LED Upgrades

[gak1047]

I find myself riding my CBX more each year which means I am riding it more at night. The stock headlight and instrument cluster lights leave a lot to be desired. I would like to replace all my light bulbs with LED bulbs. Has anyone done this? If so, which bulbs did you use, where can they be found, and how are they holding up? I would appreciate any input with this.

Thanks,

Greg

[wyly]

I find myself riding my CBX more each year which means I am riding it more at night. The stock headlight and instrument cluster lights leave a lot to be desired. I would like to replace all my light bulbs with LED bulbs. Has anyone done this? If so, which bulbs did you use, where can they be found, and how are they holding up? I would appreciate any input with this.

Thanks,

Greg

spencer has an awesome front and rear led indicator set send him pm.
I found a rear LED for brake/tail light at an automotive supplier.
and switched out my oem front headlight bulb for a LED too, http://www.xenondepot.com/H4-LED-headli ... led-hl.htm
it doesn't require a fan to cool(fail) but has a heat sink instead, tight fit but move the wires around a bit and it'll go in.

[gak1047]

Thanks for the reply.

I hope you don't mind, but I have a couple of more questions. What bulbs did you use for your tail/brake lights? How do you like the headlight replacement bulb? Anything else that needs to be done or they just plug and play? Any trouble with either since the switch?

Thanks again,

Greg

[SteveG]

I put these in my CB900F two (?) years ago, and they really are super bright, both in running mode and brake light mode. I got another set that is going in the CBX this spring (when the snow melts enough to access it). $10.00 for the pair is a bargain in my book.

I used them because they are brighter than the stock incandescent bulbs. The seller claims 15 watts per bulb.

Steve

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-Ultra-Red-11 ... PP&vxp=mtr

[wyly]

Thanks for the reply.

I hope you don't mind, but I have a couple of more questions. What bulbs did you use for your tail/brake lights? How do you like the headlight replacement bulb? Anything else that needs to be done or they just plug and play? Any trouble with either since the switch?

Thanks again,

Greg

Without opening the tailight and looking I don't know the make of the brake light I think it could be brighter so I'll probably try another brand. My indicators are a custom creation by forum member spencer I've had a few issues with those because my Z has been making more voltage than normal. Spencer has adjusted them for me to accommodate the extra voltage, they're very bright. Or you could go with simple plug n play Led conversion from xenondepot, I don't know if they're as bright as spencer's creation.

No issues with the LED headlight since I've installed it. I'd recommend not getting LED conversions that require a cooling fan, a high speed mechanical fan is just another level of complexity waiting to fail. The Phillips LED that I have has a heat sink, no mechanical parts that can fail and it's a simple plug n play. It's brighter than the oem bulb but there are even brighter led conversions out there, I just couldn't find one that didn't have a cooling fan. A fan cooled led is probably okay if you have dual headlights but I won't take the risk with a single light because they been known to fail.

http://www.xenondepot.com/1979-cbx-hid- ... /18531.htm

re-visiting Xenon depots website I see they also have Led conversions for the instrument panel. I'll need to order some instrument panel LED's.

[NobleHops]

Thanks for the reply.

...

...my Z has been making more voltage than normal.

This caught my eye so I'll offer you my experience - not at all certain it's applicable to your situation but here goes.

A few years ago my alternator quit - bad rotor. I replaced the rotor with a spare from our pal Louis, but in between I decided to install one of J.R.s alternator conversions that I had sitting on a shelf. And that is of course slicker than a smelt, eliminated the primitive voltage regulator, installs in 20 minutes, looks great, works great, etc. Bueno. I did however notice that my alternator was now charging at 15.5V, which is too high. Concerned that the problem was in the built-in regulator in the Denso alternator, I contacted J.R. and he very kindly swapped out the regulator from his personal bike, and I installed it. No change. I stupidly said, "whatever", and motored on down the road.

Fast forward a few months and we have a problem: My AGM battery is swollen and looks like it's going to burst. The overcharging had fried it, and it was in danger of bursting.

Now we jump into the wayback machine, back 8 years ago when I was building the bike. When I was nearly finished I had a short from my Dyna coils to the gas tank, which was blowing fuses. And along the way in trying to diagnose the trouble, I let the magic smoke out of the wiring harness - and no I won't tell you how without a few of your scotches on board . Phil was not selling harnesses back then so I scared one up on eBay, but it was damaged: Had been in a front end collision and the wires to the ignition switch were crushed. I repaired it as best I knew how at the time, which was apparently not very good. Long story short, either my repair, or other unseen damage in the wiring harness was causing a lot of resistance in the power feed, and that was depressing the voltage reading at the built-in regulator. This in turn caused the alternator to go "full field", which is like Warp 9 in Star Trek-ese. WFO. And that's what eventually fried my battery.

The solution in my case was to ditch my crappy repaired wiring harness, and install one of Phil's excellent repro units, which took all of 2 hours to do, only because I was going slow. And as soon as I did, my alternator charging voltage was back down to 14.4 or thereabouts, where it belongs.

SO...

If you are overcharging, one reason that could be happening is because you have some accumulated resistance somewhere in your wiring harness, and I would not neglect it. It cost me a battery and a lot of aggravation.

N.

[NobleHops]

P.S. J.R. was frankly amazing as I thrashed through this, and it had nothing to do with his product. Should be said.

[cross]

These guys also have good quality LED light bulbs

https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/tail-brake-turn/
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... b/170/767/

[wyly]

P.S. J.R. was frankly amazing as I thrashed through this, and it had nothing to do with his product. Should be said.

thanks for that info Nils, I have the new the updated alternator too, dyna coils and altered wiring I'll look into that as potential source of the issue. I haven't looked checked my battery lately, I'll do that today.

and who is Phil? where would I find that wiring harness?

[NobleHops]

That would be my friend FallDownPhil, aka Phil Taber. He sells excellent reproduction wiring harnesses and also handlebar switches.

[FalldownPhil]

Hi Wyly,
Let me introduce myself. I am Phil, nice to make your acquaintance. If I can be of any help down the road, just send me a PM.
Very Best,
Phil

[wyly]

ahhh! if he said FalldownPhil I would've known who he was talking about

I made new harness to connect the original coil wiring to the new dyna coils, I had an auto electric shop crimp the wires for me and some rewiring was done when the new Tims alternator was installed. Following Tim's installation instructions the bike would start with the key but would only turn off with the kill switch. Don't know if either are responsible for the problems with spencers LED indicator, I've never seen the volt meter get in the red zone. Spencer has done some adjustments to the indicators but now I'm a little hesitant to try them out.

[cross]

There was a post by panterdave on the LED light bulbs. He had tried different type and brands and posted all info the post along with the best one he had found.
I see that few people upgraded z models signal lights with full electronic board/LED but i think that the LED bulbs posted by panteradave are perhaps better option as they are
have 1157 sockets so not much work to install them.
Here is his post
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7437&hilit=led+bulbs

[NobleHops]

Wyly, what is your charging voltage, measured across the positive and negative terminals on the battery, at 3k RPM?

The trouble, if you have it, is unlikely to be at your coil wiring. More likely at the red connector under the right side over, or in your ignition switch, or the right grip switch pod, or the wires thereto.