Sealed LED light on a 2014?

[MrSacket89_imp]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if it is a good idea to replace the stock headlight unit with a sealed led light? Has anyone tried doing that? Any uissues like hyperflashing, flickering, etc?
Thanks.

 

[peterbaron]

There are few conversions done by members, here is one of them:

New LED headlight and bucket

Use search to find more

 

[Jim21680_imp]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: This snap-in H4 is fantastic!
It's been in my bike for years now, and with a little vertical re-alignment on the bucket, it works superbly.

AdvMonster.com is for sale | HugeDomains

$45 bucks!!

 

[Cormanus]

Jim, That seems like a very simple modification. What happens to the heat sinks? Is there room for them in the OEM bucket? Do they generate sufficient heat to pose a threat to the wiring?

 

[Jim21680_imp]

The heat sinks fold out to the sides, very easily.

Like I said, I've been running that exact LED for at least a couple years, in every temp range the Mid-Atlantic has to offer.
I've even taken it apart to check, and I've had absolutely zero problems. It's a great upgrade, and I'll never ride with an incandescent lamp again.

 

[Cormanus]

Thanks. As I said it seems a very simple way to change; much easier than swapping out whole units and buckets.

 

[max]

Jim for some reason i missed your " plug " for the h4 replacement, it seems a solid winner.

I like the style and look of the standard h4 headlight, it's the same as my 900 hornet and the best looking one ever in my opinion, it would seem nice to half the current consumption and heat generated by the halogen light, visibility in daytime would also be a big plus ( the lights are always on in NZ ) .

Thanks for the post and are you able to supply a picture of the beam area? ( that's the light beam ).

Santa is coming you know!

 

[MrSacket89_imp]

Appreciate your replies, folks.
I'm sorry for asking this again, as I see a lot of questions regarding the LED swap have been covered before. Yet the reason I'm asking about the swap of the LED unit, not the LED bulb is the lens I've got the bike with. It looks like it was sanded or something. That may be the reason why the light seems too dull at night, as the bulb itself seems to be okay. That's why I thought this may be a good idea to just get an all-new sealed LED assembly.
Last night I looked at Daymakers online, and they seem to be way too expensive (around $1000 in average), so now I think this is not an option for me, at least for now.
I started looking at cheaper Daymaker alternatives, but I'm afraid they can cause glare and stuff, as I am looking for good light output, not just getting chinese cr@p that will shine everywhere.... So I'm kinda confused, that's why started this topic.

 

[Jim21680_imp]

I'll gladly post a pic of the beam areas, but it'll have to wait till this weekend. It poured like crazy all day, so I won't be riding for a bit.

Mr. Sacket, if your CB's lense is scratched or sanded, I think a new replacement from Honda isn't too expensive.....about $80 bucks or so.
https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/honda/motorcycle/2013/cb1100-ac/headlight

The LED is definitely a solid upgrade though, whether you do it as a full new lamp, or just a bulb swap.
There will always be reports that LED's scatter light differently, and in some cases that's true. But the upper & lower LED's on the H4 unit above seem to work perfectly.

I'll post back soon.

 

[max]

Thanks Jim, that would be nice.

The reason i would like to change to led is mainly visibility at daytime, your tip reminded me of noticing an oncoming bike that had a very visible presence through his headlight, i'm picking it was led but did not think it was an easy thing to change at the time, but your idea and conviction spurred me on and i think this would work for me as i've been looking at improving visibility to oncoming traffic without beiing over the top or annoying to other road users.

Those small bicycle led lights work well but this could be a more " professional " solution.

 

[Tezza_imp]

My old Suzuki T500 had a 35/35 watt headlamp/candle and was really scary riding of a night. i usually ended up tucking in behind a car and let them light the road ahead. I ended up installing a 40/40 watt led bulb in the headlamp and now I can almost see the koalas in the trees.I have even had car drivers flash me thinking I have high beam on. It was a snug fit inside the headlamp due to the cooling fan but after re-arranging the wiring it all went well.

