6v Lucas 564 LED light board kit

Description

This fantastic new LED light board has been specially designed to fit perfectly inside the red outer lens of a Lucas 564 rear motorcycle lamp.  The Lucas 564 style rear light was originally fitted to countless classic motorcycles from the 1950s onwards, but is now also a popular upgrade for many modern and custom bike owners for that classic touch.  The LED board replaces the standard filament bulb giving a huge reduction in power consumption, increased reliability and improved visibility.

The latest version of the 6v LED light boards has been completely redesigned to make them even better. The first thing you will notice is that the LED board has been reshaped to match the outline and contours of the Lucas 564 rear lights. As well as ensuring that the LEDs are seen at their full brightness, the mirror finish of the LED board also improves the performance of the reflector elements built into the red lens of the lamp.

The LEDs are still powered by our unique current controlled circuitry to ensure they operate at maximum brightness regardless of battery voltage or engine speed; this is particularly important for 6 volt motorcycles.  We have managed to squeeze in an extra two red LEDs to give an even wider and brighter illuminated area. The original LED board easily matched the brightness of a standard 21/5W filament bulb, so the new design is even more visible. Additional circuit protection, polarity correction and current limiting devices have been included to ensure that the sensitive LEDs are safe even if you connect them wrongly or your bike’s electrical system goes wrong.

These LED boards are ideal for bikes with low power dynamo charging systems, but will work equally well on alternator equipped machines and are also perfect for total-loss systems thanks to their ultra-low power consumption. Note that this LED unit is not suitable for motorcycles running with 12 volts electrics, but an alternative 12v version is available.

The LED light board is designed to operate with both positive and negative earth motorcycles overcoming the polarity issues common to many other such lights. Inbuilt circuitry automatically ‘corrects’ the polarity and safeguards against any possible wrong connections by the user. The redesigned LED board comes with a custom designed BAY15D (1157) plugin adapter that makes installation (almost) as easy as changing a bulb. You just remove the filament lamp, plug in the adapter in its place and screw the LED board into that. No drilling, cutting or rewiring of the lamp unit is available and you can easily swap back to a conventional bulb at any time if needed.  (The original version of the LED board required two holes to be drilled in the back plate of the lamp unit for the mounting posts, but this new version requires no modification of the lamp at all).

The light unit consists of a wide hexagonal array of twelve extra-bright red LEDs. Four of these red LEDs light up for the tail light function and all twelve illuminate when the brakes are applied.  The distinction between the tail and brake lights are even more obvious than with a normal filament bulb as both the brightness and pattern of the illuminated area changes.  Linked to the tail lights are three white LEDs which point downwards to illuminate the numberplate. All of the LEDs are super-bright and wide-angled for enhanced visibility from all viewing angles.

Light emitting diodes offer many benefits for classic motorcycles, as is discussed in detail on the advantages of LED lighting page. The main advantage is that power consumption is a fraction of that of a conventional bulb. Our rear light boards draw less than 140mA of maximum current – that’s only about 6% of the current needed by a normal 21+5 Watt bulb. The LEDs are brighter and more visible too!

These LED light units have been designed to the highest ‘Matchless Clueless’ standards and specifications. Other LED units use resistors to control the voltage to the diodes as this is cheap and simple. However it does not properly control the current flowing through the LEDs over the surprisingly wide range of voltages which can be expected from a motorcycles charging system (especially with 6v bikes). This can lead to dim LEDs and low visibility if the battery needs charging, or the diodes burning out if the voltage rises too high when the battery is being charged.

Instead our light boards use sophisticated microchips to precisely control the current supplied to the LEDs irrespective of supply voltage fluctuations. They therefore operate at peak performance and brightness over all battery charge states. In fact they will help get you home safely even in the event of a complete charging system failure as the LEDs will continue to glow brightly even when the battery is too discharged to light up the other bulbs on your bike.

Full fitting and installation instructions are available to view online in the Lucas 564 light installation guide. Please take note of my comments regarding LED lighting and the law.

The only tools required to install the LED board are a 2.5mm Allen key and a 7mm spanner. These are available as optional extras for only £2.20 by ticking the option box at the top of the page before clicking the ‘Buy it Now’ button, just in case you don’t already have them in your tool box.

Additional information