LED vs. HID Headlights | GTAMotorcycle.com

LED vs. HID Headlights

Jiver

Jiver

Well-known member
Forum Sponsor
Looking into replacing the stock bulbs with brighter options... researching the possibility of an HID kit; however, heard about LED headlights. What are your opinions... ?
 
I changed to hids and I love them. They're aimed properly and not once ever have I been flashed for them or bothered by a cop. Great improvement in the middle of nowhere where I live. Daytona motorsports is where I got them. Great guys and great pricing.
 
saw this product at the last bike show, looked good....

http://www.hdbright.com/hi-power-h4-15w-cob-led-headlight-bulb-for-ktm-p-579.html

IMG_0301.jpg


IMG_0305.JPG


IMG_0303.jpg
 
On another website, someone was investigating plug-in LED bulbs which replace standard H7 halogen bulbs, and found none that were not garbage.

The problem was the beam pattern. Low beams are supposed to have a sharp cutoff line above which there is minimal light projected, in order to illuminate the road for you while not blinding oncoming drivers. If you aim the vehicle at a blank wall (and the stock headlamps are good, which not all are...) you should see this pattern.

Stock reflectors for halogen bulbs are designed to reflect the light coming from the filament (which is in a highly standardized location and orientation) and produce that pattern.

HID bulbs try to somewhat emulate that pattern with varying degrees of success, but inherently the HID light source is not quite the same shape as a filament, so more light escapes in directions that it shouldn't. Results vary depending on the design of the reflector. My car has projector headlamps for low beam as standard equipment, and the beam pattern is pretty good with HID bulbs replacing the standard H7 bulbs, although even at that, there is more light emitted above the cutoff than there really should be. My cbr125 has a bi-xenon HID bulb (high and low beam), and I fully admit that the beam pattern is a disaster, nowhere close to what it should be ... but my FZR400 has the standard-equipment 35-watt high and low beam bulbs and it's not very good, either - but there is so little light coming from them that blinding other drivers isn't really a problem; might as well just hold a couple of candles in front of the bike.

The trouble with LED is that the flat shape of the LED emitter is nowhere close in shape to that of the long, cylindrically-coiled filament of a normal H7 headlamp bulb. This means that light will go in all sorts of different directions - too much above the cutoff line where it's useless to you and blinding to oncoming drivers, but relatively less just below the cutoff line where you need it to illuminate the roadway up ahead.

OEM HID headlamps use different reflectors (typically, projectors). OEM and aftermarket LED headlamps that are DOT approved (i.e. legal) come as a complete assembly with the LED element built in and a reflector designed specifically for use with that LED element.

Can't get the link to the pictures that this thread uses but there are some photos in this thread that show the difference between a plug-in HID beam pattern (bad, no sharp cutoff line, too much light emitted too high, dazzling to oncoming drivers) and a proper projector retrofit.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/engin...-hids-everything-you-need-know-then-some.html
 
veno78 said:
Any negatives?
Click to expand...

Yes, plenty.
No high & low beam, simply high and low power, the beam pattern is the same.
The beam pattern is terrible. The light source is nothing like a filament lamp, there is no hope that placing these into a filament headlight will produce an acceptable beam.
They are just as illegal as HID conversions. If it doesn't say it plainly, there will be fine print "off road use only".
They are expensive.

I swapped one of these out of a bike for a guy complaining that he couldn't see the side of the road at night and was constantly being flashed. His produced a significant hot spot right in front of the bike, so much so that at night is was destroying his night vision. The lamp itself is quite heavy, mostly heat sink. It's quite difficult to get the retainer clip in behind the heat sink, really difficult to get it out.
 
^^^ What these guys say. The reflector pattern in your headlight was designed for one type of bulb, if you start switching with different types, the optics will be wrong.

I place this mod on a increasing list of things that end up worse than stock.
 
SpeeDemoN said:
What about placing the bulb into a projector housing?
Click to expand...

Unless that housing was specifically designed for that particular LED light source ... very unlikely to work properly. The shape of an LED light source is too different from the shape of a filament that normal headlamp housings are designed for, no matter whether reflector or projector.

Projectors tend to be at least somewhat tolerant of the slightly different shape of a HID source (but even at that, usually not well enough to be fully DOT ECE or CMVSS 108 compliant unless they were designed for an HID light source!) but the shape of a LED is just too different for there to be any hope.

The situation might be "less bad" (I won't say good) for your high beams because they don't have the design criteria of not blinding other drivers (not to the same extent, anyhow). But even then, if they send the light in wrong directions, it might end up sending bright spots where you don't need it while sending less light by comparison to where you do need it, and the result could be that even though they are "bright", you still can't see as well.

