SlimWhitey Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 So I snagged a set of good LED headlamp bulbs for the vfr some time ago. However, I'm leery of putting them in the at ck halogen housing as it'll scatter the light and blind people, while also doing a poor job of illuminating the road. Is there an aftermarket retrofit projector/led housing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted January 16, 2018 Member Contributer Share Posted January 16, 2018 I replaced my H4 bulbs in my 2001 VFR with LED lighting and have had excellent results. It's obvious to me that I'm more conspicuous to vehicles arould me. And the distance and breath covered by the lights increased. And, to address your concern about scattered light, I've never been flashed by an oncoming vehicle. While I was installing them, Wire-my-bike advised me that the LED lights would reduce the electrical draw on the system and add work the R/R has to shunt heat to the subframe. To combat this I added a thick aluminum plate between the R/R and the frame. Mello dude made the plates. Very simple to install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlimWhitey Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 Halogen bezels are made to refract the light at a multitude of angles in order to make good use of what is provided by a halogen light. A proper LED housing dies no such thing, instead focusing the light into a more solid beam, since LEDs have such high output. That's why cages with halo bezels and LEDs blind the living shit out of people. Thanks for the warning about the R/R, will make up a plate quick when I have a chance, you're a doll! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Terry Posted January 17, 2018 Member Contributer Share Posted January 17, 2018 I have LEDs in my 5G, and find the pattern to be really, really precise, great cut-off on low and no excessive scatter. The LED's that I have, have the high- and low-beam emitters set at precisely the same location as the filaments in a halogen H4, so the pattern is very, very similar. The LED's I have also have shrouds below and in front of the low beam emitter to prevent head-on glare. No oncoming driver one has flashed me so far. Other LEDs that I have seen have a cluster of emitters all over the bulb, which would indeed be hopeless as headlights. Mine are very similar to the ones below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted January 17, 2018 Member Contributer Share Posted January 17, 2018 14 hours ago, Terry said: I have LEDs in my 5G, and find the pattern to be really, really precise, great cut-off on low and no excessive scatter. The LED's that I have, have the high- and low-beam emitters set at precisely the same location as the filaments in a halogen H4, so the pattern is very, very similar. The LED's I have also have shrouds below and in front of the low beam emitter to prevent head-on glare. No oncoming driver one has flashed me so far. Other LEDs that I have seen have a cluster of emitters all over the bulb, which would indeed be hopeless as headlights. Mine are very similar to the ones below. Exactly the result for me. They are the best saftey / conspicuity change one can make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer zoomzoom Posted January 18, 2018 Member Contributer Share Posted January 18, 2018 I also have replacement LED headlight bulbs in my 2000 VFR and have nothing but good things to say about the quality and quantity of the added light. The beam cutoff is nearly identical to the stock halogen bulbs, and I have never experience a single oncoming vehicle flash their high beams at me in disgust, with one exception. On a trip last year, I had one car flash me, but it was late at night, in the pouring (and I do mean monsoon style) rain, and I was carrying about 60 pounds of gear in my hard luggage between the top and side cases. As a result, I'm sure the headlight beam was raised a bit higher than normal due to the added weight above and behind the rear wheel. I've ridden in the dark in similar conditions without the luggage, and not had a single person flash me in disgust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer zoomzoom Posted January 18, 2018 Member Contributer Share Posted January 18, 2018 19 hours ago, Terry said: I have LEDs in my 5G, and find the pattern to be really, really precise, great cut-off on low and no excessive scatter. The LED's that I have, have the high- and low-beam emitters set at precisely the same location as the filaments in a halogen H4, so the pattern is very, very similar. The LED's I have also have shrouds below and in front of the low beam emitter to prevent head-on glare. No oncoming driver one has flashed me so far. Other LEDs that I have seen have a cluster of emitters all over the bulb, which would indeed be hopeless as headlights. Mine are very similar to the ones below. Where did you find these style LED's Terry?? Do they have cooling fans built in, or are they just a finned aluminum heat sink?