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Led bulb conversion for my 1998 5th generation


zanshen

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I have put LED headlights in all of my recent Honda bikes over the last 8 years. It is most important to ensure that the bulb that you get is a true H4 replacement i.e. the LED emmitters are in the same staggered location and with the same low beam shroud as the original H4 halogen. If you don't do that, you will end up with a rubbish pattern that might dazzle oncoming drivers. 

Bulb OSRAM 12V/55/60W, socket: P43T/H4 headlight …

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You may also need adapter rings to fit a standard H4 base to the odd-sized 3-prong base in the VFR headlight shell. I've previously just cut the bottom two prongs off the LED bulbs and they have fitted securely with just the top one. I have used the NIghteye bulbs from Aliexpress but I'm sure there are better ones out there. 

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I can't remember if the original Honda ones were the proprietary tab locations (some did)..... if so, you just snip off the two lower tabs on a standard H4/9003 and install them.  Get LED's with the shields (shown above) for the low beam set of LED's.  I personally would get fan cooled ones.  I've used a few sets of these with success...... not quite a "direct swap" as you have to deal with the wiring and drivers, but it certainly is not difficult.  If you have the nose off, even better.

These are the ones I use, shop around you can get them for $40-ish

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224608779697?hash=item344bb9fdb1:g:dNIAAOSw3GZgOcc6

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001015366712.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.132e753eYQy8e0&algo_pvid=1f8e8482-cb81-49cb-b9f6-c1bd8372149c&algo_exp_id=1f8e8482-cb81-49cb-b9f6-c1bd8372149c-0&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id"%3A"10000013515943629"}&pdp_pi=-1%3B35.59%3B-1%3B-1%40salePrice%3BCAD%3Bsearch-mainSearch

 

 

557810360_HeadlightLED.jpg

1481713736_HeadlightsLED2.jpg

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54 minutes ago, raYzerman said:

Those look to be H7's... won't replace an H4/9003.  The ones I linked can be rotated as well.

They're selectable H4/H7 on the web page.

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I can't see an H4 pic, so can't comment on the low beam shields.

The ledperf ones don't look to have the right shields, and a tad too much money, just my opinion.  No need to spend the big bucks any more.

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OP is in Scotland so bulbs will be standard H4 not the Honda specials which need H4 tabs to be modified. I have some Novsight from Amazon UK about to go on mine (after its MOT ahem) which are the same physical design as the Nighteye ones above. I would link, but the current listed Novsight H4 is different.  
 

If you get some like the Nighteye shape, then fitting is very easy. The black ring with the three tabs slides off. You fit that, then insert the bulb and turn. I am a bit dubious as to whether it will be possible to use the dust caps. LEDs do chuck out a huge amount of heat from the back.  Anyone care to comment from experience?
 

As stated, the angle can be adjusted. If you look at the standard bulbs, you’ll see that they are acutally rotated slightly differently to one another (at least mine are). So I’m anticipating a bit of fiddling around and plan to mark up my garage door with the standard bulb beam pattern before swapping so that I have a reference. 

 

No idea yet whether mine will be a good enough pattern as I’ve only checked them briefly in the garage. To date I’ve returned every LED I’ve tried for cars and bikes. Mostly because of unresolvable errors in cars (not an issue here), but also because of obviously poor performance (just sent back some Osram tail light bulbs which were woeful). Also in one case because what seemed like a very bright bulb actually delivered less range in practice when I measured it on a dark empty road.
 

The ones I have now to try on the VFR do seem very impressive on a quick try, but will have to reserve judgement for now. 

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Can you link the ones you b

On 2/14/2022 at 11:11 PM, stuartb3502 said:

OP is in Scotland so bulbs will be standard H4 not the Honda specials which need H4 tabs to be modified. I have some Novsight from Amazon UK about to go on mine (after its MOT ahem) which are the same physical design as the Nighteye ones above. I would link, but the current listed Novsight H4 is different.  
 

If you get some like the Nighteye shape, then fitting is very easy. The black ring with the three tabs slides off. You fit that, then insert the bulb and turn. I am a bit dubious as to whether it will be possible to use the dust caps. LEDs do chuck out a huge amount of heat from the back.  Anyone care to comment from experience?
 

As stated, the angle can be adjusted. If you look at the standard bulbs, you’ll see that they are acutally rotated slightly differently to one another (at least mine are). So I’m anticipating a bit of fiddling around and plan to mark up my garage door with the standard bulb beam pattern before swapping so that I have a reference. 

 

No idea yet whether mine will be a good enough pattern as I’ve only checked them briefly in the garage. To date I’ve returned every LED I’ve tried for cars and bikes. Mostly because of unresolvable errors in cars (not an issue here), but also because of obviously poor performance (just sent back some Osram tail light bulbs which were woeful). Also in one case because what seemed like a very bright bulb actually delivered less range in practice when I measured it on a dark empty road.
 

