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MG MGA - Stop & Tail lights

Has anyone tried replacing the standard rear lamp bulbs with LED lamps? (MGA 1500 combined stop/tail/indicators)
Is it worth it? Does it really improve the brightness. Does it affect the speed of the flashers? Should I buy white or red LEDs?
LEDs are available from consumerbulbs.com in the uk. Type 380 or 382.

David M
David M

There is a complete review of one guy's LED experience with his MGB on another board. I don't want to post links to other forums here so email me if you want the link location.
Steve Simmons

So far to date the LEDs are not quite bright enough to be good replacements for brake lights.

On the MGA 1500 the brake light bulbs are also used for the turn signals (by way of the fancy relay box under the bonnet). The LEDs draw less current than incandescent bulbs. Using LEDs will disturb the flashing rate of the original flasher unit, if not totally disabling it. To use LEDs in the turn signals you need a shunt resistor to increase the current flow to original level, or an LED unit with built in shunt.
Barney Gaylord

Barney. Thanks. You have confirmed what I thought. I couldn't see how the flashers would work as the unit relies on the current drawn to cause the flashes.
I'm interested in your comment about brightness because I thought that was their main advantage. However I have also read somewhere that LEDs are very directional so they are not seen so well as conventional bulbs from the side.

David M
David M

I have them in the tail lights on my old Bonneville and BMW motorcycles. Other than having to convert the Triumph to negative earth so the LEDs would work, it was worthwhile. I'd planned to put them in my coupe as well, but forgot about the indicator relay 'thing'. They are much brighter, on the bikes anyway, than the Edison counterparts. A more important reason to convert the Triumph was to have an illumenated light. Regular bulbs couldn't survive the vibration. LEDs aren't affected by the this.
Kemper

You could use an electronic flasher to deal with the lower current draw of LEDs. My "luck" has been that they seem to work well with both high and low current lighting. http://www.tricoproducts.com/index.cfm?location_id=34

As for LED replacements for 1157, 1156, etc, signal/stop lamps, there are several choices, some not nearly as bright as others. Some have only a few LED elements, some have many more to their clusters. Some broadcast light from large low sitting platforms, others have LEDs facing sideways, rearward, as well as forward (directly at your eye) to take advantage of the reflectors used in many lamp fixtures.

Here are a few sites you might want to look at to see what is actually available today:

http://www.lightlens.com/

http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/aut1157ri/Images/automotive_bulbs.pdf

http://www.superbrightleds.com/BA9S6_specs.htm

http://www.mgbexperience.com/phorum/read.php?1,273872



Bob Muenchausen

I know this thread is about LED tail lamps, but I recall seeing a thread about Sylvania Silverstar bulbs and how bright they are. I have installed the Siverstar headlamps and am very impressed. Much brighter than my old halogens. I measured current draw and it is roughly the same as the halogens. I haven't tried the tail lamps yet, but based on what I saw with the headlamps I am going to.

Regards,
GTF
G T Foster

I think you may be referring to the same info as is contained on this site: http://www.s95408591.onlinehome.us/33601.html

I plan on purchasing some of the recent LED entries described at the above links and also doing a comparison on them. I have since located a decent light meter by which to give specific numbers to light output and hope to do some more scientifically satisfying investigations on all of these replacement bulb types. Can't hurt and may even dispell some of the mythology surrounding some of them. It takes a long time, sometimes, for info to be gathered by enthusiasts and then disseminated. And in today's world, that can mean that even the best intentioned info is already out of date.
Bob Muenchausen

Bob,
Please keep us enlightened on your experiments. If you find a superior working comination of flasher and LED light products, please let us know!
Frank Nocera

This thread was discussed between 14/10/2005 and 16/10/2005

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.