Should I convert my lights to LED’s

[Anonymous]

A lot has been spoken and written about converting from standard (incandescent) bulbs to LED’s.

What have your experience been on this subject?

[Anonymous]

Matrin De Little recently mentioned this site:
http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com/a-bit-about-led-bulbs.php
as being a useful resource for more information on installing LED’s….

[Anonymous]

I have individual LED Festoons in the tail and brake lights rather than converting to dual filament bulbs.

They were hard to source with a wide angle (most are to directional) and they need to be the same colour as the lens they are behind.

Haven’t done the flashers yet as it means changing the flasher unit or adding a resistor in the line as they pull so low a load for a normal unit.

[Anonymous]

I tried individual LED replacements but could not get them to illuminate very well even at 12 volts. Compared to standard lamps which work, unsurprisingly, bright.

The LED units that are available for the Traction are designed well and work well. I installed a set of rear units to a 54 Legere and they were very good, although the brake lights would flash slightly due to a dirty contact switch which the LEDs saw as off…on…off…on where the normal standard lamp would still be cooling down between jumps…. not an issue, I advised him to get a new brake contact switch or clean it up.

The indicator LEDs were awful. As said previously, they need to be the same colour as the lens as the white through orange looked green and they are direction outwards only. We changed back to standard lamps.

So I would say individual LED replacements are not quite up to spec at the moment, but direct replacement light units are very good.

[Anonymous]

@tripyrenees wrote:

The LED units that are available for the Traction are designed well and work well. I installed a set of rear units to a 54 Legere and they were very good,

Where did you source them from Ian?

[Anonymous]

The units I fitted (to a friends car) were from Traction Universelle – expensive but they are very effective. It is a circuit board with multiple LEDs for brakes and rear lights and for the older models they also have the number plate light and indicators too.

[Anonymous]

I bought a solid state regulator that fits in the original housing from that company in the Martin de L link above and it is fantastic. They have a very good site and the owner is very helpful. Paul de la F bought headlamps and reports them to be almost illegally bright. Try contacting him for a more precise opinion?

[Anonymous]

My slough Light Fifteen has been fitted with red LED stop /tail lights which are multi directional and brighter than a festoon bulb.
These have been in nearly all my classics and show a great red light.
The semaphores have flashing orange LED’s.
Sidelights are Cree multi directional LED.
and last but not least the headlamps have just been replaced with H4 Cree LED. the light from these are amazing, just purchased from Dynamo Regulator Conversions.
The light from the headlamp LEDs are amazing, bright white light.
Nice to see the ammeter in charge when everything is on at night instead of discharge.

[Anonymous]

This is an interesting thread, as I’m currently dismantling both my Normale and my Lt15. This is a good time to replace ordinary bulbs with LEDs. Someone send me a link to these people http://www.bettercarlighting.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=478 and I’ve had a long chat with the owner today. I will be purchasing a rear/stop/indicator set-up that fits into the Lucas L549 rear light. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes. BOB

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