I'm pretty sure this is what I have. Casts a wedge of light toward the shoulder on low beam. Don't mind going out to measure the depth if you want.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bosch-7-Rou...600-118-824-570-Light-H4-Germany/162619952771
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LED headlight conversions, ideas; good and bad
- Thread starter gggGary
- Start date
I'm pretty sure this is what I have. Casts a wedge of light toward the shoulder on low beam. Don't mind going out to measure the depth if you want.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bosch-7-Rou...600-118-824-570-Light-H4-Germany/162619952771
Got the welding helmet out, the bulb is well shielded in that bezel but the LED varies in brightness or perhaps an outer layer gets brighter, there is no solenoid. Will get a better look when the next bulbs come in.
XJWMX that does look very similar. Put them on order so I'll wait n see how they fit. I have an XS1100 H4 reflector, I'll be looking at that next.
XJWMX that does look very similar. Put them on order so I'll wait n see how they fit. I have an XS1100 H4 reflector, I'll be looking at that next.
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...and nobody is better at it than you Gary.
If I were to fit a PMA to my XS, I'd do what I do with the Suzukis and fit a series RR. Problem solved, no more burned up stators.
I hope it can take plenty, as the beam pattern from that one will be a dog's dinner - and no high beam from what I see. The cheapy LEDs are often just DRLs, for which they perform ok, but as headlights - nah. I bought one of the cheapy ones a couple of years ago.
The ones I'm using now have varied from the fan-cooled ones to the braid-cooled, and the braid-cooled are so much better. That cooling is necessary for a high-output LED and a bulb that doesn't have a decent amount of cooling is just a DRL.
Been enjoying this thread. 
Just for fun, and FYI, I measured the beams of my auto H6024 conversion.
To the top edge of the beams' effective illumination:
Low beam - 300 feet
High beam - 800 feet
Just for fun, and FYI, I measured the beams of my auto H6024 conversion.
To the top edge of the beams' effective illumination:
Low beam - 300 feet
High beam - 800 feet
I'ma gonna do a test board and do AB testing, photo's, on the various cheap bulbs. Cooling is for sure a concern.
My reason for messing with cheap LEDs is about;
wondering how good they are
how bright
light pattern
longevity
But #1 was for Allison's Period Piece, keeping a full charge on the battery even with mostly short trips and low engine speeds. She will seldom if ever run far "at night" . Bonus; the reduction in wattage should be a load off charging components and make less heat.
Off topic; Allison is a putz at heart she worked her way up in MC size to a Shadow 750 (now sold, she LOVES the XS) She is riding "more aggressively" now because the XS size seems more controllable and comfortable to handle.
I bought some cheap chinese indicator light LEDs, A two bulb package, one lasted a few seconds the other a couple days. Replaced with Walmart LEDS that are working fine in the Prius. And IMHO do a better job as DRLs than the pathetic incandescents they replaced.
Grimly hit the nail on the head. The Broview S5 with copper braid type cooling (maybe no longer available as an H4) was a HUGE improvement over an H4 halogen in a 7" reflector. It has a great beam pattern, someone spent serious time working on that design. I've put 8K miles on it so far, only a bit at night. So I'm not concerned about durablity on that bulb. I first tried a "bright" halogen then an 80/100 halogen from NAPA "upgrade" on the RSV (it was more hype than actual wattage)
I wonder how I survived riding at night behind the pathetic bulbs of yore in the 60's. I do remember when a car would get behind me (this happened a lot cause I was going slow at night) and my shadow was easily visible on the road in front of me!
Keep posting any and everything about the LED bulbs!
I've also bought a few cheap LED 1157's, so far not much to recommend them. Tried and removed, too little diff between tail and brake light brightness to give me piece of mind.
I've been looking at white/amber 1157 bulbs for use in front turn signals as DRL/turn bulbs but haven't tried any yet.
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gggGary, Allison may benefit more from the piercing intense "blue" light in the daytime. Didn't you note how easy it was to pick me out of the line up when we rode in AR. rally. Myself I tend to "notice" the blue LED headlights more in daylight. Experiences may vary with others.
8-9, 10(?) years ago when the LED bulbs first came out a friend tried one. At night it was OK, but in daylight, you could hardly see it.
Fast forward to today and you can get LED's that work amazing both at night and during the daylight.
BUT with the cheap bulbs on e-bay (I've tried 4) fitment was a problem. The bayonets/prongs/bumps are too short and the bulb doesn't stay in the socket well.
I think I may have posted my "ketchup pack" on the road fix in my Smokie Mountian rally thread. While the band-aid did fix the fitment problem the bulbs still shook apart after awhile. I do have another bulb from a US supplier I intend to try. . . . .sometime.
The best results for rear attention getters were already marketed to the trucking industry. As noted in past threads on the 650rider site others(pamcopete comes to mind) have had good results with this mod also.
For the Specials with the tucked grab bar light a self-contained unit and adaptor replaces the oem unit.
For the standard models I made it a bit more difficult. Again starting with a self-contained designed for the trucking industry light.
