Finally LED headlight bulbs

Very cool. Too bad they require fans (I know LEDs run very hot, so it makes sense). It's increasing likelihood of things going wrong. I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig, but if enough people say these hold up well, it's a cool way to go.

I have to admit I'm very happy with Silverstars. Cheap as dirt (compared to HID or projector), simple bulb swap to install, much whiter and better pattern and I typically get about 2 years from a set.
 
I have tried some more inexpensive 30W LED H4 bulbs for my scooter, the results weren't very good. They produced mainly a dim spot of light with a high beam that was twice as bright.

I'd love to know how these are, they look to be of much better quality. I still wonder how they will work when adapted to a halogen housing & reflector. The quality LED headlights I've seen have been purpose built to utilise LEDs, like the JW Speaker 8700 that Harley-Davidson sells as an HD add-on

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http://www.jwspeaker.com/other/8700evolution
 
Dustin said:
I have tried some more inexpensive 30W LED H4 bulbs for my scooter, the results weren't very good. They produced mainly a dim spot of light with a high beam that was twice as bright.

I'd love to know how these are, they look to be of much better quality. I still wonder how they will work when adapted to a halogen housing & reflector. The quality LED headlights I've seen have been purpose built to utilise LEDs, like the JW Speaker 8700 that Harley-Davidson sells as an HD add-on
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One of the students in my BRC2 had an Roadglide with dual LED (of course those are fully purpose-built, not just bulbs). He was blinding me on a sunny day with just the low beam, riding up toward me!! If these new bulbs are anything like that, they'll become popular with the moto crowd.
 
Erci said:
Very cool. Too bad they require fans (I know LEDs run very hot, so it makes sense).
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Really? I thought LEDs run much cooler than halogen lights......well the LED downlights in houses do, can't see why the LEDs in vehicles would be different.
 
PK1 said:
Really? I thought LEDs run much cooler than halogen lights......well the LED downlights in houses do, can't see why the LEDs in vehicles would be different.
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I talked to an architect friend of mine about LEDs and he mentioned that the biggest challenge in creating LED bulbs was figuring out how to keep the heat at bay.

If they didn't run hot, they wouldn't need their own fans, right? Fans or not, I want to know how these perform.
 
The heat thing is interesting. I just bought some plasma LEDs for my front blinkers. After I had them both on for about a minute (stocker and plasma LED), the plasma was mildly warm compared to the hot stocker bulb. Maybe, at the higher output stages, the headlight style LEDs do get hotter. Would like to play with a set.:sinister:
 
Jman said:
The heat thing is interesting. I just bought some plasma LEDs for my front blinkers. After I had them both on for about a minute (stocker and plasma LED), the plasma was mildly warm compared to the hot stocker bulb. Maybe, at the higher output stages, the headlight style LEDs do get hotter. Would like to play with a set.:sinister:
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Wait a minute.. didn't you just go to FZ1 from FZ6 not too long ago?? Z1000 now?? (sorry for the off-topic question)
 
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Would love to see just a straight replacement bulb in the near future from halogen to LED. Have to agree with Erci, the Silverstars seem to be a great alternative until something better happens.
 
For comparison silverstar halogen bulb produces a max of 1500 lumens, other regular quality halogen bulbs produce ~ 1200 lm, the new LED claims to produce ~ 1800 lumens, while a 35watt HID produces ~2400 lumens.
 
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While HID is much brighter, by about double, I suppose LED would be a decent upgrade from Halogen. You wouldn't need to worry about the brightness blinding other drivers at night.

Best upgrade is still HID, at 3000 lumens per bulb, they are far superior. Of course, when talking HID, you're also talking about projectors. While they have bi-xenon HID bulb kits, it doesn't give you a stable beam pattern when placed into a halogen reflector housing.
 
Rabbitman109 said:
While HID is much brighter, by about double, I suppose LED would be a decent upgrade from Halogen. You wouldn't need to worry about the brightness blinding other drivers at night.

Best upgrade is still HID, at 3000 lumens per bulb, they are far superior. Of course, when talking HID, you're also talking about projectors. While they have bi-xenon HID bulb kits, it doesn't give you a stable beam pattern when placed into a halogen reflector housing.
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The single intensity HIDs are great but the H4 hi/low is very inaccurate placing the light on the reflector thus a lot of stray light. these LEDs have an upward facing & a separate down facing light emitters so in theory they should be very accurate but then they are made for projector headlights not the kind I have on gen-1 FZ, anyway I can't wait to get my hands on them & install them, in a year or so they will up the lumens and be comparable to HIDs.

Most of my riding is in day time so having 2 X 60 watt halogen really strains the charging system in stop and go traffic, I use the high beam for more visibility, if the LEDs are comparable to halogen at 30 watts each that is a winner.
 
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firefly said:
The single intensity HIDs are great but the H4 hi/low is very inaccurate placing the light on the reflector thus a lot of stray light.
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Both yield a lot of inaccurate beam patterns because the bulbs are so bright, that a standard Halogen reflector can't effectively focus the light. That is why when you're talking HID, you're talking Projectors.
 
firefly said:
For comparison silverstar halogen bulb produces a max of 1500 lumens, other regular quality halogen bulbs produce ~ 1200 lm, the new LED claims to produce ~ 1800 lumens, while a 35watt HID produces ~2400 lumens.
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FYI, the Philips X-treme Vision H4 consistently tested around 1800 lumens. Pretty impressive for a reasonably priced halogen replacement.

I cannot recommend it enough, it's simply the best H4 halogen replacement on the market right now. The quality of light is exceptional. The bulb life suffers a bit, especially compared to your standard H4. If you ride at night a lot, it's well worth it

I look forward to your review of these LEDs!
 
I have used something VERY similar, if not identical to those ones you just linked. They were terrible for a halogen housing. Very dim and simply just a spotlight with some blotchy light off the reflector
 
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