12v Lucas 525 LED stop and tail light

Description

This is the brightest and best of our LED stop and tail light units and is the perfect lighting upgrade for the Lucas 525 style of rear lamp fitted to many classic cars and motorcycles from the 1950s.  It features a total of 36 warm white LEDs that are distributed to provide 360 degree light output which is very similar to that of a conventional filament bulb. With its glass globe and warm white light output, it is difficult to tell the difference between this LED light and a standard filament stop and tail lamp. The only real difference is that the LED unit consumes only a tiny fraction of the power.

This LED tail light is suitable for use with all 12 volt vehicles (and also with 24 volt vehicles too) which are wired with a negative earth arrangement. It is not suitable for 6 volt vehicles or those wired with a positive earth.

It features the standard BAY15D dual-contact offset pin base which is sometimes known as the 1157 fitment. It has dual intensity output which means that all of the 36 LEDs illuminate for the tail light function, and they all light up even more brightly when the brakes are applied.

The warm white colour and wide 360 degree illumination pattern means that this LED is ideal for both lighting up the rear light and providing the necessary number plate illumination. This is simply the best 2 volt LED rear lamp bulb that is available!

The Lucas 525 (L252) tail light

The Lucas 525 tail lamp (sometimes also known as a L525) was a popular rear lamp fitted to countless motorcycles in the mid-1950s.  It was used by a number of manufacturers including BSA, AJS, Matchless, Ariel, Royal Enfield, James and Triumph amongst many others.  It uses a twin filament bulb to give both stop and tail light functions.

It looks very similar to the slightly later Lucas 564 (L564) tail lamp but is discernible by its more tapered lens.  Lucas stopped producing the L525 lamp shortly after the slightly larger and squarer L564 model was introduced and so many motorcycles were swapped over to using the newer model.

Both the Lucas 564 and 525 tail lamps are popular for fitting to modern motorcycles such as the various new Triumph Bonneville models to replace the somewhat ugly stock tail lamps and give a more classic look.  They are often also supplied with the various ‘fender eliminator kits’ (FEK) and modern reproduction units are widely available.

Please note: This item is only the LED ‘bulb’ upgrade and does not include the Lucas rear lamp unit itself.

Additional information

Why buy this LED light?

If you’re looking for an LED light upgrade for your classic Lucas 525 motorcycle or car rear lamp then this is quite simply the best there is available! It is suitable for all vehicles with a 12 volt negative earth electrical system.

In terms of power consumption, this LED light consumes only 0.55 watts when the tail light is on and 2.79 watts when the brakes are applied. Compare this with the 5 and 21 watt power draw from a standard 21/5W filament bulb and you’ll see that it consumes only a tiny fraction of the power. This makes it ideal for installing on classic vehicles where the charging system (particularly those with the earlier dynamos) needs a helping hand to keep the battery fully-charged. It is also a great way to free up some power to upgrade the headlamp to a higher wattage model for better illumination of the road ahead.

This LED unit is almost indistinguishable from a conventional filament bulb in terms of looks. The 36 LEDs emit a warm white colour which matches that from a standard bulb giving excellent illumination of both the rear light and the number plate below (note that many LEDs emit a cool white light which looks a little too blue and modern for a classic vehicle). The 36 LEDs are arranged to give even light output in all directions, again just like a conventional light bulb. Actually we think it lights up a Lucas 525 rear lamp even better than a conventional bulb!

Alternative options

The super bright LED stop and tail light described above is, we think, simply the best option currently available for a Lucas 525 rear light unit. A lower cost alternative is the 12v compact LED stop and tail light (we recommend the red LED version). This provides pretty good tail and stop light illumination but, due to its small size, it is not as bright as the recommended LED unit described above. It also does not provide any illumination of the number plate when installed in a Lucas 525 lamp.

For 6 volt motorcycles, our 6v LED stop and tail light provides excellent illumination of the rear lamp in both tail and stop light functions. Again we would recommend the red version for maximum brightness, although illumination of the number plate is limited.

Buy the best!

Here at MatchlessClueless we have tried and tested countless LED lighting options and have found very few that live up to our high standards of quality and brightness. The majority of LED units on the market aren’t that good and give disappointing performance. That’s exactly the reason we started produced our own LED lighting boards in the first place!

However we have recently been able to source a few good quality LEDs which we think are good enough to offer on the MatchlessClueless website. These are not quite as good as the LED lighting boards we design and make ourselves, but they are the next best thing. All LEDs are not created equal, even is they look similar to the ones you see here. This is why we are confident in recommending and selling only the best LED lighting options for your motorcycle.