Brighter brake/tail lights?

Brighter brake/tail lights?

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Discussion

A900ss

Original Poster:

3,245 posts

151 months

Sunday 23rd February 2014
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I was out today with some other TVR's and part of the wy I was following another Chimaera.

I noticed just how dim the tail and brake lights are. The brake lights on the Chimaera are about as bright as most cars tail lights as they shine through the smoked perspex. This is a bit of a safety concern because I do want people behind me to know I'm braking especially as we are so low down with little rear end protection.

Has anybody fitted any LED's such as these?

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/380-Super-Bright-...

If you have, I'd really like to hear your thoughts. The reviews on this site do seem positive.

A900ss

Original Poster:

3,245 posts

151 months

Sunday 23rd February 2014
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s p a c e m a n

10,752 posts

147 months

Sunday 23rd February 2014
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They say that they are brighter, but I would be amazed if they are. The magic search term you want is 'cree', something like these.. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BAY15D-P21w-5w-380-CREE-...

If you read through all of the text on that page they say that those are 550 lumen which is quite good, those are the numbers you want to be looking at to see how bright the bulbs are.

If it really is safety you're thinking about have you thought about putting a high intensity rain light behind the numberplate?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Keeper-Technology-FIA-MS...

Edited by s p a c e m a n on Sunday 23 February 19:48

SMB

1,513 posts

265 months

Sunday 23rd February 2014
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After some thought I investigated getting something that was more likely to be seen when braking, and ended up fitting LEDs in a housing attached the the roof bars. Higher up, visible to the car behind and also the car behind them. Similar to the early Tuscans

keith2.2

1,100 posts

194 months

Monday 24th February 2014
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pics or ban! ;-)

SMB

1,513 posts

265 months

Monday 24th February 2014
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keith2.2 said:
pics or ban! ;-)
Soooo demanding....


Here you go, just one side, wires go up and are hidden in trunking behind the top just like the corrugated trunking for the interior light, then into the boot to take the power from the lights.

I chose to have just brake lights, there is a version with part amber part red for indicators and brake lights. Once fitted doesn't stop the hood being folded down at all. The lights are e-marked so all legal, made by Autolamps.

[pic][/pic]

LordGrover

33,532 posts

211 months

Monday 24th February 2014
quotequote all

SMB

1,513 posts

265 months

Monday 24th February 2014
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LordGrover said:
thank you, how did you do that out of interest?

A900ss

Original Poster:

3,245 posts

151 months

Monday 24th February 2014
quotequote all
I do like that but not an option for when the roof is down.

LordGrover

33,532 posts

211 months

Monday 24th February 2014
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Most editors/viewers have a rotate option. I used Windows Photo Viewer this time.

SMB

1,513 posts

265 months

Monday 24th February 2014
quotequote all
A900ss said:
I do like that but not an option for when the roof is down.
I agree, I tend to use the car without the center panel , but rear section up. I didn't want to start drilling bodywork to fit another light ala the Malaysian cars.

I will probably go for led's in the original lights too now it's been mentioned, Has anyone tried those bulbs, is the white version too bright for the rear clusters? Do you have to chose red?


LordGrover, yes makes sense, just didn't have one to hand, wondered if there was an option when adding to the post.

A900ss

Original Poster:

3,245 posts

151 months

Wednesday 19th March 2014
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Well after seeing this topic http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... I purchased a pair of these red CREE LED lights. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370954040443?clk_rvr_id=...

Photos below are daytime and I will hopefully take some evening shots later today.

The left bulb is LED, the right bulb is regular

Tail light in sunlight



Brake lights in sunlight



I'm not sure how well the camera captures it but a definite improvement in intensity in my opinion.

PS - where the LED looks white in the centre of the light it is just a deficiency in the phone camera and it is clipping the highlights. To the human eye it appears red.



Edited by A900ss on Wednesday 19th March 18:27

A900ss

Original Poster:

3,245 posts

151 months

Wednesday 19th March 2014
quotequote all
OK, the sun has dropped a little but now the difference between the highlights and shadows is just too much for the iPhone and its clipping the highlights making the bright red lights look even whiter.

