LED CREE headlights , better than halogen/hid

stickman88

Well-known member
Hi everyone,

Does anybody have any experience with installing LED headlights onto their motorcycle? I'm trying to find a reputable seller on eBay or if you guys any local places that are trustworthy.

They seem to be coming with all in on LED headlights where the ballast, fan, and bulb are all one big unit. However I have heard that once you install these the rubber heat sink does not fit on anymore as the back of the bulb extends too far and people have had to cut the rubber heatsink to make space for it. Please share your experience.
 
Hi everyone,

Does anybody have any experience with installing LED headlights onto their motorcycle? I'm trying to find a reputable seller on eBay or if you guys any local places that are trustworthy.

They seem to be coming with all in on LED headlights where the ballast, fan, and bulb are all one big unit. However I have heard that once you install these the rubber heat sink does not fit on anymore as the back of the bulb extends too far and people have had to cut the rubber heatsink to make space for it. Please share your experience.

The rubber you are talking about is not a heatsink it is just a dust cap. Completely fine to cut it.

If I was you I would be looking at these http://www.ebay.com/itm/161858573257
 
I have something similar (not those exact units) on my Fizzer 400.

The size of the fins on the back probably means you will not be able to use the dust cap on the back of your headlights. This shouldn't normally be a big problem.

Brightness good. Beam pattern ... meh. The problem is that a filament emits light more or less uniformly all the way around but a LED element only emits it on one side of whatever surface it is mounted on and not evenly. So, the light ends up being more concentrated in one area, with less outside of that, when it strikes the reflector. The practical result in my case was that the light pattern on low beam has a "hot spot" in the center but less towards the sides. High beam pattern is very uneven, to the extent that it's better to just leave it on low beam. Having said that ... even with the stock bulbs, these headlights do not have a good beam pattern. They spill too much light out the sides, in close to the bike. That has actually mostly been solved with these ...

In my particular case ... my bike has two headlights with independent aim adjustments ... so I used the separate left and right horizontal adjusters to aim each housing outward a little, and the result (with having two headlights on together but aimed outward a little so that the two "hot spots" are sorta next to each other instead of completely overlapping) is pretty decent. If your bike has a single bulb on, you won't be able to do this.

The Fizzer 400 has a particular problem in its original form, in that it uses two dim 35-watt bulbs that are physically the same shape as H4 (High and low beam) but are about as effective as holding a candle in front of the bike, and the charging system isn't robust enough to support using two standard 55-watt H4 bulbs in place of the 35-watt bulbs. The two LED H4 replacements (which pull 20 watts each) aimed splayed outward a bit to cover up the beam pattern issue, collectively work much better and the bike is actually enjoyable to ride at night instead of being scary.

Bottom line ... If your stock headlights completely suck and are weak with a mediocre beam pattern (like mine were) then you have a good shot at these being better, although likely still with a sub-optimal beam pattern. (can't make silk out of a sow's ear) If your bike has decent headlights with good light distribution in stock form, it is very unlikely that LED replacements for the stock halogen bulbs will work as well.
 
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Bought a set off eBay about a year ago for my busa. Love the look and no problems yet. Was a real pain to install with the large cooling fan that comes attached to the bulb


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There's a fan on a bulb? Da fuq?
 
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For those of u who want better than stock lighting on your older bikes I just installed a LED bulb that I bought from performance improvements . I have limited room in the headlight bucket so bulbs with the fans on the rear are out of the question. The LED bulb is much brighter than the stock halogen and seems to cast a decent light. They have a display case with live bulbs so u can see the difference. I brought my stock bulb in for comparison. The assistant store manager Will was very helpful and pleasant to deal with.
 
Do not replace your halogen bulb with a LED bulb. It will result in a poor beam pattern and light all over the place. It will blind oncoming traffic. It will look terrible. And I believe it is even illegal.

Halogen light unit has a halogen bulb in a reflector housing. The location of the filament is critical. The whole unit is designed to work with a certain kind of halogen bulb. When you put a LED bulb in there, it all goes bad.

I'm no expert, but I believe LED and HID headlights have a projector that takes care of the alignment of the light etc.

For LED conversion you basically need a new headlight unit (expensive). I suggest looking in to better halogen bulbs from a reputable manufacturer.

See these:

http://www.carlightblog.com/2013/10/31/retrofitting-xenon-or-led-light-can-it-be-done/

http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/20...ere.html#/forumsite/20719/topics/69869?page=1

E: I think we can all agree this looks terrible.

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The results with a simple bulb change vs projector retrofit (or a new headlight altogether):

7vK4VBO.png
 
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Bought a set off eBay about a year ago for my busa. Love the look and no problems yet. Was a real pain to install with the large cooling fan that comes attached to the bulb


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What did u do then? Did u have to cut a hole in the dust cap?
 
For those of u who want better than stock lighting on your older bikes I just installed a LED bulb that I bought from performance improvements . I have limited room in the headlight bucket so bulbs with the fans on the rear are out of the question. The LED bulb is much brighter than the stock halogen and seems to cast a decent light. They have a display case with live bulbs so u can see the difference. I brought my stock bulb in for comparison. The assistant store manager Will was very helpful and pleasant to deal with.

What type of led bulb did u install? Just a regular led bulb and not an led conversion kit like the pictures above with the fan? How much was it and also any pics to show how bright?
 
What type of led bulb did u install? Just a regular led bulb and not an led conversion kit like the pictures above with the fan? How much was it and also any pics to show how bright?

Yes.. just a reg led 3 prong bulb, no fan. advertised output is 100/120. No high/low. Its way better than the halogen stocker. When I get the bike off the lift I'm going take it outside . In the garage the light is great.. nice and white and bright. I cant seem to post pics here. It keeps telling me there to big, even when I shrink them..$39. At performance improvements.
BTW. Installed it on a 83 CB1100f
 
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Yes.. just a reg led 3 prong bulb, no fan. advertised output is 100/120. No high/low. Its way better than the halogen stocker. When I get the bike off the lift I'm going take it outside . In the garage the light is great.. nice and white and bright. I cant seem to post pics here. It keeps telling me there to big, even when I shrink them..$39. At performance improvements.
BTW. Installed it on a 83 CB1100f

I want to know how regular led bulbs compare to the one with the fan? What's the point of the fan ones if yours doesn't have it?
 
I want to know how regular led bulbs compare to the one with the fan? What's the point of the fan ones if yours doesn't have it?
I guess u will have to go to the store and compare them. A H4 is a h4 right?????
 
Oh thanks I didn't know it was just a dust cap. Wow the link u posted is almost double the price of other eBay led headlights. There are ones that go for $60 - $80 all are 3000 lumens too.

The ones I linked are 5200 LM per bulb, that is why they are expensive. Brightest currently available, and adjustable so you have a proper beam pattern.
 
The ones I linked are 5200 LM per bulb, that is why they are expensive. Brightest currently available, and adjustable so you have a proper beam pattern.

All im worried about is not being able to put the dust cap back on. Can u suggest ones that I can. It will just give me a piece of mind that no dust or water will get to the bulb
 
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