Headlight Upgrades

[Mister_Fube]

So to explain, the low beam mode lights the upper two faces of the trianglular bulb, whereas the high beam mode merely lights the additional 3rd face (on the bottom of the bulb). I don't think that'll be as much of an increase over low beam as having a whole second filament light up as it does on the incandescent bulb. We'll see when I'm next out in the dark.

[sendler2112]

Let's see a beam shot at a wall to check out how much of the acceptable pattern remains.

[you you]

Let's see a beam shot at a wall to check out how much of the acceptable pattern remains.

Could you do a shot of an "acceptable" pattern first?

[sendler2112]

Could you do a shot of an "acceptable" pattern first?

My Yamaha R3 retains a beautiful low beam pattern even with an HID conversion. Sharp vertical cut off with zero splash that might dazzle oncoming drivers even though I now have twice as much light to see with.
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[Mister Paul]

Since starting this thread, I have continued to commute on dark, unlit A and B roads in the UK, and with all the dirt and rainwater kicking up from the road and other traffic, I have to daily wipe down the patina of scum from my headlights and tail lights - the few times I've forgotten to do so, it's been hard to tell if my lights were on at all, untill I come up behind traffic and see my lights reflected off the back of the car in front. I get better light to see by from the car behind me than from my own lights, FFS.

I tried and failed to source HS1 HID upgrades. The 2 different suppliers I found on ebay could not supply the correct HS1 ring adapters... the kept supplying H4s or something else.. even after sending them photos of the OEM bulb fitting ring. So I gave up, but I found a supplier of LEDs in Canada. After an email exchange, with Jean Marc Dube, (who was very helpful) I established that this product would fit the bill for the Forza.

http://www.hdbright.com/hi-power-h4hs1- ... p-659.html

Delivery was pretty rapid considering it was coming from overseas. Took about a week. Fitting was breeze - I just had to slightly slit the rubber caps to allow the connector to fit through, but so far so good. I've not taken it out on my commute, yet.. but I was too excited to wait and wanted to post my findings so far.

The LED bulbs are significantly brighter and whiter in low beam mode, but although I can't verify this yet, I suspect that the high beam mode will not be as much of a relative increase in brightness over the low beam as original incandescent bulbs had. If I can remember how to host/upload photos to this forum. I shall share the photos which might explain this phenomenon better. Either way it was an improvement over the low beam brightness that I was after, and these LED bulbs have delivered that much for sure.

Do the bulbs cut out if the fan fails? I'd be worried about it melting my bike.

[Mister_Fube]

First of all... sendler2112 - I have garage envy. That's more of a hangar than a garage. UK garages are barely big enough for a car, let alone a car, and all of the clutter usually associated with family life.

Mister Paul... that's a good question. So desperate am I for more powerful lighting, that I'm taking a chance with these LED bulbs. Jean Marc Dube assures me the bulbs are fully waterproof, but with the crud that comes up off the rural roads that I ride in rain and wind, I'm sure the little fans aren't immune to getting bunged up with mud and grit. So I've replaced the rubber backing caps over the top of the bulbous heat sink bodies to protect them as much as possible from the elements and I'm hoping that the space inside the heat sink bodies provides enough clearance around the LED chip to allow the little fans to dissipate the heat. I've had to pop the centre of those rubber backing caps outwards to fit around the protruding heat sinks on the back of the bulbs, so they're actually touching the heat sink case. I guess I'll find out quickly tomorrow morning, if I smell melting rubber from under the fairing.

[sendler2112]

That's more of a hangar than a garage. .

I work at the Mercedes dealer.

[Mel46]

IMG_20141013_120550.jpg (173.53 KiB) Viewed 1454 times

When I took my bike apart I could not figure out how to add the extra lights to the wiring harness without it being too much for the fuse. I would have had to drill out the light casing for the bottom lights and then try to find some lights that would work well but not melt the plastic. I gave up and just added external ones that I can control from the handlebar switch I also added. Here is what they look like.

[sendler2112]

Those add on LED bars make excellent daytime running lights but what kind of pattern do those throw down the road at night?

[Mel46]

I have not used them but one time at night, and that was for a local run on streets with very little in the way of street lights. Once they were aimed properly they were excellent. I aimed the right one so that it would shine more toward the edge of the road, but not in the ditch. I wanted to be able to see curves further ahead of me. The left one has a great pattern ahead. In fact I ended up aiming it down a little more so that it would not hit oncoming traffic, just the road. I put a slightly less intense set on my wife's bike, but it works quite well too. The lights are made by Kawell.

