tonk Posted December 28, 2010 Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 Has anyone replaced their standard filament stop/tail bulbs with LED jobbies? I used to have one that was a straight replacement, including resistors and everything but corrosion killed it after 6 years and the supplier, in Canada, folded. It was model specific and a dream to fit, I noticed how cars would keep their distance more in heavier traffic in bad weather. It is a weak point on my bike, esp seeing how I commute all year - I'd like something a bit brighter. I've found one that fits in the bulb-holder but it shows a 'fail' bulb warning on the dash and the can-bus wiring shuts it down. I cannot figure out the wiring - it obviously needs resistors but I don't know where to put them or what size I need. There are 3 wires feeding the bulb-holder, one positive and two others which presumably switch the tail to brake and back again. I Suppose the fail-safe option would be to put an inline resistor on every wire, but if I was clever I could put one on the positive and bridge one between the other two wires. But space behind the light is limited and the available wires are a bit short to allow too much cutting and splicing if I get it wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo S2 Posted December 28, 2010 Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 I need something like this, as the bike appears to vibrate normal bulbs to death... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorenzo Posted December 28, 2010 Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 Usually you'd find with a combined stop/tail bulb the pins are off-set so your polarity is always correct, otherwise you'd have the bright bulb for the tail and the normal for the brake is you had it 180 deg out. Obviously, this doesn't help solve the problem but it probably rules something out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonk Posted December 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 It's not a polarity problem, the pins are offset. It's because the filament bulb is, for example, 35 watts and the LED replacement is only 4 watts. This makes the ECU think that the bulb has blown. The fuseless can-bus system then shuts down power to the bulb completely until the fault is rectified. It also gives me a flashing yellow triangle on the dash with the word LAMP-R FAIL! I know I need resistors to simulate the full wattage bulb being there but I don't know how to wire them in or what size to use. I don't know what the actual wattages are, will try to find out...I know the LED is negligible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonk Posted December 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 Nothing to see here... Eh?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonk Posted December 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 OK, done some digging, the standard stop-tail light is 21w 5w. The LED is 5 watts max on braking, don't know what it is just 'on'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonk Posted December 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 Should be easy to guestimate by looking at how many LED's are lit when "on" vs. "braking". What if they just get brighter/dimmer, like wot they did on my last one? My brain hurts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bignige Posted December 28, 2010 Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 i know this thread is about LED but i use a "heavy duty" tail light from Halfords. plus an elastic band wrapped round the the bulb holder to add a bit of rubber mounting. + i check my rear light before every ride. oh, LED u say... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srad34 Posted December 28, 2010 Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 I have one for the tech's out there, I have fitted LED stop tail bulbs to my 2001 R1 (5JJ) and when the lights are off and you pull the brake level, the dash lights come on (as if the lights are on)????? Any ideas?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2moto Posted December 28, 2010 Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 If you have a taillight cluster with 3 CanBus wires going into it, then any resistor you add needs to go into the cluster itself, i.e. you'll need to open the cluster and try to add the resistor right where the bulb screws in. The three wires are power, ground, and communication. Just adding a resistor to the power and ground wires won't work as it is before the CanBus receiver, i.e. the CanBus receiver will still only measure the LED current and still report the same fault. Your previous LED bulb with the resistor inside is really the best (and correct) solution. I'd do a lot of googling for another similar product before tearing into the cluster. Also the resistor will need to sufficiently big in order to not get too hot. If you do add your own resistor, make sure you chose one rated at least twice the actual power dissipation of the resistor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2moto Posted December 28, 2010 Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 This might do the job: 5W LED bulb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted December 28, 2010 Report Share Posted December 28, 2010 This might do the job: 5W LED bulb You'd need one marked as a 1157 bulb replacement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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