LED Tail Light

[Guest Tenni#099]

I'm sure you know the experience of changing rear light light bulbs. I read in the dutch Moto Guzzi Club magazine a way to replace your tail light with LEDs. You just buy a generic third braking light for cars with about 25 to 30 LEDs. You cut the light in three pieces. One piece becomes the tail light, the other two the brake light. I had 28 LEDs, 8 are now the tail light, 20 are the brake light (against 5W for tail and 20W for brake with the bulb). I attach the foto to give an impression.

 

Gerco

[Guest Bruce in Texas]

Neat idea! I use the twin halogen bulbs from Kisan. You get a brighter taillight, and one that flashes sequentially. All you have to do is remove the original bulbs, and replace with theirs. You get two to plug-in and and two back ups for $90. So far I have 20,000 on them with no failures.

This is on my Triumph Trophy, I still have not yet made the move to the LeMans.

Since you have the Tenni and it is slightly different from the standard Lemans (engine wise) , how has it held up? Do you have many miles? Do you like the different clutch it has?

Bruce

[Guest Tenni#099]

Apart from the clutch there is nothing different with the engine. The clutch is very light, which is nice on longer trips. It has to be used with care as it bites. Putting the cluth lever closer to the clip-on has reduced the bite.

 

I did 4000km so far on the Tenni after 3200km on an ordinary Le Mans. I can't feel much difference. The clutch is the main point and there is somewhat more sound in the original exhaust.

 

Gerco

[Guest Squashed Nose]

You can get LED stop/tail light bulbs which are a direct replacement for the standard bayonet type bulbs.

 

They are fairly pricey (as far as bulbs are concerned) but allegedly last the life of a small planet.

 

Still, the way it's going, a normal bulb will last longer than my patience with this bike.

[al_roethlisberger]

Very interesting solution

 

But generally the problem with LED replacements is their poor off-axis visibility. When viewed directly from the rear, they are quite bright. But even just a tad off-axis, especially completely from the side or above, I've found that even the most run-of-the-mill incandescents are much brighter.

 

A couple years back, I replaced my tail-light on my FJ-1200 with an LED-cluster, but wasn't overly impressed with the result, again unless you squatted down to the level of the lens... then it was really quite bright.

 

One could argue that with a brake-light this was the primary concern, however the visibility issue wasn't just from the side, but also "looking down"... any "off axis". So in reality, unless an auto driver's eyes were approximately at the same level as your tail-light, I found that much of the benefit of the LED's brightness was lost. Keeping in mind that obviously the type and quality of tail-light lens can affect this as well.

 

Agreed regarding durability/longevity though.

 

But I'll have to chime-in and add my kudos to the Kisan solution. I've also got the halogen tail-light flasher, and man-o-man is it bright. I was concerned at first that it may be too hot, or that the durability of the halogen bulb may be an issue. But so far, so good... not a problem

 

In my personal opinion, I think that most of the LED products are a bit over-hyped and marketed.... without any real R&D going into the practical use. However the stock incandescents have generally done me well, and products like the Kisan are quite an improvement.

 

Unless you are having a problem keeping your incandescent from burning out due to vibration, or otherwise just think an LED replacement would fun and cool to tinker with .... I'd just stick with the inexpensive incandescent bulbs, and maybe keep a spare in the kit.

 

But like everything else YMMV

 

al

[Guest Tenni#099]

Thanks al and others for the tips. I will check the angle issue straight away.

 

Gerco

[Guest Ragin' Pit Bull]

I use the Clear Alternatives set up that I purchased from Fast By Ferracci on both my Le Mans and Monster. Both bikes use the same tail light (along with all Buells). It's a direct bolt on deal. The lens is clear and the LED's glow red. Seems quite a bit brighter and I like the look of the clear lens when the lights are off. I changed the turnsignals lenses on the Le Mans with ones from a Husqvarna Supermotard. They have a smoked, clear outer lens with an amber inner lens for a cool effect.

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