Question about L.E.D.s and their brightness levels....

[RckRagman]

I have added some L.E.D. lighting to the back of my bike (two strips to the fender that work in conjunction with my turn signals along with a couple that work off my brake light circuit). I actually have a couple of lights left over that I was thinking of adding as running lights.
If I run the power from the TAIL LIGHT circuit, would the L.E.D.s only be as bright as the tail light or is the brightness difference between the tail light and the brake light controlled internally by the bulb?
No hurry on the answer, she won't be ready to ride till the end of this month...Going to my storage location today to start putting all the pieces back on after cleaning them over the winter hibernation......
:thanks:

 

[dan filipi]

The running light brightness and brake light brightness are determined by the bulb itself, like with the stock bulb in the brake light housing the bulb is a dual filament which makes one brighter than the other.

 

[joedrum]

ive always heard that leds are not bright enough ....but i have a flashlight thats brighter and last forever it seems over the same light with regular bulb in it...price keeps me from trying i have a supply of regular bulbs to use for quite some time

 

[Tory]

Joe
The quality of LEDs vary.
I have tried the "conversion bulbs" and was not happy with them,but I have seen some accual LED lamps that where pretty bright.

I sell a few LED lights for semis and such and there is a diffinate brightness and quality differance depending on how much you want to spend.
For example,not having exact numbers in front of me,TRUCK LITE makes a typical 3 inch stop tail turn lamp for the back of semi trailors and such in both a cheap $20.00 version as well as a nice $100.00 version.

 

[prairiewing81]

LED's are becoming more common and affordable, and light output is also much better than it once was. I replaced the stock 4" tail lights on my '64 Econoline with identical sized 20-LED lamps from Princess Auto (sorry I don't know what an american equivalent would be), and they are DOT approved and much more visible than the originals. They cost just over $20 each. I plan to use some from there to enhance the visibility of my Goldwing as they put much less load on the alternator than standard incandescent lights.

 

[RckRagman]

Well, thank you all for the responses, but I ended up doing my own experiment today while working on the bike. I added two L.E.D. lights to my trunk and before I actually wired them to my brake light circuit, I connected them to the tail light circuit. The brightness of the L.E.D.s were the same, which proves what Dan said. No big deal. The two extra lights I had are going to end up on my son's CBR954. He just hasn't decided if they're going to be working off his brake lights or turn signals.

 

[cyborg]

the brightness of L.E.D.s is controlled by resistors. the lights you buy the plug and play, have them built in to reduce the voltage depending on the number of L.E.D. and the brightness wanted. you can change the brightness by adding a resistor in line with the incoming voltage. the higher the resistor value, the dimmer the light

 

[RckRagman]

the brightness of L.E.D.s is controlled by resistors. the lights you buy the plug and play, have them built in to reduce the voltage depending on the number of L.E.D. and the brightness wanted. you can change the brightness by adding a resistor in line with the incoming voltage. the higher the resistor value, the dimmer the light

Thanks, cyborg...Good to know. If my son changes his mind (or I decide to buy another set..LOL), I'll keep this advice handy.......

 

[RckRagman]

Took this video yesterday after putting my saddle bags back on...
The 'emergency flashers' are pretty much only used if I'm pulled over on the side of the road (helping a stranded cyclist, no doubt) because I think TOO MANY flashing lights at once would only confuse the cager behind me...But I'm definitely on my way to riding to be seen!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlhBjb6t ... re=channel


Also, here's the other video that I took. This shows the 35W halogen bulbs that I put into my fog lights to replace the 55W ones. I also added some flashing L.E.D.s for show, but I'll have to do another video with the bike not running because you can't see the flashers I added inside the turn signal housing...The other lights are just too bright (which isn't a bad thing when riding to be seen by people in front of me also).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryuNdoiP ... 5xxs7R4uYm

And for the record, the fog lights, strobes and the emergency flashers in the back all work off a newly added fuse block that I installed AFTER soldering the infamous 'three yellow wires' (all of which was done with the great advice and encouragement of my fellow site members).
:thanks:

 

[dan filipi]

Nice and bright. Good job.

What did you use for the rear amber turn signals? Those look real bright.

 

[RckRagman]

What did you use for the rear amber turn signals? Those look real bright.

The amber lights (on the saddle bags) are the standard lights that came on the bike. The L.E.D.s (on the rear fender) are actually red, flexible strips that have a strong adhesive. I bought them at an auto parts store (Auto Zone, I believe)...Just ran the wires into the turn signal circuit where the plugs are on the rear fender under the seat.

 

[1TallTXn]

If your LED pods aren't setup to be a tail/brake light, you could easily modify them to that they are dimmer on tail, then go full-bright when you hit the brakes.

You'd need to play with the resistance to get the difference you want.

It would look something like this:

both Tail and brake will be connected to the same input. Since the Brake feed is only powered when you're on the brakes, power would come from the taillight feed. Then when power is applied to the brake feed, you get full bright.

While you do have to be careful about getting good LEDs, it's entirely possible to buy drop-in replacement bulbs.
I bought mine from https://www.superbrightleds.com and mine are brighter than the stock bulbs.
Let me get a pic uploaded and I'll demonstrate
Lens cover off: OEM on the left, LED on the right

Same layout, lens cover on:

Those LED bulbs were ~$25/ea, but as you can see, they're at least as bright as stock and much much less power draw.