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Led Headlight Install - 5Th Gen


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I have been thinking about upgrading the headlights on my bike for a little while, among other things, and I had been searching about doing an HID upgrade. One of the drawbacks I can gather from using an HID upgrade to the headlights is that the HID bulbs use the existing headlight reflector and, since the bulb shines out in all directions the lights tend to create a LOT of glare towards oncoming traffic. Considering that I have trouble with the glare myself, I did not want to install something that would cause other drivers difficulty. Hence I did not want to install an HID system without also going to the extra effort of installing the projectors as well. This involved removing the lens of the headlight, removing the existing reflector, installing the retro-fit projectors, and was arguably not exactly a plug and play installation. I don't mind doing all that extra work, but mainly I was concerned with running extra wiring for the headlights, and honestly the cost was a LOT higher after factoring in the cost of the projectors. One of the kits I looked at was nearly $300 US complete with the projectors.

After reading a number of posts and a few threads about the HID's causing excess glare to oncoming traffic and the extra wiring implications because of the ballasts and current draw on start-up, I started thinking about an LED option. There are a number of cars on the market now that have LED headlights so I was sure that there must be an aftermarket option available and after about an hour or so on Google, there were a great many options.

One company that came up frequently when searching LED's was a company called Cree. Apparently they manufacture some of the best and brightest LED's on the market and it just so happens that they manufacture LED lighting upgrade kits for cars, bikes, boats, RV's, etc, etc, etc. There were a number of sources that offered Cree LED Headlight kits but most seemed to be out of either China or Hong Kong and the shipping costs to Canada were a little expensive considering the overall cost of the kits. After a bit of searching I found a company in the US that sold a kit and it came with 2 year warranty, and the shipping was quite reasonable. Here is a link to the site that I purchased the kit from in case anyone else should be interested in trying it out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Universal-Car-Truck-H4-1800LM-50W-Cree-LED-HeadLight-Head-lamp-H-L-Beam-W-/141105877873?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20da90d371&vxp=mtr


The kit came complete with 2 ballasts, 2 -25W Cree LED bulbs, cooling fans, and easy to follow instructions. The kit showed up in less than 5 days after ordering and was VERY securely wrapped. The best thing about this whole kit was that it was very much Plug-And-Play. You simply mount the ballasts, install the bulbs, and plug in to the existing headlight connectors. It was literally that simple. Another nice thing about the kit is that the LED bulbs actually draw less power than the factory bulbs (25W each with the high beams on) and even less than the HID bulbs. The HID bulbs draw only 35W each (depending on the kit) once up to operating temperature but draw considerable power on start up. The LED's draw 50W total with the high beams on, as compared to the factory bulbs which would draw 90W total (45W each) with the high beams on. Not that any of us have ever had issues with the wiring on our VFR's, Noooooooooo, NEVER that, so I thought why not, power consumption is about the same and I had a burnt out headlight I needed to change anyhow.

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For those who noticed the pen that is supporting the lights, DENTIQUE is my company. I do Paintless Dent Repair for a living and I wanted to support the lights somehow so that they sat level, side by side, for the pictures and the pen just happened to be the proper height. No free advertising was intended and since very few of the members of this board reside near me I doubt that any financial gains shall result from the picture. LOL. My BAD.......... :unsure:
And now for the HOW TO part of the thread. :cheerleader:

Step One

First off you need to remove the upper cowl. Since I have already done a How-To description on removal of the 5th gen's upper cowl, here is a link to the thread on how to complete this part of the process.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/76765-how-to-upper-cowl-removal-on-5th-gen/#entry925804

Step Two

Once you have the upper cowl off the bike and a pile of parts on the floor you will need to go have a rest and grab yourself a beverage of some sort. This can be thirsty work and we don't want anyone to become dehydrated during the process of installing farkles on their motorcycle.

Removing the headlight is as easy as removing the four screws that attach the headlight to the back of the upper cowl. Remove the headlight from the cowl and find some place safe to set the cowl so it does not get stepped on, dropped, bashed, scratched, or otherwise damaged.

Step Three

You need to remove the existing bulbs from the headlight housing. Remove the big rubber gasket on each side of the headlight and you will see the bulbs are held in place with spring clips. Release the retainer clip swing it open and remove the bulb.


