Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Hi,

this weekend had again a headlight bulb blow up in smoke in a middle of a night for a third time this year. It seems that head light bulbs last 5-7k on my DD before going up in smoke. Tried different brands of the headlight bulbs without any luck either. Maybe vibrations, maybe my riding, maybe dampness (as headlight had some condensation) but it would be great to sort it out is some way as DD headlight bulb change is not the easiest, especially in the middle of the night in a pitch black!

I wonder if anybody tried headlight replacement bulbs with LED's? Quick googling shows that standard halogens put out 1100-1500 lumens and ebay has plenty of the led replacement bulbs with higher (and much higher) values than that. Although the prices are 2-4 fold the standard branded headlight bulb.

Cheers

I have an LED headlight kit on my R100GS, best thing i ever bought for the bike, massive difference from the standard candle that was fitted, it wasnt just a bulb, it was a kit, with controller and a CREE chip bulb, was easy to fit, just had to mount the controller unit.

Make/link?

H4 H7?

What is the beam pattern like?

Tom

I fitted one of these to my F650GS and it was great. Good beam cut off, no dazzle but a much brighter, whiter light.

Will these bulbs pass an MOT test or do you just replace them with a standard bulb for the test?

Also the fan unit is it waterproof as I read these are suit more for cars than bikes as the unit is not exposed to the weather in a car as much as it is on a bike?

Mine did.

vRSG60 wrote:Mine did.

That's good to hear as I fancy fitting one (thumbs)

The advice from many people up until now was to use LED bulbs in every application apart from headlights . This was probably due to the fact direct LED replacement bulbs although they were more vibration resistant,used less power etc had a very poor beam pattern.We are not talking about dedicated LED headlamps such as those used on many new cars and bikes just the replacement bulbs. Attitudes and technology seems to be changing and they are getting better all the time. I rarely ride at night and would like to try an LED headlight bulb to see how they perform. It can,t be any worse than the light on my old Harley Davidson MT350! :laugh:

Have a look at www.norbsa02.freeuk.com or if that doesn't work Google Paul Goff he's quite clued up on LED replacements.

At the weekend rallye my little NX 250 had a LED bulb fitted--with back up controller as you really want only one or two LEDs at the focal point of the old incandescent to make the reflector work. That headlight is on all the time but draws about 1/3 power--one reason for it on a stop/start trail bike. Its been jet washed loads of times (although not a stupid direct squirt). I have one on my WR250R which has also lasted ages and passed MOTs. I have one fitted on my son's berg fe 390--here there isn't enough room behind the reflector but as the bulb is one of those funny old 35/35 w thingys there is a replacement that fits straight in and has all the control electronics built in--lovely and bright. My triumph tiger 1050 had HIDs fitted when I got it--ditched those and replaced them with H7 and H9 LEDs--much better--but had to cut the back out of the bulb cover to get the extra length in(and have added extra shrouds). These have been much better than the HIDs(with no flash due to warm up!) and have passed the MOT without a problem--get a one or two CREE bulb that puts the light out in the right place and the beam pattern will be as intended.