LED Headlamps/Passing Lamps

[Guest]

Ill just clarify something here. Not all of those LED bulbs will cause major interference. I got my set from GreenBoat and they work fine FOR ME!! Others have had horrible experiences with static. I have only encountered a slight static condition from one local radio station. Ipod works fine through the speakers as well. I know of a few members who pulled their hair out with these bulbs but I may be one of the lucky ones. I dont know what would cause this static difference from one set to another. Bottom line, its a crap shoot. And the HID headlight from canadian cruiser customizing is about all the headlight power ill ever need.

[Seaking]

Ill just clarify something here. Not all of those LED bulbs will cause major interference. I got my set from GreenBoat and they work fine FOR ME!! Others have had horrible experiences with static. I have only encountered a slight static condition from one local radio station. Ipod works fine through the speakers as well. I know of a few members who pulled their hair out with these bulbs but I may be one of the lucky ones. I dont know what would cause this static difference from one set to another. Bottom line, its a crap shoot. And the HID headlight from canadian cruiser customizing is about all the headlight power ill ever need.

 

The Greenboat ones SUCK CANAL WATER BassAckwards and their customer service as well.. Nuff said about them and their suck products.. Glad YOU were lucky enough to have gotten a reasonably good working set but mine were defective, non-working and stupid insane interference ridden lights.. (ask me what I really think of them... )

 

I have the HID on my bike and it's all the light you need to see the road, wow, excellent.. no complaints there with the product OR the customer service provided by Canadian Cruiser Customizing.. top notch.. highly recommended..

 

I wanted to get 'white coloured' lighting on my highway lights to increase the visual footprint towards oncoming traffic so to make the bike more readily noticeable and hopefully not part of a cager's hood ornament when they look up from the cell phone, lipstick or bagel..

 

I've been through most of the LED 4.5" lamps on the market and they all have that static.. Shame.. from what I can find on the web about this problem, it's just a matter of changing a few circuit pieces etc.. but it's a common problem plaguing the industry.

 

I currently installed H7616 lamps, they still look quite yellow compared to the HID and LED Sunspots, but they are marginally 'whiter' then the typical lamps found on our bikes..

 

like I said, GLAD you found a set of lights that work on your bike.. but it ain't happening here.. I tested all those lights on other RSV bikes around here to see if it was just something about my own bike but the other bikes suffered the same problem.

 

Cheers M8

[Seaking]

Thanks, Seaking. You probably just save me a boat load of money! I think I'll wait for something better, like you suggested. Don

 

You can still use them, they work.. but at the expense of audio on the system..

 

Hopefully SOON someone will make a proper set that doesn't static up the radios and sound system SOON..

[jfoster]

Mine is in and installed. In reference, I have the RSTD and was using the Cool Blue H4 bulb. First impression is the light distribution isn't as good as the standard bulb. As with a standard headlight you get an even spread. With this you have 10 seperate light sources, that makes up the light pattern. I really don't think its any brighter than the Cool Blue or the Silver Star. On the plus side, its not blindingly bright to other motorist.

 

I'll have to ride at night to give it a good review. So far, I've just pulled out on the road just to see how the light is.

 

For me, I don't ride that much at night. I don't have passing lamps and have always worried bout the headlight bulb burning out and taking a chance of having someone turn in front of me. With this, I have more security of being seen and for me its worth the price. (Thats what I tell myself.)

 

I'll post a better review once I have time to take it out and ride at night and do a side by side comparison with a standard h4 bulb. I will say this, if your looking for a brighter light than the cool blue or the silver star for night riding, you may want to look at the HID kit. If your looking for the different factor and want the security of not worring about it burning out, you will like it minus the price tag.

 

When my neighbor returns home from his 30 day tour in Africa, I'll do a side by side comparison with the standard bulb.

 

Pros: Low draw on the electrical system.

LED quality light and output.

Doesn't draw bugs in (learned that from having a LED light bar on my patrol unit)

Not worried about it burning out.

 

Cons: Light pattern isn't as good.

 

For me, I like it...worth the price, hard to say just yet.

Edited March 3, 2011 by jfoster

[Guest]

The Greenboat ones SUCK CANAL WATER BassAckwards and their customer service as well.. Nuff said about them and their suck products.. Glad YOU were lucky enough to have gotten a reasonably good working set but mine were defective, non-working and stupid insane interference ridden lights.. (ask me what I really think of them... )

 

Cheers M8

 

C'mon man...please tell me what YOU REALLY THINK......

 

Seriously though, my first encounter with Green boat was a pleasant one. Guess after we tried the lights and most of them were bad for our bikes they just gave up and shut us out. Didnt want to deal with the problem. I cant support their actions. I discovered them from someone using them on the Delphi forum and he had no issues with them so I went ahead and ordered a set. I have a suppressor that im going to try and incorporate into the light circuit and see if it does any good. Im just waiting until I pull the front end off the bike before I can play with it. Sometime after Bike Week. I also see where someone tried the real expensive ones from custom dynamics and they failed as well. Damn shame as these bulbs look great and compliment the HID light nicely.