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Step Four

As you can see from the pictures, and you may have already discovered from previous headlight replacements, the factory bulbs (and the headlight housing) have positioning tabs that are set in different locations than a standard H4 bulb. The same thing can be said for the Cree LED bulbs. This leaves you with an interesting choice. You can either remove the two lower tabs (the narrower ones) tabs on your new $90 LED bulbs and let them sit in the housing, or you can install the bulbs using retainer rings. When I purchased my bike, it already had a set of retainer rings so I removed the tabs from the Cree bulbs and inserted the bulbs in to the housing as per usual. SEE, I told you this kit was simple to install. (I may have voided the warranty on the bulbs mind you as they are now, quote un-quote, modified). :warranty:

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Step Five

Pass the LED bulb wiring through the center of the large rubber gasket and then re-install the gasket on the back of the housing. So far, not much different than installing a regular H4 bulb, RIGHT, well, here's is where it changes. Now that you have the bulb installed and the wiring for the bulb hanging out in mid air, you have to install the cooling fan. This part can be a bit tricky to accomplish as the big rubber gasket sticks out above the bottom of the bulb. I found the easiest way to get this to work was to hold the bulb power wire and push it down against the gasket on one side of the bulb and center the fan on the threaded bolt sticking out on the base of the bulb and CAREFULLY screw the fan base on. The metal on the fan base is not exactly thick so be careful not to cross thread it when you screw it in place. This was probably the most annoying part of the install and it took more than a couple tries to get the threads started whilst holding the gasket and the wiring for the bulb out of the way.

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Eventually I came out victorious, as will you, and now you should have something resembling this finished product.

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Step Six

Now you have to figure out where to install the ballasts that provide the power to the LED bulbs and the cooling fans. The ballasts are not overly large but they do need to mounted securely, and let's face it, motorcycles are not known for there vast quantities of FLAT surface areas in behind the fairings. The length of the wiring for the bulbs is about 10" long in total from the ballast to the rear of the bulb so there is a reasonable amount of wire to find a location and I chose to mount the ballasts to the side of the headlight housing for sake of ease, location and basically because it was the largest FLAT spot I could come up with.

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I attached a couple of squares of coroplast to each side of the headlight housing with 3M rubberized moulding adhesive tape. This is the same kind of double sided tape that car manufacturers use to adhere mouldings and emblems to vehicles so it is quite strong and flexible. I used the coroplast to space the ballasts away from the housing a bit to make the ballast clear the edge to headlight housing. I also thought that if the ballasts were to get warm (or HOT) that it would provide an air gap on all sides of the ballast. As you may notice from the pictures I have installed the ballast at a slight angle compared to the coroplast. At first I installed the ballasts square to the rear face of the headlight housing and then installed the fairings only to discover that the ballast on the left side of the headlight interfered with the main wiring harness loom on the back of the gauge cluster. DAMN, that was a PIA, especially after I had done such a tidy job of measuring the coroplast squares, lining up the ballasts to make sure they looked almost like they belonged there, and installing the fairing. For some reason the left side of the fairing protested lining up properly when I went to install the upper cowl, and after a little searching with the flashlight I discovered why. So I peeled the ballasts back off the coroplast and re-installed them on a bit of an angle, so that everything had it's own personal HAPPY SPACE. It doesn't look as nice as the first time I installed the ballasts but at least everything clears and the wiring harness doesn't rub on the edge of the ballast.

Step Seven

Now that you have everything installed you are ready to re-install the headlight in the upper cowl. With the ballast on the side of the headlight and a bunch of excess wiring hanging out on the back of the headlight housing, I thought Uh-Oh, what to do with the bulb wiring and the cooling fan wiring as I did not want them to get caught up on anything either during or after the install. I discovered that the there was a space between the fairing and the post that the headlight attaches to so I ran the bulb and cooling fan wires behind the headlight housing mounting flange and that used up the excess wiring length and made everything look a bit more, well. tidy. The ballast power connectors that plug in to the factory wiring harness for the headlights do not have to be run in the same place as the bulb and cooling fan wiring and just hang as shown in the picture.


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Step Eight

Once everything is buttoned up on the back of the headlight housing you can re-install the upper cowl on the front of the bike. Be sure to check that none of the wiring is obstructed or pinched, and that none of the new parts interferes with anything else on your bike. The only thing on my bike that is not factory on the upper cowl is the LCD volt meter installed on my gauge bezel, but if you have any other parts installed on your bike you may need to check clearances here and alter the installation accordingly. I ran the factory wiring for the headlight connectors behind the black plastic shield that frames the inside area behind the front wheel. The connectors sit just behind the hole in the upper cowl for the factory turn signal openings and are easy to connect after everything is installed.

