VFR Discussion Group -> Led brake lights

I've been looking for brighter led brake light bulbs for my '03 and I think I found them. �
I found this link �

www.superbrightleds.com

�so I ordered 2
7443-W9 lamps for my brake lights. Cost was $16.98 including shipping.
As soon as I recieve them I'll make another post to report if they were worth it or not � :idea:

I have been considering this mod as well. �I was concerned about the cost, the longevity or quality of the bulb, and the directional dispersment of the light from the bulb. �FWIW, I was not able to locate the part numbers you listed in the link.  I will be very interested in your impressions. �Please keep us posted.

Will

Longevity should be the best point!!!

LEDs have been around for ages and are usually extremely reliable.

I'd also be interested in more info...

Are they legal for brake lights?

Quote (HispanicSlammer @ Jan. 04 2004)

Are they legal for brake lights?

Why wouldn't they be. LED's are now standard as brake lights and directional markers on many motorcycles and cars. They last longer than incandescents. However, for those of you looking for brighter lighting, take note of the following paragraph from the superbrightled website:

Quote

LED bulbs are generally not as bright as standard incandescent bulbs, they have many advantages over filament bulbs (longer life, faster on/off times, lower power consumption, more vivid colors) but brightness is not one of them.

i put a set of brake lights from superbright in my truck. next day i got pulled over ( i was speeding ) and told by the officer that i had to change them back or get brighter ones. he said they needed to be seen in daylight from 300 feet. i checked them out again and was shocked to notice that you could barely tell they had come on.  
the following link is for the bulbs i'm going to try next. they are very expensive but they seem like one of the best led setups i've seen. "painfull to look at" i think was one description of the brightness.
  https://www.netdisty.net/ds/aut3157/default.asp

Dont bother with those. I read in a review once there wasn't much difference between those and the other cheaper LED replacement bulbs. Its a good idea, but the LEDs they use are not that bright to begin with.

The best thing to do is have a custom LED tail light made that uses the newer "spider" LEDs from Lumileds. I use these LEDs myself in my projects. They're very bright with a wide angle as compared to normal 5mm T1 LEDs. Check http://www.hightechspeed.com/default.asp and see if they have one listed for your bike.

Does anybody find it ironic that the retailer is called "SuperBrightLED's" yet they state on their website that LED's aren't as bright as incandescent lights? :doh: Hmmm.....

I suppose they are brighter than the 15 year old LED's on my 15 year old radar detector.  The old Bel Escort still works.

Well I tried the LED's on my tail and brake lights.  They definitely look brighter but aren't mainly due to, I think, the way the taillight plastic disperses the light.  It seems to be made to magnify the light from a traditional bulb but seems to work against LED lights.  Seems if you had clear taillight that didn't bend or change the LED emitted light it would look alot brighter. I went back to the stock light and put on hyperlights, which are better, but more expensive.

Tried the 7443's from Superbright, not enough light, went back to bulbs.  The blue guage LED's won't light the speedo indicator needles, stay away from those on Gen 5's as well.

Ok guys here it is.

 Round one. I recieved my spiffy new 9 LED brake light bulbs from "SUPER BRIGHT LEDS" today so I immedatly rushed out into the garage to install my new gotten goodies.
 I decided to install just the top one first so I could be amazed by the brightness of the LED compaired to the stock bulb. BOY WAS I WRONG!!! These things SUCK!! Don't waste a penny on these things. Unlike me and my $16.95 purchase.

 Round two. After making my original post on this subject I was intrigued by the replys that it generated and began to wonder if I could be barking up the wrong tree.
So... Back to the internet. I went straight to the PIAA websight and ordered the "XTREME WHITE TECHNOLOGY" bulbs they offer.
 After all, they are from PIAA right? The headlights I got from them work great right? They are rated at 27/8 watts compaired to the puny stock bulbs 21/5 watts rating RIGHT?!!
 WRONG AGAIN!!!  The blue coating on the bulb seems to negate any increased brightness that I was hoping to gain by the higher wattage rating.
 The PIAA bulbs are slightly dimmer with the running lights on
and only slightly brighter with the brake lights on. And they only cost me $21.95.

 Round three.To calm my anger I am currently working on a
BRAKE SWITCH ACTIVATED FLAME THROWER SYSTEM!!!
That should get there Fu***NG attention!

Quote (Tejas @ Jan. 07 2004)

Round three.To calm my anger I am currently working on a  BRAKE SWITCH ACTIVATED FLAME THROWER SYSTEM!!! That should get there Fu***NG attention!

I love it.  That's exactly what I was looking for.  A big ball of flame coming at 'em will work too!

Will

Quote (vimontj @ Jan. 05 2004)

Tried the 7443's from Superbright, not enough light, went back to bulbs. �The blue guage LED's won't light the speedo indicator needles, stay away from those on Gen 5's as well.

SuperBrightLeds also offers the same size light with four led bulbs in it. �I ordered one of them along with five of the singles, just for testing purposes. �The four led bulb is much brighter than the single, and does light up the needle very well. �I will be ordering a few more of those in the future to fill up the whole dash.

Right now I have the four led in the speedo and a single in the tach. �I cant see the tach needle at night but have no problems with the speedo.

WLED-B4 Blue LED bulb

They are about 3/4 of the way down the page.

Quote

Round three.To calm my anger I am currently working on a BRAKE SWITCH ACTIVATED FLAME THROWER SYSTEM!!! That should get there Fu***NG attention!

Another solution to gain attention on the road is one of those tail light modulators that causes the brake light to flash on and off when braking (you can get 'em for around 30 bucks or so I think).  One of my riding buddies has this setup and it really does grab your eye.