[jfoster]

This may help....the custom dynamic product is made by Truck-Lite #2261 made n USA. It's pretty much universal in application.

[Guest PlaneCrazy]

Why don't any of these lights show their output in Lumens? I looked through at least 5 different ads for those 7" LED headlights and none of them provided a light output rating. That right there makes me think they are not quite as bright as Halogen bulbs. Most other LED headlight bulbs I have seen were only in the 250 lumen range, which is nowhere near bright enough to take over duty as your main light. Not when a SilverStar H4 bulb will put out 1500 or so lumen.

 

Also, much of the problem with LED lights is the way they project their light. It seems brighter to look at it, but that's more to do with the color. They don't work well with normal reflectors and can't seem to project the beam ahead as well or concentrate it. At work, i love my little 3 watt LED flashlight for the general walk around inspections I do on aircraft, but when I have to look at the tail, 36 feet off the ground, I still use my trusty old mag light 4 D-cell with krypton bulb.

 

IMO... I can buy about 10 SilverStar H4 bulbs for $300. And a light that lasts 50X longer isn't any use to me considering that my last H4 halogen bulb lasted 7 years on my Honda. I don't plan on riding my current bike for 350 years And the power saved with these 7" LED headlights is not that much. It's still almost 60 watts at high beam.

 

No... I think if I do decide to mod my headlight down the road, I will go with an HID setup. Almost 3000 lumens for only 35 watts draw. And you can get kits for under a hundred bucks if you shop around.

[KiteSquid]

. At work, i love my little 3 watt LED flashlight for the general walk around inspections I do on aircraft, but when I have to look at the tail, 36 feet off the ground, I still use my trusty old mag light 4 D-cell with krypton bulb.

 

Have you tried a flashlight with a P7 LED in it? I have one and it is advertised as 900 lumens. It lights up trees in my yard at over 75 feet and I can see all the details...

[Guest PlaneCrazy]

Have you tried a flashlight with a P7 LED in it? I have one and it is advertised as 900 lumens. It lights up trees in my yard at over 75 feet and I can see all the details...

 

No haven't seem them yet. My 3 watt was one of the brightest when I bought it 2.5 years ago. I'm pretty hard on flashlights though, so I either buy a really tough one (like a real MAG light) or a bunch of inexpensive ones. Sucks when you pay $50 for a new flashlight only to have it fall off a wing and break on you or get covered in Skydrol and basically melt

[Seaking]

C'mon man...please tell me what YOU REALLY THINK......

 

Seriously though, my first encounter with Green boat was a pleasant one. Guess after we tried the lights and most of them were bad for our bikes they just gave up and shut us out. Didnt want to deal with the problem. I cant support their actions. I discovered them from someone using them on the Delphi forum and he had no issues with them so I went ahead and ordered a set. I have a suppressor that im going to try and incorporate into the light circuit and see if it does any good. Im just waiting until I pull the front end off the bike before I can play with it. Sometime after Bike Week. I also see where someone tried the real expensive ones from custom dynamics and they failed as well. Damn shame as these bulbs look great and compliment the HID light nicely.

 

I tried both the Green Boat sucks canal water light as much as their customer service, and the Custom Dynamic light and though the custom dynamic light was SUPERBLY built and have superb customer service, unfortunately the lights have the dread static problem as well..

 

if the bike never had a radio or if I never used the radio, I'd ride with Custom Dynamic lights on and have a brilliantly lit WHITE light parade on the bike.. all white.. but I need the tunes on them 12 hour a day rides I do a lot of..

 

I guess then its to start looking for an H4 driving lamp and installing HID in those somehow..

[Seaking]

No... I think if I do decide to mod my headlight down the road, I will go with an HID setup. Almost 3000 lumens for only 35 watts draw. And you can get kits for under a hundred bucks if you shop around.

 

If you want to throw a lot of intensely bright light on the road ahead of you, try one of these $70 plus shipping

 

http://canadiancruisercustomizing.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3&zenid=4l2kig398mmq0gbibbr662l0k5

 

I've installed three of these in various RSV and these have been running for well over a year of serious riding in all conditions, rains, dry, heat and numbing cold.. All working great. SIMPLE to install.. And the company is super to deal with..

 

The only problem we ever had installing one was one gent had a headlight modulator in his system that needed to be removed in order for this to work. if you want bright and you wanna see through the dark, nothing beats an HID..

 

And just in case IF your HID fails on your while you're on on the road, you simply swap it out with a plain H4 bulb until you get your HID repaired.. Simple as that.. quick change

[Flyinfool]

That is exactly why I keep the old H4, that came out to make room for the HID, stashed on the bike.

 

I was thinking of getting a set of halogen driving lights that use an H3 bulb, There is a 35W HID H3 bulb available.

 

I still wonder if it as simple as slapping a capacitor across the power leads to these LED setups to quiet down the static. If it really is RFI causing the problem, wrap the converter box in a shield of aluminum foil or if it needs air cooling use aluminum screen, and ground the shield.

 

My guess is that they are using a switching regulator to drop the bike voltage down to the needed LED voltage. the regulator may just need filtering on the input and/or the output. IF the output is even accessible.

