LED taillight and cruise don't mix

[kzz1king]

I got my led tail/brake bulbs. I had also installed driving lights. Went for a ride and no cruise. Thinking I may have unplugged something when I put the driving lights on I pulled the tank, troublshot the cruise. Nothing. I figured it can't be the new bulbs, WRONG! I can use one LED  but not both. Go figure.
Wayne

[T Cro ®]

The LED do not draw enough juice for the CC to notice that it is still hooked up. You will need to wire in a small relay circuit to make work with the LED bulbs.

[Outback_Jon]

http://www.murphskits.com/catalog/docs/tail_light_relay.doc

That will tell you how to wire up the relay.

And it isn't the low current draw of the LEDs.  It's that the purple wire has to go to ground when the brakes are released.  Under normal circumstances, this ground is created through the element of the bulb, but the 'diode' part of 'LED' doesn't allow that.

[sroby]

Speaking of LED tail lights, While traveling on Interstate 75 s this afternoon about 40 miles south of Atlanta Ga, with my wife on our way to pick up our 1 yr old grandson, I noticed some c-10,s motoring up behind us.  As they got closer the the first 2 went by then comes the 3rd followed by a c-14 in tow.  The first thing that caught my eye was the super bright trick looking LED tailight.  As they motored by and went on up ahead it finally dawned on me that the super trick LED tailight on the back of that great particular looking c-10 was none other than the master himself Steve aboard Shoodabeen, thats correct while traveling to south Ga to pick up my grandson for the week it appears that I had just been passed by the world famous (3) Steve,s and their friend on his c-14 all of the gang from FLA. Had been up in my neck of the woods of the North Ga Mountains at Suches. So we are coming up to our exit on 75s, 201, When I am going nuts thinking that I had just met Steve on shoodabeen while going down the freeway, I am about 30 mins ahead of schedule and all of a sudden it was like Connie( ESP) Jim Snyder you know what I am talking about(ha), they put on there blinkers to get off our same exit to pick up our grandson. So I pulled in behind them at the Bp station, Man oh man that led taillight on shoodabeen is bright.  It was on Honor to meet him and the others in his group we had about a 15 min chat I actually got to touch the machine and shake Steve,s hand. People of this forum you need to know what a great guy he really is in person as  most of us have talked to him on the phone.  I felt like the Motorcycle Gods were with us as this really happened to me not make believe and all started by the Darn Led light that caught my eye at 75 mph. Anyway I am still Ecstatic at what a great way to cap off my weekend first by picking up my number one fan My grandson and second by meeting one of my no one heroes Steve and Shoodabeen and his friends. Just thaught I would share this great event that happend to me today with you all.  Regards Steve   (aka connkawi)

[jim_de_hunter]

Some people add a resistor to the line when they add the LED to operate flashers and such. 

[B.D.F.]

Yep, what he said. Just buy and wire the relay as shown in that document and the brake lights will work fine with the CC.

C-14's require the relay as they come from the factory with only LEDs as brake lights.

Brian

http://www.murphskits.com/catalog/docs/tail_light_relay.doc

That will tell you how to wire up the relay.

And it isn't the low current draw of the LEDs.  It's that the purple wire has to go to ground when the brakes are released.  Under normal circumstances, this ground is created through the element of the bulb, but the 'diode' part of 'LED' doesn't allow that.

[T Cro ®]

Thanks Jon, you are right the CC is looking to complete a ground path circuit. I knew that as I typed it but my brain was thinking about the LED running lights we are switching to on board ship which have to have a cheater circuit added so that our lighting panels can tell if they are light or not and switch to the 2ndary light; here we use resistance

[kzz1king]

To be honest I am unimpressed with these bulbs. They are not as bright as stock. I will leave one in for now. Thanks.
Wayne

[T Cro ®]

To be honest I am unimpressed with these bulbs. They are not as bright as stock. I will leave one in for now. Thanks.
Wayne

Many of the LED Brake Light Bulbs are less than impressive and here you get what you pay for rings true. If you want BRIGHT go see if Murph still sells the LED DISCO Light; it is a complete kit that has lots of LED's mounted to a circuit board and is way bright. Only issue I've had with mine was that I had airplanes try to follow me home.

[Outback_Jon]

+1 on the "you get what you pay for" with LEDs.  In 2006, I got a set of 1157-x24 bulbs from www.superbrightleds.com  They are still just as bright as stock, and working fine 7 seasons later.  They have 18 LEDs facing the lens of the light, and 6 that are aimed to light up the reflector.  And they're $7.50 each.     But, in my opinion, worth every penny.  One of these days, I'll get around to replacing the turn signal lights with similar bulbs.  (And the flasher relay, since the low current draw of LEDs makes flashers act funny.)

If you want brighter than stock, www.superbrightleds.com has plenty of other options with more LEDs, different designs, etc.

[kzz1king]

Yep, I got the cheap ones, some China junk. I should know better. Got the link from here!
Wayne

[T Cro ®]

Yep, I got the cheap ones, some China junk. I should know better. Got the link from here!
Wayne

Insult to injury....

[kzz1king]

  It happens! To be fair, sources and stock can change quickly with outfits like that. I may not have got the same product as someone else.

Insult to injury....

[Lodogg2221]

Ok, so whos got a link or info on Steves LED tail light that Sroby mentioned? 

Also, Outback Jon, on the 1157 replacement LEDs, Ive heard they dont "fill" the stock housing with light very well, can you confirm they do indeed work as well or better? 
Looking for brighter, but just as bright with less power draw is good too.
Can you email me a pic of yours lit up?  Or post one here?

[Outback_Jon]

Also, Outback Jon, on the 1157 replacement LEDs, Ive heard they dont "fill" the stock housing with light very well, can you confirm they do indeed work as well or better? 
Looking for brighter, but just as bright with less power draw is good too.
Can you email me a pic of yours lit up?  Or post one here?

Whitney Trunk + LCK LEDs + BackOff Wig-Wag

Will that do?  I don't know where the high-pitched squeal that is in that video came from.  It wasn't there when I uploaded it.  (The camera I filmed with doesn't even have a microphone, so there was no sound channel on that video originally)

Those are the 1157-x24 bulbs from superbrightleds.com in the tail/brake light.  Just after I got them, I went on a COG ride, and compared them (during daylight) to a bike with stock 1157 bulbs.  They looked almost identical, with no advantage going to the LEDs or the stock.  They just looked a little different.  Although the "instant on" effect of the LEDs when the brake is applied is noticeable.  Be sure to get RED LEDs, too.  (The LED color should match the lens color you are using, unless you have a clear lens.)

If you want brighter, check out some of the other 1157 bulbs that superbrightleds.com offers.  The ones I used are rated for 20/60 lumens.  (low/high)  Some of their other bulbs are rated for 15/80, 30/120, or 30/95.  But the prices go up, too.  ($17.95, $24.95, $19.95 respectively - that's per bulb, and you need 2!)

The LED strips in the JC Whitney case are some cheap ones I got off of Ebay, but they have held up pretty well. 

[Lodogg2221]

Thanks! 

Im a fan of Superbright LEDs.  Have bought a lot of stuff from them, so I do know about lens color and LED color...very interesting though!