Spedometer lamp

[wilcom]

I changed out my speedo lamp with a 194LED and I was hoping for more light where I could read the speedo with just a glance.

But NO.... I have no more light than before. It is whiter light but as far as intensity I can see no difference , still dim.

Wrong bulb? too much expectation ?

[georgesgiralt]

Hello,
Those bulbs are not all born equal. Some are bright some are not...
So maybe you should try another make ? I have one in my speedo and I can read it in the dark, but I can't remember where I got it.

[Barry]

The stock instrument lamps are 3W and approx. 25 lumens.  If the manufacturers figures can be trusted, look for LEDs with a higher lumen output.

[wilcom]

Thanks Geo & Barry

I searched for the specs on my bulbs but Lumens was not one they mentioned. I went out and searched for otyhers with no luck on that specification either. The product I have says :
Lumenon 194 LED Light Bulb 6000K 168 T10 2825 5SMD LED Replacement Bulbs for Car Dome Map Door Courtesy License Plate Lights (Pack of 15)Lumenon 194 LED Light Bulb 6000K 168 T10 2825 5SMD LED Replacement Bulbs for Car Dome Map Door Courtesy License Plate Lights (Pack of 15)

I'll keep searching

[wilcom]

I did find two selections with a lumen spec, and this was out of 50+ options. One had 135 lumens and the other was 300. Not knowing what I have already leaves me floundering, but if the original was 25, either of these should give good results.

Probably going with the 300's. I will be able to see it or watch it melt

 
10-Pack 194 168 2825 T10 W5W Error Free LED Bulb White Super Bright 300 Lumens 10-SMD 5730 Chipset LED Bulbs for Interior Dome Map Door Courtesy License Plate Lights
by JI GUANG NIAO

Price:
$6.89

[georgesgiralt]

Melting it will not IMHO, but look twice at the wires coming out of the base. Often, they are not made like the glass bulb. So if you insert it on some bulb holders you make a short... in the RPM meter for example... I fried one printed circuit board track on mine. You have to modify the bulb to make it work properly.
Just my 2¢ ;-)

[wilcom]

Melting it will not IMHO, but look twice at the wires coming out of the base. Often, they are not made like the glass bulb. So if you insert it on some bulb holders you make a short... in the RPM meter for example... I fried one printed circuit board track on mine. You have to modify the bulb to make it work properly.
Just my 2¢ ;-)

Your $0.02 could be worth many dollars to me if a mishap comes along , thanks for the heads up on the wires, I'll check'm

[Barry]

I would be very wary of any led that is described as canbus error free. What that means is they have incorporated a parallel resistor to ensure it draws the same current as an incandescent bulb it's intended to replace, in this case W5W or 5 watts. Besides being wastefully inefficient it's going to produce more heat than necessary.

 

[BPT]

Besides the brightness, LED's can also be directional (my term).  They'll have different angles listed, some are more of a pinpoint but others can have a wide spread.
I ordered some a whIle back but haven't
installed yet, and I remember being unsure about which ones would be best. The bulb passages don't make it easy since some of them don't look lime they have a straight path for the light.

Anyway........  not sure if that has anything to do with your problem but might be worth looking into.
Check Superbrightleds or one if the other big suppliers and you'll see the variety I'm talking about.

[wilcom]

Besides the brightness, LED's can also be directional (my term).

I'm having that problem in my garage. I went with LED trouble lamp and there seems to be no dispersal of the lil' lumens.

I'm either melting my retinas or staring into the darkness of death! There seems to be no diffusion of the light with LED, no bounce, no reflection,  just a death ray of light at whatever it is pointed at.  There seems to be nothing on line to justify my position or results.

I'm going back to the florescent tube type of light and see if it is any better. Could be me too. As I age I naturally do not see as well as I used to.

[Bob_Roller]

Here's the LED replacement lamp I'm using in the speedometer and tachometer .
Much improved the internal lighting in both tachometer and speedometer .
I do a lot of night riding and the incandescent lighting wasn't working for me as well, just shy of 64 !!!

[Bob_Roller]

Here's a picture of the package it came in .
If you do purchase this lamp, you need to make sure the wire leads are only on one side of the base, it doesn't seem to matter in the speedometer, at least on the three R65's on mine that are roadworthy, they WILL NOT WORK in the tachometer without moving the wire so it only on one side, you'll fry the printed circuit board !!!!

[Bob_Roller]

Here's picture of an LED in the speedometer and an incandescent lamp in the tachometer .


http://www.bmwr65.org/YaBB2.612/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=downloadfile;file=Webp%5Fnet%2Dcompress%2Dimage%5F%5F2%5F%2Ejpg

[wilcom]

Here's picture of an LED in the speedometer and an incandescent lamp in the tachometer .

Your speedo is 5+ times brighter than mine with the present 194 LED...…….  hopefully the ones coming in tomorr0ow are brighter

[georgesgiralt]

Also, Katdash (www.katdash.com ) sell the minuscule bulb fitting into the voltmeter or clock in LED version. And THIS changes the vision of the time !
Add to this this women and her husband make and sell flex circuits for other airheads and you see thy are interesting people !