I cut the board out and used hot glue to fix in a standard lens. This did require adding a light off the back for a tag light. Now I wonder if I couldn't have just "set" it further back and used the illumination for a tag light. Maybe on the next one . . . . someday.
All in I'm fairly satisfied with the LED conversions and hope they will lead to longer life for the OEM charging system(s).
8-9, 10(?) years ago when the LED bulbs first came out a friend tried one. At night it was OK, but in daylight, you could hardly see it.
Fast forward to today and you can get LED's that work amazing both at night and during the daylight.
BUT with the cheap bulbs on e-bay (I've tried 4) fitment was a problem. The bayonets/prongs/bumps are too short and the bulb doesn't stay in the socket well.
I think I may have posted my "ketchup pack" on the road fix in my Smokie Mountian rally thread. While the band-aid did fix the fitment problem the bulbs still shook apart after awhile. I do have another bulb from a US supplier I intend to try. . . . .sometime.
The best results for rear attention getters were already marketed to the trucking industry. As noted in past threads on the 650rider site others(pamcopete comes to mind) have had good results with this mod also.
For the Specials with the tucked grab bar light a self-contained unit and adaptor replaces the oem unit.
For the standard models I made it a bit more difficult. Again starting with a self-contained designed for the trucking industry light.
I cut the board out and used hot glue to fix in a standard lens. This did require adding a light off the back for a tag light. Now I wonder if I couldn't have just "set" it further back and used the illumination for a tag light. Maybe on the next one . . . . someday.
All in I'm fairly satisfied with the LED conversions and hope they will lead to longer life for the OEM charging system(s).
Can you tell us the value of that resistor WER?
The value is it works? It has been a day or three since that project and I've been drunk since then.
I think I have the packaging it came in and will check for numbers.
I think I have the packaging it came in and will check for numbers.
Not sure what he's doing with the little LED. The resistor would be R = V/I, where I is Maximum Forward Current, or Maximum Current from the LED blister pack. Use amps, not milliamps... V would be presumably 14V or thereabouts.
xj you have to have a light on the tag. With the standard it was supplied by a clear portion on the bottom of the lens. The tail light would illuminate the tag.
I placed the board too close to the face of the lens for this to happen so need a light off the back of the board to satisfy the LEO's.
I placed the board too close to the face of the lens for this to happen so need a light off the back of the board to satisfy the LEO's.
Gary, I read your original post on the BroView H4 replacement LED bulb and ordered a pair, one of which now lives on my D-model. I cut a 3/4" wide x 1-1/2" tall hole in the back of the shell, lined it with split plastic tubing and weatherstrip adhesive, snipped off the bulky 3-way plug and replaced it with 3.5 mm. bullet connectors, and ran the braid and wires out through the hole, with the black box mounted on zip ties under the top fork clamp. At idle, the lighting (headlight and incandescent tail light) causes the volt meter reading to drop only 0.3V--from 13.5V to 13.2V. Illumination beats the H4 halogen bulb I was using all to hell. Thanks for the tip!
Pics G-bear we gotta see pics!
Bear? I don't know no steenkin' bears! "Grizzled" means "streaked with gray;" which really doesn't fit any more, since what's left of the hair is just about all white now.
Anyway, O Oracle of Baraboo, words must suffice. I wrestle with camera and computer every 2 to 4 months for the Yamaha 650 Society News, and otherwise avoid the frustration whenever I can. If you really want visuals, the bike will be at Townsend, and you're welcome to shoot all the pics of the install you want--I'll even go so far as to open the shell for you!
Anyway, O Oracle of Baraboo, words must suffice. I wrestle with camera and computer every 2 to 4 months for the Yamaha 650 Society News, and otherwise avoid the frustration whenever I can. If you really want visuals, the bike will be at Townsend, and you're welcome to shoot all the pics of the install you want--I'll even go so far as to open the shell for you!
Maxpete,,I think this is it.
I just want to set the story straight here. You can see a stock headlight with a stock alternator charging at 14.1 volts with the engine idling.
My bike does that all the time, using a VR-115 regulator. Here's a picture I took yesterday, for the non believers. Headlight is on low beam.
Finally did some testing tonight
All bulbs other than the stock sealed beam were in a Kyoto shell ie from an XS1100 or some such. The H4 type reflector with these bulbs all fit in the stock XS shell but the "best" LED has a long rear section and was a shove to fit, I will change wires and get rid of the black plastic headlight connector which should give me a bit more room. I was hand shooting, so my camera position was not consistent.
In picture order; low beam, then high beam on each bulb type.
#1 is a 55/60 watt H4 halogen
#2 stock sealed beam
#3 The cheapest LED ( on right in last pic )
#4 The "better LED"
The better LED out on the road. This LED lights only the top half of the reflector, the single LED element is on the top of the bulb, so the shell needs to be aimed higher, I moved the shell up but it still needs to go up more. I am impressed with how even the light is below the cut off, a broad area has full even lighting.
Really hot weather is gone til next year but I'll do some temp testing of the shell reflector also.
