Fonzie Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Got a flukey situation that doesn't make any sense to me........ Anyone else had a problem with the chrome bulbs fitting sloppy in the turn signal socket?? My stock ones fit fine, the replacement amber ones fit fine (other than they sent me 1156 single filament rather than the 1157 dual filament), but the chrome ones are sloppy in just my right socket (left one seems to fit fine)??? This is causing it to flash fast, or go out completely. I would think it's the socket, except the other 2 sets fit fine. But then again.....both chrome bulbs seemed to fit fine in the left socket, which would indicate it's the socket, and not the bulb??? :icon_think: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beondwacko Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Russ, It sounds like you have a crappy lamp there. Here's a little trick(s) you can try. First off, make SURE that you are installing the lamp in the correct orientation. I have seen 1157 sockets that are a little "loose" and that allow the lamp to be installed 180 degrees out of correct position. When that happens the running light filiment is the bigger one running much brighter than the other lamp. I have also streched the spring that is behind the contact board to put more pressure on the base contacts. Just a couple ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted June 10, 2007 Author Share Posted June 10, 2007 It'll only let me turn it to "lock" it one way, not the other.......so I know it's in correctly. And see, that's the flukey thing Adam, 'cause if the socket was the problem, why would the stock & amber bulbs fit snugly?? Yet I don't understand why both chrome bulbs seem to fit OK in the left socket if it were the bulb?? Weird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiXXation Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 I had the same difficulties when first installing the chrome 1157's. I have also had the right one go out, and be back on when I got home. I have messed with it an not been able to duplicate the problem in the garage. Since installing the HID's, I really think the chrome bulbs are way too dim now anyway. I am considering going to an LED tower bulb, but I don't know whether they will actually be any brighter in the odd angle in the Bird's reflector. LED Tower Bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beondwacko Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 I got it Russ. You are fitting a standard bulb into a Metric bike. Yeah ,,, that's it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CxBXR Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 I had the same difficulties when first installing the chrome 1157's. I have also had the right one go out, and be back on when I got home. I have messed with it an not been able to duplicate the problem in the garage. Since installing the HID's, I really think the chrome bulbs are way too dim now anyway. I am considering going to an LED tower bulb, but I don't know whether they will actually be any brighter in the odd angle in the Bird's reflector. LED Tower Bulbs. If you do decide to buy LED replacement's bulb's you will also have to buy a new LED flasher relay. so take that into consideration as-well.(if not they will flash too fast) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted June 11, 2007 Author Share Posted June 11, 2007 I had the same difficulties when first installing the chrome 1157's. I have also had the right one go out, and be back on when I got home. I have messed with it an not been able to duplicate the problem in the garage. It's funny you say that........I thought we had it figured out. I took Adam's suggestion & gapped the springs/contacts on the bottom & sides a bit more, put the bulb back in last night......and PRESTO!! She was working fine again.....no matter how much I moved it around/jiggled it. Took for a spin today ('bout 75 miles) and she's still working fine.......until she's not....WTF?!? Got about 20 miles, signals were working fine, then all the sudden, next time I go to change lanes, they start givin' me the 'ol fast blink. Then a little later, they start working OK again, then a bit later they start acting up again, etc, etc, etc I'm thinkin' at this point it's GOT to be those bulbs. NEVER had this problem with the stockers, and they never had the advantage of the contacts being pryed out farther. I'm confuzzled I picked up some chrome/iridium/rainbow lookin' Silver Star 1157's last night, 'cause the amber bulbs they sent me with the 2nd set of lenses are 1156's single filament, so those won't work either, and I'm tired of dicking around with it. Guess we'll see if the SS's fit any better. I've been trying to get ahold of Clear Alternatives for a week now, and all I ever get since the last time I spoke with them several weeks ago when they sent me 2 of the same side, is a busy signal, or an operator message. I got VM once, & that was during business hours, so not exactly sure what's goin' on. Inserted a note in the box when I sent their first set of lenses back asking them to call me. Hopefully I hear back from them or can find an email addy on their website EDIT: Found their website & direct #. Guess their 800#'s been on the fritz since last week and's supposed to get fixed today. They're sending out correct ambers & new set of chromes to try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airborneXX Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Here's my problem with the chrome bulbs. While running the 4 way flashers for an extended time (bike a thon escort) they melted my clear lenses. Clear Alternatives sent me new lenses, which was very cool as I had these well over a year and had no reciept. When I put the new ones in I experimented with an amber bulb in one and the chrome in the other. I turned on the 4 ways and the lens with the amber bulb got quite warm, and the chrome one was cool, but wait here's the interesting finding... I turned them off and immediatly pulled each bulb and touched the bulbs. The amber bulb was warm, the chrome one burned my fingers Since then I only run the amber bulbs, and my lenses have been fine. Also the amber bulbs are much brighter than the chrome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiXXation Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 I've already gone back to the amber bulbs with the clear lenses on my VTX because a friend I ride with said he couldn't always see my chrome turn signals when I was in front. But, for the Bird's clear front lenses, I'd rather not put an amber bulb in just for the looks. I've also thought about the Sylvania Silver Stars 1157 and 1156 bulbs, but when I looked on the Osram Sylvania web site a couple of months ago, the rated life of those bulbs was shown at about 350 hours. I just looked again today, and it now shows a more reasonable 1200 hours. Has anyone compared the heat output of the Silver Stars to the OEM amber bulbs? They are rated at 24 MSCD as compared to their standard long life 1157 which is rated at 32 MSCD (Mean Spherical Candela = Lumens/12.57), but both burn the same 2.1 amps. I would assume this might mean the bulb surface is absorbing some 25% of the