My assumptions were:

- No reflector: apparently the US and European units not only differ in
the lamp layout, but also in having reflectors or not. Mine has none,
along with a lot of others. Without a reflector roughly 2/3 of the light
of an incandescent bulb is lost, leaving only 135 lumen. The LED throws
all of its 85 lumen towards the lens.

- The lens is red, so (estimated) 50% of the light of an incandescent bulb
is filtered out, whereas the LED is already red. That leaves about 70
lumen.

So in my case I could benefit marginally from the LED lamp (85 vs 70
lumen). but better would be adding reflectors :-)
Anyone a picture of an US unit with reflectors?

Jaap,
'87 Caravelle diesel

> At 05:42 AM 2/6/2008, Jaap Nauta wrote...
>>Has anyone tried these:
>>http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/115x-xLX3.htm ?
>>
>>These are wide angle high power LEDs, which in theory are brighter
>> than
>>incandescents
>
> Not even close.
>
> The 1157 LED replacement is rated at 30/85 lumens flux. A real 1157
> bulb has 3/32 mean spherical candlepower, which is 37/402 lumen. Not
> only is the direct beam of the real 1157 incandescent bulb brighter,
> but the reflector will add additional light.
>
> In reverse, the LED bulb, with a 130 degree beam, is only providing
> 0.73/2.08 mean spherical candlepower. (1 lumen = .07958 MSCP, 130
> degree cone = .32175 of a sphere)