Author Topic: Led Turn signal bulbs  (Read 36576 times)

Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #20 on: June 05, 2016, 03:53:26 PM »
Thanks Max, didn't know Amazon did that.

I didn't either.  Amazon kept throwing this strange warning about a duplicate "gift" in my cart over and over again.  I finally gave up and removed it from the cart and did a manual search.  That is when I realized your URL was from something other than just a plain search.
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Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #21 on: June 05, 2016, 03:58:18 PM »
:popcorn:  I'll be keeping an eye out for your report on these max', as you and I are pretty much in agreement that, so far, LEDs just don't fill the reflector (focal problems) with enough light to equal a filament bulb. However if they can tackle it another way, it appears they have 6 chips behind the projector lens instead of the usual 1, then that will work for me. I've gone over to the "light side" on LED headlights (they're not perfect yet for our reflectors, but good enough now IMO) but, like you, I've seen nothing close in the turn signals. I hope this one is it.

Yep, I studied them carefully.  The 6 LEDs on top and the reviews make it look too good.  Then the really low price made me jump.  Crossing my fingers.  And since I am in the mood for risk, I found these by the same vendor:  http://www.amazon.com/JDM-ASTAR-Extremely-Bright-Chipsets/dp/B018GYMOZ0  and they look like they will blow away the mediocre LED's I currently have for the city lights.... so those are in my cart too.

Quote
With any luck (for us) you'll have to switch your front sockets back to the originals to use these...oh wait you used a Dremel...oh oh...OK, no luck for you.  ;)

This same JDM ASTAR vendor has the identical bulbs but for standard 1156 sockets too...  http://www.amazon.com/JDM-ASTAR-Bright-Chipsets-Projector/dp/B00WVLNJ54  (BE CAREFUL PEOPLE, THAT LAST URL IS NOT FOR THE STOCK KAWASAKI SOCKETS!!)
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Offline PeteTN_zgtr

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #22 on: June 06, 2016, 08:53:26 PM »
Actually I dremeled the new GM 1157 sockets so they would fit where the OEM sockets were.  All my original parts are untouched. But as Max said, there's plenty of variety for the more common 1156 and 1157 sockets. I think I even came across an 1157 that is white in the running mode and flashes yellow in the turn signal mode. Right now I have incandescent 1157s in the front because I was ready to put it together when the weather started warming up instead of shopping for bulbs. I was thinking of trying these new 1156PY's in the back turn signals.

Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #23 on: June 06, 2016, 10:35:36 PM »
I guess I will be everyone's guinea pig, then, since mine are on order now (front and rear) and should be here within the next week or so.  Can't promise when I will have the energy to tear apart the sides to install the fronts, but I will certainly compare the rears immediately.
Shoodaben (was Guhl) Mountain Runner ECU flash, Canyon Cages front/rear, Helibars risers, Phil's wedges, Grip Puppies, Sargent World seat-low & heated & pod, Muzzy lowering links, Soupy's stand, Nautilus air horn, Admore lightbar, Ronnie's highway pegs, front running lights, all LED, helmet locks, RAM Xgrip, Sena SMH10, Throttle Tamer, MRA X-Creen, BearingUp Shifter, PR4-GT, Scorpion EXO-T1200,etc

Offline just gone

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #24 on: June 07, 2016, 08:03:11 AM »
...oh wait you used a Dremel...oh oh...OK, no luck for you.  ;)

Actually I dremeled the new GM 1157 sockets so they would fit where the OEM sockets were.  All my original parts are untouched.

Don't need luck if you start off smart. Well done.  :finger_fing11:

Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #25 on: June 08, 2016, 05:50:12 PM »
OK- WOW.  The JDM Astar bulbs arrived today and are exactly what I have been waiting for all these years.  I have lots of analysis and photos to come.  Haven't done front yet, just rear.  Light distribution is awesome, illumination is considerably brighter than stock incandescent.   City lights are even more awesome, perhaps DOUBLE the brightness of incandescent.... will update that separate thread later too.  Color me happy so far...
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Offline just gone

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #26 on: June 08, 2016, 08:36:22 PM »
  I have lots of analysis and photos to come.  Haven't done front yet, just rear.  Light distribution is awesome, illumination is considerably brighter than stock incandescent.   City lights are even more awesome, perhaps DOUBLE the brightness of incandescent.... will update that separate thread later too.  Color me happy so far...

https://youtu.be/arZdeg_fL-I


Offline kwakrider

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #27 on: June 09, 2016, 02:52:05 AM »
OK- WOW.  The JDM Astar bulbs arrived today and are exactly what I have been waiting for all these years.  I have lots of analysis and photos to come.  Haven't done front yet, just rear.  Light distribution is awesome, illumination is considerably brighter than stock incandescent.   City lights are even more awesome, perhaps DOUBLE the brightness of incandescent.... will update that separate thread later too.  Color me happy so far...