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Now that you have everything installed, you can test the LED headlights to make sure everything is working. Unlike me, if you have removed the battery from your bike for winter storage, don't forget to re-install the battery before you turn the key on to check if the new lights work. I can guarantee that if the battery is not installed, the lights, they WILL NOT WORK.

Ok, now that the battery has been re-installed, the lights do indeed come on, and MAN are they ever bright. The ratings for the bulbs are very similar to HID headlights as far as brightness. The Cree LED bulbs are rated for 1800 Lumens (very similar to the light output of car HID headlights in say, Mercedes Benz and Lexus automobiles) and the color temperature of the bulbs is 5000 K (compared to standard car HID's at 4300 K).

When the low beams of the Cree LED headlights are engaged the LED closest to the upper part of the housing illuminates and reflects off the upper part of the reflector only so there is very little glare created as most of the light is reflected down at the road. Here is a comparison of the stock lights versus the Cree LED lights with the low beams engaged. Below is a picture of the bike from the front with the Low Beam only engaged.

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Standard H4 Bulb - Low Beam Only

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Cree LED Bulb - Low Beam Only

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When the High Beams are switched on both LED's on the Cree Bulbs illuminate and the light shines off the top and bottom part of the reflector housing. The diodes on the Cree bulb are also spaced differently on the bulb itself so that the light emitted from the diodes hits a different spot on the reflector depending on whether the high or low beams are turned on. Below is a shot from the front of the bike with the High Beams engaged.

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Standard H4 Bulb - High Beams

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Cree LED Bulb - High Beams

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Here are the pictures of the bike sitting in the driveway with the new Cree LED Headlights. For comparison sake I have placed my wife's 96 VFR750 right beside my 2000 VFR800 so that you can get an idea as to the difference between a stock bulb and the new Cree LED's beam spread and brightness. The headlights on both bikes are sitting at approximately the same height and sitting with headlight perfectly side by side. The distance from the front of the bikes in my driveway to the white Jeep on the opposite side of the street is approximately 80-90 ft. The ground is also a bit wet which may make the beams on both headlights appear a bit different.

Here is a picture from the front of the bikes with what the stock headlights look like with the LOW beams engaged.

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Standard H4 Bulb Low Beam Pattern (96 VFR750)

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Cree LED Bulb Low Beam Pattern (2000 VFR800)

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Here is a picture from the front of the bikes with what the stock headlights look like with the HIGH beams engaged.

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Standard H4 Bulb High Beam Pattern (96 VFR750)

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Cree LED Bulb High Beam Pattern (2000 VFR800)

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In an effort to make things a bit easier for those who have come to find this thread just recently (considering there now appears to be 20 some odd pages of information and opinions) I thought I would recap a few of the LED headlight supplier links that have been posted so far so that the newcomers don't have to go searching through all the posts. There is a large range of costs and warranties so there are numerous options to choose from.

Each of the kits have their merit but in terms of design, I think there are only two real different styles given the companies listed here. All the listings here sell a kit that is very similar in style and components with the exception of the Lifetime LED's. All the other manufacturers have a bulb (with separate and removable cooling fan assembly) and power supply (ballast), whereas it would appear the Lifetime kit has the bulb, cooling fan and heatsink all in one package (though it would appear that the cooling fan assembly is not removable which might make the installing the bulb more difficult ) and a separate power supply (ballast).


1. eBay seller wyfb that I linked to in the original post. Cost $79.95 ( 2 Year Warranty )

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Universal-Car-Truck-H4-1800LM-50W-Cree-LED-HeadLight-Head-lamp-H-L-Beam-W-/141105877873?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20da90d371&vxp=mtr

2. VLEDS.com. Cost $119.99 (1 Year Warranty )
http://www.vleds.com/bulb/h4-cxa-2000lm.html

3. Electrical Connection.com. Cost $149.95 (1 Year Warranty )
http://www.electricalconnection.com/other-lighting/led-hl-h4.htm

4. eBay seller electradecenter (UK site for overseas buyers) Cost £47.56 (1 Year Warranty )
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281225023832?var=580265646215&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

5. Lifetime LED's. Cost $149.00 ( Lifetime Warranty )
http://www.lifetimeledlights.com/H49003-LED-headlights-_p_59.html

6. Ebay Seller dmihawk. Cost $79.98 US (No warranty listed that I could find)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181269034356?item=181269034356&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME:L:OC:US:3160&vxp=mtr


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Thanks for the info... and nice write up!

