LED Headlamps

Looks good. Loving the pure white colour.
My only concern is the spread of light looks a little wider and a touch taller, which you may run into issues with oncoming vehicles. Or it could just be the angle the photo was taken.

p.s. The dog looks impressed Lol

 

Yes looks a lot better, but depth of beam is sometimes an issue with LED lights, they are very good at throwing light around but lack good distance which is what you need on a bike given we only have one lamp going most of the time. Interesting to see a comparison though.

 

Just thought what the hell and stuck the LED controller on with insulation tape, left the back of the headlamp enclosure off and went for a brief ride to see if I could still see. Reasonably happy with the output and beam pattern although (even though it was only yesterday, literally) I seem to have forgotten what the filament lamps are like to compare so hard to say if better, on par or worse. Light throw pretty good now it's actually dark outside as below:



I'm just uploading a video to Youtube as well, only a couple of minutes long but hopefully give an impression of the output.

 

So, video below showing a brief ride outside of street lighting. A few notes. Firstly, no-one flashed at me so although only a small sample number of cars, a good indication that the beam isn't upsetting people. Secondly, the video shows a relatively short throw but I think this is because the camera was struggling with the contrast between light and dark but from my point of view, the throw seemed fine, certainly I could see OK. There are a couple of places where I use the pass button to show how much difference the full beam makes (still has the OEM filament lamp installed) and in fairness, aside from infilling directly in-front of me, it didn't really make much difference at all.

Once I have the time to fit both lamps properly I'll do a proper video out of town to see the different with both dipped and full beams converted to LED, both independently and working together on the open road. There is a way to go yet with testing, but, early indications are that they are not crap at least which is a good start.

One final note, apologies for the choice of music, it was the first thing that came to mind to cover the wind noise, the Ghost Drift is a great camera but it's bloody awful at picking up wind noise.

 

I have fitted both lamps and actually they fit into the the headlamp enclosure without any modifications but I have yet to actually test them on the road as I am doing a full service including plug change currently, the motor is in bits including all the electrics. I have taken some photos of the install so will try and remember to upload them tomorrow. Other than that, will update once she's on the road again and I have been able to test properly.

 

Looking forward to the pics mate,take it the adapter cable fits in the back of the light and the waterproof cover screws back on no bother? Do the copper weave heat sinks get quite warm,not likely to melt the plastic cover?

 

To answer the first point, yes, all cables and adapters fit inside the enclosure with the waterproof cover fitting back on, you'd never know it was there and no modifications which really surprised me. As for the heat sink, when I tested the other night it was warm however I'm talking laptop charger warm, not too hot to touch. That said, I haven't tested it properly so bear with me and I'll give it a proper test in the coming days with the enclosure fully closed and an extended ride. In fairness though, I doubt it'll be any warmer than a 55w halogen lamp (I can't even touch one after a few minutes...) so I'm hopeful.

I'll get the pictures up soon and report back on the heat dissipation, hopefully by the weekend

 

nice write-up. Looking forward to hearing what you think of them once you've got them fully fitted and done some miles with them on

 

OK, so I haven't managed to put her back together yet (still waiting for the Spark Plug tool from the dealer) but thought I would post up the pictures of the lamp installed in the enclosure. These are of the dipped beam but the full beam is essentially the same. I'm still conscious about heat dissipation but won't be able to fully test that until all the plugs are plugged back into the loom and I am able to switch the lamps on, hopefully I'll get it done this weekend and also go out for a ride to test light output

As you can see, the lamp fits in exactly the same way as a standard H7 although annoyingly the metal retaining clip seems to drop into the groove on the right hand side. I guess I could bend it a little but I am not that bothered, it all fits into place nice and snug and the retaining clip is certainly doing it's job.



All of the connectors and the LED 'controller' box fit into the lamp enclosure without too much issue. I thought I'd have to break out the wires with a drill and grommet and mount the box in behind the fairings as most do with HID kits so was pleasantly surprised it all went in nicely. I'll take that as a win



Next, the braided heat sink band needs to be spread to optimise the heat sink effect. I haven't done this scientifically and once I get to test heat build up properly with extended running I may change this a little and try and spread it out some more, however, the other night when I went for a ride (about 20 minutes) without spreading the braided at all (so it was essentially like in the previous picture, above) the heat wasn't too bad. I'd suggest it was about the same as a laptop charger that has been plugged in for a few hours charging a flat battery and working overtime. As I mentioned before, I think this is still considerable cooler that a 55W halogen so although I can't say for sure, yet, I am not unduly worried about this.



Finally, weather cap back on! Assuming that the light output is OK (which I am reasonably happy with given my brief test last week) and the heat dissipation proves to be acceptable so as not to cause a problem I am happy and think it's a good upgrade. About the same cost as an HID kit, but with less 'mess' making the install look more OEM.



Needless to say, I still have so testing to do so wouldn't recommend anyone rushes out and buys these unless like me you are happy to be a guinea pig! That said, I should have some definitive feedback within the week

 

After seeing the photos the other night and the short video I'm quite impressed with the amount of light so I've ordered a set
Hope I'm as happy with them as you are or I'll fit them into the car

 

The dog is never impressed when I am in the garage working on the Blade as he has to entertain himself for an hour. It's a hard life

 

Agree. Wasn't looking forward to having to do that as point of no return, especially when it comes to resale etc., this way still looks stock and can easily be returned to stock if and when needed.

 

I think this it what sealed the deal for me,when you said last night that they fitted with no modding the order went in

 

Sorry, I have been a lazy ass. Bike is fully serviced now and back together, both lamps fitted. Just need to go for a ride in the dark now! Will see if I can do something later this evening...

 

Looks good Mike.

Re Noise on the Drift, go in to settings and alter the Sound sensitivity from the standard 3 bars down to 1, it makes a big diff.
You can also get a remote Mic which can be squirreled away under a seat or behind the fairing.

 

Thanks, yes. I have the microphone sensitivity down on 1 already but as I mount my on my lid Baron style I find its always in the airstream and very noisy. I have thought about getting a remote microphone but anal about wires and things so can't really see how to do that neatly. It would be nice if I could record some engine sounds and stuff but as I don't vlog, I've always been happy to add some background music.