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TECHNICAL MOTOBRICK WRENCHING In Remembrance of Inge K. => The Motobrick Workshop => Topic started by: EpsteintheSwami on April 14, 2015, 08:45:17 AM
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Hi there,
Anybody out there using an LED headlight bulb in their BMW?
I do a lot of early morning riding and find the headlight on my K75 to be somewhat lacking in brightness. I've been looking into getting one of these LED headlight bulbs but there seems to be mixed reviews on whether they're any good or not. Some of those being sold on ebay claim they have the equivalant brightness of a 90w bulb whilst only using a fraction of the power, but obviously they're trying to sell you the item so I don't want to take their word for it.
Also not sure whether one of these bulbs will actually fit my bike which is a K75RT with the big fairing on the front, it's difficult to get my hands in there for an accurate measurement but it looks like I've got 6cm of space between the bulb holder and the metal fairing support bracket thing.
This one looks like it might fit, but at £50 I'm reluctant to try it
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Super-Bright-Motorcycle-H4-CREE-LED-Headlight-Bulb-30w-Hi-Lo-Beam-Plug-n-Play-/191433013920?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c924bfaa0
Another one that might fit a bit cheaper, and claims to be brighter;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3000lm-H4-9003-HB2-Motorcycle-LED-headlight-CREE-XML-L2-LED-Light-bulb-Beam-lamp-/121597405395?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c4fc528d3
Any thoughts?
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Have you tried like a Sylvania Silverstar Ultra? I have one on my bike and it's great but then again my fairing has a Hella H4 lens. Drake had a PIAA in it until it burned out and I replaced it with the Silverstar...PIAA bulbs are not readily available in the US it seems
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Have you installed a relay and direct wiring? There is well documented voltage drop in the Kbike due to a lack of using a relay and the undersized wiring and all power goes through the handlebar switch. Installing relays will also prevent light switch issues. Eastern Beaver makes a very nice kit that a lot of people use.
You may find issues with the LED as the reflector was not designed for it. I will be very interested what you find if you go LED, so please report back results.
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Hi EpstientheSwami,
I did a bunch of research and finally pulled the trigger on a set of gen III led headlights.
The earlier generations had issues and required a seperate circuit/voltage controller and fans.
I didn't like the extra clutter and the fans were basically computer fans(not ideal for the type of exposure to the elements seen on a bike).
The earlier generations had issues with beam spread(lack thereof) and patter(poor cut off).
The latest gen III's have fixed most of this. The set I bought have a large aluminum heatsink that does away with the fan problem, has the voltage controller built into the base(no extra wiring) and has a better beam patter than earlier led headlights.
Now, I am still putting my girl back together so haven't had chance to ride with them but there are 4 little issues that arose.
1) The adapter socket that the LED mounts into had to be sanded to properly twist lock in.
2) The dust cover/cup that comes with the lead bulb wont seal off the back of the headlight.
(I cut a hole in the factory dust boot just large enough to stretch over the new one. This then goes between the mounting socket and the heatsink. Basically, the adapter gets put in place, then the dust boot and then you insert the LED bulb).
3) The little pigtail that comes with the bulb is designed to adapt the LED headlights 3 female pin connectors to the bike 3 female blade connectors. Problem was that the 3 blades that are on mine had to be sanded down in thickness and width to fit in my eastern beaver plug.
And
4) For some this might be a deal breaker but for my set up it works fine.
The jump from low to high is a solid jump. What I mean is that the bottom of the high beam starts right where the low beams upper cut off is.
I don't think that this will be a big issue because the low is as bright as my old silverstar high beams were and that I have a 2100 lumen 6" rigid sr combo bar set to blend the 2 areas.
Sorry no pic's right now. Once I get the freshly painted parts on I will take lots of pictures and create a thread that covers all of my mods.
Btw, the cheap little 17cm weather proof COB drl's on ebay are amazing replacements for the parking lights. Will try to get info to you on those soon.
Later,
Freelancer
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Hi guys, thanks for the replies. Think I may try installing headlight relay as suggested before fitting an LED bulb to see what difference this makes to the standard bulb, as it does seem unusually dim compared to other bikes Ive owned. I find this a bit odd though, as I don't think any of the bikes I've owned have had headlight relays, and even the GPZ305 I was riding last had a brighter headlight than this.
Freelancer, reckon you post a link of the LED bulb you're using? I see your bike has the full fairing on so if it fits yours it'll fit mine!