This is good news indeed maxtog...we share the same views when it comes to the bullshit claims of most suppliers with regards to light distribution, illumination etc. I look forward to your review!!  :thumbs: :thumbs:

Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #28 on: June 12, 2016, 03:34:30 PM »
Why LED?  They use much less power, produce much less heat, have the potential to be much brighter, and they turn on and off instantly.   But there have been numerous problems with LED 1156Y bulbs- they have not been bright enough, the light pattern (light distribution) has been unacceptable, the bulb physically won't fit (too large), and/or the price has been crazy.  My search for for the right bulb has now ended with success.  There might be other brands and models that work equally well now, but these I can vouch for:  JDM Astar 1156PY amber.  I purchased them from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XV4W686  for $18 a pair.   Also can be seen on their site (for more $): https://www.jdmastar.com/5730-smd-7507-1156py-bau15s-led-bulbs.html  Remember, you cannot use "regular" 1156 bulbs in the Concours because the pips on the side are orientated differently.  So the "Y" is important.   

These bulbs have 24 x 5730 SMD (24 5.7mm x 3mm surface mount device) LED chips on them, two rows of 9 around the body, and then 6 on the end and the end is capped with a lens to spread the light.  As such, they have an excellent light pattern that throws light in nearly all directions.  No LED light will have a pattern as good as incandescent, because those have a single filament in the middle, equally visible from all angles.  LED chips are very directional, but this arrangement with the lens helps tremendously.  The light fills all the reflectors.  The color is a little bit more yellow and less orange than stock amber incandescents, but it looks perfectly fine to me.

First task were the rear turn signals.  That was easy.  They are easily opened with a single screw each and replacement takes all of a few minutes.  The result was fantastic.  I estimate the JDM Astar bulbs are at about 50% brighter than stock/standard 1156 incandescent bulbs.   See the following photographs for comparisons of the two.  I will say that at night, they are so bright, I make sure to turn off my signals when sitting at a light when there is a car behind me, just so as not to be annoying  (I actually usually do that in all vehicles, but I make sure of it now).

[Continued on next post]
Shoodaben (was Guhl) Mountain Runner ECU flash, Canyon Cages front/rear, Helibars risers, Phil's wedges, Grip Puppies, Sargent World seat-low & heated & pod, Muzzy lowering links, Soupy's stand, Nautilus air horn, Admore lightbar, Ronnie's highway pegs, front running lights, all LED, helmet locks, RAM Xgrip, Sena SMH10, Throttle Tamer, MRA X-Creen, BearingUp Shifter, PR4-GT, Scorpion EXO-T1200,etc

Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #29 on: June 12, 2016, 03:39:33 PM »
[Continued from previous post]

The two remaining photos of the rear signals are on this post (there is a limit of photos per posting).

Remember that to use LED bulbs for turn signals, you must either install two load resistors (one on each side) or replace the flasher relay with a solid state device that is designed specifically for the purpose (much, much better solution, since load resistors are big, have to be mounted somewhere, waste power, and get very hot).  I recommend the following from another posting I made:  http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=17998.msg242704#msg242704

[Continued on next post]
Shoodaben (was Guhl) Mountain Runner ECU flash, Canyon Cages front/rear, Helibars risers, Phil's wedges, Grip Puppies, Sargent World seat-low & heated & pod, Muzzy lowering links, Soupy's stand, Nautilus air horn, Admore lightbar, Ronnie's highway pegs, front running lights, all LED, helmet locks, RAM Xgrip, Sena SMH10, Throttle Tamer, MRA X-Creen, BearingUp Shifter, PR4-GT, Scorpion EXO-T1200,etc

Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #30 on: June 12, 2016, 03:48:11 PM »
[Continued from previous post]

The next challenge are the front turn signals (or running lights).  First, I strongly recommend my modification to turn the front lights into "running lights" so they light ALL the time and blink OFF to function as turn signals.  It greatly improves the side visibility of the bike which improves safety.  If interested, see:  http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=2236

The fronts are particularly challenging because it requires disassembly of a lot of stuff to get to the bulbs (the center cover, the side dash trims, the mid fairing, and finally the front fairing.  One note- you do not have to completely remove the mid fairing, just enough to get to one bolt that holds the front fairing (especially useful if you installed crash bars).  And you don't have to remove the bottom rivet or pull off the front fairing all the way to reach end and gain access to the bulb.

