Ducati Monster Forum

Are LEDs a ripoff? discuss....
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that LED lights on Vehicles are a New Ripoff,

yes they are brighter ,use less power .etc etc BUT I have become dissilussioned with them because they are often unrliable and unfixable and much more expensive to replace than the good old 12v bulb .

As an electronic tech I often get asked by mates to fix the LED clusters on cars and bikes and also I have bought rear LEDs and indicator kits for my various Ducatis , some are the cheap Chinese ones but others are expensive USA ,Jap and German ones .....all have had issues .

Some are repoairable but NOT at the roadside ,like an ordinary bulb, others are sealed and not repairable ,or the labour time cost to repair say 2 hours means the parts are almost as expensive as new.

I have 3 Ducati rear light clusters from 3 suppliers that are unrepairable even with a full surface mount workshop at hand i have spent 20 man hours working on these and they are partially working but Not reliable .
A Toyota unit which is sealed i fixed for a mate but it took 4 hours ,i charged him $100 , new from Toyota was $225!!!!!!!!!.....i could go on and on

Dont get me wrong I love LEDs as they are much safer when working due to the much brighter light but if they fail at night on a bike you are in danger wheras a plain old bulb can be changed in minutes.
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MONSTERMAN

I like em.   [evil]

+1

Like anything, it's a trade-off.

I like that they're super-bright and quick on/off.

I like that they generate very little heat, and that they have a much longer service life than traditional bulbs.

I dislike that they're usually very difficult to replace, and that when they go bad, they tend to do so at the worst possible time.

I'd love to see a backup socket for incandescent bulbs so one could be popped in when there's a failure of the LED's.

LEDs are extremely reliable. The issue is, most people buy ones that are poorly manufactured. Someone made it on his spare time in his backyard with crap parts. Its like the difference between a cheap 99cent store light bulb vs a brand name home depot lightbulb.

LEDs installed at the factory are extremely reliable.  If you buy them off ebay and screw them into an 1156/1157 socket, YMMV.

They do need to be made easier to R&R, but that's an evolutionary thing.  Some older cars require a partial disassembly of the grille just to swap a headlight.

Eventually, we might see LEDs being replaceable like small bulbs, but it really comes down to the manufacturers. 

There's no reason they can't make a spec for an LED on a small bayonet mount.

I wouldn't run anything else, cleaner, brighter, better made. I have them on my Monster and 690 Duke. You can see them easily no matter how close they Re to the headliight