LED Headlight

[Kool_Biker]

Hi all and a Happy New Year!

I've recently bought an LED H4 headlight from eBay, primarily to play with ...

Screen Shot 2015-01-10 at 18.14.59.jpg

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111352030430? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Took a month to arrive from China, but it did; it is a surprisingly well made unit with 3 Cree LEDs on a quality aluminium substrate, a little fan to keep everything cool and a tiny box with electronics to drive it all.
Some quick and dirty bench testing has showed this thing is capable of an incredible amount of white light!!!
Indeed, compared to a conventional, but quality, 55/60W H4 on the bench, it is day and night (no pun intended).
Most important, in low beam (day riding), it consumes appreciably less current than the original, which has to be music to our less than stellar OEM alternators.

So before allowing myself to get excited, I installed it in my Z's headlight (yes, it fits) and plan to do some riding to assess reliability and subjective performance (how it feels at night).
Then, I will report back.

Meanwhile, has anyone else had any similar experience?
I have no doubt whatsoever this is the future. But not sure yet the future has arrived ...

Cheers, Aris

[swarrans]

It seems odd that it has or needs a fan as I thought the reason LEDs are more efficient than other lamps is that they convert more of the electrical power into light and not heat? I guess they must just be more prone to heat damage than the other technologies then?

I am interested in your experience though as my US spec CBX will have the headlamp constant on I guess

Simon

[Larry Zimmer]

Neat, Aris. Do keep us posted. I'm currently using PIAA bulbs. They are quite an improvement over any 'standard' H4 I've ever used. (Bit expensive. BUT, a significant improvement.) This looks as though it could be a quantum move from that.

[Quickster2]

I too use the PIAA Extreme White Plus 4000K H4 bulb and have on three different older motorcycles. Great bulbs IMO. Never had one fail but if needed another bulb would be interested in seeing some comparison pictures at night against a wall. Thx

[sweattysock]

Hi Aris!, Any update on this please?, Is there enough room in a 79 headlight bucket for cooling fan and enough heat dissipation without harming wiring in bucket?, anyone tried L.E.D turn signal bulbs? or stop/tail bulbs? , what is required?, is it straightforward swap ?- or require ballast resistors?/modifications?. Interested in trying however would like option to revert back to original! Grateful for any suggestions/experiences?.

[Kool_Biker]

Hi chaps.
Very little to report other than some limited day riding - too cold ..
And yes, although too early, the unit seems to be holding.
There definitely is room in the bucket, although not much. As for the unit itself, it is plug and play.

I will do a proper test, especially w.r.t. current consumption vs luminance as soon it becomes pleasant to ride, day & night Winter - winter go away
RGDS

[sweattysock]

Hi Aris!, Thanks for reply!, I have bought one from same source!, just the wait now!

[mac.]

Hi Aris,

I'm the last one that can afford to nudge but I was wondering if you have anymore news?

I am finding that running my headlight on either high or low beam draws my voltage down to below 12 volts during a ride and a push start is required on start up. It starts easily but really isn't good press for the CBX , maybe it's a local thing (ie) load shedding. (local joke - may go over the head of people that haven't stayed or lived in RSA recently........we have regular programmed rolling electrical power outages because of insufficient power delivery {Mainly....})

I've done the "relay" upgrade that you posted previously and that definitely helped in reducing power through the key switch so hope that this new mod will be as effective for electricity saving.

My needs are only for daylight riding on the CBX as I don't ride at night.

Tx's

Mac

[rsuarez]

Hi Aris, Sweattysock,

Could you please comment on you findings testing this led bulb? Specially about the heat it creates inside the housing. I thinks this would be a great upgrade to the CBX.

thanks.

Ramon

[wyly]

Hi Aris, Sweattysock,

Could you please comment on you findings testing this led bulb? Specially about the heat it creates inside the housing. I thinks this would be a great upgrade to the CBX.

thanks.

Ramon

LEDs will last for a very long time but when they fail it's because the fan units which spin very quickly fail... I bought an LED replacement from a canadian source that does not require a fan it has a heat sink attached to the back to dissipate extra heat, no mechanical moving parts that can fail...I think my LED is made by Phillips..

[wyly]

xenondepot is where I purchased my LED headlight, simple plug and play...it takes a bit of fiddling to get all the wires out of the way but it does go in. No fan to break no overheating heating problems.

http://www.xenondepot.com/H4-LED-headli ... led-hl.htm