[Guest]

I have a capacitor/suppressor thingy from Crutchfield that I plan on trying soon. I also wrapped the whole light assembly in heavy duty tin foil as a test but I still had static on one of my stations.

[Flyinfool]

Did you ground the tin foil?

[KiteSquid]

No haven't seem them yet. My 3 watt was one of the brightest when I bought it 2.5 years ago. I'm pretty hard on flashlights though, so I either buy a really tough one (like a real MAG light) or a bunch of inexpensive ones. Sucks when you pay $50 for a new flashlight only to have it fall off a wing and break on you or get covered in Skydrol and basically melt

 

I get mine at Dealextreme.com for a good price. they are cheep chineese lights but have a GREAT bang for the buck. Get a HA-III coating.

[naturbar]

"I get mine at Dealextreme.com for a good price. they are cheep chineese lights but have a GREAT bang for the buck. Get a HA-III coating."......................

 

you can get cheap stuff from dealextreme.com but don't even consider getting any kind of customer service...talk about an outfit that sux. that my opinion thru experience dealing with them.

[KiteSquid]

Most of the stuff I bought from them is cheep, and all of it was inexpensive... and I agree that their customer service does not exist, but I will still buy from them.

[Gray Ghost]

I just swapped out all my turn signals and tail light for LEDs from Custom Dynamics. I ordered the GEN200-Y-KIT from http://www.customdynamics.com/yamaha_turn_signal_retro.htm. White in front, dynamic clusters in the rear, and the metric signal stabilizer instead of load equalizer. I have checked the radio with the new signal lights and there is no static. Not sure if they compare with driving lights yet. The only downside is that while the four ways work great, flashing on just one side flashes fast. The tech support told me that some of the RSVs and RSTDs have that problem. Adding a load equalizer or signal stabilizer to the front might or might not cure it. So I am going to let them flash fast for now. I

[Seaking]

You're doing better than mine.. I tried on two diff bikes and I can't get any of the signal lights to slow down what so ever.. 4 ways yes.. no signals. I tried the electronic flasher and well, that was useless.. I have another set of load equalizers coming in from another company to try out.. if those work I'll give you a shout.

 

I think it's just figuring out WHERE to connect them is my main issue to be honest.. What ever wire that sends the blinking power to the socket is the one I hook it up to, correct?

[Gray Ghost]

One of the things that Custom Dynamics told me that if you run the 4-ways for a long time with load equalizers that you run the risk of burning out the equalizer. I have decided to stick with the fast flash, besides, I like the idea of gaining back a little power.

 

Added note: If the equalizers don't come with instructions I would call the company. One thing I like about using CD is that they have great customer service.

[KiteSquid]

That is exactly why I keep the old H4, that came out to make room for the HID, stashed on the bike.

 

I was thinking of getting a set of halogen driving lights that use an H3 bulb, There is a 35W HID H3 bulb available.

 

I still wonder if it as simple as slapping a capacitor across the power leads to these LED setups to quiet down the static. If it really is RFI causing the problem, wrap the converter box in a shield of aluminum foil or if it needs air cooling use aluminum screen, and ground the shield.

 

My guess is that they are using a switching regulator to drop the bike voltage down to the needed LED voltage. the regulator may just need filtering on the input and/or the output. IF the output is even accessible.

 

The noise could also be from a ground loop.

 

Try moving the ground to the point on hte bike that the batteries ground is connected or if you bike has a single gound stud (e.g. GL1800) move it there.........

[rwrenn1]

I got the Kuryakyn LED Driving lights and LOVE THEM no noise from the radio. A little expensive but well worht it. I installed them during the day and after looking at them I was seeing spots for about 20 minutes after and that was with the sun hitting them directly. They look like HID and are also made by Truck-lite. I would love to put the headlight in too but have no clue what to do on making that mod. I had to cut the ends off the plugs and I soldered the wires rather than using butt connectors but other than that they went in 1-2-3. Kuryakyn gets an A++ for distributing these Items.

[geep]

I got the Kuryakyn LED Driving lights and LOVE THEM no noise from the radio. A little expensive but well worht it. I installed them during the day and after looking at them I was seeing spots for about 20 minutes after and that was with the sun hitting them directly. They look like HID and are also made by Truck-lite. I would love to put the headlight in too but have no clue what to do on making that mod. I had to cut the ends off the plugs and I soldered the wires rather than using butt connectors but other than that they went in 1-2-3. Kuryakyn gets an A++ for distributing these Items.

 

Given the close proximity of the turn signals to these super lights, can you still distinguish the flashing turn signals?

[geep]

I am looking at the LED headlamps and passing lamps sold by customdynamics.com. Is anyone using these yet? I think they're pretty new. I am thinking this might be a better way to save amps than LED turn signals/running lights and/or swapping out the stator for the HO one. Thanks for any and all input. Don

 

A good write up of these lights here

 

http://forums.delphiforums.com/vrider/messages/?start=Start+Reading+%3E%3E

[Stanman]

I found a 100watt high/55watt low H4 bulb. Will the system on a Gen1 handle this bulb? Ifit works it should be brighter that the stock bulb.