LED bulbs for turn signals.

otakar wrote:

The running light is the same brightness on both the turn signal is a bit brighter on the incandescent bulb. But what interests me is that the LED bulb consumes 50mA while the incandescent bulb consumes 650mA. That means on four lights that is 200mA for the LED while it is 2.6A for the bulb. That is both for the lo intensity. That is what interests me. The less load you have on lights the more is available for the ignition.

I know about reduced current, I am currently running LEDs at all four turn signal/running lights as well as tail,brake but I use the 3W Luxeons which are blinding bright.

I just swapped one of these LED relays in and she works just fine... Autozone, LED sensing relays...

Not sure if those include internal resistance or not....
Either way, go super bright LED's and you'll be just fine.

Outside of more power for ignition, also consider this...
You're not overloading the electrical and charging system, henceforth more efficient!

The electrical system is not over taxed so your rectification/regulation, lighting, ignition power and Battery charging system ALL benefit from reduced load demands....

All in all, game wining home run!

OMR

To go along with OMR, on bikes with MK2 motors and later the charging system is twice as powerful as on the KZ900/1000(pre79)so it will make a huge difference on those bikes. If you require a two pin flasher, a three pin will also work but you must ground the third pin, which is simple. You must hook up the pins properly or it will not work. + MUST be positive and "L" must be load.

Led tail light makers, in response to complaints of dimness in daylight have really boosted the brightness. Now even in daylight, if you are on axis, the leds are piercing and annoying. But off axis still nothing. I think the key they have been missing is to point the LED's in different directions. That one you got looks good Otakar. I'd be interested to to know how that paint works out.

That chrome paint is something to use outside, though, it gets on everything.

Otto, I have tried using foil tape and fake chrome paint in my diy aquarium hood as a reflector and they suck. I have not tried it, but everybody in the aquarium hobby agrees that the best diy reflective material is mylar film... for something as small as motorcycle reflectors it may not be very cost effective though. Why not buy a cheapo flashlight from the dollar store and remove and resituate the reflector from there? they are plastic and can easily be shaped or cut to fit.

And regarding the LED's being so laserlike with their beam, you can get lenses that diffuse the light of individual LED's. I will be getting them when I make my taillight...

Dumb question: can you use aluminum foil as a reflector?

Aluminum foil doesn't work well...I have tried it. Foil tape is the same. I would think a shiny polished white paint in the correct parabolic cone would be much better.

Google "mylar reflective" it will show you what the grow op guys do...aquarium guys use it too.

One issue with the foil is that to shape it into a reflector you have to bend/crinkle it. The reflector should focus the light, the foil crinkles diffuse the light, not mention that the foil is simply not shiney and reflective enough. I have tried clearcoating the inside of beer cans too...it's no good either.

To grow what?

loudhvx wrote:

To grow what?

To grow a long list of aquatic plants in my aquaria. You need good bright light that is focused on the plants and not on the glass, so good reflectors are very important. In the planted aquarium community diy reflectors and light hoods are akin to something like DIY rearsets in our bike world - many different writeups and ideas that always draw some attention and interest.

For all of you "Cenedien" Pot growers :woohoo: and you other people I painted one of my signals with the Chrome paint on the inside. I have noticed a much better light refraction and diffusion threw the lens. This picture is only for showing the diffusion, because the camera automatically meters for the light intensity and the F stop adjusts accordingly. The brightness is not representative of the actual intensity. I took the picture with out a flash for testing. Once again just look at the light diffusion and not the brightness.

This is unpainted inside. It is just solid black.

Looks like that made a huge difference, very nice. Must be time for a cold one, and a rolled one!