LED Brake Lights! (Pictures and Poll!)

Are LED's the best thing for these anemic charging systems!?


  • Total voters
    20
  • Poll closed .
Also, a good LED bulb will last longer than the life of most vehicles. Well, maybe not longer than my XS ;)

my car has gone 90,000 miles without having to change a bulb and I drive with lights on at all times.
 
My 2 cents if you want more power for your engine convert to a different type of charging system.Yes they are pricey but in the long will probably pay for themselves and eventualy are original charging systems are going to fail with age.Another alternative would be somehow convert the head light to an led because that's where most of the power drain comes from anyways.As for a safety stand point the reflective vest is one of the best alternatives out there.
 
Scorpio: you have some pretty wild suggestions here, straight up.

Replace the charging system, because LED's are too expensive?

Bright lights won't save you but a reflective vest will?

It seems like you want to be contrary to LED's for tail light, but finding a headlight in LED its perfectly sound idea, despite the exorbitant prices of LED headlights (and lack of street legal options so far)

You should read your input into this thread, and maybe justify your stance, because it all seems pretty silly to me at thus juncture.:shrug:

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Im not saying the replace the charging system cause the led`s are more expensive,reread my post.I said if you want reduce the strain on the electrical system so your engine has more power replace it with a better charging system.There have been guys here who have done it.not only to reduce the strain of the elctridcal system from our weak charging systems but so they can go batteryless also.They have a kit for the xs650 that can be intergraded onto the 400`s.If Im not mistaken you can use the charging system off certain year banshees also which are less expensive.Most of the power drain on our electrical system is the head light.Convert the head light to an led and you don't have that power drain.
Yes a imo a reflective vest stands out more than an led especialy at night.I have seen other motorcyclist wearing them for that reason.
 
The pair of stock tail light bulbs with brake lights lit up draw more current than the upgraded 55 watt headlight. The stock bulbs on the running/marker setting draw the same (55watts, or 27.5 Watts each):shrug:

:doh:

Fuck it, I'm going to go find a construction worker, beat the shit out of him, take his vest. Remove all of my clothes, shoes, socks, helmet, put on his vest. Then I'm going to break all my lights, replace my charging system with pma, go for a night ride and enjoy how safe I feel, and how much faster my bike is without my stupid LED trail light drawing all of my free (and non-power-sapping) PMA current. :bike: Thank God i completely destroyed those pesky led's which were making my bike run slow, and making my bike unsafe to ride due to it'd extreme (and excessive) brightness.:laugh:

Yeah, riding in just a construction vest its stupid. :laugh:

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Seriously dude you need to take some blood pressure pills better yet go puff on a blunt:laughing:I`ll tell you what Tombo I`ll compromise with you,I`ll spend $50 on a set of led tail light that I don't need and wear the reflective vest that way both of us can be happy.:thumbsup: have a nice day:thumbsup:
 
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@ Dave not sure where you got your figures from but I decided to look it for myself.
This is what I found
http://www.examiner.com/article/deadly-motorcycle-accident-statistics
Deadly Motorcycle Crash Statistics
During 2007, 50% of all fatal motorcycle crashes involved collisions with another type of motor vehicle in transport. Of these two-vehicle crashes, 78% of motorcycles involved were struck from the front. Only 5% were struck from the rear.
 
Scorpio, maybe I have it backwards, or maybe the stats I read were 7 years newer. Either way, I don't care. I'm confident that brighter lights are better than dim ones.

Tombo, I'd suggest avoiding the orange vests that construction workers wear. Everybody knows that construction workers move as fast as a road pylon. :) I'd suggest a hi-vis yellow vest, because yellow is a fast colour!
 
I prefer a brighter light. I also like that the bulbs will last longer than a stock one. I never had any issues with dimming lights because of the charging system so I can't say I changed them for that reason.:shrug:
 
MY last input on this thread IF my figures are correct could be that 7 years ago hardly anyone used leds,maybe now that they are more popular the figures may have changed somewhat but It still shows what I have been saying all along most crashes occur from front impacts of some kind and its also been my experience riding from close calls all of them could have ended up in front end collisions.As for the vest they are chartruse with orange reflective tape or other material.Either way they are highly visible and probably save a lot of riders lives unless you have too much pride to wear them cause somebody thinks they look stupid.One other thing my bike is over 30 somethings years old and still using the original light bulb/s in the rear.So led longevity over a standard bulb meens nothing except they are brighter.This is my opinion that's what this thread was about with a poll for people to vote on. not to cause arguments among members just because you disagree with me or anyone else!For crying out loud if you got get pissed over a stupid debate go get help with your anger issues.:wtf:
 
Lets take a good look at those (US) stats from 2007 that were referenced: 50% of FATAL crashes involved other vehicles. Of those 50% FATAL accidents involving another vehicle, 78% were head-on. That works out to 39% of all FATAL accidents (if my math is correct) were head-on accidents. What about all the other accidents where the rider WASN'T killed? How many accidents were motorcycles being hit from behind? Can't say from those stats. They only tell us that we "might" get killed if we are involved in a head-on crash with another vehicle. Based on those stats, we should all have super bright head lights (which I have), wear airbag vests and ride on deserted roads. Statistics is all about manipulating data to get the result you want, regardless of the whole truth.

LED bulbs offer greater reliability compared to incandescent bulbs due to the fact that they have many LED's for each bulb as compared to 1 or 2 filaments. So if an individual LED fails, it isn't a big deal, the light just isn't as bright. If a filament fails, the light is out. That "fail-safe" characteristic has to be a valid safety concern. The reduced power consumption is an added bonus on our bikes, especially if ridden in stop-and-go traffic.

I have a vest that I wear in poor weather conditions. It is black mesh with hi-vis yellow and silver reflective stripes. I've been told that it is very visible day or night and does not appear to be similar to traffic pylons or construction workers, both of which are typically stationary.
 
Brighter, lower power consumption, more reliable? Where is the argument here? Obviously, anything that increases visibility is a good thing. Spend your money how you want, but you can't say that LED taillights aren't pretty damn nifty!
 
Maybe bikes like these is what we need:laugh:
 

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:lol: Chris! Those bikes are trick. Especially the one on the left, which is called a "tricycle" in the Philippines. This example is very elaborate, but they are, along with the jeepney, the staple transit for people on the islands.

Also for Chris: you say no dimming, but does your headlight brighten when you rev up? My headlight no longer dims when I use brake or turn signals after changing my brake light to led, but he headlight still brightens when I rev up from idle. Do you have the h4 55w bulb?
 
I have the stock Stanley 40/30w bulb in both my bikes. The brightness don't really change much when I rev it. On my stock 79 at idle when I hit the brake light it will dim a little but not much to say so. :shrug:
 

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Don't ride much at night? The first modification I did to my bike was to replace the headlight with an H4 unit. And shortly after, install an HID conversion for even more light and less power consumption...
 
Not much, but if I do I don't have much issues with seeing. I prefer to ride during the daylight there are a lot of dear where I live. They don't care how much light is going down the road before they jump out of a field or woods :wink2:
 
Chris - aren't you the little snowflake, sticking with stock bulb! :laugh:

I would assume you don't get the dimming because your headlight isn't drawing more than it should.

Dave - how involved was your hid modification, and what did it cost? I know there is a thread you talk about it. But there was no explicit instructions or prices I could find.
 
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