I have had this same mod under consideration for a while. I'm interested to read your on the road experience with the color, intensity, and night vision with these bulbs.

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Excellent write up. There looks to be a distinct difference in the color - the LED's look whiter in the photos. You'll probably wear out the bike before the LED's.

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@Rush2112

Though I can't say for certain with the bike as I yet, I can offer up this experience with my own vehicles I have had a couple Mazda cars in the past and currently own a Mazda 5. My current Mazda 5 has regular bulbs with a projector headlight (non HID) and they are about as bright as my wife's 96 VFR as shown in the pictures. The only difference is that with the projectors the beam focus on my Mazda is much better with more light thrown where it is directed and not a lot of, for lack of a better term, ambient lighting of the road surface. The vehicle I owned previous to my Mazda 5 was a Mazda 6 sedan and it had projector style HID headlights. The HID's are definitely brighter, and with the color being whiter seems to give better natural contrast to whatever the lights happen to be lighting up. The HID's also being closer to white light also seemed better for showing up lane markings, especially when the road surface is wet. The whiter light seems to penetrate the water better and reflect off the lane markings. Now I am no physics expert or lighting design expert but this is my own take on the benefits of the HID's. The LED's have the same color temperature at 5000 K as my Mazda 6's headlight but are brighter as far as output goes with 1800 lumens versus the Mazda's 1600 lumen output. Based on these numbers I think that the LED's will be as good or better than the HID's. Another benefit is that the LED system from Cree is basically plug and play and cost me $105 CDN including shipping so they are also a better value IMHO.

@Cogswell

Yes the LED's are definitely whiter and the pictures really don't do justice to the real difference. In person the lights are actually much brighter looking than the pictures tend to show. Also, since both bikes are sitting on the center stands, I think they beam pattern will actually spread a bit further. One nice thing about the LED beam patter is that since the low beam only reflects off the upper part of the reflector housing there is very little wasted light above the center line of the bulb. There is a lot more light spread on the ground especially off to the sides of the bike which should help when it comes to vision at the sides of the road. From the looks of it, there is also more light thrown to the right side of the bike than the left and this is likely due to the shape of the reflector. I would imagine that the beam pattern would be slightly different for bikes in other countries that drive on the opposite of the road to those in North America.

@socalnative and DUC2v4

I have ordered another set of the LED's for my wife's 96 VFR750 as well and I will post up with some photos of the difference with this bike as well. This is an upgrade worth every penny IMHO. The last time I purchased regular bulbs for my bike from WalMart (here in Canada are prices seem to be higher than most US stores) the Sylvania Silverstar 2-pack was $60 plus tax (12% extra here in BC), so for an extra $40 plus some fiddling around I should never have to replace a headlight again.

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One other benefit to this modification that another site member has mentioned is that the modification is completely reversible should the need arise. If you were on vacation or a ride or something and one of the LED bulbs or one of the ballasts failed you could unplug the ballast, replace the LED bulb with a standard H4 bulb, plug in the factory harness connector and continue riding. When you got home you could check on ordering a new part and replace the parts at your leisure. No lost time riding.

Thanks go out to vfrcapn for bringing this particular point to my attention.

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That's nice, the Install should pretty much be the same for 3rd and 4th gen bikes. A bit simpler than doing an HID mod, but the best thing is, finally a solution to the single bulb hi/lo beam problem that was not being solved by HID systems so far for 3rd to 5th gen bikes! :fing02: :fing02:

I think one does not have to take off the upper fairing and headlight bezzel from the bike to install that system. unless on had really big hands that can't get in the spaces behind the headlights.

I'm just wondering though, how reliable those timy little cooling fans would be, exposed to the elements..... :unsure:

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That's nice, the Install should pretty much be the same for 3rd and 4th gen bikes. A bit simpler than doing an HID mod, but the best thing is, finally a solution to the single bulb hi/lo beam problem that was not being solved by HID systems so far for 3rd to 5th gen bikes! :fing02: :fing02:

I think one does not have to take off the upper fairing and headlight bezzel from the bike to install that system. unless on had really big hands that can't get in the spaces behind the headlights.