LED is OK for daytime running lamp functions - and there are lots of OEM applications that do just that. DRL is supposed to send light towards where other drivers see them and need not (should not?) serve a roadway-illumination function.
 
Hello,

I am using this LED H4 headlight currently in my GS500F 2005:
http://stores.advmonster.com/h4-led-headlight/

More information about the LED bulb can be found here at this forum:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=976505

*NOTE: I know there is a coupon for 10% off or something like that for ADV. I'll try to find it for you guys :)

I haven't ridden too much at night to really conclude how well it is at night, but everyone has told me it is a lot brighter than before.

I'll see if I can take some pictures at night sometimes week to show the output of this LED headlight.
 
Best solution is a HID projector retrofit, no drop in bulb will ever beat it.
 
silverbullet132 said:
Best solution is a HID projector retrofit, no drop in bulb will ever beat it.
Click to expand...


Until you lean your bike into a corner and the cut-off line of the projector works against you by cutting off light to the corner you are turning into.
 
jeffjones said:
Until you lean your bike into a corner and the cut-off line of the projector works against you by cutting off light to the corner you are turning into.
Click to expand...
Have not had any issue yet but I do see what you mean. If you want something with a proper light output you need a housing build to suit is all.
 
iceman86 said:
Hello,

I am using this LED H4 headlight currently in my GS500F 2005:
http://stores.advmonster.com/h4-led-headlight/

More information about the LED bulb can be found here at this forum:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=976505

*NOTE: I know there is a coupon for 10% off or something like that for ADV. I'll try to find it for you guys :)

I haven't ridden too much at night to really conclude how well it is at night, but everyone has told me it is a lot brighter than before.

I'll see if I can take some pictures at night sometimes week to show the output of this LED headlight.
Click to expand...

I have a bike on which the stock headlights absolutely suck (Yamaha FZR) and given that the above bulbs weren't too expensive, I decided to give it a go.

The stock FZR headlamps have multiple issues ...

They use dual-filament bulbs that are physically the same shape as H4 (usually 60 watt high beam and 55 watt low) but are only 35 watts high and low. At least there are two of them. But while you could easily swap those bulbs for regular (higher powered) H4, the charging system is not up to the task.

And to make matters worse ... the wiring is not good. The headlamps, signals, and instrument lighting are on separate fused circuits on the +12 side but it all goes back into the chassis through ONE common ground wire which is not up to the task. Result ... when a turn signal is mid-flash, all the other lights go dimmer in opposite phase to the turn signal because of the voltage drop in the ground circuit. It also means that none of the bulbs are really operating at full voltage. Changing to H4 bulbs (with higher current draw) would make this situation worse. Yes, you could re-wire and run another parallel ground, the thought has crossed my mind. The stock headlamps are very "yellow" because the already-underpowered bulbs are not being driven to full voltage. The only good thing is that the bulbs last forever because of this.

And to make matters WORSE ... the stock beam pattern is not great. Low beam is tolerable but high beam has too much light scatter in close to the bike, and also, the aiming stinks, there's too much difference between low and high. Aim low beam correctly and then high beam illuminates the treetops, aim high beam correctly and low beam doesn't go far enough down the road.

Bottom line is that with the stock lighting, you might as well hold up a couple of candles up front, they'll do about as well ...

Anyhow, I ordered two of the Advmonster H4-replacement LED bulbs, installed them yesterday, and today was the first ride with them.

The only fitment issue with the FZR headlamp housing is that the cosmetic cover on the back of the housing no longer fits. No big deal, it isn't needed.

Installation was pretty easy. The plug to the LED is a bit fragile and I broke a corner of the plastic off while plugging them in, it doesn't affect function in any way so I'm not concerned. Not having a big ballast to find a place for (as one would with HID) is a big plus, the FZR doesn't give much room to work with.

How do they work ... Better than expected. There is plenty of light output. The low beam cutoff line is not as sharp as it ought to be ... but it wasn't as sharp as it ought to be with the stock bulbs, either. I'd say it's no worse. The high beam pattern doesn't have the issue of putting out too much light too close to the bike any more, but beyond that I can't really say, because it still has the issue of low beam being too low and high beam being too high - this is probably inherent in the design of the reflector - and in my test ride, high beam was definitely aimed too high. Low beam worked well. I've since re-aimed the headlights lower (by quite a bit), but haven't test-ridden it.

There is currently no choice in colour temperature - they are 6000 K and that's it. I'd prefer something in the 4500 K range but that's a minor niggle.
 
I'm going to open my big mouth... Please let the OEM lights alone, 98% of jobs out there are s***t and you know it!

OK, carry on now...
 
If you have projectors on your bike ie. Triumph, Ducati then you should go with HID, but if you don't you should go with LED as they point in a specific direction.
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom