LED Headlight

[baric]

I recently received a J&P cycles catalog which had a new 7" LED headlite from Kuryakyn. It has an interesting multi-facet lens, is DOT approved and like most LED lites is expensive, $ 300.oo bucks !! Still though, an intriguing possibility for the ol' XS 650. Has anyone had any experiences with one of these headlites yet or know someone who has ? If so, what do you think ?
Rick

[preston]

This bolt-on from Mikesxs, is about 8 times brighter and better than stock bulb.
and for a few more dollars, you can get a blueish bulb, which matches my blue 77 just fine.
I am pleased for the money spent, and NO wire to fool with. (pluged right in, and had room behind)
Preston
*
7" Halogen Lamp with 60/55 watt H4 P43T Halogen Bulb and parking light.
E-Mark certified for RH drive European Market use (can also be used in north
America). Replaces stock sealed beam.
Fits into stock retainer of 1974-84 XS/TX650 Headlamp.

Note: XS1/XS1b/XS2/TX650 (1970-73) models must use #10-1156 "W" Clip Set and
clip the lamp unit to the headlamp rim.
Part #09-0072
$35.00 USD Ea
Product Photo
XS Performance
New super blue high intensity Halogen Bulb. 12V H4 60/55 Watt with P43T
Base. Produces a very pure bright white light. Same style as used in new
street bikes. Replaces Bulb in any of our halogen headlights. $9.00 USD Ea

[baric]

I'm not talking about halogen lighting here. Done that. I'm wondering about this new direct plug-in LED (Light Emitting Diode) Headlight.
You know, like LED turn signals, LED taillights, LED flashlights, LED bicycle lighting; that sort of technology; available in a motorcycle headlight.....

Rick

[xsleo]

I have a few LED flash lights. They are bright to look at, but don't throw light very far. If your three feet from what you want to light up you might as well use a candle.
Now maybe for $300 they can get it to shine farther.

[ShakerNorm]

I know some of the newer (high end) cars are starting to use LED headlights.... Very white light and low power draw.
I also have a few LED flashlights at work (It's amazing how many stupid dark places you have to inspect on a plane!), and I like them. I have one 3 x D-cell Maglight with an LED and it throws a beam that is bright enough to make people shade their eyes from across the hangar! I got it 5 years ago - and LED technology hasn't stood still, so I expect that they've probably improved on that, by now.

[dillrepair]

I am considering building an LED headlight bar with between 8 and 10 high power LED's with lenses that pop onto the LED's themselves and I'm hoping i can get some technical advice about the whole thing from those of you knowledgable about the 650 electrical system. In the past i built this for my mountainbiking adventures: www.instructables.com/id/Ultimate-Night-Vision-Headlamp---500%2b-lumens-with-/?ALLSTEPS
... i can say for a fact that 4 of these luxeon LEDs are enough to light up a pitch black single track trail 150 feet ahead of you so 8 of these would be no joke, and probably as bright as the stock headlamp. I'll have to build a custom case that could be mounted to my 650 but what i'm wondering is if this would be as simple as connecting the + and - wires that used to connect to my headlamp or is there something more to it that i don't know.

... the buck pucks used in the headlamp build are capable of accepting a range of input voltage and current though i might have to add some kind of protection before them but i'm not sure what, its been over a year since i built my headlamp...


edit: i guess what i'm getting at is that i can take care of the headlight wiring for the LEDs... but i'm wondering if connecting something other than the stock headlight to the system will mess things up elsewhere in the xs650 electrical system... and how do i mitigate those potential effects.

[xsleo]

The only impact you might find is your battery stays charged better. As wiring goes hook the LED's in what ever combo of parrallel and series that comes up to 14.5 to 15 volts.
With a good charging system that's the max voltage you should get.
When I redid my 75 tail light to LED's I needed some to light up the plate. I got some big white ones from Radio Shack. I think they were rated at 3.6 volts. I built a small circuit board and wired 4 in series. This gave me a 14.4 volt "bulb". I hooked this to the tail light wires and mounted it inside the lense pointed at the plate. Works well.
I have done some searching for LED H4 replacement bulbs on Ebay. I have found them with from around 20 LED's to 120 LED's on the "bulb". They are for driving or fog lights.
One guy that has tried them used a 68 LED "bulb" in a headlight that uses an H4 bulb.
He says the headlight is very bright. On coming traffic can see it very well. At night it doesn't shine very far ahead.
I was thinking of trying the 120 LED "bulbs" The more the LED's the better, Maybe. For $10 a pair it might be worth it just to try it.
On bikes that only get ridden during the day the LED's will definitly reduce the headlights current draw. From somewhere around 3.5 to 4 amps to maybe .5 amps or less.
I think the $300 LED head light may work better because the reflector and lense is designed to work with LED's.
I think the LED designed head light uses a reflector and lense along the lines of a lighthouse light. The bulbs they use in a light house are 150 watt bulbs. The lense is designed to bend all the bulbs light output into the beam of light and shines it miles out to sea.
I think the LED lights use a simular lense. A lense like that is much more costly to make than just a curved piece of glass. That may be why the LED headlights are $300.
Leo

[dillrepair]

hey leo.. thx for the reply... now i'm really pumped to try this build, it just means i'll have to do a bunch more with the guage cluster and things to make that stuff smaller too...

yeah these luxeon LEDs are much brighter than your every day white radio shack led... i would venture each is equivalent to at least 50 "normal" leds. They actually are built on the metal die you can see in the pic because they need the heat sink, and they all need to be connected to a larger heat sink of their own with thermal epoxy. these are the type of LEDs used for the new automotive headlamps. each one will have a lens that focuses all the light into a beam so it won't need a reflector of any kind all of them will just need to be mounted on the same flat surface facing forward on the bike.

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[ShakerNorm]

I found (on ebay) an LED bulb for an H4 headlight - 102 SMD's - plug and play......
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150603893521&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT

I already have an H4 headlight, but the 65 watt bulb is just WAY too much for my alternator to handle - and all the rest of my lights die out very quickly - even when the batter has been on the charger.

I've been looking for solutions and I already have and HID kit, but have to modify it to work on the bike. When I saw the LED bulb for my H4 - I figured it might be a great solution (at least temporarily) - especially at only $5 each! One site that shows similar ones says they are only 5 watts, but 460 lumens at 6500K (so they'll have some of that blue tinge to them)..... But I expect I'll lose my high beam.....

I haven't received it yet, but I'll let you know how it is when I do get it. It won't be as bright as the 65 watt halogen (they seem to be in the 1200 lumen range) - but it sure can't be any worse than the original 40 watt incandescent that I've had on it since I bought it!

[Chuckwagon]

I don't know, Norm... sounds like your charging system needs attention. I have a new AGM battery, stock reg & rec (used parts from ebay), repro wiring harness, new brushes, and the rest is stock that came with the bike. I'm running a higher wattage high beam (I think 65 or 75w) H4 bulb. 90% of the time I ride with the high beam on, and I've never had any charging or lighting issues. I've never noticed that the lights get dim, and I've checked and re checked battery voltage several times to monitor the health of the charging system.

Given that these bikes don't run well with an under-charged battery, it seems to me your bike may not be running at full potential if your lighting system is overloading the charging system.

Not trying to bash your ride, Norm, just a suggestion based on how my bike runs with a similar setup.

The LED bulb is intriguing, and for the price, I might have to give it a try.

[ShakerNorm]

Chuck - I've already been considering the PMA upgrade - but trying to find out which would be the best setup - the new XSCharge one, or Hughs Handbuilt. They look similar, but it would be nice if they published some specs on output so potential customers can make the best decision.

[grinder]

Found this LED headlight but look at the amp draw. I thought these were suppose to be such low draw..not much better than sealed beam.


www.customdynamics.com/high_intensity_led_headlamp.htm

[xsleo]

At those current draws it's about what a 36w/65w regular bulb draws. The 36w low beam will save amps over a 40 w but not much. It will save a bit over my 55w/65w H-4 bulb I run now. With all the other lights LED's my alternator keeps the battery charged just fine.
What would be interesting to see would be side by side pics of the LED light and an H-4 bulb. That way we could see the difference. Not standing in front looking at the lights but from the riding position and seeing how they light up the road in front of you.
Lower current draw is meaningless if you can't see where your going.
Leo

[ShakerNorm]

Gotta agree with you Leo - I think I'm still going to go HID - at 30 watt draw (both high and low beam use the same "filament" - they just move the position), and (supposedly) almost 3x more light than a 65watt halogen - it's a major improvement in the amount of light, while drawing less current. And since it replaces a standard H4 bulb, you can pick which beam pattern suits you best.

Personally, I love the European style light with the very flat cutoff, and the slight rise on the right side to light up signage and the shoulder, but keeping all the rest of the light where I want it and can use it - on the road, not scattered into other drivers' eyes.