LED bulbs

[excess.11]

Xtian ??

[excess.11]

Another option ,outside of the box, for sustaining power requirements, may come from our illustrious xs1100 AUfounder Xtian......because i ve been meaning to ask for a while now as to how the A123 battery pack he got for his bike is performing and if we could get some voltage drop figures under load from him ...ie bike idling........switch on indicators (V?) ...................brake light (V?)  ...................headlight  (V?) ........all on at once?

[Eveready1100]

Yeah Jeff. An LED setup would be the ultimate setup, but as you said, at a price! Mind you, trying to find something that'd fit in an RH's 8" diameter lens I'd say would be nigh on impossible, even if loaded with cash.
Been down the HID path with the headlight, which I've been running for some time now. CLICK
In line with what you mentioned, I have the light aimed quite low to reduce glare for oncoming traffic and haven't been flashed since I got the RLU issue sorted. It's a 55 watt setup witha 4300k bulb, as near as standard a colour as possible.
I'd just got of the net this arvo after ordering a 55w H3 set for the driving lights. Only had 100w halogen bulbs to but back in after the LED broke, so I'll wait till they arrive to finish fixing them. Ordered a pair of extension leads so I can put the slim ballasts away from the lights, probably sit them on top of the airbox.

[excess.11]

Hey Ev........LED technology and development for mainstream use has been slow and painful..whilst power companies and government are pushing for low energy  lamps the product is very particular to who and where the lamp was manufactured and  as to whether it will perform or not as you have found out.......and by the way....great test results and follow up on your experience.The 4x4 community are well into manufacturing LED Light Bars..usually mounted to a bull bar or roof rack......and these products do perform  well............but are nt cheap. They also are definately something you could not fit to a bike in a practical sense that would look ok athstetically.If you take a look at one of these units it will soon become obvious that due to the number of LEDS needed for the light they produce...............you are nt going to get anything near that....... that will fit in a headlight shell or driving light...and provide the required focus as well as high and low beam.
http://www.4wdaction.com.au/shed/classifieds/led-lighting
HID Lighting is definately the way to go to reduce power consumption ........heres the catch though.They are expensive and retofitting to existing reflectors can be illegal in some states due to improper fitting and focusing by owners only giving a stuff about what they can see and not about what the  driver/rider can t see due to the glare coming in the opposite direction.Check your local laws before you spend your money and go down this path.Don t forget about the low beam pattern spread to the left of the road when buying from overseas as they may drive on the opposite side to us.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hot-New-Hi-Low-12V-35W-H4-3-6000K-Slim-Hid-Xenon-Light-Ballast-Conversion-Kit-/200688212135?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2eb9f318a7
Approach these with caution.
Some interesting reading........warning .....not for some.!!!
http://danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html

[Eveready1100]

last word on the H3 LEDS in the driving lights. After a couple of weeks of running to and from work, yesterday one of them failed to illuminate. One look told me why...................



The entire LED segment section of the bulb has snapped off from the base.



Obviously not robust enough for fitment to a bike.
Not recommended.

[Fred]

thanks for the review Errol.

save a lot of us a lot of frustration i'm sure

[Eveready1100]

I just thought I'd post this up in case anyone else had spotted these on the Bay.
1/ H4 LED Bulb



This is how they look compared to the original halogen bulb



Hooking the bulb up to a battery looked promising as they use a fraction of the wattage of a conventional bulb. however, once fitted in a light and power applied, well, you can see for yourself.


^Low beam


^Low beam spread


^High beam


^High beam spread. A dolphin torch puts out more light than this.
Final analysis - don't bother. they may only use 5 watts of power, but it shows.

Next test - H3


Looked at these and thought maybe they could do better than the H4. First obstacle was the fact that the bulb physically wouldn't fit in the reflector. It was way too big.



The thing was, my lights have seen better days, so I thought I'd have a crack at enlarging the mounting hole with a Dremel to allow the big ass bulb head in there



End result was -


^ Now it'll fit!


^ Just like it was made for it!


^ Fitted to bike and lit them up.


^Pretty bright to look at, but light scatter due to the size of the bulb not matching the refector is really evident. Maybe be ok as alternative daytime running lights, but-

Last ones


^ Replacement stop/ tail light bulbs



Tried both types of these. The 36 segment bulbs are the brightest, naturally, but still fall a bit short of the output of the original bulbs. Not a lot though, so I've fitted these to the rear of the bike and trailer just to alleviate the load on the electrics while sitting idling at the traffic lights with my foot on the brake with the trailer on.

Just thought I'd share this info