LED H4 bulb shape/design for 7" enclosure | GTAMotorcycle.com

LED H4 bulb shape/design for 7" enclosure

monkeyfarm

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I'm trying to figure out what style of LED bulb to replace the one in my enclosure with and I'm not sure what the beam spread will look like. What designs have you had success with?

I'm noticing 2, 3, and 4 faceted bulbs, but there's also this design that seems to fire straight out. It's an H4 bulb and the manual states I can go up to 55w but a LED bulb should be able to stay well below that.

I'm watching a bunch of YouTube reviews to try and get an idea of what the end result would look like but not one of them has mentioned what driving with the bulb for a long time is like.
 
Short answer is there is a 99% chance this will make you "that guy". Led's do not have the same point source of light as a halogen. This means beam will be a mess with spread everywhere. At one point @Brian P wrote up a post about led bulbs in reflector housings. It was quite a while ago.
 
The one you linked will not work correctly. The light source has to be in exactly the same place as the filament of a conventional bulb and sending light out in the same directions. It is not possible to 100% fully achieve this with a LED light source, but good ones can come close. They look more like a flat blade with a small strip of LEDs on each side positioned where the filament would be.

99% of what's on the market is rubbish and does not perform as claimed.
 
Halogen bulb? Anything. They're so standardised that any variations have downsides that are not worthwhile. Might as well buy a decent brand name bulb at Canadian Tire.
 
Halogen bulbs, my preference is for a motorcycle specific one, example:

LED bulbs, the design of this one incorporates the elements of H4 design and from the perspective of "being seen", surpass the halogens. Unfortunately for now they are listed as not-available on Amazon.
 
I have covered this topic many times on other forums...short answer is NO. A LED bulb in a reflector housing designed for halogen bulb will NOT cast light properly. Looks great in the garage but sucks on the road.
 
I was already leaning towards Philips based on some reviews and videos and this tips it. Will be look to order one + spare, today.

Might try to find it locally because some of my online orders in the past few months have been very chuck-and-run. I'm sure the bulbs were designed for some impact resistance but all the same...

Thanks everyone for chiming in
 
I have covered this topic many times on other forums...short answer is NO. A LED bulb in a reflector housing designed for halogen bulb will NOT cast light properly. Looks great in the garage but sucks on the road.
100% agreed.
LEDs in a halogen bulb reflector are a mis-match.
However from the point of "visibility" LEDs cannot be beat.
Perhaps the solution is " hybrid".
Use a halogen H4 and add LED running lights.
 
100% agreed.
LEDs in a halogen bulb reflector are a mis-match.
However from the point of "visibility" LEDs cannot be beat.
Perhaps the solution is " hybrid".
Use a halogen H4 and add LED running lights.
It looks like the reflector has a cutout for a running light but it just has a rubber plug in it on mine. According to my shop manual, it was an option only on the variant sold in California.

The turn signals operate as running / position lights, I was thinking about upgrading those to LED. It shouldn't be as big of an issue with glare since the lens is basically a diffuser...?

Just need to see about where I can tuck in the flasher relay.
 
It looks like the reflector has a cutout for a running light but it just has a rubber plug in it on mine. According to my shop manual, it was an option only on the variant sold in California.

The turn signals operate as running / position lights, I was thinking about upgrading those to LED. It shouldn't be as big of an issue with glare since the lens is basically a diffuser...?

Just need to see about where I can tuck in the flasher relay.
p'raps the flasher relay can be velcro'd or zip-tied to the headstock?

Am not an expert in these matters but am thinking that you may also have to wire a resistor inline when changing the turn signals to LEDs.
 
p'raps the flasher relay can be velcro'd or zip-tied to the headstock?

Am not an expert in these matters but am thinking that you may also have to wire a resistor inline when changing the turn signals to LEDs.

Seems like either works. Resistor replicates incandescent bulb, but creates waste heat. Relay allows adjusting flash rate, but may not work with newer bikes.

 

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