Ok new to the group. Ok now that's out of the way here is my thing. I have a 2009 Harley-Davidson Rocker, I want to add a third brake light to the rear of the bike. The rear lights are all LED, running, brake and turn. I found a tombstone light that looks cool but it's incandescent bulb. Put 12v to it and it works fine, wire it to the bike and nothing. With the rest of the rear lights being LED do I need to use one that's LED to work with what I have ? Or can I change out the 1157 for a LED replacement and get it to work? Sorry I'm new to LED 's any help will be appreciated.
LED questions
- Thread starter Ksc12991
- Start date
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If the lights are all LED you may need to take a voltmeter to things as the voltage back there may not be 12v and if not then there may be a driver or power supply to drop the voltage from 12v to whatever and it won't be compatible with 12v at all plus if things are electronic in the brake switching it may also not be a 12v compatible system and may require a relay to do what you want.
Alaric Darconville
Flashlight Enthusiast
:welcome:
Lynx Arc is on the right track on the electrical issues-- the existing turn/stop/tail lamps, being LED, may be fed a lower voltage from the lighting control module. A decent multimeter can be had pretty cheaply and could verify that for you. An 1157-shaped LED might often light at a lower voltage than expected, but it's likely the voltages in the factory lamp assemblies are lower.
However, the performance of an iffy lamp with an iffy bulb-shaped LED will be iffier still. You can use this method to try to evaluate the performance, but this is on the assumption that tombstone lamp is worth using in the first place.
But is it genuinely a stop lamp? Or does it just "look cool"? Some accessory lights are OK if they don't render inoperative any required functions, such as masking the turn signals, and don't themselves cause unnecessary glare.
Lynx Arc is on the right track on the electrical issues-- the existing turn/stop/tail lamps, being LED, may be fed a lower voltage from the lighting control module. A decent multimeter can be had pretty cheaply and could verify that for you. An 1157-shaped LED might often light at a lower voltage than expected, but it's likely the voltages in the factory lamp assemblies are lower.
However, the performance of an iffy lamp with an iffy bulb-shaped LED will be iffier still. You can use this method to try to evaluate the performance, but this is on the assumption that tombstone lamp is worth using in the first place.
