Front LED Marker Lamps

[AZBob]

For those of you, like me, who have modified your front turn signals to be always-on front marker lamps, I have some experiments I wanted to share with you.

First, besides being always on, I also use LED lamps (front and rear). I have installed resistors and what-not to make it all work correctly, there are a thread or two on the site about how to do that.

Now, on to the LED's. I first installed a pretty basic amber LED that was about as bright as the stock incandescent lamps:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/7507-py21w-led-bulb-18-smd-led-tower-bau15s-retrofit-car/527/1703/

They worked fine, and aren't actually orange (the light is), so when you look at the bike, you only see silver in the turn signal lens, which is what I wanted. However, I wanted brighter light -- you could see them quite fine, but I wanted something NOTICEABLE, so I've been on a rather lengthy quest to find bright turn signal LEDs.

First up, I tried these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MPVLK63/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are about 50% brighter than the first set, but as you can see, their bodies are black, which makes the look through the lens not what I was looking for.

Next up, I tried:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075Q9RGZW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These look great through the lens, but are about 5-10% dimmer than the black ones. Then I noticed these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NBHWHZA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They took about a month to arrive from China and if you notice, they come in both black and silver, and apparently you have no choice. Well, I won the lottery and got the silver ones. They are about 1/2 an inch longer than the other bulbs, but there is plenty of room in the housing for them.

These are BRIGHT. They're about 100% brighter than the original set. During the middle of a bright, sunny day, they are noticeable. I haven't seen them at night yet, but I don't think they're bright enough to be annoying at night.

It remains to be seen if there's enough room in the housing for the heat dissipation/make sure they don't melt the lens.

All of these LED's are the correct socket type for our bike, and use very little current, so a small 6ohm resistor for each bulb works just as well with the brightest ones as with the dimmest originals wrt: the turn signals.

[dietDrThunder]

Super great info...thanks!

[Matt Kas]

AZBob,

I know you put up your Trophy for Sale but for anybody else you may want to try this switchback LEDs which do not require load resistors

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CMWD79P/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A1P223EEC6797V&psc=1

Originally Posted by AZBob

For those of you, like me, who have modified your front turn signals to be always-on front marker lamps, I have some experiments I wanted to share with you.

First, besides being always on, I also use LED lamps (front and rear). I have installed resistors and what-not to make it all work correctly, there are a thread or two on the site about how to do that.

Now, on to the LED's. I first installed a pretty basic amber LED that was about as bright as the stock incandescent lamps:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/7507-py21w-led-bulb-18-smd-led-tower-bau15s-retrofit-car/527/1703/

They worked fine, and aren't actually orange (the light is), so when you look at the bike, you only see silver in the turn signal lens, which is what I wanted. However, I wanted brighter light -- you could see them quite fine, but I wanted something NOTICEABLE, so I've been on a rather lengthy quest to find bright turn signal LEDs.

First up, I tried these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MPVLK63/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are about 50% brighter than the first set, but as you can see, their bodies are black, which makes the look through the lens not what I was looking for.

Next up, I tried:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075Q9RGZW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These look great through the lens, but are about 5-10% dimmer than the black ones. Then I noticed these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NBHWHZA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They took about a month to arrive from China and if you notice, they come in both black and silver, and apparently you have no choice. Well, I won the lottery and got the silver ones. They are about 1/2 an inch longer than the other bulbs, but there is plenty of room in the housing for them.

These are BRIGHT. They're about 100% brighter than the original set. During the middle of a bright, sunny day, they are noticeable. I haven't seen them at night yet, but I don't think they're bright enough to be annoying at night.

It remains to be seen if there's enough room in the housing for the heat dissipation/make sure they don't melt the lens.

All of these LED's are the correct socket type for our bike, and use very little current, so a small 6ohm resistor for each bulb works just as well with the brightest ones as with the dimmest originals wrt: the turn signals.

[Ridefree]

Hello Mat and anyone else,

Does anyone have any additional feedback on these bulbs posted? 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CMWD79P/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A1P223EEC6797V&psc=1


I want to make my front turn signals more visible. I already ordered an LED light strip to install above the license plate and will be linked with existing.  I read a great "how-to" from Coconut.  I will post my findings upon completion.

[Matt Kas]

I am happy with my switch back front bulbs. Highly recommended.

[Ridefree]

I forgot to ask.  Does the rear hyper flash?  Or did you change out the rear as well?  Secondly, I noticed these include white driving lights.  Are the whites always on?  I found a similar an amber bulb without the white.

Thanks

[Matt Kas]

For the rear, I had to put load resistors under the seat.

[dandrumheller]

Originally Posted by Ridefree

I forgot to ask.  Does the rear hyper flash?  Or did you change out the rear as well?  Secondly, I noticed these include white driving lights.  Are the whites always on?  I found a similar an amber bulb without the white.

Thanks

I suspect (though could well be mistaken) that you would somehow need to run "always on" power to the lamp socket in the front for the white DRL function on these.  Many of us here have used this setup instead - easy install and already configured for easy running of the always on power for DRL function.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NGUKZVA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1