ADVmonster H4 R3 LED Headlight

[olekzap_imp]

Aiming at a wall is practically useless. Ok for a car, but not for a motorcycle. Take the allen, ride out to a straight flat road in the dark, stop in your lane, and adjust your bucket for high beam.

I hardly ever use high beam because I'm always riding in the city with ambient light. It's more important for me to have the low beam adjusted it's best. Mostly use the high beam to make people get out of the passing lane lol.

[the Ferret]

That makes sense. A lot of us ride out in the country with deer and other critters and no ambient light (no light poles out in the country and homes well back off the road). Being able to see clearly 100 yards down the road is important when you are running 45-55 mph in the dark, hence the high beam use.

[olekzap_imp]

Here's a picture of the cutoff at a wall after adjustment.

http://imgur.com/y1xy5Qs

[Bob Sdaman_imp]

Glad to report that my fingers have thawed out enough to type this, and I think I'll be reading the grip heater thread shortly hereafter.

For now, I'll go ahead and confirm that this new H4 is a pretty good product. I'm astonished, actually. The light is so much brighter than the stock bulb, that I don't think I could ever go back to the normal H4 again. As others have done, I'll wrap this up and tuck it somewhere under the seat for backup, but if these things have anywhere near the expected lifespan as advertised, I don't foresee the need to ever replace it. It really is neat to see how much light reflects back from stop signs and speed limit posts, etc. It's incredible that so much light can come from that little tiny diode, no larger than the O on our keyboards.

I was looking at the stock H4 lamp, and I'm beginning to see why they designed this new R3 so differently from the others. As with the stock, most common H4s have the low beam placed directly above the aforementioned reflector cup, which would seem to direct the light upwards into the bucket. For the high beam, the filament is below, which is just where they moved to secondary LED. This seems to mimic an incandescent bulb as much as possible, with the only difference being a much brighter, whiter light. It really is a phenomenal difference.

I'm a bit surprised that others have recommended to go out to an empty road and adjust for the "high" beam. I would think this would be a better time to adjust for the "low" beam, as that's what seems to matters most. Once the regular beam is adjusted properly, who cares how high the secondary beam shines; the higher and further-ahead, the better it would seem. My main concern on the low beam is to extend every courtesy to other, oncoming drivers. If the directed beam is shining no higher than the bottom of their necks, I think the low beam is adjusted quite properly. I'm still fiddling with it a bit, but I think I have it just about right, and it still gives me about 50 feet of well-lit area beyond my front wheel. I'm not sure what the previous owner did, if anything, but I've actually had to rotate the bucket oh-so-slightly upwards to achieve this.

I'll likely report again as time goes on, but for now, I am one happy, rosy-cheeked cold customer.

[the Ferret]

Bob, see post 12 for an explanation of why some of us adjust to high beam. Out where I live there is very little oncoming traffic, if there is you hit low beam until they pass, but as soon as you can get back on high beam so you can see.

Low beam is only used in town where there is plenty of ambient light to see by. I don't have much use for low beam. High beam is the beam I need and I need it to be adjusted the best it can be.

[Elipten_imp]

Can the LED utilize a headlight modulator?


2014 CB1100 DLX
2013 CB1100 Std
1990 BMW K75 RT

[kmoney_imp]

It's good to adjust the high-beam if you ever ride out of town or on the highway with few streetlamps. If the beam is too high you will find that you light up signs, but the light won't illuminate the cat eyes, lines, or really any of the road ahead. You need the beam to reach far ahead as possible , but still have to make sure it "looks down" on the road.

[Olyrider]

Cool! Glad to see it worked out. I'm still thrilled with mine, the R2 version, but this R3 is a completely different design. From the looks of it, I'm guessing you didn't have to modify the retention spring like I had to, which is a huge benefit. That little modification wasn't the easiest thing to do, and although I wasn't too worried about messing up at the time...I should've been; replacements are hard to come by. The flexible heat-sink definitely has it's advantages over the bulky segmented design of the R2.

Were you able to use the rubber dust cap? I couldn't, but it doesn't seem to be necessary anyway...these things are apparently 100% dust and water proof. No problems so far.

I also noticed the R3's high-beam LED is on the bottom, whereas both of mine are on top. It'll interesting to see how that works in the weeks to come.
Anyway, I hope you have great luck with it...keep us posted.

I'm confused. I don't see an R4 version on the ADVmonster website, and their literature seems to indicate the R3 is the latest.

[Randy B]

Cool! Glad to see it worked out. I'm still thrilled with mine, the R2 version, but this R3 is a completely different design. From the looks of it, I'm guessing you didn't have to modify the retention spring like I had to, which is a huge benefit. That little modification wasn't the easiest thing to do, and although I wasn't too worried about messing up at the time...I should've been; replacements are hard to come by. The flexible heat-sink definitely has it's advantages over the bulky segmented design of the R2.

Were you able to use the rubber dust cap? I couldn't, but it doesn't seem to be necessary anyway...these things are apparently 100% dust and water proof. No problems so far.

I also noticed the R3's high-beam LED is on the bottom, whereas both of mine are on top. It'll interesting to see how that works in the weeks to come.
Anyway, I hope you have great luck with it...keep us posted.

I'm confused. I don't see an R4 version on the ADVmonster website, and their literature seems to indicate the R3 is the latest.

I'm confused. I don't see an R4 version on the ADVmonster website, and their literature seems to indicate the R3 is the latest.
I think you are correct on this. I checked out the website and the R3 is what matches his pictures and description.

My major concern would be that mesh heat sink melting the wiring inside the bucket.
Also in their description is says that both LED's are illuminated for high beam operation. I would find that a bit odd because as far as I know the high and low beams are on different circuits.

[treytexag_imp]

Good question Elipten, I too have a modulator on my headlight - I LOVE it BTW. It really get's peoples attention - I see it everytime I ride.

But I like the sounds of this new H4, so I too am curious if it will work with our modulators . . . .

Can the LED utilize a headlight modulator?


2014 CB1100 DLX
2013 CB1100 Std
1990 BMW K75 RT