[sendler2112]

I don't see anything tighter than 60 degrees at Kawell. This is ridiculously wide for use on the street. Perfect for lighting up the tree tops and shining in peoples eyes.
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http://kawelldeal.com/index.php
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10 degrees is much better for getting down the road at speed at night.
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http://stores.advmonster.com/model-30-l ... pot-light/
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[Mel46]

Mine are 25 degree, while my wife's are 30 degree.

KAWELL® Slim 18W 6.2" DC 9-32V 6500K 1170LM 25 Degree LED for ATV/Jeep/boat/suv/truck/car/atvs light Off Road Waterproof Led Work Spot Light Bar Black Color

[homie]

I used to ride my bicycle on moonless nights down a public path using only a set of night vision googles. Excellent visibility and totally fun! The only problem is if a car headlight crossed my view LOL

never mind that was a crazy off topic memory... sorry

[Mister_Fube]

Do the bulbs cut out if the fan fails? I'd be worried about it melting my bike.

I shouldn't think so. The tiny little fans inside the bulbs are there to cool the little chip that regulates power to the LEDs, but the LEDs themselves put out minimal heat. So I guess all that would happen is that the chip, which is internal to the structure of that bi blob at the back of the LED bulbs would possibly melt, shorting out the power to the LEDs. It's something that I consideredbeing wary of replacing a solid state incandescent bulb with an untested LED bulbs with moving parts... but in the end, my need to see the road at night was greater than my caution about frying the headlight unit.

[sendler2112]

Actually high power LEDs put out immense amounts of heat even though they make more light on less power than halogens. What happens if the fan fails? Who knows. I saw one video of a seller demonstrating the lit LED by dunking it in and out of a bucket of water and the fan continued to work fine. They make some nice fans nowadays.

[gn2]

Remember to let your insurer know you've fitted the wrong bulbs.
Did you ever try adjusting the beam up?
When I got my Forza I found the low beam not as good as the PCX it replaced, but a twirl on the adjuster to raise the beam aim fixed it.

[Mister_Fube]

Remember to let your insurer know you've fitted the wrong bulbs.
Did you ever try adjusting the beam up?
When I got my Forza I found the low beam not as good as the PCX it replaced, but a twirl on the adjuster to raise the beam aim fixed it.

I haven't noticed any adjuster to change the aim of the headlights. Where is this magical device, pray tell?

I've had a chance to live with these LED lights for a couple of weeks now, and my appraisal of them is thus:

1. They are WAY, WAY brighter than the crappy OEM bulbs, or even the Osram Nightracer incandescent bulbs that I replaced them with that claimed to be 40% brighter than normal HS1 bulbs. I can now see the road clearly even in pitch dark with the obnoxiously dazzling lights of German luxury cars coming the other way.

2. The bulbs do not seem to be overheating, even with my having replaced the protective rubber caps over the back of them to keep the rain and dirt out of the back of the light unit. My commute is 1.5hrs each way, so I think if they were going to heat up and melt anything, they would have already done it.

3. The aim of the lights is now rather high. Some other road users in cars have "indicated" to me that they think my lights are on full beam when they weren't. Strangely, no oncoming traffic has "indicated" this. This is why I am so interested to find out that there could be a headlight aim adjuster. I hope it's not already at the lowest position.

In the meantime, in order to lower the aim, I have made a DIY hack with some self-adhesive vinyl decals on the lenses. They're not pretty, I admit, - the bike looks way better without them, but hey... this is my all year round ride, so I'm making it functional, otherwise I might have stuck with the original low (black) screen, which looked much cooler than my high screen. Photos below:

[iceman]

The headlight aim be pointing slightly downwards not forwards and from your pic yours seem to be hitting the garage door quite level with the bikes height - perhaps it's not easy to tell in that small space. Was that pic before you added the white plastic trim?

[gn2]

The adjuster is underneath the headlamp and there's a section in the manual describing how to use it.

[Mister_Fube]

LEDs still going strong, four months later. Scooter gets almost daily use in all weathers. No regrets. I still haven't located that beam height adjustment screw yet, even after checking the manual and looking up under the fairing. Why can't I see it? Need to get an eye test, next.