permanent solution to dim commando headlight

sound like a remake for motorcyclist of the "me so horrrney, meee love uuu long time !" saying

Nater_Potater said:

The price drops as we speak: http://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-HB2-9003-CRE ... 8e&vxp=mtr for $35.95 USD, and free shipping! 30W @ 3000Lm. That's half the current with twice the light output, and it's not polarity-sensitive! At that price, I just might take the chance. After all, as it points out in the description, "Like sun's color, warm, clearly, safety. Easy to install without burden than hid. simple for Motorcycle!" Who could argue with that? Besides, " let the hot air out of the lamp by surrounding at the first time" pretty much says it all. I'm sold!

Nathan

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mikegray660 said:

sound like a remake for motorcyclist of the "me so horrrney, meee love uuu long time !" saying

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:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

As a child, I'd almost wet myself laughing as my dad read out-loud from his new Ossa manual. Talk about lost in the translation...

And Jim, you're right about the flashlight (or should we say, torch) and spare bulb. When it comes to only one headlamp, I'm also very suspicious of finding my way home in the dark.

When i have looked for LED conversion kits most of what turn up are HID kits. Can someone please explain the difference in terms of which would be the better type to use.
As the LED have a fan built in then cooling must be an issue. Given than a standard h4 bulb gets quite hot enough to burn your fingers what kind of temperature do LED ones run at?

toppy said:

When i have looked for LED conversion kits most of what turn up are HID kits. Can someone please explain the difference in terms of which would be the better type to use.
As the LED have a fan built in then cooling must be an issue. Given than a standard h4 bulb gets quite hot enough to burn your fingers what kind of temperature do LED ones run at?

Click to expand...

Actual temps, I can't give you, but the conventional H4 and HIDs can tolerate much higher temps than the LEDs, thus the fan on the LED. If I can swing one next paycheck, I'll run some temp rise testing for y'all.

As for better type to use, I'm waiting for a followup report from MotoAlchemist, the first poster of this thread, once he's had some time/miles/vibration racked up.

Nathan

Do you first buy a different reflector that fits inside the shell?If so,where do you get them? I have just purchased a CANDLEPOWER brand that
comes with a new reflector with no hole for pilot bulb and a flat lens.I am sure it is a good product,but it fits deeper into the shell which gets
in the way of my relays.I was just trying to find a drop in harness for a halogen bulb that I would not have to go to England for a replacement
bulb and let me keep my pilot intact.Any info would be appreciated
YING

YING said:

Do you first buy a different reflector that fits inside the shell?If so,where do you get them? I have just purchased a CANDLEPOWER brand that comes with a new reflector with no hole for pilot bulb and a flat lens. I am sure it is a good product,but it fits deeper into the shell which gets
in the way of my relays.

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I bought mine on evilbay earlier this year from this seller, and was very happy with it. It even came with a pilot already installed. http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-OEM-part-He ... 3f3d18f938

One thing that came to "light" while doing this conversion was that this new reflector's flange is thinner than the original item, so the "W" clips will have to be "massaged" in order to firmly press the new unit into the back of the chrome ring.

YING said:

I was just trying to find a drop in harness for a halogen bulb that I would not have to go to England for a replacement
bulb and let me keep my pilot intact.Any info would be appreciated

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There was one some months ago that had the correct bullet connectors attached to the H4 harness which made it a drop-in unit, but they're no more, and the seller wasn't sure when he'd have more. Not to be outdone, I found that NAPA has both the H4-style (3 prong) headlight connector and proper-sized bullet connectors. I went the relay route in addition, and glad I did.
Here's a picture of the ball-of-snakes. I'm curious how the LED cooling fan will be able to deal with this!

You can see where the Brown/Green wire plugs into the blue NAPA connector that then leads to the pilot light, and did the same for the hi/lo wires (Blue/Red & Blue/White) from the handlebar control to the relays. I did my best to make this a plug-in operation, as I didn't want to butcher a good, original harness if possible.

Heat?....hmmmm. I was under the impression one of the advantages of LED is the fact they burn relatively cool. Guess I'm wrong.

LED's run 'relatively' cool compared to same current draws of equilivent incandescent elements but LED's put out significant heat from small elements in headlight and room size lighting needs so cooling LEDs has been a stumbling block to figure out many ways to rid heat compactly.

Well in that case there must be an ingenious way to route wind-age up into the shell and funneled towards the LED base for cooling. :roll:

Would be a shame if the tiny fan and shell air volume weren't enough to allow the LED to last as ventilating would be problematic. Its just a spot of high heat to remove and designers should know most installs will be in tight quarters. Anywho pretty cheap to find out, hopefully not after dark. Tests pilots are suppose to be paid to find out. I whimped out on my first serious LEDs, a pair of long range pencil beam boxes to back up the dependable dim-ish filament headlight.

This is the high/low bi-xenon HID I use for my main headlight. It draws 35 watts but puts out 3 times the light of a 55 watt halogen.
They do run hot but they don't require a fan. I wouldn't suggest putting the ballast in the headlight shell without some cooling holes but the wires are long enough to put the ballast under the tank.

