BA7 LED warning light bulbs

These "type 281" stock bulbs are not very bright, 2 watt incandescent with a BA7s "midget" or subminiature base. Could not find the designed lumen rating, but whatever it is, I have trouble in the sunlight, seeing whether they are lit or not. So with a mind to improve the output, bought some LED's for my positive earth machine.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... ifications
After confirming my order, and then taking a look at the specs and reviews for what I just ordered, I see they are polarity sensitive, designed for negative ground.
But these bulbs are all mounted inside little plastic sleeves and have 2 terminals on each, which leads me to think I could maybe just swap the, uh, leads.
Will the world of my wiring harness come to an end if I reverse these wires at the bulb?

No, just swap the wires.

Mr. Rick said:

After confirming my order, and then taking a look at the specs and reviews for what I just ordered, I see they are polarity sensitive, designed for negative ground.
But these bulbs are all mounted inside little plastic sleeves and have 2 terminals on each, which leads me to think I could maybe just swap the, uh, leads.

Click to expand...

If you use a polarity sensitive LED for the blinker/indicator warning lamp then it will only work for one set of blinkers, either left or right, depending which way the bulb wires are connected.

I have the wedge base bulbs with a plastic holder and two wires. All I had to do was flip the wires and they worked fine. One thing I did notice is that bulb has 100 degree light angle, it might put a bright spot on the speedo. If that happens try to find one that has a 360 degree angle, it will spread the light around in a more even pattern.

L.A.B. said:

Mr. Rick said:

After confirming my order, and then taking a look at the specs and reviews for what I just ordered, I see they are polarity sensitive, designed for negative ground.
But these bulbs are all mounted inside little plastic sleeves and have 2 terminals on each, which leads me to think I could maybe just swap the, uh, leads.

Click to expand...

If you use a polarity sensitive LED for the blinker/indicator warning lamp then it will only work for one set of blinkers, either left or right, depending which way the bulb wires are connected.

Click to expand...

I got around this problem when I put a LED dash turn indicator warning lamp on my Enfield Bullet by using a small full wave rectifier to take the input signal from the wiring harness to the AC input of the regulator and then wired the LED to the output side of the regulator. I used Radio Shack part 276-1146 but any small one would do.

led-indicators-t14612-15.html#p176199

beljum said:

Click to expand...

L.A.B. said:

http://www.accessnorton.com/led-indicators-t14612-15.html#p176199

beljum said:

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I should have known it was covered before. I used the full wave rectifier because the local Radio Shack was closing and I got them for pennies on the dollar.

Thanks for the replies, you guys!
It blows up my conception of electrons traveling around in a circuit, to think I cd safely reverse the wires, but I'm happy to hear it anyway.
Let's now hope that the LED's are brighter than the 281. No lumen rating on the specs page.

I use these:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/181907812547?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
No need to switch wires!
Uli

yep, I just ordered some of them yesterday for my next project.

Thanks again, you guys.
I was specifically looking at the tiny warning light bulbs, 7mm bayonet base, single contact, BA7s, known in the manual as " Type 281 ". Using it for my shiny new titanium oil pressure sensor from Madass (Don Pender in Cebu City). Pulls about 0.2 watts, 1/10 of the stock item. 89 whole cents each, 5 different colors.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... ifications

L.A.B. refers to the blinkers, which are BA15s (15mm) and pull 21 watts in incandescent " Type 382 " in the book, aka 1156. From what I can see, these are avail in LED pulling about 3 watts, but the stock flasher unit will not sense enough current to make them work, although a different flasher is avail to make it happen.

rivera posts a link to a BA9s LED. Guess how big these are? These are the right size for the pilot lamp in the headlight and the instrument lights. The book calls them " Type 989 ", 6 watts. I put these exact ones (positive earth, 0.6 watts) in my clocks with good results, although it was not easy to mount them. Being so flat, it's hard to push and twist; I used a screwdriver in the "slot" between the led's. Here's the link to the website for them in English:
https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/collec ... 3039613063

cyclegeezer, I'm impressed. Just reading the words "full wave rectifier" makes me feel lazy for remaining ignorant all these years...

Anyway, I'm pleased to report success (can now see that the light is on, even in bright sunlight) after swapping the wires from the OP sensor. I found a free "light meter" app called (creatively) Light / Lux Meter by Patrick Guidicelli for my iphone. There are several of these apps; 3 of them gave up after one usage and quit measuring altogether. The phone has a primitive light sensor used for the camera in the phone, and this is what the apps are using, although strictly speaking, according to this discussion http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... pp-results , the apps are not really turning the phone into a lux meter.
Still, this app is measuring and reporting something, and a comparison in the dark garage showed about 3 times the output using the LED. You have to keep x-ing out the stupid video game that keeps popping up while you're busy with this app, but hey, it's free. Maybe the $1.99 version is better?
FWIW, the red LED I used is rated at about 12.6 lumens (5600 millicandelas at a 100 degree beam angle) and no, I didn't figure that out by myself: http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/mcd-to-lumens

Mr. Rick said:

L.A.B. refers to the blinkers, which are BA15s (15mm) and pull 21 watts in incandescent " Type 382 " in the book, aka 1156. From what I can see, these are avail in LED pulling about 3 watts, but the stock flasher unit will not sense enough current to make them work, although a different flasher is avail to make it happen.

Click to expand...

I didn't actually mention anything about changing the "blinker bulbs".