Pictorial comparison - red vs clear taillight, bulbs vs LEDs

[Proulx06]

Was bored just now, so I decided to compare some taillight setups. I was amazed at the results. The pictures speak for themselves:







I was amazed at how little you could see the LEDs. I had these for sale on this board, and I'm glad nobody here bought them - you can hardly see them. I was going to make a two-bulb LED setup behind a clear lens, but I'm not even confident that would put out as much light as a conventional 1157. THe only thing the LED had going for it is that it was clear when the bike was off - the red bulb shows a litte. But an answer for that is the silver/red 1157 bulbs they sell...

[JeffL]

So the clear lens and LED bulbs look terrible and are completely non-visible, therefore making you a possible hood ornament for someone on your rear side. Sounds like a good reason to stick with a red lens and white bulb. :|

I mean sure, it may look pretty cool, but personally I'd rather not get rear ended because they bozo in the car behind me couldnt see my brake lights whatsoever.

[Proulx06]

Originally posted by JeffL
So the clear lens and LED bulbs look terrible and are completely non-visible, therefore making you a possible hood ornament for someone on your rear side. Sounds like a good reason to stick with a red lens and white bulb. :|

I mean sure, it may look pretty cool, but personally I'd rather not get rear ended because they bozo in the car behind me couldnt see my brake lights whatsoever.

I'm opting for the clear lens and red bulb - it is very close to the brightness of the red lens/white bulb. The clear lens and LEDs were downright horrendous. I'd never use those on anything.

[CitizenFrye]

Maybe this place can do something custom for you... I keep looking at this for my CBR.

http://www.customdynamics.com/Yamaha...LED_Taillight_

[Nikon]

Originally posted by CitizenFrye
Maybe this place can do something custom for you... I keep looking at this for my CBR.

http://www.customdynamics.com/Yamaha...LED_Taillight_

damn....that's expensive

[ZX-12R]

If you don't mind doing a small amount of work on your own, source your LEDs from here: www.lumileds.com . Look at the Luxeon LEDs, imparticular the 5 watt ones. They are pretty much the brightest LEDs available on the comercial market. They make for awesome tail lights and directionals.

Lumileds has also started making LED headlight bulbs for luxury cars.

[Proulx06]

I think I'm actually all set with LEDs. I'm happy with the amount of light the standard bulbs put forth, with either the red or clear lens. Not sure I see the point in LEDs, at least on my bike. They just don't work as well.

[Polonius]

I read a technical paper of which I can not recall what/where that idicated that the lens and the lamp should be the same color.

If you can find a red led, I would be interested in viewing the results.

[Proulx06]

Originally posted by Polonius
I read a technical paper of which I can not recall what/where that idicated that the lens and the lamp should be the same color.

If you can find a red led, I would be interested in viewing the results.

That is a red LED in the final example. I never did try the red LED behind the red lens though...

I'd be interested in reading that paper, since every taillight I've ever seen, be it car or bike, comes with clear bulbs behind it from the factory.

[ZX-12R]

Don't give up on the LEDs yet. LEDs are much more directional than normal bulbs. Your normal tail light has a reflector which redirects light from an omnidirectional source (normal light bulb) and fills the entire lens assembly resulting in a nice evenly filled tail light like in your second picture.

LEDs depending on the type and manufacturing process have a much narrower beam. Most manufactures of the LED replacement bulbs seem to not understand this concept and face the vast majority of their LEDs facing straight out the lens when in actuality you need just as much light to shine into the reflector. This results in the dim appearance that you can see in your last picture.

Clear alternatives does manufacture new reflectors for a lot of their LED setups. These are necessary to get the full performance of the LEDs. The other alternative is to use a matrix of LEDs that takes up the majority of the lens area. This will provide the lens saturation you are looking for without having to get a redesigned reflector. (Getting into the tail light assembly is another problem all together)

[Proulx06]

Originally posted by ZX-12R
Don't give up on the LEDs yet. LEDs are much more directional than normal bulbs. Your normal tail light has a reflector which redirects light from an omnidirectional source (normal light bulb) and fills the entire lens assembly resulting in a nice evenly filled tail light like in your second picture.

LEDs depending on the type and manufacturing process have a much narrower beam. Most manufactures of the LED replacement bulbs seem to not understand this concept and face the vast majority of their LEDs facing straight out the lens when in actuality you need just as much light to shine into the reflector. This results in the dim appearance that you can see in your last picture.

Clear alternatives does manufacture new reflectors for a lot of their LED setups. These are necessary to get the full performance of the LEDs. The other alternative is to use a matrix of LEDs that takes up the majority of the lens area. This will provide the lens saturation you are looking for without having to get a redesigned reflector. (Getting into the tail light assembly is another problem all together)

Cool info. I did a little research on this before I bought them and I thought I had the reflection thing down. But looking at it again, it only has six leds shining back into the silver reflector:

http://superlumination.com/matrix.htm

[SVRACER01]

thats why the bikes with LED tail lights (R6, SV etc) have like 20 of them

[Sirkbac]

Nice job, your pics do great for showing how useless LED replacement bulbs are....wish they would ban those things. Ever since being on a Ducati group ride and having those installed on the lead bike...I can't stand them. We were all nearly rear ending him because in normal daylight his lights were impossible to see. The normal bulbs in the other ducs made the tails very visable. All in the name of looking cool I guess.