Less Current And Super Bright

Hello All,

I have been reading through many post on this forum and found that norbsa48503 has been preaching praises of LED Taillights.

Norbsa48503 is actually one of my users of my LED Taillights. He has been speaking the importance of the lightened current draw on the electrical systems of these bikes.

Here's some actual data that has been gathered by independent sources on my website at [Broken Link Removed] .

These LED Taillights are bright and draw less current.

Thank you Norbsa48503 for the spreading the word.

Hi Bruce,

Looked at your website then also checked spec on 1157 and the brighter alternate 2357 incandesent bulbs. See attached URL for reference

[Broken Link Removed]

1157 has 3 CP running/32 CP brake
2357 has 3 CP running/40 CP brake
1157 halogen has 25 CP running

564LED has 8 CP running/27 CP brake

The 2357 buld costs $0.97 each.
679 LED cost is $59.95 kit or $79.95 turnkey.

Is this a fair comparison?

Halogen 1157 & 2357 Taillight Bulb

Illf8ed,

Thank you for this information.

I reviewed the comparsion tables of all three of these bulbs tested.

The standard 1157 bulb draws 26.8 Watts (2.1A).
The halgon 1157 bulbs draws 49.9 Watts (3.9A).
The 2357 bulb draws 28.1 Watts (2.2A).
While my LED Boards draw only 9.6 Watts (.75A) Typ. (Brakelight & Run Light)

The numbers do not lie and speak for themselves.

LEDs are rated at 100,000 hours (12 years) of continuious operation. While any of these bulbs stated above are rated for only a few 100 hours at best. Something else to consider. :wink:

Alan Goldwater of the International Norton Owners Association based in Northern California, had the pleasure of test one of my units a few years ago.

Here's what he had to say about them:

The visibility angle is excellent, limited only by the stock lens, and brightness is very close to that of the stock bulb. Current consumption is reduced to 0.13 amps for the tail light and 0.68 amps for the stop light. Overall this is an excellent design, combining efficiency and reliability in a nice package.

Alan Goldwater, INOA Norton News.

This was taken from my testimony page at [Broken Link Removed] .

It is up to each person to choose to accept this concept or leave it. I am simply putting this out into the universe for all to see and to know.

Thank You,

There's two other aspects to consider -- vibration and response time.

Bulbs will rarely meet their rated life in the operating environment of a Norton tailight housing, while the LED replacements are virtually impervious to vibration. And your bulb is always going to fail during the ride.

The other is response time -- an incandescent bulb ramps up to its rated output, while an LED instantly produces full output. This instant response gives the driver behind you a split second more to react, and is also more likely to get their attention.

Considering that I'm certainly going to come out the loser when the distracted sedan driver on their cell phone rear ends me, anything that can improve my odds is a worthy consideration. I invested in a stoplamp that will brightly and instantly light each and every time I squeeze the brake lever.

I am also a user

Lurker828,

I say a big "Amen" to that.

I personally use a different style of LED Boards in both of my bikes. I feel more confident knowing that they will work everytime I apply the brakes. Also as an added bonus, I designed a taillight pulsator which pulses the brake light for more added attention getting. :shock:

Thank you for your reenforcement on the advantages of LEDs. 8)

Thank You,

Been in the Schweiz (CH) for a week and I can see this subject got hot for a while....illf8ted has a concrete point about price...but I go with the LED conversion and no questions about it.
I have found mine is bright as heck in my original lens and what I really like is that now I can actually drive after dark. Cool...this after dark thing. The draw on the rear light has now been reduced to such a point that I can see whats a few feet in front of me. It's just plain brighter. Before.....it was so Lucas, that I got known in our circle of friends, as the guy who had to always head on home before the fall of darkness because his headlight worked so lousy. People used to complain when I brought the bike to a party somewhere. Not because of the bike...but because they knew I wouldn't be there long...:lol: (Yes...some of them DO like me )
Admittedly....it was never as bad as the Vespa...with that 6 volt, yellow headlighted thing, a cow at thirty feet, wouldn't even have the time to moo before you hit it. The Norton wasn't that bad....but bad enough.
Another point, I immediatley noticed upon installation, was that the headlight no longer went almost out, when I used the brake. The brake light was drawing so much current that the headlight couldn't even stay properly lit. A rolling strobe lamp. Now...I can use the brakes all I want...and NO change in the headlight. Nothin worse than comin into some corner, hitting the brakes and having it go dark in front of you. Tends to put the fear of god into you. Now...the headlight is still Lucas, but better than it used to be.....useable. Aside, from this...I feel safer. A couple of us in the forum got rear-ended within the last year and I think this LED conversion has reduced the chances of me being the next.

So.....this has made me feel safer and improved my social life, what more could you want?...and all for the cost of filling the tank ONE time...here in the fatherland.. :wink:

This said.....what is there to discuss about it?

And, even to me, who did his best to make sure I didn't reach the ripe old age of thirty...my butt, has become, over the years, worth more to me than 59 bucks.
Then again......don't ask the wife, she might see it differently :wink:

Why To Choose LEDs!

Hello All,

I posted an article on my website about why LEDs are the best choice for Brit Bikes. Some of you already brought up some of these points within the discussions of this forum.

Here's the link to my web-page for anyone interested in knowing more, [Broken Link Removed] .

Thank You,

small side note

Taillight went out on suzuki, so I tried the Wally world 1157 LED since it was laying around. This had appeared to be a white light in the package.Turned out to be red & very dim. Picked up a standard Sylvania
1157 which worked to get back on the road.
schiz

bruce,
i found your page a long time ago and have been waiting till this winter to order a set. any chance youd be interested in coming up with a new plastic cover for the leds, that direct the light a littel better??

When I was at Norton-Villiers, we reckoned that a headlight bulb on the 750 Atlas lasted about 5000 miles. It didn't matter whether you switched it on or not - it was the engine vibration that caused the filament to fall off the posts.

On the Commando, we increased that to at least 30K and the amount of time the light was switched on did have some influence on bulb life.

The recent developments in high-intensity LEDs are mind boggling. I work for a local bus company and everything on our buses, except headlights, are LED clusters. They live for tens of years, and even if a few of the individual elements die, there's still a lot of light output. I think the "instant full bright" charactreristic is useful for its shock value, particularly on brake lights.

Seems to me that a bike which dims it's headlight when the brake light is applied to the point that the headlight is ineffective has more serious problems that a low amp drain for the brake/tail light is only covering up. Fit a three phase alternator and a better battery (or dump the battery entirely). Use 10 or 12 guage wire for the battery leads and see if the problem is rectified.