LED Headlight Bulb

[DewCatTea-Bob]

By: JimF...
" Is this the kind of application you were thinking of as well Graeme? "

____ While his thread-title certainly indicates that which he specifically meant to begin discussion of,, it was actually his underlying-issue of insufficient power to continually run with lights-on, that actually led to him seeking an alternative headlight-bulb,
and his friend had THEN suggested a LED.type replacement.
So I naturally expected that both front AND back doors should be open for possible solving of his overall issue.
Simply changing the HL.bulb is the easy-way although probably not the cheapest-way (to solve the discharging battery issue).



By: graeme...
" I'll buy a LED H4 and see what they are like and report. "

____ Please be sure to let us know all the details you can learn of it,, both before you make your purchase, as well as after you've installed such a LED-lamp.


____ Here's a rather cheap example (possibly good-enough for making your headlight visible to other drivers in the daylight). - http://www.focalprice.com/ER0315W/H4_Ba ... P9LXayaIpt
__ Here's one that's priced bout 50% higher than what I believe such ought to actually cost. - http://www.ebay.com/itm/320783383109;js ... 26_rdc%3D1
__ Here's another example, of which it's stated price is about double what such ought to be. - http://www.amazon.com/LongLife-5050160- ... B006J9G230
__ Here's a fairly-good middle-of-the-road H4/LED-model that's also linked along-with some possibly useful info to read-up on. - http://www.carid.com/universal-led-ligh ... Qgodf38A3w
__ Here's a related YouTube-video concerning a 1960s 'bike'. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYulBN6itio
__ Another YouTube-report with LED.testing-results which ya may not really want to learn of,, along with some comments placed by others, some of which actually make fair-sense. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm4kpnVSKNc
__ And this link is to a related discussion on LED.H4 vs std.Halogen-H4. - http://www.priuschat.com/threads/led-re ... hts.72940/
__ And finally, a link to a w.site which supplies LED-bulbs made for motorcycles. - http://www.customdynamics.com/motorcycle_led_bulbs.htm
____ When shopping for such LED.lights, comparison of wattage-ratings is unnecessary (as is regularly done with normal/filament-bulbs),, so rather, look for LED.lights which are rated with the highest quantity of 'lumens', and try to get the most lumens ya can per unit of cost. _ Cuz no matter how many lumens might be found in a single LED.bulb, even the WEAKEST Duke-model charging-system could easily handle it.
____ I wonder if any light-bulb manufacturer will ever see-the-light in producing a hybrid light-bulb ?
Until such possible time, it seems we ought to have one of each type of lights on our DUKEs.


Hopeful-Cheers,
-Bob

[graeme]

I've bought a LED H4 from eBay which should be arriving in the next week.
I'll let you know what it's like. I don't expect any road iluminating revolations but it will need to be at least satisfactory. (from the add below)

•
86 LEDs
•
Colour: White
•
Long lasting
•
Super Bright
•
Low power Consumption
•
Voltage DC12V only
•
Suitable for car headlight H4 socket
•
68 SMD LED illusion points (equal with 340 Lumen)

-----------------------
Cheap and in Australia, even though it was a little dearer than equivelant LED's from China or Hong Kong. And no doubt made in China.
I'll also see how it survives the 450 vibrations.
Graeme

[DewCatTea-Bob]

" I've bought a LED H4 from eBay
Cheap and in Australia, "

____ It would've been nice if you had included a link to that one, (or at-least it's eBay item-number), so that we could then see & check-it-out for ourselves.
I hope it was fairly cheaper than the near 20-buck cost of the special Sylvania 65/45w H4-bulb,
cuz otherwise I'm thinking that you might've made the wrong purchase. _ However in any case, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is fairly exited to be soon learning of how well such a LED.headlight may actually perform (at least in your battery-powered Duke).


