Re: Guage cluster bulbs

Posted by Cabreco on Oct 03, 2012; 1:28am
URL: http://vintage-and-classic-hondas.81.s1.nabble.com/Guage-cluster-bulbs-tp4030090p4030222.html

sgtslag wrote

The bulbs consume less than 5 (2?) Watts, each, so around 50 (20?) Watts, total, in the cluster.  If you want to swap them out for LED's, go ahead, but it is money, and time, for relatively little gain.

The OEM bulbs each draw 3w, LED in comparison draw 1/4w.  You'd be surprised how reducing 27.5w will alleviate these crappy charging systems. Considering the dash bulbs are lit most of the time, by swapping JUST the 10 dash (3w ea) 2 front signals (8w dim)& the tail light (8w dim) total 54w (with LED 11.25W) you save 42.75w
A standard 1157 bulb has a 5 to 8 watt dim element and about a 21 watt bright element. An aftermarket 1157 LED bulb is 3 watts total

Now add the weak Honda charging system at a traffic light with your brake light filament on and you have an extra 21w total of 75w draw vs 11.25w on LED. & this is not counting the 55 w (65w high beam) that your head light is drawing, now you are at 130w unless you have a directional going which will add 2 21w double filaments for a total of 172w sitting at a red light waiting to make a left turn. (HID headlights draw 35w)

LED will greatly reduce the drain on the charging system allowing you to run aux lights or other accessories easy.

On my heavy cruiser it made sense. In addition to the above a had a plethora of marker lights & bling lights running as well Radio, CB, GPS, driving lights  etc... so converting to LED actually has me charging the battery at idle, plus they are a LOT brighter.
I spent a lot of time researching.