I'm just wondering though, how reliable those timy little cooling fans would be, exposed to the elements..... :unsure:

Hey Beck

The longevity of the cooling fans may prove to be a bit of an issue in the long run and their main purpose is to cool the heat sink on the back of the bulb. Since the heat sink on the bulb is actually open to the outside air I'm fairly certain that even if the cooling fans failed the bulbs would not overheat. I will keep an eye on them just the same and report back as to their longevity.

As for not removing the upper cowl and headlight assembly, even with really small hands, you could certainly install the bulbs without removing the fairing and bulbs but I seriously doubt you could get the ballasts installed without at least the upper cowl being removed. There is not a lot of room in behind the fairings as it is and the ballasts are about 2.5" x 3.5" x 1/2" thick so once they are installed I can not fit my fingers between the edge of the ballast and the inside of the outer fairing (at least on the fifth gen) so I would suggest doing with at least the upper cowl removed. Not to mention getting the two sided adhesive tape in there without getting dirt or grit on the tape as if you were to install the adhesive tape on the headlight housing while it was installed you would likely not be able to peel the adhesive protective cover on the other side of the tape with everything mounted on the bike. You would most certainly do a lot of cursing and swearing and get dirt or oil from your hands on the tape adhesive decreasing its ability to fasten the ballasts to it. The surface that you attach the tape to should also be cleaned first with rubbing alcohol to remove any oily residue before applying the tape. For the amount of time it takes to remove the upper cowl, it is well worth the time spent just to give yourself the room to maneuver everything. You could definitely do the install without removing the headlight from the upper cowl but routing the wires as I have done in this install would be more challenging. The install may be different on say a 3rd or 4th gen bike as the locations for installing the ballasts may be more numerous and thus may not require removing the fairing. If you could install the ballasts on the underside of the headlight housing (for example) then Yes, it could be done with the fairing installed. The 5th gen however does not leave enough room between the bottom of the headlight housing and the inside edge of the lower portion of the upper cowl.

If you can get it installed without removing the upper cowl it would certainly take very little time to complete the install. If you decide to try it let me know how it works.

Great job, is the Jeep color white or gold ?

Hey Swithblade

The Jeep in the picture is actually a metallic white and it was covered in a bit of road spray as the roads the day I took the pictures were wet and dirty during the day. As a result I think the Jeep's color takes on a slightly goldish hue with the standard bulbs shining on it and a slightly bluish hue with the LED's. The color of the LED bulbs is slightly bluish much like the HID's on most cars.

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As a 4th GEN owner I am awaiting your report on the install. Very nice write-up.

Thank you.

I will definitely post up some photos once I get the lights installed in my wife's 96 VFR. The bulbs should be in just after New Years I would imagine. There will be one difference with my wife's bike as hers does not have the retainer rings and instead of installing the rings I am going to modify the headlight housing to accept a regular H4 bulb. On my last bike, a 97 VFR, I moved the location of the bulb retaining clip so that you can install a regular bulb or one of the Honda bulbs.

Here is a link to the information on the modification of the 4th gen's headlight housing. For those interested in this mod, it is really quite easy but will not work on the 5th gen housing as their is no secondary location to mount the bulb retainer clip. I know this as I attempted to figure this out with my bike. Sorry all.

http://webpages.charter.net/bpeloquin/H4mod.html

If you wish to purchase a set of the headlight retainer rings instead here is a link to a website where you should be able to purchase the shims.

http://www.casporttouring.com/cst/motorcycle/Honda_VFR/17120.html

Thanks for the great write up. Does anyone know if these will be compatible with headlight modulators?

TIA,

Roger

My gut feeling on this would be NO. Most LED's do not work well in a situation where they are being forced to turn off and on frequently. They may well work in conjunction with a headlight modulator but it may shorten the life span of the bulbs and/or ballasts. As example, when I was looking to add a set of LED's to my wife's 98 Tahoe I talked with a person at www.vleds.com in regards to a kit for her truck. The guy I talked with said that the GM's daytime running light uses a pulsed voltage on the daytime running light circuit to dim the high beams for the DRL's. He mentioned that this would kill the LED bulbs in a very short time. Now this pulsed voltage is approx 60 times per second so it would be flashing the bulb much, much faster than a headlight modulator so it might not be an issue.

