Gosling, Richard <r.gosling@penspen.com> writes:
> I like the idea of these LED bulbs - anyone know where I can buy some
> in the UK?
As I mentioned, I purchased mine from a company called TMI, but rather
than purchasing from their website, I purchased from them via their
eBay auctions (at a reduced price). According to their auction
listings, they will ship these lamps worldwide, though it's obviously
more expensive to ship outside the USA. If you don't mind shopping on
eBay, take a look at their eBay store at
http://stores.ebay.com/TMI-LED-TECHNOLOGY - look for the "1156 & 1157
Power Tower" lamp.
Paul Hunt <paul.hunt1@blueyonder.co.uk> writes:
> Bear in mind that OEM use (at least all those I have seen) consist of a
> cluster of 25 to 30 of these LEDs, and not just a single LED
> replacement for
> an incandescent bulb! Not just higher line cars either, our buses are
> getting them as replacements for the original light clusters.
There are a lot of manufacturers making LED lamps these days. Some are
making complete lamp assemblies, such as marker lamps for large trucks,
that are not intended as simple bulb replacements. Many others (like
TMI) manufacture LED clusters mounted to a standard 1156 or 1157 bulb
base. The problem with many of these is that their LED clusters are
completely rearward-facing, while being too small to fill up the entire
lens area. The big advantage to the TMI lamps, IMHO, is the 360-degree
light spread, which allows the lamp's reflector to shape the light
output in the same way as a traditional incandescent bulb.
Bob Howard <mgbob@juno.com> writes:
> Are you sure that the color of the LED and the color of the lens
> (red) should be the same, both red?
> I ask because of one experience-- An MG Club friend bought two red
> LEDs for his MGB. We installed them. They were good and bright. Then
> installed the red lens and could barely see the LEDs inside. It
> seemed that the color of the red lens absorbed the red light from the LEDs.
> We replaced with regular bulbs and the light came through fine.
> Then we installed LED on one side, installed lens, and compared.
> The LED side was very dim when lens was in place.
I've not done any actual scientific A/B comparisons; this is simply
the standard advice from many of the LED manufacturers. I can tell
you that I had originally purchased a different 1156 replacement from
a different manufacturer that was white in color. When I installed
them in the VW, I was very disappointed in the light output through
the red lenses. They work much better as backup lamps, but I also
think that they put out less light than the TMI lamps, so it's not
exactly a fair comparison. I did do an A/B test of a traditional 1157
bulb and a red TMI 1157 LED replacement on the Kawasaki, through the
red lens, and the TMI lamp is significantly brighter on the "low
filament", while matching the brightness on the "high filament".
To quote from one of TMI's auction listings, "To make white LED a blue
CHIP is used then a phosphor cover is placed on top of it to change
the blue wave length to a white color, but there is still blue in it
and the red lens will filter out all the light. YOU MUST USE A RED LED
FOR A RED LENS, DO NOT BUY WHITE!!!!!" Not the most scientific
language, but my own empirical observations support this advice, and I
guess that's good enough for me!
Todd Mullins, automotive lighting fanatic
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