Re: 6 volt flashing indicators

Posted by fred kanter On 2011/7/31 9:48:14

ON THE USE OF LED'S TO REPLACE INCANDESCENT BULBS

We considered offering a line of 6 and 12V LCD's to upgrade and improve older cars. On a 55/56 Packard lamp we found tha the LCD gave considerably less light than a regualar bulb. While the regular bulb emits light on all directions and illuminates the large lens as designed, the LED emits light in basically one direction adn does not "light up" the lens yielding less visibility.

On a 37 115C/120C where the lamp is right behind the lens the LED pointed straight back and gave poor visibility when viewed form an angle while the incandescent lamp gave better visibility from an angle. The LED was brighter when viewed from directly behind, but if teh lamp housing was lined with reflective aluminum foil the viewablity was better that the LED.

Driving behind a modern car with LEDs I noticed that the taillamps often contain 15-20 LEDs as a surround to the taillamp and they are spaced 1 or more inches apart with a soft diffuser. This is obviously what is needed to be effective


We decided not to offer and do not recommend the LED's as they posed a safety hazard of poorer viewability in many applications.