Headlight Bulbs

[Big Tom 10628]

Well after 4 years and 21,000 miles I finally lost a low beam on one of the Silverstar Ultras in my Interstate.
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Is this still the go-to replacement for stock? I like the increased brightness they give me...
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You can't beat the price $23.39 on e-bay

[MarkT]

Have you seen the Cyclops LED H4 thread?  http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,80351.0.html

[Big Tom 10628]

That looks like a great upgrade. However it's a bit more than I want to spend. Valk doesn't get out much at night, so even though more light is always better, I'm going to stay with the Silver Stars for $24 for the pair.

[cogsman]

What about this? Is it equivalent to the cyclops (at 1/4 the price)?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1pc-Motorcycle-Bike-CREE-LED-Headlight-Hi-Lo-H4-HB2-9003-6000K-40W-3800LM-Bulb-/281810982221?hash=item419d3e554d:g:BcgAAOSwsB9WB1W~&vxp=mtr

[Valkorado]

Been using these for a couple seasons.  1/2 the cost of a Cyclops, and no cooling fan necessary.  Kicks out 4000 lumens per bulb at 30w each.  Good bulbs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/8000LM-H4-9003-ETI-LED-Conversion-Headlight-Kit-Hi-Lo-Dual-Beam-Bulbs-60W-6000K-/161579740361?hash=item259ee72cc9:g:jfgAAOSwstxVHlSP&vxp=mtr

[MarkT]

Seth, how is the focus on those LEDs?  Do you get flashed much?  reading their page - which is much more detailed than most ebay pages - I see they claim the light delivery angles goes right THROUGH the post the LEDs are mounted on - made out of glass; claim 99% transmittance ( I would think 99% might be a bit high ). Might simulate the filiment on a tungsten bulb better ( than the Cyclops ), for which the bulbs reflectors are designed. I'm happy with my light on Jade now - but would like to lower the power use some with a std alternator. However going down from std H4's to these at 30w each isn't a big savings.  I note they claim no fan needed; has a big heat sink & fins & a heat controller.  The claim on the latter is, it reduces the heat if it gets too hot.  My spot shells have no airflow inside, so I suspect that would be an issue.  I'd think, reducing the heat implies reducing the output. Don't want to replace the main headlight 130/90 - it's just too effective.  I looked at getting a pair for the old Exploder - not compatible on their chart.  It doesn't use H4's.  It needs more light though I have added offroad lights already, I'd like the headlights to work better.

[Valkorado]

Mark I had just sent you an email about these bulbs.  The focus is better than any LED bulb I've tried, and I've tried several models.  The 360* glass tube gives them a focus that's hardly discernable from halogens, at least to my eye. Man, are they bright.  Never been flashed by oncomers.  Intelligent chip cooling combined with red copper heat sync and aluminum cooling fins, no fan required.  I've never noticed a decrease in brightness from an output reduction, but I do live in a cool climate and don't ride at night that often.  I'm sure if output is decreased for occasional cooling it would be hardly discernable for saftey's sake.  FWIW, I had also tried the bulb recommended by Grumpy.  It required a fan like the Cyclops.  It was pretty good and I was briefly happy with it, but one bulb fried within a month.  Also had another type of Cree bulb fry out.  These have better focus and output than those, and have been very reliable thus far.

[MarkT]

OK Seth I ordered a pair.  More chromatherapy! Really like the idea of LED headlights, just haven't seen a design that works well on retro-buckets yet. Got some killer flashlights, not to mention tac lights on some bang sticks.  Too bad they are soaking in the Big Lake now...

The battery on Jade was toast, lately I've had to push start it every time in town even after charging before leaving.  Had to look for parking spots with a slope.  Got the new battery in really quick; it's installed now.  So being a miser on battery use is a must.  I installed a toggle switch on the blue line (feeds to the hi-lo sw) which interrupts power to main & spots in one sw - so if the battery is weak, no power is wasted on fwd lighting at all until after I start it.  All of the other lights are LED now. (Except the 130/90 H4 headlight, and the taillight, have a good one ordered)

[cogsman]

So with valkorados recommendation i get 2 bulbs but only need to install 1, is that correct? Effectively making these $35 a bulb? And they're completely plug and play?

[Valkorado]

So with valkorados recommendation i get 2 bulbs but only need to install 1, is that correct? Effectively making these $35 a bulb? And they're completely plug and play?

Yep, two bulbs in that kit.  I'm gonna try installing both in the Interstate this spring for a combined 8,000 lumens.  I found the same bulb on eBay last year in a single pack, have it installed in the Tourer.  It was not quite plug and play, but not bad.  I had to slightly bend the clip spring to make it work.  Also, the OEM dust cover doesn't work with the bulb (at least without cutting it, which I didn't want to do).  The single bulb didn't come with a custom dust cover like the 2 bulb kit does, so I just McGuyvered my own cover out of tightly wound silicone tape.

[MarkT]

These LED H4's from China came in sooner than expected.  A couple comments.  They aligned the emitters 90° rotated from the direction of the Cyclops H4's - on these, the emitters face up and down.  Their claim of 99% transmittance through the post is not just an exaggeration, it's a LIE. They should work for the DNC they'd fit right in. The post is made of aluminum, obviously provides heat transfer back to the cooling fins (aluminum is second only to gold in heat transfer metals, IIRC). It is clad in glass, but trust me, NO LIGHT gets through the aluminum.  However, the alignment vertically is clearly a better match to the reflectors at least on my H4 headlight shells.  I have not seen their performance shining down the road, but they don't have a poor pattern here on the shop wall that needs correction, like the Cyclops did. And no doubt, cooling fins are a better soln than a fan which will fail eventually.  I did not use their included boot on the inside, as the construction of my Drag Specialties shells is such that if the face of the base of the H4 is flat, then there is a surface that can be sealed against dust flow with an appropriate liquid gasket material.  I used brush-on Liquid Tape.  So there will be likely better cooling for the fins inside the shell without the bulk of the large boot in the way. I was concerned, their pigtail plugin had three pins which could be inserted in two ways.  However I tested it, the bulb didn't care which way it was turned so they designed some detection method in it's firmware.  Overall, quality looks good on this product - at least on first impressions.  Again, grain of salt here - so do Harbor Freight's Chinese Chicago Electric products, until you use them the first time.

There's a LOT of light emitted by these bulbs - as expected.  If it's focused OK, and these bulbs have long life, I'll figure I have a soln.

Here you can see the reflection of the emitters in the focus of the reflector, from this particular viewpoint.



And the bulb itself.