raceruss2003

Did a quick search and didn't find much on this...

Instead of replacing my incadecent buld with a HID Kit, I was thinking of just getting a replacement LED set up. LED's generally draw less power so I should be able to get a brighter output correct?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

There was another post about replacing the 3rd Eye bulb that had some links to a couple sites that supplied LED bulbs. Not too sure which bulbs are plug and play or where to start. Does anyone know the lumen output of stock incadecent bulbs?

lazn

I doubt you will find a LED with decent output that will fit our housing. (Stock lumens is over 1500, show me a LED with that..)

The thing to do if you don't want to get a HID projector (and don't just slap a HID kit in the stock housing, that doesn't work well) is to get a wiring kit and a good bulb.

Motorcycle H4 Relay Kits, cheap Worldwide Shipping
and
Susquehanna MotorSports - Auto Performance Product

Edit: the wiring kit will make even the stock bulb brighter as less power is lost heating the wires.. And they also allow for the higher wattage bulbs to be used without damaging the stock harness.

kj4kym

buddy's bike i dont have a lot of info but he says these leds are almost as bright as his highbeam... Funky Ninja Fighter - Custom Fighters - Custom Streetfighter Motorcycle Forum

Gregw

I see your 1500 lumens and raise you 7000.
HERO-LED 100 Watt High Power Led Cool White 6000-6500K 8500 Lumen [HL-100WHPL-CW] - $89.10 : Led Strips Hero-ledstore.com


Here is a website where a guy is messin' around with one. http://tesladownunder.com/LEDs.htm#100%20W%20LED

Tweety

Yeah, and I'll just sit happy with the 1500 lumens and a reflector...

Try the 8500 lumen LED's at 100 mph in the dark and you will end up wrapped around a lamppost unless you have a reflector/lense...

There is a great deal of difference between a bright light and a bright light with a reflector and lense... The LED's will undoubtedly be seen from a good distance, and if you hold your hand infront of them, they are bright... But no way are they going to give you a useful headlight unless you play around with a custom lense in some way... Like the guy in your link... And if you look at the powerconsumption of his LED's, the stock bulb starts looking like a decent option once again...

dehning

I know you said you weren't keen on HID lamps but take a look at DDM Tuning's kits. I have them on both my CBR1100xx and my VFR800 and they are incredible. The 55w kit produces 5000 lumens. The basic kits are $35 although you would probably need an H4 Kit with Hi/Lo which is $20 more BUT since you get 2 sets, you could split the kit with somebody. -and they have a lifetime warranty.

7moore7

Well, the argument isn't against the brightness of and HID kit, it's just suggesting that putting an HID kit in a housing designed for an H4 is less than ideal.

The first attachment is an HID bulb in a stock housing (of a car, but you get the point) Uncontrolled light, possibly blinding oncoming traffic.. not necessarily safest.

The second on is with a proper projector and cutoff line. Both use HID kits, and both are bright.

It doesn't matter if it's 5,000 lumens or 5 billion if you can't control them...

finepooch

my hids work great and not one flash from oncoming drivers this whole summer. the hid bulb is designed to place the light source at the same place as the halogen filament.

Thumper

haha, i run bright lights all the time with modulator as well. i get flashed and people pull over in front of me.

I want to be seen so a car doesn't pull out in front of me.

7moore7

Just to keep the discussion going..and I hadn't heard of and HID bulb with a re-located filament.. my understanding of that is that they are also different shapes, so it would be hard to design reflectors for both... but I'm no expert by any means :

What would you say about fixation? What I mean is, there is a general rule that you will go toward what you see. It's taught everywhere from MSF courses to sports. You will go toward what you see. So if you are fixated on a pothole in the road, you will ride toward it. Or if you are fixated on a very bright headlight, as a car you have a tendency to drive toward it.

Also, there is the point that if you are blinded by a light, you can't see your surroundings. Anyone pulled over by a cop at night knows this... they shine their light right in your face and you can't see anything... if they were to shine it lower, your night-vision wouldn't be ruined and you can see around you much better. If you're shining a light in a car's eyes, they can see you, but not the road or their surroundings and and are more dangerous that way. It's like putting a little LED pen in their face and telling them to concentrate on the road...

One last thing that I've read is that a problem with people pulling out in front of motorcycles is not the brightness of the light, but the location of it and, in our case, having one light. Drivers can generally tell how far away a car is and how fast it's approaching because it has two headlights fairly far apart from each other. The speed at which the lights widen up as they approach is calculated in our brains and gives us a good estimate as to where the car is and how fast it's approaching. With motorcycles, either there's one light (no reference) or the lights are close together so it's harder for people to judge instinctually. What this means is that it doesn't matter how bright the light is... if there's only one they likely can't tell how far away you are or how fast you are approaching anyway. So having a brighter light does nothing...

I hope this didn't come off as being a *****, I have just heard these points put out there and they seemed to make sense to me. I try to ride like cars can't see me, and if they could they would try to get me anyway haha!

lazn

actually that is 100: 850 lumen LEDs and they are not in a proper housing to give good lighting.

Gregw

There would be a whole bunch of issues to overcome in adapting that LED to a motorcycle. First would be the 30v-36v requirement. I'd imagine a dual headlight setup with lenses similar to a CBR1000 to get a highbeam. If I'm doing the math correctly, you'd need close to 20 amps @ 12v to run both with fanned heatsinks. So while it could be done, I don't think it should be. BTW, that would be 100x 85 lumens.

lazn

blah, that was very bad math. lol

jay956

i say just wait a couple years and they will be readily available. it didnt take long for hid's to start trickling down to lower end cars, and now in some bikes. as far as i know that only people to have a all led setup right now is audi, with the new a8, but im sure it wont take long.