[NZRD07]

Hi All,

I would like to replace the single-filament incandescent tail-light bulb in my Africa Twin with an LED panel.

Does anyone have any experience of this one from Moto-Discovery in Greece ?

https://moto-discovery.com/eshop/tail-lights-lenses/led-panel-for-africa-twin-tail-light.html

I haven't found any mention of it in a site search, but it seems unlikely that I am the first to find it on the interweb !

Cheers,

Keith

 

[Hasse12K]

Haven't tried it but it looks awesome. Is it CE-marked? Didn't find any info about that on the site.

 

[NZRD07]

Is it CE-marked?

I asked Moto-Discovery about that; they replied
"Unfortunately the LED panel is one of the products that are not E-Marked yet."

 

[Massive Lee]

Well. I suppose you keep the original CE marked lens, don't you? Therefore, just like any bulb, do you really need the led panel to be CE marked? Look at original bulbs, are they CE marked?

 

[NZRD07]

Well. I suppose you keep the original CE marked lens, don't you? Therefore, just like any bulb, do you really need the led panel to be CE marked? Look at original bulbs, are they CE marked?

Yes, I plan to keep the original lens. E marking is not the only means of compliance, but as I understand it, bulbs sold in the EU should be E marked, like the one in this image:
http://www.autoledshop.com/product_image/Auto%20Led%20Shop_636584.jpg
(E13 indicates issued by Luxembourg.)

Sure, nobody is going to remove the lenses to check bulbs unless they think that there is a problem.

I've already tried fitting an LED bulb, which failed a roadworthiness inspection ("Warrant of Fitness" here in NZ) because it wasn't considered bright enough, so I am currently running a standard incandescent bulb.

If the Moto-Discovery LED panel had been E-marked, I would have been OK with buying it, but at the moment it is an unknown quantity, for the cost of a lifetime supply of incandescent bulbs !

If Honda had decided to fit dual bulbs inside the rear light, so as to give some redundancy in the event of a blown filament, I probably wouldn't be looking at LED panels. But even dual bulbs cannot be guaranteed not to fail together. I also have a Honda Hawk GT where both tail lights failed at the worst possible time, on a rainy night, although I didn't discover this until I had arrived at my destination. I replaced both bulbs, and they've been fine ever since, so the failure doesn't seem to have been due to a fault, they each reached their end-of-life during the same trip.

 

[AndyLong]

Get a brighter white led bulb. I have a white bulb in mine and it's fine thru the mot in the UK.

Get the type with LEDs all around and it will look like an incandescent in operation and no one will care that it's not correctly marked. You will get the number plate illumination too.

Very much cheaper too

 

[NZRD07]

Get a brighter white led bulb. I have a white bulb in mine and it's fine thru the mot in the UK.

Get the type with LEDs all around and it will look like an incandescent in operation and no one will care that it's not correctly marked. You will get the number plate illumination too.

Very much cheaper too

I'd be interested in a link to the one you have, or one like it.

I've come to the conclusion that the LED bulb I tried, simply didn't have enough LEDs, also they were not as bright as the superbright LEDs now available.

According to the Don's Bulbs web site, a standard 1157 incandescent brake/tail light bulb puts out 402 lumens when new, so I've searched for LED bulbs rated at more than 400 lumens, and ordered three different types of LED bulb to try, with many more LEDs this time.

 

[AndyLong]

Its the brake lumens that will be the issue, so the brake light is clearly brighter than the tail.

https://www.auto-lighting.co.uk/eng...-light-LED-Bulbs_P21-5W-380-BAY15d-81667.html

I can't say where mine came from it was 7 or more years ago. The cree braked ones seem good but mine is many smd LEDs in a cluster.

 

[NZRD07]

The one I tried looked similar to this:

https://www.auto-lighting.co.uk/product-eng-1974-P21-5W-Car-LED-Light-Bulb-18x-SMD-5050-WHITE.html

The light output of the one I bought wasn't specified, but the one in the link above is 288 lumens, so maybe about 3/4 of the lumens of the incandescent bulb that it replaced !