This might have already been discussed but after searching for an hour I decided to let the board decide.
I have a CA77 dream and want to convert all the lights (minus the headlight and I don't have blinkers) to LED's.
So I'm looking at the 2 bulbs in the speedo, the neutral light, and the tail light. Anyone have a good source on where I can purchase and what size I would need?
LED bulbs
I converted my CB77 tail/brake and turn signal bulbs to LED. For the neutral light I used a scrap 12v mini lamp from a car dash assembly (very bright, but used less current than the stock bulb).
I'll have to dig through my records to find the specs on tail/brake bulb, but it was readily available at my local auto parts store. Wilf
LEDI replaced my tail light with a superbrite LED 1157-RW196 bulb. It has 17 LED'sand cost 13.00...it is bright enough to be seen in the day..I have had it for 6 months and it is ok so far. I think I read on a thread here that member snakeoil is trying to put together an LED headlight for his CL77 so it is easier on the charging system, since he lives in new york and they require headlights on all the time too. my cl77 has a sealed beam so I must find a replaceable bulb headlight assy that fits the headlight bucket/ring before I go this route.
I installed one of the superbright.com LED tailights a little over a year ago, haven't had any problems and I think it's brighter to boot.
I also installed one of the 162mm headlights with a 45/45W halogen bulb from Candlepower; http://store.candlepower.com/lowwaca61quh.html in my CL77 not long after the tailight and it's much brighter than stock. Not sure if this helps you too much with your square bucket CA but I'm really happy with my halogen bulb headlight.
Headlighthotshoe, does the 45w halogen bulb draw less current than the stock bulbs? I thought the stock was a 25/35 w? Thanks, Tim in florida
If I said I was going to cobble together a headlight from LEDs it was probably thinking out loud. Although it would be a fun exercise. I suspect I'd need Wilf and G-man to help me with the circuitry.
I too have an LED tailight. The lights made for motorcycles tend to be unique in that they have LEDs pointing rearward and others pointing down because then need to light the license plate light as well. LEDs are unidirectional meaning they send light in only one direction. So they have to be pointed in the direction you want the light to go and if there are multiple directions required, you need multiple LEDs to serve that need. I know I did a search for various brands and types and it turned out that the cheapo I bought was the same brand that somebody else was selling by the brand name for much bigger money. I cannot be sure who I bought it from, but pretty sure it was Bike Bandit since I get a discount as an AMA member. I suspect the LED lights are all made by one or two suppliers in China and they just label them with diferent names. If you want to pay big bucks, go to and HD dealer and buy an LED tailight bulb equivalent. Last time I looked they were something like $30.00. Regarding LWP's question on power usage, watts are a measure of power (volts x amps). You can actually convert watts to HP. 1 watt = 0.001341022 HP. So if a bulb has a higher rating in watts it uses more power. It's as simple as that. The charging system on your bike is also rated in watts. That's why you see companies like BMW bragging about high wattage alternators so you can have every electrical doo-dad known to man on your Beemer and it will still charge the battery. All those doo-dads use watts. regards, Rob LED lightsSay Highskyflyn - I just replaced my tail light with an LED, and I've been able to keep a charge on the battery, even with a lot of short trips. Sometimes I use the kick start when cold, but I haven't had to charge my battery up for a long time. The LED tail light made a big difference. I imagine that if you change even more of the dash lights, it would be better yet.
Great ideas on this forum! GG
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