The comparison/results can be seen below.  Again, I provided some low-exposure photos so you can actually see the two bulbs instead of just bright blobs.

[Continued on next post]
Shoodaben (was Guhl) Mountain Runner ECU flash, Canyon Cages front/rear, Helibars risers, Phil's wedges, Grip Puppies, Sargent World seat-low & heated & pod, Muzzy lowering links, Soupy's stand, Nautilus air horn, Admore lightbar, Ronnie's highway pegs, front running lights, all LED, helmet locks, RAM Xgrip, Sena SMH10, Throttle Tamer, MRA X-Creen, BearingUp Shifter, PR4-GT, Scorpion EXO-T1200,etc

Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #31 on: June 12, 2016, 03:53:05 PM »
[Continued from last post]

And the final photos.

So far I am very impressed, and for half the price the inferior bulbs were in the past.  The big question is- will they last?  That is hard to say right now.  The thing that kills LED bulbs is usually heat.  The brighter the bulb, the more heat, and it is hard to get rid of that heat when sealed inside a tiny air/water tight chamber.  JDM Astar bulbs include a 1 year warranty.  I will update this serious of postings with additional information in the future.

JDM Astar has lots of bulbs.  I also had great success with their 194 bulbs for the "city lights" which you can read about here: http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=18301.msg265940#msg265940

[End]
Shoodaben (was Guhl) Mountain Runner ECU flash, Canyon Cages front/rear, Helibars risers, Phil's wedges, Grip Puppies, Sargent World seat-low & heated & pod, Muzzy lowering links, Soupy's stand, Nautilus air horn, Admore lightbar, Ronnie's highway pegs, front running lights, all LED, helmet locks, RAM Xgrip, Sena SMH10, Throttle Tamer, MRA X-Creen, BearingUp Shifter, PR4-GT, Scorpion EXO-T1200,etc

Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #32 on: June 13, 2016, 03:49:07 PM »
Footnote- there was some earlier chat about the bike "freaking out" when using the solid state flasher "relay" unit- if you turn the ignition off while the flasher was already is in use (on).  I meant to report earlier that this is absolutely true.  I have no idea exactly why, but it is quite scary.  The display/computer goes crazy flashing on and off and lots of relays clicking and so on (at least it did with the model I used).  Can't be good for the bike.

I just had never had that happen to me before because I had never left the flashers on when turning off the bike, until recently (even though I meant to test it earlier).
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sailor_chic

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #33 on: June 14, 2016, 06:47:34 AM »
Great write up Max! I will soon be following in your footsteps. The biggest hurdle right now is obtaining the flasher. Every place that I searched for the DMP  LED Flasher, is sold out.


Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #34 on: June 14, 2016, 03:35:00 PM »
Great write up Max! I will soon be following in your footsteps. The biggest hurdle right now is obtaining the flasher. Every place that I searched for the DMP  LED Flasher, is sold out.

It is probably not the only one that will work, but the only one I can vouch for.  You might have to try a different one.  The flasher is pretty easy to replace (compared to the front bulbs!)
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Offline DaddyFlip

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #35 on: June 22, 2016, 05:41:30 PM »
I want to give props to Gigantor for getting us started down this path (I'm sure others have, too) and, especially, maxtog for all the work he has done recommending and showing off the JDM astar LED lights. I did my city lights the other day and just finished my front and rear blinkers and want to give some more options.

First, JDM is the real deal. I'm impressed with the lights we've found- both packaging and product. If they last as long as they should, then we have a real winner. The lights are extremely bright- way brighter than the filament bulbs they replaced- and are well worth the upgrade IMO. I purchased two pair of city lights and three pair of blinkers so I would have two spares for each application.

Here's a review of what I did, and I may have a special surprise for some of you interested in doing this project. My stuff:



My bulbs arrived directly from JDM via USPS as a 2-pack and a 4-pack (I had already removed two of the bulbs from the shown 4-pack). These were $18/pair through amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XV4W686/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also ordered the flasher relay shown through amazon and it works perfectly https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RM26LXO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Incidentally, it is called iJDMTOY, but there's no connection to JDM astar.

Also shown is the OE flasher relay and a little square rubber bumper that fell out of the bike as I was installing the flasher relay. Anybody know where this goes? I couldn't find it, but the adhesive on one side had dried up a little, I suppose.

So here is a pic of the relay I installed upside down so that the mounting tab would just slide into the slot where the OE relay was held in place by the rubber holder. This seemed better than taking that off and tie wrapping.



