Riding with low or hight beam light?

[milq]

A LOT of ST1300 folks have gone to a specific design of LED bulb that better mimics a traditional bulb light pattern. There's one fella on those forums that has tested tons of different ones and says this is currently the best available for a reasonable cost.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2NLXGCY?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I have a single "bargain basement" LED in my Yamaha WR250R and it has a horrible pattern...not that a single small rectangular unit has a good one to begin with. I don't ride it on roads after dark anyway.

[frankenduck]

Many K headlights have a locking ring to hold the bulb in that limits the base  diameter to 31mm so that rules out many LED H4s like that with a big base for the fan and heat dissipation. There's limited clearance behind the headlight too so a long base would be a tough fit..

[Laitch]

Furthermore, cougars are tawny, not black. Jaguars are black. There seems to be a conceptual problem with these headlights also.

[milq]

You might also think about adding a relay to your headlight system. The power to the headlight goes through the dimmer switch, so poor contacts there can cause high resistance. Eastern Beaver sells several pre-made kits for making the upgrade, his stuff is top notch if you aren't skilled with terminating wires and such.

https://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html

[frankenduck]

You might also think about adding a relay to your headlight system. The power to the headlight goes through the dimmer switch, so poor contacts there can cause high resistance. Eastern Beaver sells several pre-made kits for making the upgrade, his stuff is top notch if you aren't skilled with terminating wires and such.

https://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html

What happens to the contacts in the hi-lo headlight switch is that it the high current through the contacts can cause them to heat up. Since they are mounted in plastic, if the plastic gets warm enough it softens and the contacts recess into the plastic which causes the switch failure.

t chance

Since LED H4s only use half as much current/power as halogen bulbs, it reduces the odds of this occurring so relays aren't as necessary. Since I now use LED H4s, I didn't bother with headlight relays on my most recent K75 rehab.

[Chaos]

A 10,000 rpm light bulb.  What's the world coming to?

[Ingo]

So how about a 18K RpM light bulb?!
I just got these from Amazon, $26-something. The numbers are crazy, most likely everything is overstated.
Installed with no problem, worst was getting the condom back on. Light distribution looks very good and bright inside the garage. Still have to take the bike out in the dark...

LED Box.jpg (31.05 kB . 563x576 - viewed 219 times)
LED Sideview.jpg (65.97 kB . 600x576 - viewed 215 times)
LED Fan.jpg (69.67 kB . 702x576 - viewed 219 times)

[frankenduck]

You might also think about adding a relay to your headlight system. The power to the headlight goes through the dimmer switch, so poor contacts there can cause high resistance. Eastern Beaver sells several pre-made kits for making the upgrade, his stuff is top notch if you aren't skilled with terminating wires and such.

https://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html

I know the owner, Jim Davis, because he used to ride an 85 K100RS for many years. He's been selling relays and such for many years and has a good reputation.

If you "roll you own" relays then I do mine with a 4-pin relay and a 5-pin relay wired as follows. I prefer this way because if your hi-lo switch ever fails then it "defaults" to having a working low beam - which is much better than no headlight at all.

[Chaos]

So how about a 18K RpM light bulb?!

I had a not so cheep one from Amazon a while back, not bad but after a while the fan developed a buzz that quickly became more annoying than the fuel pump whine.  Returned to halogen and haven't looked back.