The ones I have now to try on the VFR do seem very impressive on a quick try, but will have to reserve judgement for now. 

Could you please link to the ones you bought? did they fit ok?


Thanks

 

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Out on the highway... late at night...

inky blackness is stealing your sight...

you got halogen head lights and they ain't bright...

your motorcycling by pale moon light ....

 

I replaced my PIAA 60/55 watt Xenon gas Super White bulbs that glow in the 4200
Kelin range with Speed Metal's 25 watt Cree LED H4 with a working high
and low beam...

 

$69 each at Cycle Gear...
http://www.cyclegear.com/SPEEDMETAL-LED-Conversion-Kit

 

bFBKyfP.jpg
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ZWLAEAY.jpg
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On 2/19/2022 at 5:00 PM, Graham1981 said:

Can you link the ones you b

Could you please link to the ones you bought? did they fit ok?


Thanks

 

Sorry for slow response.  I went and had another look and managed to find them.  Novsight have at least three H4 types on Amzon UK at present.  Here are the ones I have.  As you can see, they are physically (i.e. base for fitting) identical as far as I can tell to the Nighteyes above.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOVSIGHT-Headlight-Bulbs-All-One/dp/B07VP3S9QK/ref=asc_df_B07VP3S9QK

 

As I say, they fit very easily (much easier to do with upper fairing off of course; not tried when on bike yet - may just about be possible with slim hands), but I have not tried refitting dustcaps around them.  The dustcaps will go on but you'll then have them in contact with the heatsink of the bulb. 

 

I may try to get some aftermarket dust caps for now (to sacrifice if needed) and cut the holes a bit larger to avoid any heat issues, but I may also be worrying about nothing.  I don't have any idea of what temps the existing dust caps would be OK with.  Other caveat is that I have not checked what alignment looks like.  I'm trying to get bike ready for MOT at the moment and will try them after that as any LED should now fail MOT due to the rule changes last January which remove any grey area.

 

I'll try to post more info when I put them in including some temperature measurements and comparison of halogen vs LED.  Unfortunately, other small issues setting me back at the moment.

 

Stuart

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  • 4 months later...
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Hi,

 

Sorry for delay. Brief answer, good, I think.

 

I’ve actually videoed and photographed install and adjustment. I wanted to get some video at night of them in use. Did the ride, but video was no good. Will do again soon. 
 

But on that ride they were clearly a big improvement over halogens. I wasn’t quite as blown away as perhaps I was expecting, but when I adjusted I did set them on the safe side (i.e. a tad low) so long range on high beam slightly less than it could be. After another ride I’ll look at adjustment again although that’s much harder once fairings back on.

 

I did not get any flashes from oncoming vehicles. When adjusting, the cut off is pretty good, but there is some scattering of light higher than the cut off. It’s much lower intensity than the main part of the light. It can be seen approaching reflective signs, but as I say, does not appear to be causing other road users issues.

 

I will not be riding this bike much at night, so I’m more than happy as it was mainly about being more visible during the day and I believe they achieve that. Only pain will be having to swap out at MOT time.
 

My tester does seem quite open minded however. Yesterday I had my other bike MOTed. That has some non e-marked aftermarket LED spot lamps which I forgot to turn off before the test as well as non e-marked LEDs in the handguards and a rear light bar. He commented that he liked what I’d done and thought this was all much better than the bikes that come in with mini indicators, so perhaps he’ll turn a blind(ed) eye 😉

 

Will try to get video or pics of light pattern at night up soon.  I’d say you’re safe to give them a try if you don’t mind the potential hassle of a return if they’re not for you.


In the meantime, some pics…

 

Installed (note cable tie to hold longer cable out of way….makes putting fairing back on easier)

FFE3F29C-3BA4-4BAB-8128-CF94EADC821B.thumb.jpeg.714dfd672fb02390142827ab90874e69.jpeg
 

From the front

6598784F-3635-4926-AFA5-C768CD88B613.thumb.jpeg.cf61f1c0265fa0629e72b8d5c1c968b9.jpeg
 

 

Light colour comparison

 

E9E33A24-7F41-4C80-A7B5-6533B0F63053.thumb.jpeg.63d966310f8be84405be67d48a958556.jpeg
 

light and cut off comparison (but note that the two different boards are different colours (you’ll see what I mean in next picture). Halogen on left has a better cut-off. This is pre-adjustment.

 

13067DDF-5FA6-456C-A964-203E18ACBEAB.thumb.jpeg.abfa1d10689188782fdde4cb23428444.jpeg
 

Both LEDs in showing cut-off.

 

47F24598-05F0-43A6-966F-D7B36AC3CCC7.thumb.jpeg.add2d7872011813cf3f8910054d030c5.jpeg
 

A not very good pic in bright daylight.