element's energy, not letting it out as amber light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted June 12, 2007 Author Share Posted June 12, 2007 Not sure about the rest of what you said.......but the "Long Life" ones are the ones I picked up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiXXation Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 I was referencing information on the Osram Sylvania Automotive Catalog web page under the High Performance Lighting hot link: Osram Sylvania Automotive Catalog which appears to say that their standard (non-Silver Star) Long Life 1157 bulb puts out more candlepower than their Silver Star 1157A ST bulb. This appears to agree with airborneXX's observation of the Clear Alternative Lense getting warmer with a standard amber bulb (the bulb radiates stronger amber light, letting the lense get warmer and retaining less heat on the bulb) as opposed to the Chrome Bulb situation where the weaker amber light allows the Clear Alternative Lense to run cooler, while the bulb itself gets hotter (due to retaining more of the heat energy on the bulb itself). I wondered if any Sylvania Silver Star users (if there are any) had noted the amount of heat built up on the bulb as compared to the Chrome bulbs, since I couldn't find any similar information on them. If you actually go to the referenced web page and look at the tables that are generated under the Silver Star Signal Lighting and Long Life Miniature Lamps links, you will see that they generate the information tables in a way that makes it difficult to transfer the information to try to make this any clearer than mud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted June 13, 2007 Author Share Posted June 13, 2007 I picked up some chrome/iridium/rainbow lookin' Silver Star 1157's last night, 'cause the amber bulbs they sent me with the 2nd set of lenses are 1156's single filament, so those won't work either, and I'm tired of dicking around with it. Guess we'll see if the SS's fit any better. I've been trying to get ahold of Clear Alternatives for a week now, and all I ever get since the last time I spoke with them several weeks ago when they sent me 2 of the same side, is a busy signal, or an operator message. I got VM once, & that was during business hours, so not exactly sure what's goin' on. Inserted a note in the box when I sent their first set of lenses back asking them to call me. Hopefully I hear back from them or can find an email addy on their website EDIT: Found their website & direct #. Guess their 800#'s been on the fritz since last week and's supposed to get fixed today. They're sending out correct ambers & new set of chromes to try UPDATE: I had called Nikko @ Clear Alternatives on the direct line, right after I posted the above. Just got a box delivered this morning with 2 new sets each of chrome & amber!! :icon_thumbsup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John01XX Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 I should have jumped in earlier but must have missed this post. Clear Alternatives: 1-866-CLR-LENS toll free Operations Manager: Matt (Good Friend of mine) Matt will do whatever it takes to make one of my customers happy ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted June 13, 2007 Author Share Posted June 13, 2007 I should have jumped in earlier but must have missed this post. Clear Alternatives: 1-866-CLR-LENS toll free Operations Manager: Matt (Good Friend of mine) Matt will do whatever it takes to make one of my customers happy ! Their 800 #'s been down since last week John....hence part of the problem. Nikko said it was getting fixed yesterday (hopefully) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiXXation Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 I went ahead and swapped the chrome bulbs for the Sylvania Silver Stars 1157A ST and 1156A ST's. My take on them is that they are brighter because they give off light directly from the filaments rather than reflecting all the light down away from the crown of the globe as in the chrome bulbs. The blueish tint that shows around the base looks a little strange, but kind of compliments the HID's. I had to figit the left-hand bulb socket back into the Clear Alternatives reflector in order to orient the filament in the same vertical orientation as the right-hand bulb. Since the filament clearly shows through the Silver Star's coating, this seemed more important than it was with the chrome bulbs. For some reason, Clear Alternatives oriented the left bulb socket notches differently from the original Honda amber lense reflectors, and also oriented them differently from the left to the right side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonzie Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 Alright.......One year later Signals have been completely dead lately, though the running lights are fine, just go dark when you initiate the button. Rode down to Alan's today & after a few electrical tests, he figured out what my problem was......the turn signal relay was bad. Thanx Alan........You 'da man!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwimack Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 I got rid of the old bulbs and went to LED's I first tried the white LED's with the amber lens, then decided to get thee clear alternatives and went with the amber LED's in clear alternative lens. I never liked the running light so I disconnected that and wired the running light in with the indicater so the whole bulb lights up when I indicate. I think they are brighter than stock, i installed a plug and play relay and solved the flash rate problem. great things these LED's no heat no replacement problems. this is similar to the bulb I got LED Bulb type and if this is not the same unit I got it's a twin for it. Flasher relay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiXXation Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Almost exactly a year later, the Sylvania Silver Star turn/run bulbs are still working fine, with no more fiddling necessary. The LED alternative is good to know, though. It looks like the prices have dropped quite a bit in the last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CxBXR Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Yes I also incountered a fitment issue, but once I got them installed no problems after that. They are dimmer than the stockers, but sense they match the silver XX so well, I will keep them. I also pondered the idea of the LED tower bulb's but have not pulled the trigger yet, they should be alot easier on the battery They draw way less wattage than filament :icon_think: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFT Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 I installed the sylvania clear bulbs with the clear alternative lenses in the front signals. There is just a tint of yellow to them and they are seriously bright. I've been running them on my bike for about 2 years and no problems with the police. I also installed them on Jackie's bike when I replaced the lenses. Like I said, they are very bright so you can definitely be seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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