[benggolf]

A member of our local club showed me his stop light bulb. It appears to be a cluster of red LED bulbs on top of a regular socket that fits right into the MINI tailight assembly.

Is anyone aware of this type of bulb being recently introduced into the market? Any comments or details, please.

[JonBlakeburn]

These have been discussed before, although at the moment I can't find the thread! Try searching for "LED+Lights" or something similar.



In the UK they're available from www.speeding.co.uk. Not sure about USA though.

[BruceK]

Quote:

Originally posted by benggolf
..Is anyone aware of this type of bulb being recently introduced into the market? Any comments or details, please.

In my opinion the LED taillights/turn signal bulbs (as shown earlier in this thread) are pure junk and they are dangerous to use in automotive applications.

Several months ago I fell in love with the idea of using these LED lights in my MINI for all the cool technical reasons (instant on/long life), but upon doing some research I learned they have two HUGE drawbacks for automotive applications:

1. Unlike a conventional light bulb, LED bulbs only project light in a very, very narrow beam, much like a flashlight (torch). If you are not directly in the path of the beam, you really can't see the light at full brightness.

2. The LED's narrow beam is made even worse by the fact that light housings on cars (e.g. taillights) are designed to have an incandescent bulb (globe) sit in the middle of a parabolic reflector. The regular incandescent bulb generates light in very wide pattern that is focused by the parabolic reflector creating a series of parallel light rays to FILL the entire tail lamp housing, shining light out through the lens. However, LED bulbs simply provide a small pinpoint beam of light in the middle of an otherwise dark and unlit large taillight lens, so there is a lot less light to observe, which unquestionably hurts safety.

There are some high priced ($50 each) LED bulbs on the market that put an additional string of small LEDs around the radius of the bulb in an attempt to provide light to part of the traditional parabolic reflector, but even these are very much inferior to a conventional incandesent bulb.
Have a look at this unbiased evaluation of these 'improved' LED taillights:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcyc...-articles/led/

Please don’t confuse these bulbs with factory LED systems. Some auto manufacturers have new models with LED taillights, but these cars are engineered to take advantage of LED technology by using a large array of LEDs sitting directly behind a lens -- as opposed to the truely half-baked idea of trying to fit a bunch of LEDs jumbled together in pseudo bulb shape and then dropping them into a parabolic reflector housing specifically designed for incandescent bulbs.

Examples of car with factory LED taillights include the new BMW 7-series, some Cadillac and Nissan models (and no doubt others) - - all of which use LED taillights in large, flat arrays of many LEDs grouped tightly together (as it is commonly done for the 3rd brake light applications - e.g. the MINI ).

(Many large trucks also have LED brake/taillight systems, but again these are designed and engineered for safety, not just cobbled together like LED 'bulbs')

[dietcokeplease]

In the UK, the led bulbs are not "E marked" and are therefore for show use only.

benggolf: you must be talking about VanCooper (Guillaume). We both got the same LED bulbs although mine are slightly different than his. He has the older 1157 dual filament bulbs which offers directional LED visibility which is what Bruce is probably concerned about. I picked up the newer generation wide angle LED bulbs in both 1157 and 1156. I replaced my stock bulbs with the 1157 dual filament types and put the 1156's in the upper portion using them as extra brake lights. Since the MINI onboard computer does not tell you if the bulbs are out, it was possible for me to use these 4 LED bulbs without the use of the load equaliser. I tried an amber 1156 bulb wide angle in the turn signals and they started blinking rapidly. I'd need to put the load equaliser in there to fix that. I just haven't gotten around to doing that yet.

With the wide angle LED bulbs, you're able to see these bulbs from the sides. They were about $9 bucks each from myroadster.net. A great price!

[EBMCS03]

Yup picking up a set for myself soon...

[monsta]

Quote: Originally Posted by atomic80

benggolf: you must be talking about VanCooper (Guillaume). We both got the same LED bulbs although mine are slightly different than his. He has the older 1157 dual filament bulbs which offers directional LED visibility which is what Bruce is probably concerned about. I picked up the newer generation wide angle LED bulbs in both 1157 and 1156. I replaced my stock bulbs with the 1157 dual filament types and put the 1156's in the upper portion using them as extra brake lights. Since the MINI onboard computer does not tell you if the bulbs are out, it was possible for me to use these 4 LED bulbs without the use of the load equaliser. I tried an amber 1156 bulb wide angle in the turn signals and they started blinking rapidly. I'd need to put the load equaliser in there to fix that. I just haven't gotten around to doing that yet.

With the wide angle LED bulbs, you're able to see these bulbs from the sides. They were about $9 bucks each from myroadster.net. A great price!

Anyone know if these new wide angle LED bulbs are legal in the UK?

[Red Dwarf]

I don't think they are. I've not seen any info on the web site's I've looked at saying they are E marked.

[EBMCS03]

What does E mark mean?

[Red Dwarf]

It's a European standard meaning that an item has passed certain tests and meets certain standards. If it doesn't then you may get into trouble with the law if they stopped you and found an offending item. Usually, items not E marked are sold as "for show use only"

[EBMCS03]

Oh... but would they really know the difference just by looking at the lit up brake light? They would have to make you take out the brake light and SHOW them that its not E legal...

wonder if theses are DOT legal... i guess thats the same as E in the US.

[klint]

Yeah, DOT and E are pretty similar...Those LEDs look great!

[marrsbar]

The LED units on the 7-series look seriously good. the way the indicator (repeater) flashes on and off rather than 'fading' on and off looks really slick and i find it more noticable.

[Red Dwarf]

Quote: Originally Posted by EBMCS03

Oh... but would they really know the difference just by looking at the lit up brake light? They would have to make you take out the brake light and SHOW them that its not E legal...

wonder if theses are DOT legal... i guess thats the same as E in the US.

I suppose if I'm going to get all retentive about this, then the brake lights have not been designed for LED bulbs. You might cause other problems by having them, like not having as good visibility of them from an accute angle. I know we are talking about having them as a safety feature, but there must be a good reason why they haven't been approved.

[EBMCS03]

Quote: Originally Posted by Red Dwarf

You might cause other problems by having them, like not having as good visibility of them from an accute angle. I know we are talking about having them as a safety feature, but there must be a good reason why they haven't been approved.

Thats what I'm afraid of... thats why I'm asking to see everyones opinions before getting them. I hope thats not the case cuz these are suppose to be the wider angle LEDs and wouldnt the back cover lens help distrubite the light in other driections also since the bulb is stuck all the way into the middle of the lens cover.

I've been running LED bulbs for a while now with no issues whatsoever so to speak. I'm very happy with this "mod" which IMHO is one of the biggest bang for the buck.

[EBMCS03]

Thats good... I trust ya J... if not i'll throw them at you... hehe

Where's Dell and my dang REBATE?! I waiting for that to come in then imma order them... meanwhile i'll read more here...