So while I ponder whether to keep those super bright LEDs for my rear license plate...
Sharp eyed readers may have noticed that I had another pair of LEDs (25) that I had ordered from Pika-Q, but which I did not discuss in my last post.
Although I was really tempted to replace the orange rear turn signals, the ones on the Pika-Q site all apparently seemed to require the use of resistors. And because I'm too lazy to figure out how it all works, never mind do the wiring, it's something I will have to research further and do at a later day.
Long time readers will instead know that I've been obsessed with trying to figure out how to improve my one back up lamp. Since Series 3 (Kohki) cars only have a back up bulb on the left side, with the right side being a rear foglight, the back up lamp needs to be as bright as possible. Not only to let others know I'm backing up, but also so that I can see what I'm backing up into.
So when I found this bulb, I was pretty excited.
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| Oh yeah! 500 Lumens!! |
I think there are other bulbs that are brighter, but for the S25 bulb, this was the brightest I could find.
I was happy with the claimed 500 lumens rating because as you know
back in July I replaced the failed HID bulb with an LED from PIAA with a claimed 300 lumens brightness.
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So here are pictures of the before and after - can you tell the difference?
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| With the PIAA bulb |
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| With the PIKA-Q bulb |
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| PIAA bulb |
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| PIKA-Q bulb |
Again, to the naked eye there is a notable difference, one that the iPhone camera does not pick up. Perhaps you can tell by how the back wall gets lit up?
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| PIAA bulb |
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| PIKA-Q bulb |
You can tell that the area which is lit up is higher up on the wall with the PIKA-Q bulb. Also the cardboard box is more uniformly and brightly lit up.
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| Here is a direct comparison of the difference in design |
So, the next logical step would be to replace the turn signals with orange LEDs as well... so tempted but the resistors...
