perfect compromise.  It should have enough red so that all the power is not filtered away by the red brake light cover and also enough of the other colours in its spectrum to make the light shining on your number plate closer to the bulb.

Another thing to note is that the light intensity from the bulb is much higher than from the LEDs you have tried - to prove this, compare the bulb and any LED directly (no coloured filter in front).  The bulb will light up your shed much easier than any of the LEDs you have.

The only LEDs that I have seen that come close to bulb brightness are the single LED side launching style (inside the plastic head of the LED is a little cone reflector that pushes all the light out the side - none of the light goes directly forward) - there is a picture of these in one of the other discussions about LEDs.  These type of LEDs are powerful enough to go up against a 3W globe, or maybe even a 6W globe - not sure if they have a version that has two intensities for brake lights though.

What are your thoughts?

I don't think an amber LED will fare well.  The light output of an LED is very narrowband.  An incandescent bulb is broadband.  There will be much more attenuation of the LED than the incandescent.

[galahs]

All right, here is the three states of the high intensity red led in daylight.

OFF




Running lights ON





BRAKES APPLIED






As you can see the light outputs vary significantly between Brake and Running Lights which is what you want.

What the photo doesn't show is the full extent of the intensity of the red light. Its truly amazing when viewed through the naked eye. Much more visible than the incandescent globe.

[Berowra]

Galahs,  I am impressed with the brightness, but the real test is how do the break lights look at 20 metres (~60 feet) in daylight, or in wet daylight like today in Sydney (compared to the bulb)?

Egaeus, I agree with your point about narrowband, but the brake light cover filter bandwidth appears to be wide enough to let some of the "white" LED light through.  My thinking is that the red filter roll-off is wide enough that you will lose a lot less in the orange (amber) part of the spectrum (so should be much brighter than the white LED) and the unfiltered orange will look better than red on a number plate.  ...sort of a compromise.

Galahs, please excuse my spelling....

[galahs]

I've tested all lights from 30 meters away.

The incandescent bulbs are equal good with the high intensity RED LED's for visibility.

The incandescent bulb wins for the better Braking illumination by a small but definitely noticable factor. However in fog, I'd assume the higher intensity of the red led might make it more visible.

The White LED's were terrible at distance.



Yep and as Berowra said. If the tail light lens allow some of the light of a White LED through, then one would assume it would allow some orange light through (possibly more). However, one would be required to test this to make sure.

[Berowra]

... only a suggestion ...

[galahs]

Ideally a 1157 solution with Red rearward firing LEDs and white sideways firing LED's would be best.

I jut can't see them making them unless alot of motorbikes need this type of setup.

[Wrecent_Wryder]

S5

[galahs]

The current red LED I'm using is definitely bright enough. There is just the plate lighting problem.

[galahs]

The incandescent bulb wins for the better Braking illumination by a small but definitely noticable factor. However in fog, I'd assume the higher intensity of the red led might make it more visible.

Because of this I decided to add some red LED bolts to my number plate holder, to increase the light output when braking.

These photos don't do the LED's full justice, but it shows that they are definitely an improvement making brakeing more distinguished from the running light.







The led is less effective from angles.

[shuluke]

Thanks for the right up! Do you happen to know what kind of leds they were? I am thinking of doing a LED retrofit myself. I have many leds still after my car retrofit, I might be able to make a few. Anyone have a 00 tail light cover they want to get rid of for cheap!?

[galahs]

No idea mate.

Red ones 

[shuluke]

Well I have some superflux leds that are lying around.. I will wire some up in a few weeks and post results when done.

[galahs]

That sounds super! 

[bucks1605]

All right, here is the three states of the high intensity red led in daylight.

OFF




Running lights ON





BRAKES APPLIED

Do you have a link to these led's? I want to purchase some, and these look perfect.

What do you think of these?

http://www.chromeglow.com/catalog.asp?prodid=539714&showprevnext=1