LED 1157 bulbs from eBay?

interesting...

cgi.ebay.com/5x-1Watt-Red-Super-bright-7...?hash=item255939eb52

www.customfighters.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27905

I would also suggest using red leds if you want the light to be red.

I started to make my own led signals like otakar, I only actually got one done so far, but I found that the white leds tend to pass right through the diffuser/filter without picking up much color. At least they did on the smoked amber lenses that I had with cheap white leds. It may a be different story with the red lenses, but I still think the red leds would look much better!

Another issue I have is that the leds I have are very directional, and it's difficult to get them to be bright enough for people to see. For that reason I'm going to put the incandescent bulbs back in until I have more time to tinker with the leds. Some of the 1157 replacements look like they would not have that problem with the leds pointing in every direction though.

Good luck, and let us know what works!

I have had the red one in my 900 for about a year and a half now. I have the clear lens with the red bulb in my taillight and at night its bright especially the brake light but during the day its more like a dot. I think the reflecting part of the lens doesnt work well with the led bulbs unless the whole assembly was made for led lights. The clear lens makes it brighter and I bought it a Z1 enterprises.

regarding the lens, maybe it's just like this on the newer bikes, but when I took the lens off, there was a red insert inside which came out, so I have a clear lens now. I like that cleared out look better, so that is what I was going to try to achieve anyways. I am going to put the incandescent bulbs back in and like you said Jake I will tinker with making my own LED brake light with LEDs of differing lighting angle.

Remember back in the old days when we used to remove the automobile dash board light bulbs and paint them with red fingernail polish to get the super cool sexy red glow dash lighting! :woohoo: :laugh:

cgi.ebay.com/1x-RED-80-90LM-High-Power-L...?hash=item3efdb85a86

I believe these are the ones you were talking about bobofet, I just can't figure out how I would hook them up! I wonder if the back has pins to solder...hmm, 5 of these for brakes and 5 little LEDS for running light...

this is handy too:
led.linear1.org/led.wiz

You can get leds with up to 170° viewing angle, but at over $4 each they aren't giving them away. You can find a good assortment at digikey and mouser.

I got mine from dealextreme, when you buy them in bulk they really come down in price. I think I got my white ones for around 7 or 8 cents a piece, but I got 200 of them. The colored ones are a little more expensive but still not bad. The only issue is that they have a small viewing angle like 30° I think, maybe even less.

By the way, if you are trying to make your own to save some money, don't! :laugh:

I got the four turn signals to modify for about $40, then I spent another $30 on leds, and probably another $15-20 in padboard, resistors, and other things.

So with right around $90 in stuff to do this I could have gotten some really nice led units ready to go. And I have even thought about doing that now, but I have everything I need and just have to put the stuff together. This has definitely turned into more of a pride issue than anything. :laugh:

To save money I would just keep the old bulbs in there! lol I want a nice LED brakelight that is as eye catching and noticeable as those Cadillac taillights. I am waiting to hear back from one seller of truck taillight assemblies to see if he can sell me one, and I have to see if it will fit! if not, then I will say fuggum and build my own in my own time.

JakeB wrote:

You can get leds with up to 170° viewing angle, but at over $4 each they aren't giving them away. You can find a good assortment at digikey and mouser.

I got mine from dealextreme, when you buy them in bulk they really come down in price. I think I got my white ones for around 7 or 8 cents a piece, but I got 200 of them. The colored ones are a little more expensive but still not bad. The only issue is that they have a small viewing angle like 30° I think, maybe even less.

By the way, if you are trying to make your own to save some money, don't! :laugh:

I got the four turn signals to modify for about $40, then I spent another $30 on leds, and probably another $15-20 in padboard, resistors, and other things.

So with right around $90 in stuff to do this I could have gotten some really nice led units ready to go. And I have even thought about doing that now, but I have everything I need and just have to put the stuff together. This has definitely turned into more of a pride issue than anything. :laugh:

These are the best I have found. They are REALLY bright and have a goopd viewing angle in the standard lamp assembly.

www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/in...ake-turn.html#Table1

those look bright enough, BUT for 40 bones I think I will pass and make my own.

9am53 wrote:

those look bright enough, BUT for 40 bones I think I will pass and make my own.

Problem is if you get enough LED power to give you sufficient brightness, you need a decent heatsink. The ones above have the aluminum heatsink built in. If you are going to use LEDs for brakelight or rear turn signals, you really need them bright for safety. Most of the junk I have seen from ebay is not bright enough. In fact, superbrightleds.com has a warning on it's site that most LEDs are too dim for that usage.

The one posted in this thread which is labeled "3W"is rated at about 0.7A @ 3V which is over 2W of power dissipation. It might be bright enough, but that's a lot of power to get out. When you look at the small size, that heat has to be conducted out to the PC board traces that the small sub board mounts to. 2W is actually a lot for such a small device, and they die if the temp goes above about 160C. The life span is proportional to the operating temp logrithmically and drops by 1/2 for approximately each 10C rise of temp. Getting the heat out of the LEDs is a big problem and it's the reason cars don't have LED headlights.... (yet).

More to think about...this is way more fun than just buying those prefab ones.