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lint Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 I second the request for info. I am thinking of making my 99 into s streetfighter and I would like to have LED for the brightness and also the reduced chance of melting the headlight I'm looking at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Terry Posted January 18, 2018 Member Contributer Share Posted January 18, 2018 I have LED's in each of my 3 Hondas. In fact all my bikes run 100% LED's in brake/tail and blinkers as well. The VTR 1000 was up first and I used a Cyclops 3800 Lumen bulb, which was an early LED offering. This has separate emitters for low and high, but no shroud in front of the low beam, the bulb base has a cooling fan, and there is a separate driver unit which must be affixed to the headlight shell (I used double-sided tape). Very bright, cut-off wasn't great without the shroud, and a bit dazzling. The later Cyclops bulbs now come with the shroud, and I have fitted a shroud to my Cyclops bulb, which has fixed the dazzle nicely. The difference between a halogen H4 55/60W (usually around 1000 lumens light output) and a 3800 lumen LED is very obvious and I would not go back to a conventional bulb now. https://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/3800-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-bulb-_p_83.html I have a visually identical pair of Chinese knock-offs in my ST1100. These actually look like they are made at the same factory as Cyclops and use the same connectors, bulb base, fan and driver, and came fitted with shrouds. http://www.ebay.com/itm/7200LM-Cree-LED-Headlight-Kit-H4-9003-HB2-Hi-Low-Beams-6000K-Bulbs-Pair-80WA-/381701601889?hash=item58df303a61 It appears that the LED bulbs with fans operate the low beam at all times, and add the high beam emitter as needed, which is actually a useful trick as you keep all the near/low light, and add the distant beam. The fans presumably provide enough cooling that both emitters can be run simultaneously. For the VFR I tried the bulbs in the picture above, reasoning that the slim/multiple emitter mimicked the size and orientation of the halogen filaments even better. These bulbs have no fan and no external driver, and rely on the heat sink at the base of the bulb. They also operate separate low and high beams, like a halogen. Still give a good bright pattern and plenty of lumens for distance work. This is link to very similar spec bulbs to mine (I purchased in 2016 and the vendor does not show any more).https://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-HB2-9003-180W-18000LM-CSP-Hi-Lo-Beam-LED-Headlight-Bulbs-Fit-Toyota/182244084925?hash=item2a6e980cbd:g:3SsAAOSwMtxXsXy1&vxp=mtr Installation of all of these was the same. The inner bulb and connector separate from the bulb base with a twist lock. You can install the bulb base into the headlight shell in the normal way, then fit the standard rubber boot, then push the bulb core through the boot and twist lock into the pre-fitted base. This is very snug but I haven't had to trim the boots on my bike. Then fit the driver unit to the headlight shell with some double sided tape, taking note to avoid any clashes with moving forks. I have had no clearance problems with the LED's even though they are much larger where the fan or heat sink stick out. If you are shopping for a bulb, just find one that has separate emitters for low and high, a shrouded low beam (the front one) and the emitters located in the same spot as the filaments in a halogen bulb. Pics for reference: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlimWhitey Posted January 18, 2018 Author Share Posted January 18, 2018 Guess mine are super powerful. . . 6,000 lumen low, 9000 lumen high as I recall. Mine have a fan and heatsink. Made mounting a pain. Another, higher end brand uses a heat sink strip, but they were triple the cost. I dismantled mine and put them back together in the housing. Wasn't terrible, just unforseen. Mine use an upper and lower LED as well, but I don't like the aim. I've seen way too many passenger vehicles with LEDs in the stock housings and been blind as hell afterward to not care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keef Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 15 hours ago, Lint said: I second the request for info. I am thinking of making my 99 into s streetfighter and I would like to have LED for the brightness and also the reduced chance of melting the headlight I'm looking at. I had an acerbis headlight on my fighter originally. 35W/35W high low beam, H4. loved the way it looked, but I got more light out of a candle, even though it was ADR (Aus design Rules) approved and street legal. A 55/65 globe put out great, useable light with good coverage but it melted the housing. This was a couple years before LED globes were available. Changing the globe would have been easier than changing the headlight. the link below is for a guy that does a lot of LED stuff, and lots guys on the fz09 forum buy H4 led globes to replace the stock globe from him. Good guy - he has helped track down an elec fault on my MT09 via email even though it wasn't his problem. He sells a few different types of LED globes. https://www.tripageled.com/store/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lint Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Am I correct in assuming that these are cooler than a halogen bulb, i.e. less chance of melting a light housing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlimWhitey Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 Very much so. Put your hand on an LED lightbulb in your house, and compare to an incandescent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoelF Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 I added LED bulbs mainly to reduce the current draw but they are also pretty nice. I used the braided heatsink style so they fit well and I do not trust tiny fans like that long-term. These are the ones I installed: https://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-9003-600W-60000LM-CREE-LED-Headlight-Kit-Copper-Belt-Hi-Lo-Dual-Beam-Bulb-6K/352214622966 They cost $28 and there were many sellers. As with other H4 bulbs I had to trim two of the tabs off the bulbs so they fit the non-standard VFR socket (really Honda?) I am happy with the bulbs. -Joel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlimWhitey Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 Mine are heat sink and fan. If they crater I'll go to the braided style. I find Honda gives people the finger like they did with the bulbs quite a bit. Arsholes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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