" even though it was a little dearer than equivelant LED's from China or Hong Kong. And no doubt made in China. "

____ China is certainly capable of producing top-notch/quality parts, such as these type of bulbs,, trouble is however, they also make a whole heck of a lot of stuff that, while it may LOOK good, it likely actually functions very-poorly ! _ So-then, so as to keep from getting stuck with junk, ya then have to avoid buying most-ANYTHING made in that part of the world.
__ I've seen such LED.H4-bulbs listed as low as just 6-bucks, so it's pretty-good to gather that you paid little-more than that amount.


Hopeful-Cheers,
-Bob

[graeme]

Item #:330851086924
I paid $15 AUD for this. Twice or three times what they are from China.
But it is in Australia, less post cost, quick delivery and I'm reasonably sure I will actually get it.
And I'm not sure the cheaper ones are the same.
It might be that I've just wasted $15 ???? Time will tell.
I hate buying Chinese for all the same reasons Bob mentioned, but no one has given an alternative.
Graeme

[DewCatTea-Bob]

" Twice or three times what they are from China. "

____ By "they", I assume you likely mean a similar-copy of such, rather than the very-same unit-model. (?)


" But it is in Australia, less post cost, "

____ Of-course true, providing that the China home-land seller charges the actual shipping-cost. ...
I really don't know how they can possibly get-by doing so but, often they can not-only sell pretty cheaply, but they can ALSO do-so along-with FREE-shipping !
So I figure that in order to not loose money on such of their deals, the Chinese-gov must provide free export-shipping.


" quick delivery and I'm reasonably sure I will actually get it. "

____ That's true...
I always used to receive EVERYTHING shipped to me from those China-land locations but, it would take at-least a week to 40-days to arrive here -(in Mich.USA).
Then more recently, (nearly 2-years ago), nearly half of the stuff I'd order from over-there would NEVER get delivered. _ So I stopped buying anything from over-there. _ (Which is too-bad, cuz they really have some good-deals to be had !)
__ So I guess if ya don't wish to take a risk, it's not a good-idea to try taking advantage of a cheap-deal on a LED-light shipped from those China-lands.


" And I'm not sure the cheaper ones are the same. "

____ Of-course there's all sorts of different makes & models,, but if ya see a cheaply-priced LED.unit (from the China-lands) which looks pretty-much the same as a unit made in a reputable country, then it's likely not going to be a good-purchase candidate.


" It might be that I've just wasted $15 ???? "

____ Probably not, actually,, since regardless of whatever country it was possibly produced in, it seems that THIS LED.unit-model has at least passed the scrutiny of the local seller you're getting it from.


" I hate buying Chinese for all the same reasons Bob mentioned, but no one has given an alternative. "

____ Well at-least not an alternative that's as AFFORDABLE.

____ I've posted the picture from the eBay-listing which you supplied the listing-number of, (and added some comments below).


Hopeful-Cheers,
DCT-Bob

[DewCatTea-Bob]

By: graeme...
" Time will tell. "

____ Well if you haven't already received it, then you ought-to by tomorrow !
__ When you get it,, before completely installing it, how about wearing a pair of sun-glasses and (with it connected-up electrically), try to note exactly which & how many of the 68 separate LEDs light-up, both on the Low and-also on the High connection-settings.
As that info will be interesting !
__ Also,, if you have a 6-volt DC.source, it would be useful to know if that LED.bulb gets really noticeably dimmer or not with that lower voltage amount.


Hopeful-Cheers,
-Bob

[graeme]

Hello Bob,
I received the LED H4 "bulb?" today and just connected it to a 12 volt battery.
It lights all LEDs on low and all LEDs on high.
On low all LEDs are duller than when on high where they are very bright, so I assume there is a resister or something in the low beam circuit.

I'll have to wait until the weekend to test it in the bike as you have asked.

