Ducati Monster Forum

Anyone using any LEd for replacement of the stock bulbs?  I'm looking at ijdmtoy.com, and they have LEd setups that are direct replacements for the H1 & H7 bulbs that are used in the M796.  Not sure if they would fit directly in.  Given that the technology for LED's has changed a lot, well improved over the last few years I thought this might be a better alternative to use then HID.  These are after all just plug and play, apparently. 

Thoughts?

Steve

I'm interested. I'd like to know if they put out more light though.

You and me both.  I'm looking for alternatives, I use a lot of LED tech in my diving gear, however I know that LEd just do not have the punching power through murky water as HID lights we use.  They are close but just not quite there. 

The issue with LED's is that the light travels in only one direction from the specific LED, so if the reflector is not designed correctly you lose a lot of light, etc.   although I have just stuck LED clusters in lights before and they were fine.  These may

Anyways I may just go a head and buy a set or two of these.  for 25 bucks how can I not afford to buy these :)

I'll check em out and let you guys know what they look like.  Just need to figure out how to take apart the dam headlight to change the bulbs out. 


Steve

I upgraded to a piaa cool blue and silverstar ultra for the low and high beams but forgot about the friggin parking light and it's still yellowish. Ugh. Gotta find a blue or clear parking light bulb. Whats the bulb code for the small parking light?

Good point I would have skipped that one to.  Damn need to source another bulb, if I find the size/type I'll let you  know.  Perhaps I should check the manual to see if it is in there.  first. 

w5w

Just checked the manual as well and it states a LED 13.5V 3.2W/0.1W light?  however it also tells me the bulbs for the high and low beams are H7, which we know is wrong.  So what is the different btw what i have listed above as the manual showing(not saying it is correct as I have lost faith in the manual) and the W5W? 

just yank it out and read it  [roll]

Ever taken the headlight off? Its a pita

uh yeah. actually a lot. used to remove it whenever I cleaned the bike thoroughly.

not really PIA

two nuts and wire connections.

OK then what bulb is the parking light bulb? hahahaha ... no seriously....what is it? [beer] [bow_down]

Nevermind I found the info on "the other forum"

BA9S-WHP9: Cool White LED. I just ordered it. With the cool blue PIAA low beam and super white silverstar ultra high beam I have already it should look much better than the ugly yellow tinted light.....

edit:  sorry, I posted without reading the whole thread, my mistake.  I had had the same question a while back and knew I'd posted it, so I searched real fast before reading everything.

I'd love to just yank it out and read it but I am lost as to what are the screws to remove.  Yet to acquire the service manual.  Any pointers/pic's of this?  I'm completely new to this bike, and the threads I have found on this are a bit vague/missing info/pic's that are actually useful.  Not saying there aren't any out there, but i have yet to come across it yet. 

Anyways once again thanks for the help. 

Never mind I just went and took another look at it, my god, I must have been having a brain fart or something, although it could have been the beer that helped.  Once I thought about it and took a look at it, easy to do and all made sense.  Pop of the tiny little fairing, unscrew the two holding the light, disconnect the electrical and pop she comes off.  Sigh I feel really dumb now.

I upgraded my bulb to a supposedly better one. didn't notice a damn difference. waste of money IMHO.

Really?  I know when i put in silverstars in my truck the amount of light given off was much better. Im not talking like 200% better or anything but a very noticeable difference with how far the light was projected. Like i could see things an extra 30-50m ahead. Granted not in detail but you noticed them over the stock bulbs.

The reflectors are usually designed to meet or slightly exceed DOT standards and provide light to a certain distance out in front an to the sides(depends on the parameters that have been laid out). Putting in a brighter bulb will usually give you the same light dispersal pattern, and perhaps a bit further down the road. Heck if it is 10m of marginally better vision that i didnt have before and if it means I see that hazard that much earlier. If it costs me a hundred bucks then so be it. My life or someone elses is worth more then that. Besides I hate the yellow halogen lights i like to see things as they were meant to be, which is the primary reason i me doing this. I dont care about the looks of the bike with the light colour wtc, it looks fine with the normal bulbs, i also find my eyes get less fatigued with brighter lights.

Just fired in some silver-stars a buddy had lying around its day time but they actually light up the garage better then the normal.

Can't wait for the LED ones to show up. Bit of a pan getting the headlight off by urself and not dropping it. Once i figured out how to hold it and attach/detach the cables one handed or balancing it wasn't to bad.

Ill take her for a spin tonight and see what I think.

So after riding about a week with the silverstars in the headlight and switching back, my god there is a huge difference btw the two bulbs.  I didn't think it was that ugh difference until I switched back.  I'm sold on these bulbs, although Ia m still waiting for my led ones to show up and try those out.  I'll keep you guys posted on how those work out as well. 

had 4 of these in the nose of my Goldwing. started several brush fires.  [laugh]

http://www.care4car.com/productdisplay/productid/61/Philips_Rally_High_Wattage_Car_Bulbs.html (http://www.care4car.com/productdisplay/productid/61/Philips_Rally_High_Wattage_Car_Bulbs.html)

Finally got around to buying the led bulbs. Should be here this week. I'll let everyone know what they are like and take some pics. Compared to the silver stars i currently have.