 

673108DD-6D7A-4B7C-9D7C-C8C3C3A6AA73.thumb.jpeg.45f71a1479dd2b97692dde693c861479.jpeg

 

 

 

cheers

Stuart

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I've noticed that people who do these kinds of cheapo conversions usually don't show actual cut-off pics.  Is it because the light never quite reaches the garage door, or maybe they're too embarrassed to show how much light is scattering above the "cut-off"?  

 

"I didn't get flashed, so it must be okay"...

 

(Yes, the heat is making me a bit cranky!)

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

 

 

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I understand the UK MOT regulations got updated recently so that any bulb can be used provided the tester is satisfied that the pattern meets the original specifications. Over here we are still stuck with the rule that says you can't fit an LED bulb if the housing was originally fitted with a halogen bulb, which means I need to switch my LEDs out for dim orange bulbs whenever it is WOF time. 

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Why do these rules exist? Are they worried abotu wiring issues or brightness/aiming? 

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I can sort of understand the concerns. If you jump on Aliexpress and search for H4 LED for example, you will find bulbs with an H4 base that might have the emitters placed in the correct place to mimic a halogen bulb, but also bulbs that have emitters placed practically anywhere that will provide a truly awful beam pattern. I don't believe brightness is the concern, but poor aiming/pattern and the resulting dazzle are certainly reasonable reasons to reign in the careless. 

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7 hours ago, Terry said:

I understand the UK MOT regulations got updated recently so that any bulb can be used provided the tester is satisfied that the pattern meets the original specifications. Over here we are still stuck with the rule that says you can't fit an LED bulb if the housing was originally fitted with a halogen bulb, which means I need to switch my LEDs out for dim orange bulbs whenever it is WOF time. 

Correct, though it's a gamble if you do go for the test with Led fitted so I shall be putting halogen back in when my 5th Gen goes for her MoT. 

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On 7/18/2022 at 8:17 PM, JZH said:

I've noticed that people who do these kinds of cheapo conversions usually don't show actual cut-off pics.  Is it because the light never quite reaches the garage door, or maybe they're too embarrassed to show how much light is scattering above the "cut-off"?  

 

"I didn't get flashed, so it must be okay"...

Don’t understand. Are you saying my pics above are not sufficient to show the cut-off? If so, I’ll try to get some better ones.

 

On 7/19/2022 at 12:55 AM, bmart said:

Why do these rules exist? Are they worried abotu wiring issues or brightness/aiming? 

Aiming and scatter. Light housings are designed to work with the bulb type they use which will have the filament and often (e.g. in H4) a small reflector/shutter in a very specific position and orientation.  This enables focusing and cut-off of the light to be within required limits. The reflector/shutter blocks lights from going to the housing reflector where it shouldn’t.
 

Poor LED bulbs do not match this  (e.g they may have LED chip(s) in an arrangement which is not the same shape as the filament and/or poor placement and perhaps no shutter). They may have very bad light scattering causing annoyance or even dazzling for other road users. They’ll also often have patchy lighting of the road.

 

The better bulbs as discussed earlier seek to mimic the incandescent bulb design. The better ones achieve a decent cut-off and focusing. But I have not found one yet that does a perfect job as light from LED chip(s) is simply different to that from a filament.
 

In my case I think these bulbs are pretty good, but I’ve also aimed them slightly lower (note how the cut-off is lower than the horizontal laser line) as a safety margin.
 

These are also not the brightest bulbs available either. Those tend to use fans (which I wanted to avoid) and any scattering/focus issues will be amplified by the additional brightness.
 

On 7/18/2022 at 10:51 PM, Terry said:

I understand the UK MOT regulations got updated recently so that any bulb can be used provided the tester is satisfied that the pattern meets the original specifications. 

Does anyone have a source for the change to MOT regs which allow testers discretion?  
 

CORRECTION: This bit below is out of date.  It was correct in January 2021, but the decision was reversed in March 2021.  See post with details on next page.

When I looked, the most recent change (01-2021) had been to REMOVE this discretion. The regs state that LED bulbs in housings designed for halogens are a mandatory fail regardless of how they perform.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-notice-01-21-headlamp-conversions 

 

I intend to swap out before the test. I have limited time using these at night so cannot say with confidence that I won’t be inconveniencing other road users.  I don’t believe I am so far, and I’m very confident that the scatter (there is some) is not sufficient to cause serious issues. I have the luxury of not having/intending to use the bike much at night.  If experience shows otherwise, I’ll remove them and mention here.

 

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Couple more cutoff pics. I think these show that the cutoff is better than most LED bulbs, but you can see some much lower intensity scatter above the cutoff left and right. I can’t say whether or not this is any worse than H4 as unfortunately I didn’t get any similar before pics. On the road I can see this light lighting up road signs ahead, but it doesn’t appear to be enough to cause annoyance. Round my way, drivers tend not to be shy in expressing their feelings 🙂

 

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