Graeme

[DewCatTea-Bob]

" I received the LED H4 "bulb?" "

____ I would-not disagree with anyone who may insist that it's not really a "bulb",, however, what would be a more suitable item-name for such ? ... Certainly something like
'LED.torch' would be a step-back towards the somewhat-ancient past. - (I say "torch" because I've noted that the English say "torch" when referring to a flash-light.)



" It lights all LEDs on low and all LEDs on high. "

____ Are you quite-certain that you had your DC.power-source connected to the CORRECT terminal-posts, during your initial test ?



" On low all LEDs are duller than when on high where they are very bright, so I assume there is a resister or something in the low beam circuit. "

____ I suppose that that could possibly be so, but,, if you had connected-up to the wrong terminals, then it may be possible that, (just like with a std.bulb), your light becomes dimmer when the Low AND High circuits are both powered in 'series' TOGETHER (instead of being FULLY powered, each circuit ALONE separately).
So I still have (rather slight) hopes that when connected-up in the manor which provided your "very bright" outcome, that THAT was then the correct/factory-intended bright/High connection-setting,, and that your "low" outcome was (hopefully) actually due to mistakenly powering both Low & High circuits in series-fashion, instead of just the Low-circuit all by itself.
Cuz I had expected that the Low-beam connection-setting would only light-up just nearly half of ALL the LEDs (as located on just the upper-side of the LED.bulb/tower).
__ But otherwise, if you had everything connected-up completely correctly, THEN I'd be left disappointed and fairly assume that your chosen LED.bulb has been rather cheaply designed,, because the two resulting beam-patterns would be (undesirably) the very-same, regardless of whether being set on High or set on Low, (with 'Low' simply being with merely-just less intensity).



" I'll have to wait until the weekend to test it in the bike as you have asked. "

____ Do you mean my request of trying it with a 6-V.system ?
In either case, I hope you get good/better results.


Hopeful-Cheers,
-Bob

[JimF]

Hi Bob,

I have seen this type of LED used in may automotive applications wherein either by current limiting or Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) the LED operates at both a low and a high intensity.

So it comes as no surprise (to me anyway) that Graeme's LED emulates two intensities.


You will see this done on many modern vehicles now.

[DewCatTea-Bob]

" I have seen this type of LED used in may automotive applications wherein either by current limiting or Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) the LED operates at both a low and a high intensity. "

____ I wouldn't have expected that any vehicle with a DC.battery-powe,ed electrical-system would be set-up to make any use of PWM.


" So it comes as no surprise (to me anyway) that Graeme's LED emulates two intensities. "

____ I wasn't surprised, but rather just fairly disappointed (to the extent that I didn't care to so easily accept such disconcerting disarray).
It's my-own firm belief that such simple intensity-variation is a cheap-ass way of providing a high & low option ! _ As the traditional High/Low-term made sense in a dual-aspect... as 'High' meant both high-intensity AND high-projection of the light-beam, while 'Low' meant low-intensity AND low light-beam projection ! _ And it was the beam-projection aspect which was the MAIN meaning of High & Low !
__ It seems to me that as difficult as it must be to circuit-connect ALL those tiny-little individual LEDs together on the bulb-tower/tree, that it wouldn't be too much more difficult to just go-ahead & run two SEPARATE power-circuits for the upper and lower sides of the bulb-tree. _ Doing so certainly wouldn't make the LED.bulb-tree significantly costlier.


" You will see this done on many modern vehicles now. "

____ I HOPE NOT (as far as HEADLIGHT-bulbs go) ! _ Cuz otherwise the use of the low-bean would be mostly useless, (with the only exception being merely to just HELP keep from blinding oncoming-drivers on pitch-dark country-roads at night).
__ I hope that not all LED.headlight manufacturers see fit to go-with such a cheap setup-method !
I expect that the next break-through with LED.intensity-output, will then more readily allow manufacturers to justly reason as I do, and provide LED.headlight-bulbs with TRUE High/Low-functioning bulb-trees (with real 'high' & 'low' projected light-beams) !


Hopeful-Cheers,
-Bob