LED headlight conversions, ideas; good and bad

gggGary

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Have one of the handlebar USB voltmeters on Period Piece, Put a $3 fleabay LED in place of the H4 bulb in that retro headlight. I'm getting 14.2V at idle now..... raised the aim some more after the pics. The LED is setting off the head light checker......
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14.2 volts at idle would be acceptable. What does the voltage do when you rev up to 3500 to 4000 rpm?
Acceptable? that's amazing, you won't see an XS doing that at idle with a stock headlight......
14.6-14.7 While doing some testing I swapped a different VR in from some stuff I bought on here. it ran a bit lower, about 14.4 at full chat. Still need to confirm/check that voltmeter too. it's got a pitifully slow refresh rate, on the order of a couple seconds! All is good, Allison typically short trips the bike. I have a digital ammeter I need to set up for component testing. I'm guessing that LED is about 15-20 watts? I have an H4 headlight from a XS1100 that I can swap onto an XS shell I ordered a couple more of those bulbs, will post some results and more pics when they arrive. You can see it uses only the top half of the reflector, which is good for oncoming drivers.... Not sure it gets light "down the road" as good as it could but that shell is an odd duck also. Need to do some road testing you can see the cooling fins are entirely inside the headlight, nothing behind which is great to get it in the bucket but????
Warning; the low wattage LED is a good change on a stock charging system, not so much on a PMA setup.
 
Thank you gggGary. I have been wondering recently if someone has tested these bulbs. Last week I pulled the lighting fuse from my bike and started it up and was surprised to see 14.2V at idle. Since then I have been looking to see what H4 LEDs are available.
 
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Ordered one of these also. http://www.ebay.com/itm/201848549000 I'm running LEDs on two other motorcycles, one for over 8 thousand miles now. But those are just too big to get into an XS650 headlight bucket.
Finding an H4 type shell to fit the XS bucket is not so easy. I keep looking at these but am concerned they will be too deep. Edit; I popped for a pair, will report results.
 
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GGGGARY. Does that 50w Led you order have high low capability? Not that it really matters.
I want to try one also.I have a Triumph headlight bucket on my 77,much deeper and should have no problem
fitting the longer LED bulb.Will the LED be brighter than stock.I really like the idea of the LOW DRAW on the
electrical system when starting up cold.
 
So much on ebay is BS I doubt it "draws" 50 watts. Some pics from a bro-view S5 LEd conversion I did on my royal star it's a 7" H4 bucket.

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Note the high vs low light spread. the bulb casts further OUT on high beam but looses some width. This seems to be a common issue with the LEDs, I suspect you could run both beams for a great view but overheating seems likely.
I will probably drag all this to an LED headlights thread we're barging pretty bad here. done
 
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some testing I've done, things I'm looking at. posts from other threads dragged here.
H4 headlight LED bucket bulb lens wiring high low beam watt wattage amp amperage volt voltage.

Road shots of a a bro view S5 LED in a 7" reflector note how high casts further out but not as wide.... bummer I like early warning for woods rats. This is nearly the same location as the period piece LED pics.
Low beam
broview S5 RSV low.jpg

High beam
broview S5 RSV high.jpg
 
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Yeah, confusing about that ebay ad. There are three connections to that bulb, it must have hi/lo beam. Waiting to see what you get when it arrives. I might want a couple, but I also have to round up my H4 reflectors that I have "loaned out".

:popcorn:
 
or, or, or.....the people putting that LED bulb together could be buying H4 bases and attaching and connecting single output LED bulbs to those H4 bases.

Scott
 
Bulb from the first post does have high low. http://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-COB-LED-...ke-lamp-High-Low-Light-Lamp-Bulb/252865609743 But the investment is SO big......

Will have to take a better look but the high/low may be a solenoid that moves the led in and out...

Read at the bottom of that ad, where it says

Note:
1. If the LED bulb doesn't light up after installation, please simply re-insult it again.

This bulb can take at least two insults!!!!!! Makes you wonder how many insults this bulb can actually take.

Scott
 
OK - so this IS getting confusing - but it sure is valuable input to the XS650 community.

Could I ask that once you have completed all of your testing / swapping parts and messing around, that you post a list of exactly what you settled on, where you got it and how much you paid for it so that we can all do THAT? No harm no foul if it turns out badly for anyone, but with so many alternatives being discussed, people will be f@rting around buying the wrong stuff and wasting time and money.
 
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