LEDs for FE/FCs ?

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Just found a kit on Jaycar to convert bayonet lamps to an LED. Jaycar only sell the LED PCB.

Cat No KC5349

http://www.jaycar.com.au



with a bit of trick wiring and coloured LEDs you could get your white reverse and amber blinkers behind the clear lenses. FFT.

[NO NAME]

you would probably need to make the pcb from scratch to get the two seperate circuits unless there are some brite2 colour leds with amber one way and white the other but then you have to do some extra wiring to get the leds working in seperate colours.
maybe you could make the pcb have two seperate circuits with a dremel or engraver.
do they have leds kits to replace dual filamnt globes?
if one of us made a bunch up they could be also usefull in front indicators with park lights instead of fitting ugly orange lenses to the front.
just think of all the generator drain they will save.

[Dr_Terry]

Hi Guys.

You will find LEDs don't look that good & are not legal.

The problem is that LEDs are directional, that is they only put out light in one direction. A normal incandescent globe puts out light in all directions & therefore makes use of the reflector in the tail light so the whole lens is lit up equally.

If you look at a car fitted with LEDs the light is only in one spot, looks terrible when you stand back & compare it to a normal rear light.

Dr Terry.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Dr Terry, do you know why a lot of trucks are being fitted with them lately? I have noticed more and more on Adelaide streets.

[HARKO]

So the best idea would be to design one that is based on a ball type design so that they are emitting light in all directions.

Thanks for the thumbs up Dr Terry I was just about to purchase some .

[fc4kiwi]

 Its interesting to note the its not legal to have LEDS fitted to vehicles in Australia whereas they fit  to trucks,buses, and some Japper imports over here in Kiwiland.
Im looking at fitting them to act as backing lights on my FC as they are 100% brighter than the old 35watt thats in there at moment.

[Dr_Terry]

Hi Guys.

I think some of you guys missed my point, either that or I didn't phrase it correctly.

I didn't mean ALL LEDS are illegal, I meant that the fitting of LED replacement globes to reflectors designed for incandescent globes are not as bright, are not legal & look terrible.

The LED light fittings used on trucks & buses are great, I use a set on my car trailer. But these are designed as LED lights & work well.

You have the same problem if you fit LED replacements to your instruments to brighten them up. Sure the new lights are brighter (& run cooler) but they don't put out light in all directions at once. If you fit them to instrument clusters on older cars, the instrumenrs are much darker, which defeats the original intention.

Dr Terry.

[Ed]

I am using some of the LED's in question.

they fit up to the dual filament globe.

the LED's are RED, which isnt so good behind a red lens.

they would be much better if they were white.

as Dr Terry says, they are nowhere near as bright. from side they arent nearly as noticeable.

from straight on behind, I personally think they look OK, however the entire lens doesnt light up as the reflectors arent made for LEDs.

the transition between rear lights on and brake lights on is barely perceptible.

I am in 2 minds as to whether I keep them in or not.

they're OK not great.

a better idea would be to re-work the base to accept proper LED lights, but why bother... a conventional globe is cheaper and brighter.

my 2 cents

cheers

Ed

PS look carefully because traffic lights are now going LED... i first noticed this in QLD at the gold coast, now some lights in Sydney.

[bent8-58]

OK,here's my 2 cents worth,l've been playing with the idea of using LED globes in the FC too,mainly cause against the halogen blue/white/headlight globes the poor old parklights are yellow & look like they're dying a slow painful death,then l thought they'd be trick looking in the taillights & flasher/reverse lights too. But after one of my many late-night shopping (only window-shopping unfortunately)trips on ebay U.S l found a few interesting facts,theres countless companies selling LED's over there,but one guy gives you a big run-down on what other companies dont.
 He says that in a lot of cases you need an extra resistor to run them for your flashers,(to cope with the extra load or something) & he also says that you must run the same colour bulbs as the lens(red led for red lenses) because a red lens with a white LED bulb cancels the colour out. He sounds as if he knows what he's talking about so l dont know.
 The other thing l found was theres a few mobs over there selling LED bulbs that also have LED's  around the edge of the bulb like a barrel & l guess that is to help combat the problem mentioned earlier about them only  giving off light in a concentrated area(which l have heard critcism about before)
I'm certainly not an expert,but its amazing what you can find out if you dig a little,hope this helps.    Daz