LED bulbs

There are no suitable LED replacements for the filament bulbs used in stop lights and indicators. A filament bulb emits light in pretty well every direction and is focused by a reflector. LED replacements either 'fire' straight ahead in a narrow beam which is about as bright on axis but non existent off axis, or have small LEDs pointing in most directions which are nothing like as bright in any direction. And non are E marked so illegal and will fail an MOT - as well as being dangerous.

Purpose made units with multiple LEDS as fitted to some new cars are a different matter.

There are wide cluster led stop/tail combined bulbs. they may or may not be E marked, but neither are 3rd party HID conversions but many of them pass MOTs. How many testers remove bulbs from lamps to check E marks and are they actually allowed to?

... and they do seem to work reasonably well, too. I had one on a Husky Supermoto (single cylinder bike) that killed bulbs for breakfast due to the engine vibration. Sorted out easily with an LED 'bulb' and if anything, the tail light was a little brighter.

I would be surprised if they were allowed to as I'd call that 'dismantling'...

Which is nonsense in my experience. I've got a set of LED stop/tail light bulbs in my 306 which have a set of leds firing straight backwards, and a set of leds sat around the base of the bulb firing out towards the reflector. The whole part of the light cluster with them in ie the entire bit lit by the reflector is easily as bright as if not brighter than it was with filament bulbs in.

There is that, but do MOT stations really remove the light cluster and check?

Have you tried one? I have. The light output is pathetic and therefore dangerous. But perhaps you don't bother with indicators anyway? ;-)

You don't need to remove them. They are obvious by the lack of light. The 'straight ahead' cluster replacements near match the output of a 21 watt - but only over a very small viewing angle. And since they emit no light to the back and sides the unit reflector does nothing.

Buy OE replacement lamps (remember, lamps glow, bulbs grow) from the Volvo dealer they are generally of a longer life type than the halfords ones. And replace all the always-on DRL lamps at the same time as they will all last about the same time.

Can you give the source? I'll buy one and test it. Is it as bright to the sides as the original? This is very important with things like indictors.

Can you give the source so I can buy one and test it? The several of this design I've tested so far are simply nowhere as bright as a 21 watt filament bulb.

You won't fail an MOT for having non-E marked bulbs.

Maybe you ought to, maybe the rules say you ought to, but the simple practice is that unless a problem is glaring for some other reason, then testers don't check labels. Besides which, what's the big deal? Swap the bulb before, or afterwards, and re-test it. Same-day re-test for a bulb is no big deal at all.

Modern LED taillight bulbs also have pretty good all-around coverage, compared to the earlier ones.

I wouldn't even fill my tyres from the airline at our Volvo dealer! (Bryan Brothers in Bristol) Last time I let them anywhere near one of my cars (my Alfa 75) it came back with the propshaft centre-bearing left hanging loose.

Besides which, Volvo don't make bulbs. So long as I'm not buying Ring, I'm happy. By all means source reasonable quality ones and don't pay Halfords prices, but Partco does that as well as anyone.

It might be possible with a taillight bulb, but not with a stop or indicator type. If someone is sure it can be, please let me know the supplier so I can check one out.

I haven't tried any LED bulbs so I can't give chapter and verse. However these seem to be designed to give light over a greater than 180 degree arc.

No idea if you would be wasting your time looking at them.

Still, they were probably not originally designed to be stop/tail bulbs.

My memory's a bit hazy on this unfortunately as I bought it about four years back (I don't even have the bike anymore).

I *think* I got it from Ultraleds but I just had a gander at their website and they don't seem to do these anymore. Basically it was similar to their U38025R only that it was white, as bikes use these for numberplate illumination also. I don't like red LED bulbs as they can appear extraordinarily dim if the wavelength of the LED and the taillight lens disagree.

Of course the other consideration was that even if the bulb would be somewhat dimmer than a standard bulb, it was still more visible than a blown bulb in a rainy London night...

They are a white version of these:

From the same seller. Unfortunately he seems to have had a f*ck up this month and screwed his customers...

When I get chance tomorrow I'll swap one out for a filament bulb and take a photo; the 306 uses two bulbs side by side for it's brake lights so I should be able to get a comparison for you, if a little unscientific!

Make sure the pics ain't just square on. An LED has a built in lens designed to concentrate its output in a narrow beam. Things like indicators need to be visible over about a 45+ degree angle in both planes.

No worries, I'll take a few from various angles..

In the absence of much comment from people who've actually used the things, here's my recent experience:

It's not much, but at least it's hands-on rather than Usenet.

I suspect everyone replying to the thread thought you were using them for more of the external lights, hence the accounts of them not doing the job :-) For interior lights, well, it doesn't really matter about angles and stuff.

Nice write up.

With the advance of LED technology, we will have all lights that are LED in one way or another.

quote-'The Audi R8 is the first vehicle in which all lighting functions of the headlamp are realized with LED technology, i.e. low beam, high beam, turn signal, daytime running light and position light.'

Taken from --->

All the rear lights in my car are LED, and are just as bright as normal filiment bulbs.

Just my tuppence worth :)