Who is running with LED H4 conversion bulb?

[wilcom]

I wanted to save some amps and was thinking about an LED for a headlight since the darn thing is on 24/7. 1.4 amps against a Halogen at 5 amps seems a considerable savings especially on those around town heavy traffic battery killer rides.

After reading two reviews it appears that high beam performance, "down the road" light is no gain and maybe less than a Halogen.

I would like to save some amps but absolutely do not want to give up any distance on the High beam. Anybody run with LEDs at night? What ya say?

[Barry]

Over on the ADVrider forum there has been a long discussion on LED H4 lamps which echo's what you said about the beam i.e. no problem producing lots of lumens for low amps but the beam pattern is not as good as the halogen lamp. I really wanted someone to say they had found an LED H4 lamp that worked well but even when initial reports were very positive they all eventually came back after a few weeks and admitted the beam pattern was not as good as the halogen. 

I concluded that almost any LED H4 would be great as a daytime running light but none are quite up to the job at night. On top of that they are all strictly speaking illegal until certified for use as a H4 replacement. They are getting better though so if it hasn't happened already it will in time. There was talk of Philips trying to get a H4 LED properly certified and approved.

[marcmiller001]

It is a shame no one has created an LED lowbeam/running light with an H4 high beam. Solves a lot of daytime or night time issues in traffic or stop and go and still leaves good light production at night.  Perfect for the biker.

[wilcom]

LED lowbeam/running light with an H4 high beam.

Marc....... excellent idea.

If I mounted an auxiliary LED lamp and switched it for my low beam during the day, I save amps during the day and still retain the safety factor of being seen. At night,  back to normal Halogen.

I think that will work for me

Thanks for the idea!

[qwerty123]

I recently put a lot of time into this, and ultimately decided to go with an (allegedly) high-output 55/60W H4 bulb (Phillips X-treme Vision). I recently realized my bike had an 80/100W bulb installed (from the previous owner). I inspected the wiring and didn't see any signs of damage, but thought it smarter to go back to stock.

Reasons for going with halogen over LED:
--Most LED replacements don't produce proper beam pattern, and those that do are really expensive (e.g. $150[/url=]). See the little cup thing sticking out above the top chip? It's not present on cheaper LED replacements. Also, if I'm going to spend $150 on a bulb, why not go with a cure instead of a band-aid and spend $400-600 on an actual charging system upgrade?
--LED headlight bulbs won't work with the modulator I have (Signal Dynamics), and the only modulator for LEDs I could find is Kisan's $110 unit.

Okay, so $110 + $150 = $260...the charging system upgrade starts to sound like the better option for me.

[Barry]

With Euro bikes not have permanently on headlights, my solution for a day time running light has been to use a 10W or 20W Ba9s halogen bulb in place of the stock 4W pilot light.  I should probably look at finding an a Ba9s LED that puts out as much or more lumens.

[BPT]

I thought there was someone on here who had made the switch not long ago. I'll have to see if I can find the post because I know I asked a question there
Seems like the initial reports were that it wasn't much better, but not much worse either. IIRC, I was thinking it might be doable if you're wanting to save some juice but his cost about $50-60.

[skippyc]

I spent $15 on a Chinese 10W, 20W Led bulb as i don't ride at night, it works good enough to be a daylight lamp but i have never tried it in the dark. Its drawback is it uses only half the reflector.

[skippyc]

I have replaced the parking light on my BSA with a led it shows up for quite a long distance.

[marcmiller001]

Glad I could help!! For reference - is it even possible to just swap out the low-beam bulb in an H4 headlamp? I have this one mounted on my bike now... but now I am curious if I can make an LED work for that - just the low-beam/running light. All my other runnign lights are LED (using the X-Arcs)

https://spieglerusa.com/lsl-headlight-black-3288.htm

LED lowbeam/running light with an H4 high beam.

Marc....... excellent idea.

If I mounted an auxiliary LED lamp and switched it for my low beam during the day, I save amps during the day and still retain the safety factor of being seen. At night,  back to normal Halogen.

I think that will work for me

Thanks for the idea!

[wilcom]

is it even possible to just swap out the low-beam bulb in an H4 headlamp?

I meant mounting an auxiliary LED light and wiring a switch that would cut out the Halogen low beam and turn on the LED light for day time use..... Sorry for the confusion, sometimes what's in my head never makes it to the keys

I went to the storage and found some frame mounts that I used for lighting for my ZX11 when I was doing LD rally's. I think the mounts will work on the front down tube of the r65, have to modify them a tad

[mrclubike]

I have switched completely to LEDs
Native H4 head light bulb
with Rigid Aux flood lights
Run the floods with the high beam and you have extremely good visibility with less power draw than the standard bulbs m

ZEVO brake tail and turn signals
(better than the Emerald Island tail light conversion but if like to waste money get the EI)

Just change the flasher  to a LED compatible and it works fine

Led park bulb from super bright LEDs
You have to remove the headlight lens in order to do the LEDs in the head light

[mrclubike]

here is the flasher I used

Novita EP35

[mrclubike]

here are the tail and brake light

[jp9094]

If the idea is to comply with US law, ie. "Headlight" on when riding, I have to agree with Barry. On his advice I installed a 20 watt Ba9s bulb in my parking light socket. Fools the authorities into thinking I am in compliance with the law, and saves my battery. Of course I have a European 5 position switch on my r65 LS which allows me to do this.

FWIW