I'd be concerned about the excess strain on the rectifier if the LED headlight has significantly lower power draw.

I'll try them out once they get here. If it doesn't work/damages something. I'll let you know.

Lights have been installed they work like a charm. Will test out tonight when it is dark out.

I can't post from tapatalk directly into the
Forum. But they look like hids.

So it decided to dump rain tonight!!! I msy got out anyways. Regardless i'll report back on the lights.

Do far they are extremely bright compared to dilverstars, they resemble hid in colour/intensity in the garage. They do no have the sharp focus as the bulbs did(slight cut off), think that has to do with Led being a more directional light so u get some scatter. But man the lights shoot far. Just out the garage with the door open.

Yup that is what my what my lught looks like now but brighter(probaly just the way the pic was taken)

I think i paid 25 bucks including ahipping to my dolr in Canada.  Have to double check. Plugged right in voila. Much better looking though, saves me the expense of hid.

Well, I've had these led lights in for awhile. They are extremely bright and i am constantly getting flashed to dim my lights. At least they are noticing me and from a long way off.

Now that being said, I've taken izzy out for a few late night rips, out on some backroads with with lil to no ambient light. The amount of light cast off by these LED's is amazing compared to the stock lights. Now that being said the reflector is designed to use an incandescent bulb and not directional light like LEd. It captures the majority of the light but a lot spills out to the sides, basically it is not focused. . Now if I can only convince ducati to make a TIR lense(captures about 90% of the light and focus it straight ahead).  :)

In all fairness i will keep these bulbs in, they provide better visual queues to cagers, they get noticed , light up the immediate area out to about 20m extremely well, the ditches/shoulder are now visible. The stock bulbs the shoulder was dark but i would get say 30m, I can still see with the led out that far, the light the beam just does  ot illuminate the road. However signs in the distance are lit up well before the stock bulb was. I've switched back and forth a few times. No I did not take pictures. I was riding.

Verdict:
-Leds are a much better light
-The reflector is not designed to capture the light of an LED(they stick out further so a lot of the light is lost to the sides as it is past the edge of the reflector.
- cheap replacement will last forever, well a darn long time.
-i can live with the lack of beam lighting up the road as the vast majority if roads i ride on at night are lighted anyways. And i rarely travel on highways here at night(too many deer/elk), christ they are in the downtown areas as well.

So in a nutshell I am liking the led lights.

i wonder if a shorter 'stack' would help with the focusing?

You've got that backwards...... Lower power draw = lower current = LESS strain on the rectifier.

I think Privateer is right on that one.

http://www.electrosport.com/technical-resources/technical-articles/how-motorcycle-charging-system-works (http://www.electrosport.com/technical-resources/technical-articles/how-motorcycle-charging-system-works)

hmm.. i'd always heard the rectifier has to burn off any unused power as heat...  if you're lowering the draw, you're increasing the amount it needs to burn off... /shrug

Well I'll let u guys know how it pains out so far nothing bad has happened. Will it I don't know, I'm not an electrical engineer/electrician/etc so i have no idea what this rectifier is u are referring to all I know is that the light works great for what I need, and if it blows up or catches in fire, lesson learned!!. I'd prefer the light to be thrown out a bit farther and provide a bit more lighted area. Also my distances I mentioned above are not accurate its just me making a comparison they may in fact put out a usable light beam to 100m, i just was stating there is a difference. 

The shorter led stack may work better for focusing, as the light source would more inline with reflector. I'll have to see what I can find or a shorter stack/lled array. Only issue i see is that there may nit be as many LED's to give off the light.

Well after some considerable use and taking the bike out on a back road at 11 at night, I am going to recommend you do not use these bulbs outside of an urban centre.  The distance the light is projected is phenomenal, but the usable viewing area is extremely and I mean extremely short. I was riding in the middle of the night on a backload with tree's around and I was only going 50kph and I was seriously white knuckling because you could not see more the 20m which is not that far ahead. 

They are great for urban just do not use them as a light for heading out on the back roads.  They are extremely bright but most of the light is lost/scattered and not focused.

I would not suggest bulbs from iJDMtoy.com. I purchased some of them for my car of bulbs of about 6 LEDs each. On most of them, at least one has burned out. They are also not very bright compared to other LED brands. Many people say they buy cheap LEDs that aren't very good. I would suggest going to ebay and searching "cree LED white 9006" (with your own bulb type and color). Cree is the brightest brand of LED I have ever seen, and you can only find companys on ebay from china that buy them in bulk and make bulbs. You will know its a cree when it has a projector/lens bulb onto the top of the bulb.

Because the headlight is in a reflector cup I would suggest buying a bulb that has the cree LED projector on the top as well as 4-8 SMD LEDs to light up the cup.

Good luck next time! Remember that all LEDs are not created equal.