I probably should have posted this in General,but I feel better here. Anyone have any experince with LED replacment bulbs? Not the $300 HD replacment tail light. I saw a 1157 replacment for $9.00. My brother is a trucker. He relaced all his for lower amp draw and are brighter. Thanks for any thoughts.

 

Strictly speaking, I don't think they are legal. But practically speaking, they are are brighter, more durable and draw less power. When I had my 57 panhead I replaced all the bulbs with LEDs because the filament bulbs kept burning out due to vibration and with only a 10 amp generator I wanted to conserve power.

 

I have experimented with this. I have LED replacements for my tour pack bulbs (the ones on the side) and the fender tips and I'm happy with them. I have not found a suitable replacement for an 1156/1157. The single element bulb turn signals you can leave as incandescent, as they are only on when blinking. The double ones (brake and front turn/running 1157), I want a LED for as that's a constant current draw. I had to chase every miliamp to change the Sportster to EFI. I tried several of the bulbs out there, and the best was an expensive small high power bulb from superbrightleds.com. It was really bright, BUT it didn't fit in the HD brake light housing as the heat sink interfered, so back it went.

My next experiment is: I bought 2 18 wheeler trailer LED brake lights. The big 4" round ones. I got them at a truck stop for $20 ea, cheaper than the drop in bulbs, really. These are very bright if you look at the trailers out on the interstate. My plan is to buy a replacement tail light lens and cut one of these up to fit inside, then glue it in place. I'll cut up a light bulb and solder some wires to the inside to make a plug for the OEM socket, add a white LED and in series resistor from crap shack for the license plate light, fill the bulb remains with epoxy and run wires to the truck LED assembly glued inside the lens. Anyway, that's my current plan.

 

I tried some of the 1157 replacement bilbs from E BAY and did not like them . they have like 10 or so LEDS on each bulb. they were bright enough but there was not enough difference between the tail and brake lights so I changed back , I like the idea if any body comes up with any good bulbs

 

Some time ago, I came upon a website that had LED's for anything,
it was mostly for big rigs, not bikes, anyway, lots of lights to choose from.
Kurakyn has a new 7" head light, and custom dynamics has a new light for the 3" driving lamps,
I am thinking of putting those in my UC.

 

Thanks everybody. I think I will just stay the 1157 for now. I am really not worried about amp draw, just wanted brighter brake/tail light.

 

I bought a "Cool Spot" 1157 LED for $29.95 and it was not near as bright as the
old 1157 so I took it back for a refund.
Radiantz Lighting has a 130 LED for Harleys that is "very" bright but they cost
around $125.00