There are plug-in replacements, but as well as having a smaller transmissive
area (the reflector making the total transmissive area larger than just the
incandescent bulb, but not reflecting anything from the LED array) the
problem with these is that they can be *too* bright. No one wants to be
driving behind over-bright tail lights in the wet at night, and one
comparative test I saw had much less distinction between tail and brake with
LED than with incandescent, which is another hazard i.e. you can easily miss
the brake lights coming on unless you happen to be looking directly at the
back of the car. The design of some of the modern light clusters using LEDs
is appalling, one of the worst being a tiny turn 'lens' about an inch in
diameter with a ring of brake light LEDs around it. If the brake lights are
on you can only see the indicators come on if you are looking directly at
the light cluster. Yes, I know 'mirror, indicate, manoeuvre' but how many
people do that these days? Most seem to operate the indicator stalk at the
same time as turning the wheel, having braked already.
There is an even bigger problem with turn signals in that there is not yet
(to my knowledge) a flasher unit that indicates a failure of a corner like
they do with incandescent bulbs, and they won't work properly with the
standard flasher units. I nearly rear-ended a Range Rover a while ago who
suddenly braked and turned without indicating, but as he did turn I could
see the side flasher going but the rear wasn't. Some suppliers of these LED
bulbs also supply a dummy load resistor so they flash at the proper rate,
but as long as that dummy resistor is connected the flasher will tick away
regardless of whether the LED units are working or not. There is a
'special' flasher unit available for use with these LED bulbs, but while
that doesn't need a dummy load it also doesn't change its flashing rate to
give a warning of failure of a corner. LED bulbs *will* last much longer
than incandescents, but what about all those Lucas connections?
It's an expensive (have you seen the price of that MGA/B array?) solution
looking for a problem, and in the UK at least it is illegal to retrofit them
for road use.
PaulH.
----- Original Message -----
> Is anybody using leds for turn and stop lights.
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