Short write-up on new 3W lamps from superbrightleds.com

[dehning]

I have used the Luxeon 3W lamps from Superbrightleds for the brake lights in my XX for some time now. They are absolutely dazzeling and leave no doubt in anybody's mind about when I'm slowing down BUT they are fairly pricey.

I have clear lenses for both front and back blinkers so I first tried the chromed out incandescent lamps but they let through so little light that they are almost dangerous, so I cheaped out a little and got some of the 68 LED SMD towers off ebay a while back. They look cool and work a little better than the chromed incandescents but are still not bright enough for my liking. I noticed recently that superbrightleds.com have a new kind of 3W lamp that's fairly cheap ~$13/lamp and has a 320 degree light diffuser so I ordered a set to try.

These are the old SMD towers and the new 3W lamps:

They may be 3W units, but they are not quite as bright as the Luxeon based lamps, but still significantly better than the 68 LED SMD towers.

I tried to get some photos of the two but of course the camera is trying to compensate:

Here are the fronts, the one on the left is the new type, the right is the old type:

The rear old type:

and new type:

they have a neat heat sync design so they even look cool when they are off:

All in all, I'd say that these are the best value for money LED lamps I have seen. (The luxeon 3W units are still slightly brighter though)

[FiXXation]

Thanks for posting this info.

Several years ago, I also replaced the dim chromed/amber bulbs, but with Osram Sylvania Amber Silverstar bulbs. They are considerably brighter than the chrome bulbs and give an interesting bluish look to the clear park/turn lenses. After thinking about how long they had been in, I recently looked for some backup bulbs, only to discover that Sylvania has discontinued them for some reason.

Because of the bulb orientation in both the front and rear housings, I was wondering if there was an LED replacement "bulb" that would actually work and give off a safe, usable amount of light.

[dehning]

Thanks for posting this info.

Several years ago, I also replaced the dim chromed/amber bulbs, but with Osram Sylvania Amber Silverstar bulbs. They are considerably brighter than the chrome bulbs and give an interesting bluish look to the clear park/turn lenses. After thinking about how long they had been in, I recently looked for some backup bulbs, only to discover that Sylvania has discontinued them for some reason.

Because of the bulb orientation in both the front and rear housings, I was wondering if there was an LED replacement "bulb" that would actually work and give off a safe, usable amount of light.

I tell you what, these new ultra-high intensity LEDs like the Luxeon lamps are crazy bright and more importantly (for braking anyway) they illuminate instantly where any incandescent lamp still takes about 200 miliseconds to get to full brightness. That's 22 feet at 75mph more warning for the guy behind you.

[TuffguyF4i]

Thanks for the write up.

I would do some quick testing to make sure the fronts aren't going to get super hot. They are on all the time and that might cook them.

3W of energy is alot to dissipate w/o any air flow.

I put about 16 Lumileds up front in each of my turn signals. I used red through an amber lens and people get out of my way at night on the highway.

[dehning]

Thanks for the write up.

I would do some quick testing to make sure the fronts aren't going to get super hot. They are on all the time and that might cook them.

3W of energy is alot to dissipate w/o any air flow.

I put about 16 Lumileds up front in each of my turn signals. I used red through an amber lens and people get out of my way at night on the highway.

I'll check. Have not had any problems with my brake lamps plus of course they are not running at full intensity unless you are actually turning.

[BobZ]

Were the ones for the front turn signals plug-n-play?

[redxxrdr]

A stupid question. What is the designation for the flat socket type bulb used in the later XX taillight? I seee the 1156/1157 types all the time, but have never found the numbers for the later style.

My madness to the method is to use one of the pulse generator boxes from this site to pulse the brake light circuit.

A buddy has this type system on his Beemer, and it is really annoying to be behind. Just the type of thing I want with a distracted cage behind me.

Also, has anyone used the socketed LED packs in the taillight. I had always heard that the LED types are more directional and might not show up as well as a regular light from some angles.

[dehning]

A stupid question. What is the designation for the flat socket type bulb used in the later XX taillight? I seee the 1156/1157 types all the time, but have never found the numbers for the later style.

My madness to the method is to use one of the pulse generator boxes from this site to pulse the brake light circuit.

A buddy has this type system on his Beemer, and it is really annoying to be behind. Just the type of thing I want with a distracted cage behind me.

Also, has anyone used the socketed LED packs in the taillight. I had always heard that the LED types are more directional and might not show up as well as a regular light from some angles.

I know there are ones available for the XX (& VFR) type sockets from superbrightleds.com.

I ended up actually getting twist type sockets for my XX from Autozone because I bought the wrong LED lamps originally.