Looking for a cheap nLED headlight?

[cywelchjr]

Or me. I ordered one too. When it gets here I'll be installing it and giving it a test run out around my subdivision (not many houses built here yet, it fell victim to the housing crash as it was just getting started) first and if it looks ok there I'll head out into darker areas to see how it fairs. I'll of course take my silverstar bulb with me just in case it's just not good enough and I really need more light to get back home. I'm hoping it's at least close, if it's just about the same, that will be fine, cause most of the time I don't need that much, and I can (and plan to) add driving lights under the fairing for the times I need lots of light anyways, and they are going to be LED anyways, there are some pretty awesome LED driving lights out there these days, but they are NOT cheap, but they light up the road for a real light energy budget.

[cywelchjr]

Well, the bulb arrived in the mail yesterday. I haven't installed it yet as I haven't pulled the tank yet to bypass the RLU as I've not made the jumper yet to do the bypass as I don't want to do a permanent bypass but I got the parts to do it. I'm hoping to pull the tank tomorrow night and bypass the RLU and put the bulb in and do a quick test run. It does look just like the picture in the auction at least.

[81xsproject]

Yeah... don't get too excited. Sorry to be the pessimist on this, but unless you never ride at night and are just looking to save amps, I don't think you'll be very happy with the light you are going to get. As an LED addict and having done tons of research and testing to build an LED head light, you aren't going to get the light out of those that you would like to have. At least not for a primary headlight. My guess is that the light color will be too blue, the lumens will be lower than some of my LED flashlights, and the projection of light will be all over the place. I hope I am wrong and it is a great bargain discovery. Best of luck too you.

[cywelchjr]

I'm actually expecting it to suck. But for $5 shipped I had to take the chance and find out. Cause if it works even decent, I can put some driving lights on for night distance vision at that. I figure I'll save up for a set of clearwater LED driving lights (everybody that has them say they're the bomb) to mount to the bottom of the fairing, even if I don't end up sticking with this cause it sucks. I'm aware that it may not have the lumens to do what is needed, but what the heck, for the price it was worth the gamble, and if it don't work, it will make a cool looking flashlight bulb.

How cool would that be, an H4 based flashlight?

[skids]

I guess you will aim your driving lights to low beam but then when you need your high beam, you would have that whimpy thing!

[cywelchjr]

I guess you will aim your driving lights to low beam but then when you need your high beam, you would have that whimpy thing!

No, you miss the point. If it's good enough for low beam but not quite good enough for high beam, then adding driving lights would fix it and make life good all around. If it's not good enough for low beam, then it goes back off and gets framed on the wall or turned into a flashlight (12v LED flashlight anybody? )

Oh, and the clearwater driving lights are variable brightness, adjustable on the fly, so they could be used as you suggest and work for both uses, just crank them up for high beam the turn them down for low.

[Eveready1100]

Mine arrived today. I stuck it in the spare light off my 78E and hooked it up to a battery. Well, let's just say it's going to be a damned fine emergency light for my bunkhouse. You might get away with it round town, on high beam, but not a chance out on the highways.

[Prothec]

Aside from the Clearwater daytime running lights ( >$400 ), there are these headlights...

http://www.customdynamics.com/high_i...d_headlamp.htm

4.5Amp (High Beam), 2.5Amp (Low Beam)

@approx 12 - 14 volts that would be minimum 54/30 watts, right?

I can't remember the rated wattage for our stock headlights.

[Eveready1100]

For the halogens, that's 60/55 watts
I dunno about working out the light output from the amps stated in the ad for that headlight. Doing just a straight amps x volts calc doesn't work with these new light systems.
Mind you, my 50 watt HID pumps out an enormous amount of light so they might be on a different scale for those things. I didn't see any mention of the word "Lumens" on that site. That'd be the tell-all.

[Eveready1100]

Here's my results from my test.................


^ LED bulb is a bit bigger physically but fits in the light just the same.


^ Low Beam


^ Low Beam Spread (if you can call that a spread!)


^High Beam


^ High Beam Spread

To be fair, the light should've been further off the ground, but this test told me all I needed to know. It ain't bright enough!

Just a side note.... The H3 bulbs I got from the same seller won't physically fit into any of the driving lights I have here. The bulb part is just way too big!

[natemoen]

Well, looks like it will make a great $5 emergency light to keep onboard somewhere.

[Eveready1100]

It'll be interesting to see how different they perform on an actual bike, though. I couldn't do it today cos of the messing around to get into the headlight through that fairing on my bike.
Maybe Cy's got his up and running?

They'd make a great torch, though. Put two 6 volt lantern batteries in a box with a headlight screwed to the front of it.
Hey, that'd be an XS1100 type torch. Big and heavy etc. Just kidding, guys.

[Incubus]

I'd like to know how y'all got your bulbs already when I, who ordered first, still waits.

I'm reserving judgment until I get it into the bike. It is possible that it is not fully illuminating at 12.5 volts. It may need all 14.

And if it doesn't I will use it as a light in the shed. I can't hook up electricity there, and still get the propane company to agree to fill my nearby propane tank, so a nice 55 watt overhead light would work. I have an extra H4 reflector I can hang.

I actually am starting to like that idea better. I don't crash if the shed light fails.


Patrick

[Poprock]

Well, y'all just saved me some work. My LED bulb came today. Put it in, but the RLU doesn't like it. Very dim. Based on the above reviews, I think I won't bother to bypass the RLU and try it. I replaced my SilverStar bulb with a brighter than that Sylvania that claims more spread and longer reach than the Silver Star. It was $29 at ORieleys. Does do a better job than the SilverStar, but not as good as the HID I had. The HID just didn't match the reflector/lens combo very well and splattered light all over the place. With a proper reflector and lens, it would be fantastic. Not sure how to find one of those. BTW, the Chinese HID bulb died. Imagine that.

[cywelchjr]

For the halogens, that's 60/55 watts
I dunno about working out the light output from the amps stated in the ad for that headlight. Doing just a straight amps x volts calc doesn't work with these new light systems.
Mind you, my 50 watt HID pumps out an enormous amount of light so they might be on a different scale for those things. I didn't see any mention of the word "Lumens" on that site. That'd be the tell-all.

It does say it meets DOT standards which do include minimums and maximums on area lit up when installed. However, at almost $300 for just a couple hundred more you can have a DOT legal HID system which I'm sure is even brighter and lower draw. It might not last as long, but HID just has more cool factor (or may LED has the cool factor now). Now, as to where it falls in the DOT standards as far as brightness? That's a good question. That said, it IS lower wattage than the stock bulb, and it IS solid state which is always a good thing (ok, almost always), it's LED which has a cool factor all it's own, and it's the right size. And from what I can see, unlike the DOT HID system, you don't have to cut a hole in the back of the bucket for the back part of the unit (drawback is that neither of those units are made for the standards square headlight, only the round headlight of the specials, or aftermarkets fairings like mine ).