They are dirt cheap anymore. I picked this kit up on e-bay to have as a spare for $24.00.

I have one of these for the main light plus two more for driving lights. Just what I need with my eyes. You will not miss me coming down the road. Jim

Hehe, HID how quaint JIm, now a days about anything electrical is obsolete about the time it becomes affordable.

hobot said:

Hehe, HID how quaint JIm, now a days about anything electrical is obsolete about the time it becomes affordable.

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Yep. A year for the Chinese to start making them and then a few more by the time they figure out how to make them last.

Since 2006 I never ride in the dark around here unless absolutely forced too, as I had too when car died 250 miles from home last mo. The SV650's light is weaker than your HID but lights adequately. I've seen your Indian tear drop HID on the road approaching, its as bright as any modern car hi intensity - among a candlelight parade of other vintage bikes like mostly the Cdo's along with you. Bright far reaching light is great for the long wide opens but not so good in the Mt twisties and creepy woods paths. In my case this LED kit appeals for ventilated helmet swivel mounting other wise a coon hunting spot light. Deer are more curious than scared until right on them so they look at light and hesitate which is all I need to video paint balling them insanely scattering. Someday we'll have little drones to fly ahead of us clearing the path or reporting back hazards to target on.

Ya know with one of them laser show projectors ya might really be able to project an 3Dish image to on comers of a run away dump truck or Whiny The Poo bear to dodge. BTW could put a digital remote probe thermometer in the shell to see if ya can even detect the LED fanned heat load. Peel's big fairing signal lights are replaced with 55 watt halogen pencil beams with fluted heat sink cases and light recesses covered by Lexan streamlining so some gaps in allowed for some breeze.

Here ya go to feel old fashioned among the new UFO's
Adaptive Xenon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cB_9H7NtT0

Laser headlights do more than just shine better...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11-SPeOtCuw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew5fgttws4c

Next year will see though rain and snow a lot better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l0F9vyg-cI

Military grade IR and star light mulitplier helmet screen would also help my sunset nerves again.

dragonfly said:

Just found these on sale now. $59.99

http://www.cyclegear.com/SPEEDMETAL-LED-Conversion-Kit

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+1
Bam!

Nater_Potater said:

toppy said:

When i have looked for LED conversion kits most of what turn up are HID kits. Can someone please explain the difference in terms of which would be the better type to use.
As the LED have a fan built in then cooling must be an issue. Given than a standard h4 bulb gets quite hot enough to burn your fingers what kind of temperature do LED ones run at?

Click to expand...

Actual temps, I can't give you, but the conventional H4 and HIDs can tolerate much higher temps than the LEDs, thus the fan on the LED. If I can swing one next paycheck, I'll run some temp rise testing for y'all.

As for better type to use, I'm waiting for a followup report from MotoAlchemist, the first poster of this thread, once he's had some time/miles/vibration racked up.

Nathan

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Follow up.
third week of commuting on norton with LED headlight begins today. So far there has been absolutly no problems with this conversion...I can say riding home at midnight is a whole lot less stressful. It really has made riding (at night) more relaxing. Th hi-beam seems to be pointing too low, but I blame part of that on my reflector..as its actually a vintage british automoble conversion. MIND YOU, i still carry a spare H4 with me just in case...but thats the beauty if this LED conversion fails, I can switch it all back toot sweet.
will follow up again at end of week.

motoalchemist said:

Follow up.
third week of commuting on norton with LED headlight begins today. So far there has been absolutly no problems with this conversion...

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Wonderful to hear! After my recent "conversion" back to the stock alternator windings parts-you-regret-buying-t20038-75.html, we're hurting for some spare wattage. Dropping from 55 down to 30 watts should help in that department...
How about perceived temps of the headlamp shell? Any red flags when feeling around underneath the clocks? That funny little fan on its rear intrigues me.

Nathan

Nater_Potater said:

motoalchemist said:

Follow up.
third week of commuting on norton with LED headlight begins today. So far there has been absolutly no problems with this conversion...

Click to expand...

Wonderful to hear! After my recent "conversion" back to the stock alternator windings parts-you-regret-buying-t20038-75.html, we're hurting for some spare wattage. Dropping from 55 down to 30 watts should help in that department...
How about perceived temps of the headlamp shell? Any red flags when feeling around underneath the clocks? That funny little fan on its rear intrigues me.

Nathan

Click to expand...

Nathan,
no the shell doesnt get hot. But tonight when I get home I will pop off the headlight and do a touch check.

Temp rating;

"Meh" = maybe a bit warm, normal temp for a electrical unit
"wow" = hot, not to caue burns on skin but enough to make you jump back
" SHIT" = HOT, maybe somthing shorting? causes redness to finger and making tester feel like idiot for touching hot part
"FUCK N 'ELL" = Way to hot..Probably will cause insulation and plastic to melt and parts to fail, burn ointment is used on tester, blister forms later


Will advise

Hey could ya tell us it ya feel heat placing hand in the beam like old fashion hi beams do.

hobot said:

Hey could ya tell us it ya feel heat placing hand in the beam like old fashion hi beams do.

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that sounds much simpler