So many interested in better lighting...

Lets see... VFR forum... I have a VFR... I make custom LED lighting for myself...


:idea:

DownAndOutNYC

Go for it, if you can build a better mouse trap I'm in!! :D

Guess I'll need to make a call to Lumileds and see what thier spiders LEDs are going for again. I'd use the LiteOn brands, but it would be better off with the original Lumileds brand.

BTW... anyone have any junk/unused VFR tail light housings they'd care to donate to the better lighting cause?  :D

i've had LED brake lights for two years now and love them. my riding partners love them too, by the way. the ones i bought back in '02 are from jam strait. http://www.jamstrait.com/products.html

i ordered 3157-HR Hyper-Bright RED
7 cd HP chip LEDs 630nm 15 LED �
Visual Test Results: BLINDING
Recommended for: All Red Lenses
May be too bright for clear lenses.

these suckers are bright. conversely to all y'alls previous statements that your LEDs are too dim, mine, if anything may be too bright. i highly recommend these bulbs.

in fact, these bulbs have lasted me through three vfr's! i just change bikes but keep the same LEDs. i got them originally when i had a '98 vfr, then switched them to my yellow '00, and currently run them in my '02.

with just a slight mod at the base of the bulb with my handy Dremel tool, these fit perfectly and are very reliable. give em a try....

Thanks for the link fastjo!

The hyper-brights claim to have twice the output of the

super-bright leds.  May have to give them a try!

Hey Tejas, I have been using the Cool Blue bulbs avail. where ever they sell GE lamps.  They work good, very slight tint in the bulb.  They are a 55W bulb so it is a bump from the stocker.  The light output is clean and bright, $18 for the pair at Wal-fart.

Has anyone tried or use a rotating LED bulb similar to the one shown in the following link?

http://www.newyorkmc.com/dlrinde....ulb.htm

Will this type of bulb fit the '03 VFR?  The service manual specifies a 21/5 W.  The one shown in the link is a 1157/P21

I have seen the rotating LED on other bikes and it really draws your attention and looks cool.

I've noticed that on all the new bikes with led brake lights that they have a clear lens ie no colour.

I reckon that the led's will work fine - you just need to replace the red or coloured lens with a clear one?

Greg

Not really. DOT regulations dictate the color of the lenses. So the LED manufacturers just make the LEDs with the same wavelength (color). There are some difference from one brand of vehicle to another, but not enough to cause a problem.

just an explaination on my previous question,
Are the new LED's are already red then you then place them behind a red lens? or are the LED's clear to start with?

Tex,

Your right superbright bulbs are BS, they coat the bulb with a blue or yellow color, in effect filtering out part of the light. �How can you get more efficient light when the damn thing is filtered out. �It is a marketing ploy, they can say that the bulbs get more light by streaching the truth about what bandwidth they are talking about, �If you paint the damn thing blue your going to get more blue light, simple as that, but the rest of the spectrum is much less..If you want to look at the world in rose colored glasses......Then there is the Yellow ones, same thing but the marketing people say its better in the daylight, perhaps so but a headlight modulator is probably much better at getting you noticed in the day. I posted a scientific study on those Superbright bulbs a couple of years ago, where they rated all the brands and tested them with actuall light meters, the standard H4 Sylvania of the same wattage beat out all comers. If you want the real deal on effiecient lighting your going to have to consider HID, and that gets expensive.

Another option to consider with the superbright LED is to consider an LED bar that mounts externally, specifically one of those fancy licence plate frames with an array of bright LED's at the bottom, to enhance the OEM bulbs.

Quote (vfrgreg @ Jan. 12 2004)

just an explaination on my previous question, Are the new LED's are already red then you then place them behind a red lens? or are the LED's clear to start with?

The LEDs I use are all clear LEDs, but the LED die itself outputs the appropiate color. So long as the wavelength of the LED closely matches the wavelength of the lens, there will be little lumens lost due to filtering.

I improved my visibility problem with Tail light modulator by Kissan
The circuitry is in the new base (2)- you place the new halogen bulbs in this base,then install them as you would a replacement bulb. The brake lights come on as a decaying sequential i.e., flash 8 x sec, 6xsec, 4xsec....steady for a period, then cycle again. Definitely eye catching and brighter than original bulbs. I am adding a license plate frame (black) with two LED light strips - they serve both as running lights and brake lights. Also, LEDs as frame bolts x 4. �The additional load is negligible...
You simply cannot be visible enough! :idea:

docgary
97 VFR

Quote (fastjo @ Jan. 08 2004)

with just a slight mod at the base of the bulb with my handy Dremel tool, these fit perfectly and are very reliable. give em a try....

Hey FastJo,

I picked up a pair of these lights at Autozone today and tried to install them on my 03.  By the time I ground away enough material on the bulb to get it to fit in the socket, there wasn't enough meat left on the bulb to hold up structurally.  Also, I couldn't get it to snap in real tight...felt like it would vibrate loose.  Any advice?.....I still have one more in the container to play with!

Plus, it seemed brighter than the tail light when outside the lens, but didn't appear to differ much once inside the lens.  Do I have to see it at night to appreciate it?  Would a clear version be better?

Thanks in advance for the help.

After almost getting rear ended by grandma last night :blink: :soiled underpants: , I decided that I need more or brighter lights on my tail... I'm going to get the Hyperlite 16-LED dual-mode (running mode & flashing mode for brakes), and possibly some squidly illuminators in strategic locations strictly for visibility purposes, NOT to try to be ghetto-licious :squid: :squid: :squid:

I like the idea of the mirror turn-signal lights and there's tons of other gadgets on the web for visibility. I'll report after I've gotten some junk.