 

[MrSacket89_imp]

Appreciate your replies, folks.
I'm sorry for asking this again, as I see a lot of questions regarding the LED swap have been covered before. Yet the reason I'm asking about the swap of the LED unit, not the LED bulb is the lens I've got the bike with. It looks like it was sanded or something. That may be the reason why the light seems too dull at night, as the bulb itself seems to be okay. That's why I thought this may be a good idea to just get an all-new sealed LED assembly.
Last night I looked at Daymakers online, and they seem to be way too expensive (around $1000 in average), so now I think this is not an option for me, at least for now.
I started looking at cheaper Daymaker alternatives, but I'm afraid they can cause glare and stuff, as I am looking for good light output, not just getting chinese cr@p that will shine everywhere.... So I'm kinda confused, that's why started this topic.

Well, as long as everyone says they are happy about replacing just the bulb, I guess I will give up the idea of the sealed LED headlight (at least for now) and will try fitting the light into the stock headlight first. I do not care much about the scratches as long as the light is bright enough...

 

[the Ferret]

Try a good plastic polish on your headlight lens. It's a polycarbonate lens and should respond well to a "quality" plastic cleaner.

 

[MrSacket89_imp]

Try a good plastic polish on your headlight lens. It's a polycarbonate lens and should respond well to a "quality" plastic cleaner.

Nice, will check these polishes on Amazon. I bet polishing the lens and getting a new LED bulb will be way less expensive, than daymakers...
Appreciate your help!

 

[Jim21680_imp]

As requested, here's a short video of my attempt to describe the H4 LED from Advmonster.

I had trouble finding a completely dark street without traveling far, but this alley seemed to work nicely.

 

[Cormanus]

Thanks, Jim21680. That looks pretty good. The bike sounds nice burbling away in the background.

 

[max]

Awesome clip Jim, very nice spread and well defined.

Listening to the sound it appears you operate the low/high beam black rocker switch and i note that the dimmed led remains on and the high beam adds to the low one, slightly different and better overall compared with the halogen lamp.

On the strength of your advice i have ordered two and will let you know if all goes well, much appreciated!

 

[Houtman_imp]

Thanks Jim21680 for posting the video.
I will order one of these to try , I do not ride at night but on the BRP there are many tunnels and my glasses get quickly dark in sunshine but take longer to get clear in the dark tunnels.

 

[Jim21680_imp]

I'm sure you'll be happy, all....it's been a great light for me.
Max is correct on the operation, the low-beam stays lit when the high beam comes on.

As I mentioned, you'll likely have to adjust the bucket to get an optimal spread. I did this facing a parked car at my 10-11 o'clock position, at a range of maybe 20-30 feet.
I wanted to be sure the low beam was terminating below the headrests of the the car, so not to blind oncoming drivers.

With that, I found what seems to be the perfect level, and I have never been flashed at, not even once.

Best of luck!

 

[Paris_imp]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if it is a good idea to replace the stock headlight unit with a sealed led light? Has anyone tried doing that? Any uissues like hyperflashing, flickering, etc?
Thanks.

I just did this on one of my older bikes. It had a rectangular headlight housing with a replaceable H4 bulb. I swapped in a rectangular sealed LED unit I bought from Amazon for a Jeep Grand Cherokee. They cost ~$90, and come in pairs, so I have a spare should I ever need it. The wiring was no issue as it was simply plug and play. The LED unit was half the depth of the old housing, so fitment was easy.

I light is far brighter than halogen, a pure white, and with a very well defined pattern with a sharp cut off.

The one thing which requires careful forethought is aesthetics. The new sealed LED units come in a wide variety of styles, some with a projector look, others with angel eyes, and more. What I found looked best for me was a black-out design with two horizontal rows of circular 1" lenses for the high beams on either side of a row of 1" tall bar lenses for the low beams.