LED lights

No recommendation but a point to consider.  I run them on my JPN Commando as the twin headlamp set up with halogen is bit hungry for amps and in fairness not that good a spread. 

I "upgraded" to LED which reduced the load on the alternator and the lights were bright,  way brighter than before, but the riding experience was  poor.  The light scatters everywhere, no  defined spread of beam and the back reflection from signs and  other reflective objects   increased the contrast from dark to light so much that it was a job ride to the range of the beam  as it was like a black hole beyond the effect of the lights. 

I have not reverted back as the outlay stings a bit still, but I have to come up with an alternative solution of piercing the night sky without having to wear sungalsses!!!   

Pity they don't make a warmer light colour type of bulb...

Just a note to consider.

Cheers

Jon 

LED's are coming on in leaps and bounds, a few years ago the beam spread was too much, great for daytime where you want scatter so you can be seen from all angles but not for you seeing where you are going at night. I bought some 2 years ago and they have the tight beam, good enough for the MOT tester to comment as no LED had passed before. No doubt they are even better now.

Alan

Attached pdf is an extract from my local (Exeter Classic Motorcycle Club) club's magazine - The Oily Rag!

I wrote the article - any questions please ask.

Andy

Andy's bulb looks very like the one I bought 2 years ago, got it off Aliexpress and bought 2 for the same price as Paul Geoff charges for 1, they are now down to £11 ea. As Andy's write up says you have to go H4 reflector but polarity is not an issue as they are wired internally to take -ve or +ve earth. As its 2 year old design even better ones will be available.

Try Classic Dynamo Regulators. You should find a good LED on their site.

Dave 

The bulb in the picture (black plastic heat shield) I have used two seasons now High beam pattern a bit iffy Low beam so good I hardly need it. 

The black plastic heat sink runs hotter than I would like to have in a motorcycle headlamp. Also do not have enough room as have several non-standard items filling the space, even with a shallower reflector it would be too cramped. They do give a good light and beam pattern in a Lucas LUB383 unit.

Thanks I have not checked the temperature since fitting.

Surely.. the wattage of the LED is much smaller than the old incadescent lamp. And the lamp was much worse at turning power into light and thus made a lot more waste heat. So the heat sink on the LED is there to protect the LED and its electronics. It cannot give off more heat than an old-fashioned lamp. If it overheads, the relatively costly LED might suffer, but the lamp shell must be better off.

I was surprised at the amount of heat produced. I ran it for several minutes out of the headlamp shell, then ran a standard H4 halogen bulb for comparison.

The LED seemed quite all right for a while but got extremely hot after several minutes, much too hot to hold, and no doubt would have been even hotter inside the shell without fresh air around it. Both the reflector glass and metal back stayed cool.

The H4 bulb holder remained cool, but the reflector glass got much hotter than for the LED. Don't know about the reflector metal back, forgot to check!

I suggest that anyone contemplating fitting the LED test it first and then decide whether or not they would be happy with such a hot item in a small headlamp.

Maybe that's the issue... the old bulbs get hot inside the big space between reflector and glass, and the LED get hot in the small space behind the reflector? So might cook the wiring...

The heat from the LED is less than from the Halogen, and with the LED fan running its spread rather than localised.

I am sure that the total heat from the LED will be less than the total heat from the H4. However that doesn't alter the fact that the finned plastic area gets incredibly hot, fan or no fan. I had to leave it to cool before I could hold it to remove it from the reflector.

Hi anyone used LEDs for indicators etc? Are they a straight swap with the old style bulbs? Having indicators fitted to my '72 750

Nick

Hi there Nick

For Tail/Brake light I did a straight swap with a bulb from Paul Goff.  There are also even brighter/better LED light boards.

For indicators - bulbs are a straight swap but you'll need an LED 'relay'. LED bulbs will not work with the standard item.  I used the one from Car and Classic LEDs which works 'as is' https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/collections/indicator-relays-electronic

Also see here http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/GoffyLEDIndicators.htm

Hope this helps

Andy

Hi andy very helpful

Nick