I put a APC brand LED tail light bulb in my 05 1200C and it worked ok. I went to go to work early this morning and my headlamp and tailight did not work when I got home I checked the fuse and it was blown. I put a new fuse in and it blew it right away. I thought oh crap I have a short, so I thought I would put the original bulb back in and see if that fixed it. It did fix it the LED from PEP boys has a little board inside with a few resistors on it and it must be shorted out. So all I am trying to say is Pep Boys APC brand LED bulbs suck!

you sure you don't need a load balancer?

Moker is probably correct, as far as I have read about led lights a load equalizer is needed because the led lights draw more power than the low watt bulb that was in there before. The fuse is designed for the lower power bulb and when you activate the the led light it draws more power and blows the fuse.

I thought LED's drew less power. Hence the reason you get hyperflash when using LED's for signals w/o a load equalizer.

On a side note the reason you might be having problems is because of the bulb itself. APC products are complete junk. They are for ricer boys in Civics and Neons with huge park bench wings on the back and very little money to spend. Basically you get what you pay for.

Pick up this one on ebay. I have had no problems and it is plenty bright for me.
http://cgi.ebay.com/3157-4157-25-led-Matrix-Turn-Signal-Tail-Light-Bulb_W0QQitemZ5812803876QQcategoryZ20334QQrdZ1QQcm dZViewItem

Ya I know the APC stuff is junk I should have know better. I tried to hook up a 10amp power supply from radio shack and it blew the circuit breaker on that so it is a bad bulb for sure. It did work ok for 3 or 4 days.

I tried an LED taillight bulb and found it to be not useful. The main problem is that it is very directional - the light goes straight out the middle of the taillight lens. Very little light reflects around within the lens, and virtually no light at all shines up thru the clear part of the lens onto the license plate. Hence it appears to be not very bright compared to a regular bulb. Useless on a sunny day. With the stock taillight lens the LED bulbs are useless IMO.

Has no one else run into this problem?

The less expensive led's are not very bright at all and I wouldn't recommend 'em for bikes. However, those real pricey ones are pretty decent and will last virtually forever. Bottom line, I can't justify the cost. You get what you pay for.


My guess is you have a shorted resistor on that board. It happens.

I got my LEDs from autolumination.com and got the ones with 24 or 25 LEDs facing all directions. I also put in the load equalizers too. I like the look of the LEDs in front. With the smoked lenses and clear LEDs you can't really see them when they are off, unlike those orange bulbs that stand out through the smoke lenses. When they flash they flash amber and they really light up. I no longer use them as running lights, just directionals.

I thought LED's drew less power.

This is what I thought too. I too got an LED bulb for my tail lamp at the superlumination on ebay. At night it provides enough light but during the day not enough. I put the stock bulb back in and wrote a note to self to leave the lighting stock on this bike. Just my opinion, YMMV.

The LED's do draw less current. The stock TSM's on the HD's are designed in such a way that in order for them to function properly, they need to have a certain amount of current flowing through them...which is why when you change to a low current device such as an LED, they don't work right. Very often, they won't work at all. The load equalizers essentially add more resistive load to the TSM circuit to keep it working properly.

I put my Sorbys angled tail light on today and I figured out a way to use the stock bulb I put a small piece of foam in tha cavity behind the tail light and I did not put the bulb all the way into the lense, just to the stops and the small piece of foam holds the bulb from falling out. The stock bulb now has as much clearance as the stock bulb. And I dont have to deal with a LED bulb :clap

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b38/CrashDummy123/Harley%20tank/DSCN0031Small.jpg

Sorry guys, your right led's draw less power I got them mixed up.

I tried an LED taillight bulb and found it to be not useful. The main problem is that it is very directional - the light goes straight out the middle of the taillight lens. Very little light reflects around within the lens, and virtually no light at all shines up thru the clear part of the lens onto the license plate. Hence it appears to be not very bright compared to a regular bulb. Useless on a sunny day. With the stock taillight lens the LED bulbs are useless IMO.

Has no one else run into this problem?


Absolutely Mick.

I have the LED for now, but am looking for a replacement. I got it because of the laydown lens. I've heard the stocker will melt it, so I got about a 12.00 LED off ebay. I don't feel it's bright enough, and am currently looking for a better solution....

We're invisible enough as it is! :frownthre

Got the apc led 1156 bulb for the rear turn signals. My problem is the bulb will not twist and click in. The bulb is to wide (or not long enough before it gets wider) and doesn't push in far enough before it hits the reflector.

Most LED units are not close to the stock taillight bulb and that is only 3 candle power. Some of the 48 LED element ones are better. You might try Custom Dynamics. The best LED tail light that I have seen is by heavycycles. At $200 it is pricey but brighter than the 1157 or 3157 tail light bulbs and much broghter than the plug-in LED units.

SEMJPM

APC= Another Pile of Crap.

A load equalizer will not correct a draw that can blow a fuse, your are correct, it is shorting out.
LED's as a rule draw less that a Incandescent bulb.

I had a LED on my 88, went back to t a 1157 because the light was a very narrow beam, that was too hard to see from the rear, if you weren't right behind it. id was like you could not even see it.

Absolutely Mick.

I have the LED for now, but am looking for a replacement. I got it because of the laydown lens. I've heard the stocker will melt it, so I got about a 12.00 LED off ebay. I don't feel it's bright enough, and am currently looking for a better solution....

We're invisible enough as it is! :frownthre

don't know about that. i've been using the laydown lens from sorgy's for over a year and have had no problems with the bulb melting the lens. i did get an led once but found like everyone else that during the day, it just did not put out enough light so i went back to the bulb........

don't know about that. i've been using the laydown lens from sorgy's for over a year and have had no problems with the bulb melting the lens. i did get an led once but found like everyone else that during the day, it just did not put out enough light so i went back to the bulb........

my laydown definatelly started to melt, thats why i went to led. got mine from auto zone. not that bright but it works.

I tried one of the 'light towers' from superlumination, it was better than the first attempt I had made to go LED, but I ended up returning to the stock 3157, for all of the reasons already mentioned.

Kim

i put there led brake light in and its a pos