LED MR11 bulb alternative?

[Patriot]

LED MR11 bulbs?

I see alot of guys experimenting with CREE LED's, but I have MR11 bulb bodies, and wanted something that would fit in my current 20watt Halogen MR11 lights.

However, I was thinking of trying to find some LED bulbs that are the same MR11 size, so it would fit seamlessly into my light bodies, and be fed by 12v. I have seen the ones with a bunch of little round LED's, but don't really like the way they shine. They neevr seem to give the brightness I'm looking for.

Anyway, I found these on Ebay, and seem like a possibility, but they don't really look like they were made for bike lights at 38deg spread.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-MR11-G4-12V-5W-Wh ... dZViewItem

Does anyone have any experience with these. The square shaped LED's have me scratching my head. Never eally used those before.

 

[fechter]

That's kind of cool. I don't think it focuses the light very tightly and may not be anything like a halogen MR-11 bulb. It would be nice if it focused more tightly.

 

[Patriot]

That's exactly what I am concerned about. 38 degrees is a BIG spread.

My MR11's are really nice, with what I consider a great all around spread of 20 degrees. Probably one of the best general spreads I've seen. Alot of dual lights come with one bulb at about 30deg, and the other at 10-15deg. So, if you run both, you get a good spread. But I found with just one 20w bulb at 20degrees, I get just about the perfect spread with only one bulb. I can simply turn on the other light for bad weather and fog, etc.

Total amp draw with 2 - 20w bulbs, is about 0.83 amps off of the 48v battery. I figure with a bit of loss for wires, and the converter, I'm using a total of about 1 amp for both. Not too bad.

However, if I could use two LED bulbs like these, I would only draw 0.25 amps off the 48v battery. That wouldn't be a huge differance, but it does help to free up an extra 3/4 amp for the motor.

 

[Drunkskunk]

I just got done building a light out of those LED lights. Mine is a Cree, and only pulls 3 watts, yet it produces more light than the 55 watt halogen it replaced.

 

[jk1]

what voltage convertes are you using to run the led lights ? as most ebikes are 36 to 48 v and the downlights are normaly only up to 12 v input ?

Do you have any photos of your 3w cree setup ?

 

[philf]

This is good timing... I've been looking at what's available in LED technology, now, and still haven't found objective comparisons between LED and the MR11-based lights I have on my bike. Looking at the latest offerings from Cree (yes, most of the components I've seen up-close-and-personal are surface mount "chips"), I was excited by the fact that they have some very bright units with a warmer colour temperature now (their brightest LEDs are still that horrible bluish white that we're all familiar with). Barring actually ordering a few from different series (they ain't cheap), I dunno how best to compare them.

Comparing lux, lumens, mcds, etc., is a crapshoot - and the reflector design radically changes the practical application of the light actually being produced. You really need to see and "feel" the light to know. It'd be great if anyone who has multiple light types in their possession could post comparative pics. Time to put the digital camera into manual mode and fix the exposure, though, otherwise we won't be able to tell what we're looking at .

Most of these bright LED systems still run at 3.3V, or thereabouts. Many of the packaged solutions include an onboard regulator - but usually with the design idea that they're going to be powered by 4.5 or 6V worth of batteries. Dunno what the real input limit is - certainly not Full Monty e-bike battery range, thats' for sure.

 

[Drunkskunk]

I wish I had a camera that would do it.

My overhead light in my computer room uses Mr11 bulbs, and its where I tried my first Cree based LED bulb. the diffrence isn't enough to show up in a picture, but the Cree is a brighter and a whiter light

 

[philf]

Y'know what? I just followed up on actually going to eBay and checking out the listing. You get THREE of those MR11's for $19.99 US with free shipping.

Seems silly not to "just try 'em" at that price. Hell, if they aren't bright enough, but the light is nice, maybe I'll just mount all three .

When they get here (stuff from Hong Kong usually takes a week to 10 days), I'll set up a "real life" comparison and capture some pics...

 

[etard]

This is a good thread. I need help though. I am trying to figure out a 12 volt light for my recently acquired motorcycle, but am unhappy with the price and products available. I found a flashlight on ebay that has 6 of these in it. But for my ebike, I think I only need like 2, in which case I will just get flashlights.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11621

Flashlight:

Now as I understand LED's they only care how much amps you put into them as long as you don't go over the rated volts. Does that mean I need to find a way to control how much amps they receive from the alternator? How bright is 1600 lumens, will I blind people? 8) :wink: And is there a way to turn 4 on for normal driving and then 2 more for high beam? Maybe I need one of these? It would also be cool to have a knob on the handlebar to adjust brightness like a dimmer.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13552

The dealextreme page is very cool in that you can just drop a better replacement module for the flashlight you already have.