TOPIC:

I've been looking at possible replacement LED taillights, but they all seems to have ratings for different countries. Does anyone know of a chart that would compare something like an E4 approval to the standard US DOT system? I obviously don't want el-cheapo dim lights on my bike, and I assume anything that has been certified has met at least a certain standard for brightness and visibility, but it would be nice to know if the lights I'm considering would actually meet the local legal requirements.

looking at lumens per Watt output might be a help, also the LED can be a more directed and less ambient light, for rear lights and winkers it is the side on illumination that matters too although it might not be tested for vehicle approval.

Sure, I understand the directionality of LEDs. In fact the reason I like this particular taillight is because it has a honeycomb insert between bulbs to help diffuse and spread the light out more. Of course they don't have any useful information like lumens, so it's hard to say what the actual output is. They only say that it is E4-approved.

I bought some indicator bulbs from dx.com - they were stated as 180~200 lumens. Being cheapies I don't know how much they actually are, but they are slightly dimmer than standard - but you can only tell if you had the side-by-side. Bought them because the standard replacement bulbs were too long for my indicator enclosures, and the pressed on the bulbs. So for $3 each they were well worth it.

Shdwdrgn wrote: I've been looking at possible replacement LED taillights, but they all seems to have ratings for different countries. Does anyone know of a chart that would compare something like an E4 approval to the standard US DOT system? I obviously don't want el-cheapo dim lights on my bike, and I assume anything that has been certified has met at least a certain standard for brightness and visibility, but it would be nice to know if the lights I'm considering would actually meet the local legal requirements.

There are state requirements and then there are federal requirements. Tail lights/turn signals have both a brightness min and also a physical spacing requirement for placement of the turn signals left and right of the tail light.

As for LEDs: most are too dim especially the junk off ebay. Superbright leds.com had the best those are what I am running.

www.superbrightleds.com/?utm_source=Gene...ING+-+LEDs+-+General