Granted the life span of the LED's in the kit is supposed to be something like 30,000 hours so.................. half that would still work out to something like 3 years if you left the headlight on continuously for that long. :smile2:

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Cree LED Bulb - Battery load test

Having a little free time this afternoon I decided to try a load test of sorts on the battery. The main reason for the test is two fold.

  1. I wanted to find out how warm the heat sinks on the LED would get over time
  2. I wanted to determine how much voltage was being used. Since LED's are supposed to draw less amperage I was curious as to there draw.

Here are a few of the test parameters. The battery was fully charged and had been on a battery tender for the last couple weeks.


  1. Battery voltage at rest with the key off was 13.1 VDC and 100% charge according to the battery charger/tender
  2. Temperature of garage was 12*C or 53*F
  3. Battery voltage at rest according to Digital Multimeter 13.0 VDC taken across battery terminals

All remaining voltage readings are taken directly across the terminals at the battery.

Bike information is 2000 VFR800 with LED lights for the tach, speedo, and LCD display reading and Cree LED Headlights (rated 25W per bulb on high for 50W total draw). All other lights on the bike are standard bulbs that came with the bike from the factory.

Battery voltage at beginning of test - 12.2 VDC (Key in on position with high beams and all running lights on) with voltage taken across terminals.

Voltage reading at 10 minutes - 12.11 VDC - Testing the bulb heat sink by touch there is no discernable difference in temperature.

Voltage reading at 15 minutes - 12.06 VDC - Testing the bulb heat sink by touch there is no discernable difference in temperature.

Voltage reading at 20 minutes - 12.01 VDC - Testing the bulb heat sink by touch there is barely a change in temperature (maybe a couple degrees fahrenheit)

Voltage reading at 25 minutes - 11.94 VDC - Testing the bulb heat sink by touch it is a tiny bit warmer than at start of test (maybe 5 degrees fahrenheit)

Voltage reading at 30 minutes - 11.88 VDC - Testing the bulb heat sink by touch there is no discernable difference from the 25 minute mark.

Voltage reading at 35 minutes - 11.84 VDC - Testing the bulb heat sink by touch there is no discernable difference from the 25 minute mark.


Not wanting to drain the battery completely I stopped testing at 35 minutes and turned off the key. I let the battery rest for about 5 minutes and then tested the battery voltage again across the terminals and got a reading of 12.31 VDC

I then plugged the battery back in to the battery charger tender and the reading was 12.4 VDC and the charger indicator showed the battery to be at 74%


If I were to draw a conclusion from this test it would be that the LED headlights draw very little current compared to the stock bulbs. I say this because I accidentally left the lights on (low beam) on my bike a few months ago and when I noticed that I had left the key on about 30 minutes later the lights were barely a dim flicker and the battery was down to 15% according to the battery charger when I plugged it in. The LED's by comparison lost absolutely no apparent brightness. They were as bright at the end of the test as they were when I started. Gotta like that.

The second conclusion I would draw from the test is that though the Cree LED bulb's do have a heat sink with a fan on them, the actual temperature of the base of the bulb (the plate the fan attaches to which screws to the heat sink on the end of the bulb itself) barely became warm to the touch (and I mean barely warm). As a result I would imagine that, if for some reason the cooling fans failed, the airflow caused by the bikes movement should be enough to keep the bulbs from over-heating. The other thing I have noticed in the past is that the actual face of the headlight with the stock bulbs would get warm or even somewhat hot to the touch after a ride of say 100 KM's. After 35 minutes of continuous operation at a standstill in the garage (granted it was only 12*C) the face of the headlight was almost the same temperature as the surrounding fairing parts.

Hope all of you in VFR land find this information useful. It gives me a bit of peace of mind concerning things like the bulb operating temperature and current draw. Also the ballasts did not change temperature and remained cool to the touch.

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Ok so whats the the little fans for. I guess the ambient temp was not high enough for fan activation . And maybe because the supply voltage was less then 12 Vdc it did not cause the LED's to produce maximum output .

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When I first started the lights were at max output as best I can tell with the battery at 12.2 VDC and they were still just as bright when I shut the ignition off 35 minutes later. The fans were running the whole time but even at that, there was not a lot of heat being produced. From what I have read about LED's they will produce continuous light output right up until the time the voltage drops below their designed level and then they go out. The actual battery was still at a voltage of above 12 V at the end of the test as when I turned the ignition key off again the voltage went back up to 12.33 volts and after resting it went up a bit higher, so I'm not sure if the actual voltage of the battery dropped below the threshold level of the LED's.