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I picked up an inexpensive car relay set off fleabay for about $20 and split out one side (went with a ceramic plug so it cost more) My headlight output increased significantly with the standard halogen bulb.
Used the 2nd half of the relay kit with a diode bridge to power my motolights. Cut the plug so it has a pigtail it I need to replace the one for the headlight.
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Hi all...
Have not yet come across any LEDs that are easy to install and outperform ordinary halogen bulbs (everyone is welcome to comment). I wired my K75RT into relays and have never had any problems since. These bikes really don't have a high current capacity through the original headlight switch (especially when they are aging), so one of the first things one should do is install relays, on a separate fused circuit just for the headlights... Just sayin'...
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+1 for installing relays/larger gauge (smaller number) wire. I have installed this on both my 85RS (used eastern beaver kit, nice quality!) and my 94LT (made my own w/automotive relays). Pictured is circuit on my LT, the yellow and white wires are from the BMW wire harness, the red wire now provides power, through relay, directly from battery to headlamp, increased wire size decreases power-loss and provides more voltage to the bulb. Ground wire, from the lamp plug, is also larger gauge wire. This setup alone will increase performance of standard H4 bulb. I chose to upgrade to Osram 70/65 watt bulb which made a much improved difference.
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Freelancer, reckon you post a link of the LED bulb you're using? I see your bike has the full fairing on so if it fits yours it'll fit mine!
Don't have a link(was an Ebay/asia purchase)...... :yes but I doez gotz pictures... :yes
Also have some headlight on head-on shots I'll post if you are interested.
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Bumping around tonight and found a youtube vid (or 3) talking about these:
http://stores.advmonster.com/h4-led-headlight-rev2/
From MotoFrog.net, the guy shows how to install on an R1100RT, but the rubber boot modification looks identical for my K75RT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLgHcRkkD3o
I'd be interested in anyone's opinions......
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Here's a video that kind of shows the lighting advantage...(about middle of the video onwards)...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuVBTBQ3MBU
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The one that was installed on the R bike looks like a second generation led. The 3rd Gen are better. The main difference is beam pattern and that they have the voltage/heat regulator built into the base.
As to the video of the guy doing the night ride..... seems that newer dual bulb bikes get a better light pattern than our older single bulbs. The lens has something to do with it also. When purchasing these it is important to read up a bit. Some led work well with our older lenses while others are designed to work with more of a projector type.
The one I am running has a fairly sharp cut-off on the beam pattern and a noticeable jump between hi and look beam. Not unsafe, you just have to play with your adjustment a bit to find the sweet spot.
There is only one negative I can say about the one I have. The light is so bright that if you don't have the headlight adjusted just right the reflection off of road signs will interfere with your ability to see the road.
*Note to self:
Need to stop procrastinating and make a photographic
instructional on how I installed mine and do a light comparison.
Later,
Freelancer
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+1 on the reflection off of road signs. My 10w LED driving lights are so friggin' bright that white speed limit signs will blind me to what is beyond them. At night I can only use the driving lights with the high beam and I have to dim them for signs. Plus side is that they light up pavement markings and roadside reflectors for nearly a half mile at night.
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I've gone round and round with headlights, mostly on my '83 R100. I like PIAA bulbs, but actual rigorous testing proved that the only way you get more light out of an incandescent bulb is to put more power into it. That's the bottom line.
I used an 80W/100W H4 bulb for quite a while, but the R100 alternator was hard pressed to keep up with it, especially around town. That's not a problem with K bikes, but the excess heat certainly could be. I did add headlight relays, and that helped with the light output and protected the headlight switch and original wiring, but stilll had problems melting the headlight socket on occasion.
Finally, we have the real solution: LED headlights. I've put them in both my Airhead and Brick, and the difference is quite noticeable. The H4 bulb puts out 1500 lumens (with small variations by brand), while LED's commonly put out 3000 lumens. That's a significant difference!
The beam pattern is, as others have pointed out, not the same. It's similar, but the sharp cutoff at the top of the low-beam pattern is a bit fuzzy, and the high beam isn't as narrowly focused, but the difference to me is not enough to matter. The brighter light rules, and the current draw is so low that you don't even need to consider adding relays. The ones I'm using pull 30 watts, half the power of the stock bulbs.
That's especially important on my Airhead. No more eschewing the electric vest around town for fear of draining the battery!