1st pic; "better" on left, "scatter gun" on right it just has LEDs stuck on everywhere iincluding one behind a lens, pointing forward kind of a projector.
second pic shows depth of the rear of the bulb that sticks back in shell compared with halogen on left
Both the LEDs were cheap on ebay about $3.00 each shipped! I will run the middle one in the resto mod, see how it holds up.
Walked in front of these and that cheap bulb was a glare monster on either bright or dim, the Better one caused much less glare, the bottom half of the reflector is not bright at all.
RG yes, I still have the original mechanical regulator and that 55/60 halogen was really pulling my voltage down at idle, even after a new battery last month. The LEDs give a nice idle voltage bump, nearly a volt increase. Above 2500 RPM they all stabilized at 13.5 volts. While messing with a "cigarette pack" lithium ion battery test rig to feed headlights it was barely able to fire the halogens, quite dim. but the LEDs put out "full" brightness.
I have a digital ammeter "kit", will post up "actual" bulb wattage results, and do some other load "snooping" when I find the darned thing again.
All bulbs other than the stock sealed beam were in a Kyoto shell ie from an XS1100 or some such. The H4 type reflector with these bulbs all fit in the stock XS shell but the "best" LED has a long rear section and was a shove to fit, I will change wires and get rid of the black plastic headlight connector which should give me a bit more room. I was hand shooting, so my camera position was not consistent.
In picture order; low beam, then high beam on each bulb type.
#1 is a 55/60 watt H4 halogen
#2 stock sealed beam
#3 The cheapest LED ( on right in last pic )
#4 The "better LED"
The better LED out on the road. This LED lights only the top half of the reflector, the single LED element is on the top of the bulb, so the shell needs to be aimed higher, I moved the shell up but it still needs to go up more. I am impressed with how even the light is below the cut off, a broad area has full even lighting.
Really hot weather is gone til next year but I'll do some temp testing of the shell reflector also.
1st pic; "better" on left, "scatter gun" on right it just has LEDs stuck on everywhere iincluding one behind a lens, pointing forward kind of a projector.
second pic shows depth of the rear of the bulb that sticks back in shell compared with halogen on left
Both the LEDs were cheap on ebay about $3.00 each shipped! I will run the middle one in the resto mod, see how it holds up.
Walked in front of these and that cheap bulb was a glare monster on either bright or dim, the Better one caused much less glare, the bottom half of the reflector is not bright at all.
RG yes, I still have the original mechanical regulator and that 55/60 halogen was really pulling my voltage down at idle, even after a new battery last month. The LEDs give a nice idle voltage bump, nearly a volt increase. Above 2500 RPM they all stabilized at 13.5 volts. While messing with a "cigarette pack" lithium ion battery test rig to feed headlights it was barely able to fire the halogens, quite dim. but the LEDs put out "full" brightness.
I have a digital ammeter "kit", will post up "actual" bulb wattage results, and do some other load "snooping" when I find the darned thing again.
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Found the ammeter! and made up a test harness, this may prove to be rather useful!
It's plugged into a power tap on the restomod, new charged battery, bike off with a 2 amp charger "helping" with power delivery.
55/60 halogen H4 High 67 watts
stock sealed beam high 58 watts
cheap LED High 3 watts!
focused LED high 8 watts
cheapo LED low 1 watt!
Focused LED low 3.5 watts
stock sealed beam low 39 watts
Not sure why the volts read 2.5 sb 12.5 H4 Halogen low 57 watts
sealed beam low 48 watts.
Nice that these include all the LED load, not just the emitter. I'm thinking tho the bulbs don't have external heat radiators the wattage they need to dissipate, is so much less than incandescents they should do fine in a metal reflector housing. Will also test one of the broview LEDs with an external electronics box, then onto looking at the loads on each fuse in the fuse block of a running XS650. mmm.
Ammeter is similar to this one
https://www.banggood.com/DC-4_5-30V...er-Voltmeter-Meter-p-911901.html?rmmds=search
note amperage is 0 to 10 amps unless you purchase a separate 10X buss block.
It's plugged into a power tap on the restomod, new charged battery, bike off with a 2 amp charger "helping" with power delivery.
55/60 halogen H4 High 67 watts
stock sealed beam high 58 watts
cheap LED High 3 watts!
focused LED high 8 watts
cheapo LED low 1 watt!
Focused LED low 3.5 watts
stock sealed beam low 39 watts
Not sure why the volts read 2.5 sb 12.5 H4 Halogen low 57 watts
sealed beam low 48 watts.
Nice that these include all the LED load, not just the emitter. I'm thinking tho the bulbs don't have external heat radiators the wattage they need to dissipate, is so much less than incandescents they should do fine in a metal reflector housing. Will also test one of the broview LEDs with an external electronics box, then onto looking at the loads on each fuse in the fuse block of a running XS650. mmm.
Ammeter is similar to this one
https://www.banggood.com/DC-4_5-30V...er-Voltmeter-Meter-p-911901.html?rmmds=search
note amperage is 0 to 10 amps unless you purchase a separate 10X buss block.
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