LED Bulbs

[ardvark1]

'm still looking but now I'm stuck.

Story so far.

I have a "SF" and have managed to get a pair of indicators with brackets from a XJ750 to mount on the lower fork yoke like UK xs1100's have.

The object of the exercise is to turn these XJ indicators into "driving" lights with clear lenses.

These light are for me to be seen NOT for me to see.

Therefore they need to be bright but not directional like a spotlight.

The part I'm stuck on is the replacement led bulb I will need.

The bulb needs to be a single point bayonet fitting (like the originals)

Now for the tricky bit.

Seems it needs to be bright and not directional, does it need to be a right angled bulb or do you thing a normal one be bright enough for the job?

Also what power bulb will be bright enough for the job in question?

[kboehringer]

ANTI-SMIDSY Lighting

The object of the exercise is to turn these XJ indicators into "driving" lights with clear lenses. - - - These light are for me to be seen NOT for me to see.

Ardvark1,
That is a really great idea for visibility (i.e. SMIDSY). Thank you for sharing that idea. Are clear lenses available for those turn signals? I might like to copy your idea if they are...

Just an FYI..... I did something SIMILAR. On all three of my XS11's I replaced the single filament bulbs in my stock front turn signals with dual filament bulbs. This was relatively easy. The only tricky part was upsizing the hole in the threaded mount shaft to accommodate two wires vs. one. I wired the lower power filament to the driving lamps and use the higher power filament to the signal system. This has created a nice extra bit of anti-SMIDSY lighting.

If you are able to acquire clear lenses for those signals the OEM bulb would be bright enough to add a great deal of extra visibility lighting without any upgrade to the bulb itself. Wired directly to the lighting circuit those bulbs are quite bright if they are on constantly. Might be worth a try first? The only concern I would have with my idea is the HEAT that might accumulate with that higher power bulb on constant. An LED replacement might be a better choice for that reason and it would be a lower power drain on the XS11's limited electrical resources?

Just wanted to toss in my 2-cents. I like all the things people are doing to make themselves more visible. Great idea!!!!!!

KURT

[ardvark1]

Hi Kurt,
The overheating of the original bulb was the reason behind the idea of changing to a led bulb. I still have the problem of finding out which led bulb to use.
As far a clear lenses, you can get them. I have a pair on order from Ebay.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Aardvark/Kurt,

Some education about LEDS is required to allow more informative shopping, so here goes.

The Aux/turn signal lights you've gotten take 1156 bayonet style bulbs. The bulb housing is reflective inside, and the standard style Halogen filament type bulb projects 360 degrees so you get both the direct illumination from the bulb as well as the reflected housing affect.

The problem with some of the 1156 style LEDs is that they put the array on the END of the bulb pointing directly away from the bayonet...so they are directional relying on a light housing design that positons the bulb socket directly facing outward to work the best. The housing style you have as mentioned positions the bulb sideways, so as you alluded to, might require the 90 degree angled type to position the array to point out/rear/forward in your instance to get the most light out of the fixture. But again, this style still is directional and doesn't utilize the reflectivity of the bulb housing for extra illumination.

SO...instead you want to use a bulb with the LEDS arranged in a cylinder fashion around the bulb so you get the 360 degree affect, some LEDs will be facing directly outward/forward thru the clear lens, others will be reflecting off of the bulb housing providing a wider spread of the light prior to going thru the clear lens, again providing a wider viewing angle from the vehicles around you!

Next, there are several types of SMD LED chips for this type/design of bulb.

You can follow this link to read and see about them:

https://www.12vmonster.com/blogs/pro...-5630-5730-led

http://www.rs-led.cc/siteen/xwzx/1956.html?cid=107 shows the 2835 in comparison

SMD 3528 6 W/led
SMD 5050 15-18 W/led
SMD 5630 [45-50 W/led (3-5050's in 1 large chip)
SMD 2835 ~35 W/LED but 96% light transmission

Here's an ebay search of high Power 1156 LED bulbs:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...power&_sacat=0

From this search, I picked a few examples.

This is one with 102 of the smaller 3528 leds totalling 612 lumens
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ba15s-1156-1...-/251530739880

This is one with 120 of them totaling 720 lumens, says warm white, but is also available in cool white.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warm-White-1...-/261971963811

Here's a couple using the 5050 LEDS:

24 x 5050 leds: 430 Lumens Warm White
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ba15s-1156-1...-/261475421378

40 x 5050 leds: says 480 lumen, but calculates to 720 Lumens
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-PCS-480LMS...-/281692739534

Here's one with the 5630 LEDS:
8 5630 leds: 400 lumen
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-LED-ba9...-/311430100016

This one uses the 5630 LEDS with a CREE style on the END.
12 x 5630 LED + 1 Cree on end : 600 Lumen + cree? tyep
http://www.ebay.com/itm/9W-1156-High...-/281940478938

**WOW, second page showed this item using 33 of the 5630 LEDs, that's almost 1500 Lumens; the brightest one I've seen so far!!**
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-Pure-Whit...-/301836508897

Here's one using the newer 2835 LEDS:
15 x 2835 leds rated 15W/ 750-800 Lumen
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-BAU15S-11...-/121948994295

Okay, continued searching revealed this one using 60 of the 2835 LEDS: Over 2000 Lumen!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1x-1156-High...-/291624096773

Things to remember is that often the advert will talk about how many Watts, ie. 9 or 15 but they are LED watts that don't compare easily with Halogen Watts, so you need to look closer at the rated LUMENS, as well as what type of SMD LEDS they use understanding how many Lumens you get from each type!

Happy Shopping!

T.C.

[TopCatGr58]

Higher power type of LED chip, the CREE.

As an addendum, the CREE style of SMD LED is stronger/brighter, has a dome shaped lens for wider dispersion of the light, are ~100 lumen per LED, they are the 3W type. They are what are used in those bar and spot light type LED fixtures.

SO...here's an example of an 1156 using them, again 2 of the LEDs are at the END of the bulb, so not sure how much reflectivity you'll get from them vs. the other 4 that are in a cylindrical arrangement. Total of ~600 Lumen , also note the PRICE!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-6000K-W...-/141887836912

Should have kept looking, here's one with 10 CREE LEDS, 8 around and 2 on the end, total of ~1000 Lumen.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-6000K-W...-/141887836910

T.C.

[ardvark1]

I tell you what TC, I have learned more reading those two posts than anything I read online. Please excuse my single brain cellness but just to confirm.

A led bulb with led spots all around the cylinder will give a near 360 degree output of light and the higher the lumens the brighter the light.

Al

[TopCatGr58]

I tell you what TC, I have learned more reading those two posts than anything I read online. Please excuse my single brain cellness but just to confirm.

A led bulb with led spots all around the cylinder will give a near 360 degree output of light and the higher the lumens the brighter the light.

Al

That's a big 10-4 good buddy! And in case you're too young, or that it doesn't translate across the 'pond' to know that reference, it's old CB(Citizen's Band) Slang/code for 'CORRECT'.

T.C.

[ardvark1]

That's going back so is that.

In the 70's a lot of my friends went down the CB route.

I did'nt . I was the one with the 8 track and a boot (trunk) full of cassettes.