LED's vs. regular bulbs I was thinking

how hard was it to hook up the new cluster to triple trees and did everything plug into existing wiring?

otakar wrote: I went from this.

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To This.

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Notice that the center indicator lights are gone and that there is a row of corresponding color LEDs under the gauges. The end two "double" yellow LEDs being my turn indicators. All internal lighting are also LEDs.

I had to make a bracket and NOTHING plugged in. The light bar is custom made so it had to be wired in. The only thing that plugged in was the fuel gauge. I went from a mechanical tach drive to an electronic tach, so that had to be wired in and so on.

I just noticed your clock next to your clutch perch. That's pretty rad!

You should make a nice base for it to fit with the gauges!

I've been considering going led as well. I've read in a couple places that you should use colored leds that match the lens color, except the tail light.

Is that right and if so why? I'd figure a bright white led would produce the most light and the plastic lens will do its job regardless of whether the bulb is incandescant or led.

Actually RED LEDs are the brightest. But to answer your question. You are right. Just go with white LEDs. They have a bit different light dispersion pattern so you might have to do some reflector tweaking, depending on your taste and what you want to achieve.

mtbspeedfreak wrote: I just noticed your clock next to your clutch perch. That's pretty rad!

You should make a nice base for it to fit with the gauges!

That watch has been there for about 5 years. I have never taken it off.

otakar wrote: You are right. Just go with white LEDs.

Thanks. Regarding the type of flasher relay needed, the CF12ANL you mention is square and mine's round. Is that going to matter? Will I need to rig some sort of connector or bracket?

I've seen some LED compatible 2 pin flasher relays on other sites that look to be the same size and shape as mine, but in their product descriptions they say things like "built in resistors". Does that mean these are the wrong kind of flasher relay? Will they just make up for the resistance I'm reducing by swapping in LEDs?

Topper wrote: Thanks. Regarding the type of flasher relay needed, the CF12ANL you mention is square and mine's round. Is that going to matter? Will I need to rig some sort of connector or bracket?

I've seen some LED compatible 2 pin flasher relays on other sites that look to be the same size and shape as mine, but in their product descriptions they say things like "built in resistors". Does that mean these are the wrong kind of flasher relay? Will they just make up for the resistance I'm reducing by swapping in LEDs?

I was able to carefully pull my round mount apart from the round flasher and the square CF12 fit with a little bit of stretching and a zip tie for added security. I highly recommend the CF12 compared to anything else.

otakar wrote: Actually RED LEDs are the brightest. But to answer your question. You are right. Just go with white LEDs.

I think you should get the color that matches the lense (amber front, red back). If you put a white LED behind a colored lense you are wasting light and brightness. The colored lense filters out all the light not the color of the lense.

bountyhunter wrote:

otakar wrote: Actually RED LEDs are the brightest. But to answer your question. You are right. Just go with white LEDs.

I think you should get the color that matches the lense (amber front, red back). If you put a white LED behind a colored lense you are wasting light and brightness. The colored lense filters out all the light not the color of the lense.

BH, yes that is correct. Keep in mind your license plate light though... it'd drive me nuts to have a red license plate light (and probably illegal too...).

Stay with white. Available amber bulbs are actually quite dim. also, if you use them behind an amber lens, the light winds up being extremely orange. To the point of being annoying. I have tried it and I don't like it. It is one thing if the lens on the light is clear, it is another if the lens is colored. If thye lens is colored it is intended to be used with a white bulb.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationThanks for all the help on led bulb color. I'm going to try white and see how they look.

Topper wrote: I've seen some LED compatible 2 pin flasher relays on other sites that look to be the same size and shape as mine, but in their product descriptions they say things like "built in resistors". Does that mean these are the wrong kind of flasher relay? Will they just make up for the resistance I'm reducing by swapping in LEDs?

What about the LED flasher relay? From what mtbspeedfreak says the square CF12 one can be made to work. But if one of these round LED ones fits better, I'd rather go with it.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. There's a line in the description that says "inbuilt resistors" that makes me worry it's not really what I need.