Hi all,
I'm searching for the proper LED's to use in my instrument pod. In the past I used smithduck@gmail.com :http://www.kbikeparts.com/#Fairing/Bodywork. But my last contact with him said his supplier hadn't resupplied him and he was waiting. That was several months ago. In the meantime a friend passed this link to super bright LED's to me. They appear to be mostly headlight types and I don't know if they include the appropriate types for the instrument pod, https://www.superbrightleds.com/carbulb_notes.php#PinConfigurations

So do we have any other sources for the appropriate LED's? What is the appropriate designation? I don't believe there is any unresolved issues with using leds. Even the alternator light can be changed out as long as you give the engine a quick rev to above 2K rpm after starting - that gets the alternator working.

best regards

This is their latest version of the ones I use in all my clusters.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/wedge-bulbs/194-led-bulb-3-smd-led-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/3551/7578/

I haven't used them yet, but should have some coming in a week or two. If you can wait, I'll post a review in this thread when I have a chance to try them out.

Point-Seven-five wrote:This is their latest version of the ones I use in all my clusters.  

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/wedge-bulbs/194-led-bulb-3-smd-led-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/3551/7578/

I haven't used them yet, but should have some coming in a week or two.  If you can wait, I'll post a review in this thread when I have a chance to try them out.

Great, though confusion abounds,  I noted the "Out of Stock, Expected 12/28/20" but it only applied to the amber and blue. I looked at two of the lights that I purchased from smithduck quite a while ago. And they were marked with a magic marker as to which of the two leads was positive (I believe). And if I remember the instructions you were to rotate the lights so that the positive lead was in a particular orientation.



Looking at the bulbs you gave a link to (price $2.95), I note that they claim to be polarity insensitive, Great!. But a click away are:

1 led ($.99)

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/miniature-and-subminiature-bulbs/194-led-bulb-1-led-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/197/856/#tab/specifications


And as far as I can tell the difference is the more expensive ones have 3 led chips and don't show a plastic bezel/cover.  Both types indicate having a 120 degree viewing angle.



Any thoughts on the differences? Does having the three led chip make the light better or just stronger? The specs indicate .2 watts for both. Also noted that the 3 chip variety are labeled oversize. Did you experience any problem with fitting them in?


BTW, what is the count of bulbs needed for a K-75/100 instrument pod?

jjeffries wrote:Any thoughts on the differences? Does having the three led chip make the light better or just stronger?

This explanation gets pretty technical so be patient but, at its conclusion, it's elucidating. 

Sorry but I did have a problem interpreting the technical description but did appreciate the comparison of the relative differences at the end.

The question that I was posing was more along the lines of which is sufficient, in-sufficient, and Too Much. I don't want to be over whelmed with the instrument pod lights at night. That would pose safety issues. Likewise too little and not being able to read the speedometer at night might also be an issue. Just looking for others' experience rather than going out and buying the LEDs (the easy part) and installing them.

The lights I've been getting from them had 4 LED's and had light output similar if not a little stronger than the original bulbs. They did a nice job of lighting up the instrument clusters. Unfortunately, they seem to have been discontinued and there are no specs posted to give me something to compare them to.

There are two bulbs that are supposed to work, one has a single LED, and the other has three. I'm getting some of both to see which works like the old ones. As soon as they get here I'll let you know how they work and which one you want to use.

Point-Seven-five wrote:The lights I've been getting from them had 4 LED's and had light output similar if not a little stronger than the original bulbs.  They did a nice job of lighting up the instrument clusters.  Unfortunately, they seem to have been discontinued and there are no specs posted to give me something to compare them to.

There are two bulbs that are supposed to work, one has a single LED, and the other has three.  I'm getting some of both to see which works like the old ones.  As soon as they get here I'll let you know how they work and which one you want to use.  

Thanks, I'll be looking forward to what you find and post.

IMO: if you're in a dry-ish climate then LEDs are probably OK. Here in damp Northern Ireland I found them to be way too bright and sparkly on wet nights and introduced them to the wastebin in very short order. Having said that, I did leave LEDs in the fuel warning lights but modified the circuit board so that I could dim them at night. Better then having my eyes beaten up by bright bulbs when the next fuel station was still 50+ miles away.

Dai wrote:IMO: if you're in a dry-ish climate then LEDs are probably OK. Here in damp Northern Ireland I found them to be way too bright and sparkly on wet nights and introduced them to the wastebin in very short order. Having said that, I did leave LEDs in the fuel warning lights but modified the circuit board so that I could dim them at night. Better then having my eyes beaten up by bright bulbs when the next fuel station was still 50+ miles away.

I don't know what kind of lights you are using, but the cluster lights I was using are very similar in brightness to the original green lamps.

For night riding, I have gone low tech to dim the blue Hi beam and red low fuel lights by using a bit of the black vinyl for making graphics. I got mine at a sign shop as scrap, you don't need much. I cut a rectangle the same size as the color filter in the cluster and put a 5mm hole in it. I also lightly scuff the lens of the LED with fine sandpaper to diffuse the light. The result is a dot of light that can easily be seen in daylight, but isn't annoying or blinding at night.