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I have a question about the pattern they produce. it looks from the photos like they make a much wider spread on the "hi" setting than the standard lights. This would make sense given your mentioning that both elements run when you switch to high beams. So If I understand your write up correctly, on low beams its just one LED per "bulb" illuminated, and when you flip to high beams both are iluminated. does this produce a larger pattern in the actual lighting or is it a trick of the camera?

If these things work how I think they do its the fix ive been looking for on both my VFR and my girls Miata, eagerly awaiting your reply

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I have a question about the pattern they produce. it looks from the photos like they make a much wider spread on the "hi" setting than the standard lights. This would make sense given your mentioning that both elements run when you switch to high beams. So If I understand your write up correctly, on low beams its just one LED per "bulb" illuminated, and when you flip to high beams both are iluminated. does this produce a larger pattern in the actual lighting or is it a trick of the camera?

If these things work how I think they do its the fix ive been looking for on both my VFR and my girls Miata, eagerly awaiting your reply

Hey PhotoOp

Your assumption is correct. On the low beam setting, only the upper diode only on each bulb is illuminated and on high both diodes are turned on. The beam pattern on both low beam and high beam is slightly wider on both high and low beam settings. Part of the reason for this is that t I think the LED has a more diffuse beam. Sort of like an LED flashlight does not have a really focused beam like a traditional filament bulb in a flashlight. When you shine a regular filament bulb flashlight at a wall it usually shows a distinct circular pattern on the wall. When you shine an LED flashlight at the wall from the same distance the beam produces a slightly more diffuse pattern on the wall and the edges of the beam are not as sharp. Same thing occurs with LED headlight with one exception. The LED's light is a bit more focused because the light is being bounced off a reflector. There is a bit more spread to the sides of the bike and a lot more is reflected to the ground directly in front of the bike than the standard halogen bulb. Not sure if that describes it well enough but I hope you get the idea and that I have answered your question.

When you engage the high beams, the bottom diode illuminates as well as the top one and then reflects light off the bottom part of the reflector in addition the upper part. This casts more light forward and above the centreline of the bulb and since the output of the LED bulb is 1800 lumens versus the standard halogen bulbs output of roughly 800 lumens the bulb is definitely brighter. Since the light emitted is closer to natural daylight in color (the LED is more bluish white whereas the standard bulb is more yellowish) there is a greater level of color contrast in what the bulb is illuminating. At least this is how I interpret the difference. Again since the LED light is produced in a slightly more diffuse pattern from the diode the beam spread is a bit wider with the high beams as well. The difference is much more prevalent in real life than what the pictures actually show. I think part of the difference is that the camera can not show the total amount of light emitted as the camera sensors gauge the ambient light versus the light in the picture and only shows the difference.

I hope I have explained it well enough and if you have any more questions I'm happy to answer them if possible.

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For those who are interested, here is an interesting article comparing standard halogen lighting systems vs. High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting systems vs. LED lighting systems in modern automobiles.

http://ijdmtoy.hubpages.com/hub/The-Difference-between-HID-LED-and-Incandescent-Lamps

It helps to explain some of the differences in the automotive lighting systems. The basic just of the article is that HID and LED lighting systems are more efficient at turning energy into visible light with less energy wasted as heat. LED's seem to be the most efficient at turning energy into light but the LED's can in some cases be considered more expensive.

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When I first started the lights were at max output as best I can tell with the battery at 12.2 VDC and they were still just as bright when I shut the ignition off 35 minutes later. The fans were running the whole time but even at that, there was not a lot of heat being produced. From what I have read about LED's they will produce continuous light output right up until the time the voltage drops below their designed level and then they go out. The actual battery was still at a voltage of above 12 V at the end of the test as when I turned the ignition key off again the voltage went back up to 12.33 volts and after resting it went up a bit higher, so I'm not sure if the actual voltage of the battery dropped below the threshold level of the LED's.

The info about LED's here is accurate. Light Emitting Diodes effectively switch on at a specific voltage. If that voltage is 10V, they should be as bright at 10V as they would at 12V, or 13, or . . . . Now at a certain point, excessive voltage will burn out the diode, but I would expect that to be at least the 20V range, at which case your fuqued for a variety of reasons.