For reference, here's a closeup of the OE and JDM bulbs.



Okay, now for the surprise. It seemed foolish to pull the bike apart just to change the two blinker bulbs and I wasn't looking forward to it. There had to be a better way… and there was! You don't have to take the bike apart to get to the front bulbs. Remove the two hex head screws above the chrome Kawasaki badge and the two Phillips screws in the wheel well (one is at the top corner next to the blinker lens; the other is down low near the radiator). Once you do this, you can pry back on the fairing with your finger and access the bulb socket (it's light grey with the green and yellow wires). Twist and pull out. I changed both bulbs in about 10 minutes with no stress placed on the fairing.



Being able to do that made this an especially satisfying upgrade. So now there's another source for a flasher relay and a better way to change the front bulb. Hope this helps.
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Offline maxtog

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #36 on: June 22, 2016, 06:43:18 PM »
Okay, now for the surprise. It seemed foolish to pull the bike apart just to change the two blinker bulbs and I wasn't looking forward to it. There had to be a better way… and there was! You don't have to take the bike apart to get to the front bulbs. Remove the two hex head screws above the chrome Kawasaki badge and the two Phillips screws in the wheel well (one is at the top corner next to the blinker lens; the other is down low near the radiator). Once you do this, you can pry back on the fairing with your finger and access the bulb socket (it's light grey with the green and yellow wires). Twist and pull out. I changed both bulbs in about 10 minutes with no stress placed on the fairing.

Interesting.  On mine, there is a large bolt that holds the "Kawasaki" panel which is BEHIND the panel beside it, and it is impossible to pry back that Kawasaki panel without removing the bolt which also requires removing the panel next to it.   The three panels are all keyed into each other with tabs, too.  The factory manual agrees with me.  Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I am about 90% sure on this.  The question then becomes- is my memory faulty?  Or are you just missing those two bolts on yours?  Or is it just the tabs and you broke some?  Or did they actually change that on later years (seems very improbable).  Inquiring minds!
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Offline DaddyFlip

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #37 on: June 22, 2016, 06:59:44 PM »
I will be happy to look again, but let's rule out a couple of things. Mine is a 2011, same as yours. I've never had the bike apart before, so no broken tabs. I bought the bike new, so no one else broke tabs (well, you know...). Nothing popped when I ppied back. I have a service manual; will look and report back.

That didn't take long. I don't see anything in the SM that would prevent anyone from doing what I did. Notice I pried from the front of the bike and reached into the nose of the bike from the front to get the socket. You must be talking about getting to the socket from the rear, between the upper and middle fairings where all the tabs are. No tabs or bolts from the front.

Notice in my pic you can see the radiator? I'm in front of the bike.
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Offline just gone

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #38 on: June 22, 2016, 07:31:00 PM »
Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I am about 90% sure on this. 

I agree, your memory is faulty.

Joking 'max, yes I don't see how it would work as shown in his photo if that one screw is in place at the upper rear. A larger photo would help but it appears that the upper rear of the panel is out on his and I just don't see how that would happen if the bolt located there is in place. There really is only one two tabs there so they might be flexible enough to work if that bolt isn't in place. The adjacent panel really tabs into the inner panel.

Well I just came in from the garage and I couldn't get it to work (2010). I pulled the four screws but it was still too firmly attached at the rear for me to feel comfortable to apply any more bending pressure from the front, got a couple of fingers in but that's it (easy boys). Too bad as that would have been really convenient if it worked.  :(

Here is the picture of mine when I was doing horn work, the hole at the upper right above the clear air line and below the well nut is where the bolt we are referring to goes through.

Offline just gone

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Re: Led Turn signal bulbs
« Reply #39 on: June 22, 2016, 08:06:23 PM »
That didn't take long. I don't see anything in the SM that would prevent anyone from doing what I did. Notice I pried from the front of the bike and reached into the nose of the bike from the front to get the socket. You must be talking about getting to the socket from the rear, between the upper and middle fairings where all the tabs are. No tabs or bolts from the front.

Nope, I wasn't (I don't know what max' was referring to but then I never do...joking again max') I was referring to the front, you see that little inverted triangle of light that you have in your photo at the rear of the panel as you pull it out Dad'flip? Mine doesn't do that because there is a screw there going through the rear of that panel into a frame stay. I'm not trying to shoot down your idea, I wanted it to work I really did. Maybe I'm just too chicken to put that much force on mine, although I've been sort of brutal on it as many times as I've had it apart in the past.