Quick swap to the SLR...

This first photo shows tail lights on (LED on left again) but with the fog light on for comparison. The LED is much brighter than the standard light but not quite as bright as the standard fog light (which isn't as bright as a normal car fog light as its behind the smoked Perspex). This should reassure people that the tail light element of the LED is brighter than standard (which is good) but not too overpowering to annoy other road users.


This second photo shows the brake lights. Again the LED is much brighter and noticeably redder than standard. This really does show that the brake lights have come on and other road users should notice this.


This third photo shows how much brighter the brake LED is than the Fog light (which as expected is the same intensity as the standard brake light as they are both lighting the 21W filament)



Hopefully these photos show its a red rather than a white light. Also I hope you can see how much increased intensity these have over standard. They may be expensive lights at £35 but it they avoid a rear end shunt, they are well worth it.

A900ss

Original Poster:

3,245 posts

151 months

Wednesday 19th March 2014
quotequote all
Finally is a video to show in use difference between tail light and brake light. It's obvious when the brake pedal is pressed as the bulb goes much brighter. I know some people are concerned that the tail LED to brake LED may not be much of a change but it obviously is.

Also, it's obvious that the left LED brake light illuminates a fraction of a second before regular bulb on the left. You can clearly see the left lights up before the right. At 70MPH, that fraction of a second earlier illumination is most welcome in my book.

http://youtu.be/xrZAUPmUc8E

Notes about the video:
Excuse the rubbish quality but the intensity is plain to see
I didn't know that the brake lights only work with the engine running, not just ignition on hence me shouting to my older daughter to push or off as she can't hear me very well over the sound of the engine.
Likewise, I forgot to stop recording so ignore the last minute!!!



Edited by A900ss on Wednesday 19th March 18:55

seeby

1,807 posts

169 months

Wednesday 19th March 2014
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A900ss ,Very informative pics and vid. I want some . Are the bulbs simply old style out and plug Cree ones in ??

A900ss

Original Poster:

3,245 posts

151 months

Wednesday 19th March 2014
quotequote all
Yep. Took me 1 minute to change over.

I totally recommend this. I had a big moment in the fog on the A417 a week ago and decided there and then I need to improve my rear end visibility. Thankfully the moment was in my BMW so I'm sure I'd have been safe. In the Tiv, not so sure. I don't want to dwell on safety, it's a TVR after all but I do want the best active safety possible as the passive safety isn't in abundance.

Edited by A900ss on Wednesday 19th March 21:40

Dr Mike Oxgreen

4,101 posts

164 months

Thursday 20th March 2014
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Great info, Karl, thanks for posting these pics!

I'm going to take a punt and see if they fit and work as well in the newer non-Fiesta lights. If they don't, I'm hoping someone with Fiesta lights will buy them off me at a discount so I'm not fully out of pocket...

(May be a week or two's delay before I can fit them, though, because my car goes away tomorrow for its front-end repair.)

BrightYellowTVR

1,257 posts

266 months

Thursday 20th March 2014
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Ordered thanks for the pics & video looks like a no brainer smile

Thanks
Jon

Ribol

11,200 posts

257 months

Thursday 20th March 2014
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I think the problem is they are simply too low, doesn't matter how much brighter they are (IMO).

So I swung another way, it doesn't work with the back down but as I only ever have the targa off with the back still up it works for me :


FlipFlopGriff

7,144 posts

246 months

Thursday 20th March 2014
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Great thread and good video to back it up. Not sure about the low comment as if the car behind cant see the lights then its too close but still likely to stop far quicker than any TVR. The fact the LED's light up quicker and brighter is a great boost to pretty pi55 poor lights and for a few quid is a no brainer.

I've been pondering these for some time now but have done nothing about it. I've replaced all the bulbs in the house and all the outdoor lights (about 100 in total) so this is the next job to do. Do the standard LED replacements work as these are only a couple of quid or do they flikcer/flash?
FFG