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When I first started the lights were at max output as best I can tell with the battery at 12.2 VDC and they were still just as bright when I shut the ignition off 35 minutes later. The fans were running the whole time but even at that, there was not a lot of heat being produced. From what I have read about LED's they will produce continuous light output right up until the time the voltage drops below their designed level and then they go out. The actual battery was still at a voltage of above 12 V at the end of the test as when I turned the ignition key off again the voltage went back up to 12.33 volts and after resting it went up a bit higher, so I'm not sure if the actual voltage of the battery dropped below the threshold level of the LED's.

Fans run all the time 10-4 ...

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post-25028-0-53672000-1387656344.jpg

I have been thinking about upgrading the headlights on my bike for a little while, among other things, and I had been searching about doing an HID upgrade. One of the drawbacks I can gather from using an HID upgrade to the headlights is that the HID bulbs use the existing headlight reflector and, since the bulb shines out in all directions the lights tend to create a LOT of glare towards oncoming traffic. Considering that I have trouble with the glare myself, I did not want to install something that would cause other drivers difficulty. Hence I did not want to install an HID system without also going to the extra effort of installing the projectors as well. This involved removing the lens of the headlight, removing the existing reflector, installing the retro-fit projectors, and was arguably not exactly a plug and play installation. I don't mind doing all that extra work, but mainly I was concerned with running extra wiring for the headlights, and honestly the cost was a LOT higher after factoring in the cost of the projectors. One of the kits I looked at was nearly $300 US complete with the projectors.

After reading a number of posts and a few threads about the HID's causing excess glare to oncoming traffic and the extra wiring implications because of the ballasts and current draw on start-up, I started thinking about an LED option. There are a number of cars on the market now that have LED headlights so I was sure that there must be an aftermarket option available and after about an hour or so on Google, there were a great many options.

One company that came up frequently when searching LED's was a company called Cree. Apparently they manufacture some of the best and brightest LED's on the market and it just so happens that they manufacture LED lighting upgrade kits for cars, bikes, boats, RV's, etc, etc, etc. There were a number of sources that offered Cree LED Headlight kits but most seemed to be out of either China or Hong Kong and the shipping costs to Canada were a little expensive considering the overall cost of the kits. After a bit of searching I found a company in the US that sold a kit and it came with 2 year warranty, and the shipping was quite reasonable. Here is a link to the site that I purchased the kit from in case anyone else should be interested in trying it out.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think Cree, Inc. (4600 Silicon Drive, Durham, North Carolina 27703 USA, Tel: +1 919-313-5300, US toll-free: 800-533-2583 Fax: +1 919-313-5558) actually manufactured the LED headlight kit you just installed... So if buying "genuine Cree" was important to you, you have probably been ripped off. (Did your package originate in the USA? I've had eBay sellers claiming to be based in the USA who strangely shipped to me from China...)

Now, as for the LED "bulbs" themselves, they look to be of decent quality from the pics. However, you have to wonder if the LED chips they've used were actually manufactured by Cree, given that you now know that the seller/manufacturer most likely lied about the manufacturer of the kit and simply applied Cree's trademark all over the box. Perhaps "genuine Cree LEDs" is the new "genuine Bosch ballast" or "genuine Philip HID Converion Kit"? Cree LED chips are fairly common, so it is possible that they are genuine, but it's impossible to say for sure. I mean, you can buy fake micro-SD memory cards from China these days--fake stuff is endemic, so your only real defence against fake certain types of products is to only buy from a reputable manufacturer (and no, eBay is not a sure sign of a reputable supply chain...)

Finally, I'm impressed that you've recognised that there is a problem with HID conversion kits, in that the lobbing of an HID bulb into a reflector headlamp is a virtual guarantee of unacceptable and dangerous levels of glare, due to the major differences between the dimensions of an incandescant filament and an HID capsule. However, just looking at the LED you can see that the shape of the LED emitter is even more incompatible than an HID capsule! I think the only thing that is keeping these LEDs from being worse, glare-wise, than an HID conversion kit is that the LED's output is so much lower than HID. Look at your "low-beam" photo. Everything above the original H4 "cut-off" will be seen as glare by oncoming drivers. The LEDs bleed light above the cut-off because you have fit a light source with a different shape into the OEM reflector. (And then you spaced it out of position by 1-2mm using those shims.)

HID conversion kits also shield the low beam, btw. The glare problem is not due to a total lack of shielding, it is because the unshielded part is simply incompatible with the OEM reflector--which is exactly the same problem you have with these LEDs.

Ciao,

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