Light Upgrade from stock bulbs

[corey]

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

[aaen]

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.

[aaen]

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.

[aaen]

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. 

[sofadriver]

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

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

[aaen]

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.

[Privateer]

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

[aaen]

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

[aaen]

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.

[aaen]

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.

[aaen]

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.

[aaen]

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.

[Privateer]

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

[MashBill]

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

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

[DarkStaR]

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

The regulator looks at the DC-voltage across the battery-terminals and short-circuits a certain amount of power that is produced by the stator to ground. This is regulated constantly, so the output-voltage of the regulator-rectifier (which ideallyis the same as the voltage across the battery-terminals) stays at 14.4 Vdc all the time.The permanent magnet generator-setup is not very efficient, but it is very simple and quite reliable. This explains why it is the most commonly used system on motorcycles.One of the problems with these systems is the short-circuiting of the excess power itself. This is done by the regulator-rectifier and this part has to dissipate the power that it shorts to ground, meaning it will get very hot. This is mostly because of the regulator and partly by the rectifier-diodes themselves that get hot just because of the current flowing through it. The regulator-rectifier internals need to be built so that the heat is transferred efficiently from the electronical components themselves to the housing of the unit, mostly equipped with cooling-fins. This is the most important bit in designing a regulator-rectifier for use in a permanent-magnet generator-setup.[/quote}