LED headlight module (Cyclops Adventure)

[dolomoto]

I had to trim the rubber weather collar but otherwise they went on fine.

Here you can see the part that had to be trimmed on account the "base" of the LED module did not have enough clearance.



The base fits into the bracket, I'd forgotten how much I hate that wire keeper on the rear of so many headlights; the base is on backwards in this photo. I fixed it.



The collar was trimmed to give the module more clearance (to mate with the base).



It still wouldn't go back together so I trimmed some more. You can see what I cut off beside the collar. Now it fit together.



The LED module has two tabs, one is wider than the other. Noting the orientation of these tabs in relation to the base (which is already installed) makes things much easier. I looked in from the front of the bike (thru the headlight lens).



Before this conversion, I ran Wagner Halogens in 80/100W. The bulb on the left (riders right) is the Wagner. The new LED module is installed on the other side.



High beam with the new LED modules on both sides:



Low beam:



High beam:



http://youtu.be/lM0M4b2UgT8

There was a camera effect when switching from low to high and then back to low beam.

The modules are $65 each and arrived in about a week.

https://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/3800-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-bulb-_p_83.html

[mikeeitup]

Sweet! Thanks for posting I was waiting to see somebody else do this and post more details before I did it myself. Are you happy with the lights? Are they (to you) more powerful during the night time ride allowing more visibility (I.E. are they worth it)? Thanks!
Mike

[dolomoto]

I have zero miles with them so far. I'll get a couple of hundred miles in this week.

[Deziner]

Sweet!  The real test will be at night, beam focus, etc.  Let us know how it works out.

[maxtog]

Interesting, thanks for the photos and info!  LED technology is really advancing.  I fear the LED replacements will have the same issues as the HID replacements- focus/beam/pattern/scatter.  Some day I very much want to switch my mediocre HID-with-stock-reflectors to projectors- probably LED too.

[JS_racer]

had these in my cart, waiting for your feedback now.
how does the cut look on the wall ?? seem decent or scatter all over??
stock the cut is very straight and flat.

thanks!!

[Rhino]

Nice! Thanks for the write up. Would love to see a long term report.

[B.D.F.]

Nice write up and it seems like a very bright unit.

I do not want to dump on your new farkle but it looks like they put out a lot more glare than even the very high wattage bulbs you had in there previously. Both from the front of the bike but especially the photo of the car and house being illuminated: it looks like there is no cut- off like on low beam at all. Just going by the photos, it looks like those lights will be blinding to on-coming traffic.

When you ride at night and pass on coming cars, if you can see the driver's face clearly illuminated, it means you are blinding him / her also. Again, not to wizz in your corn flakes but those lights may be a bit too uncontrolled for use where there are other cars (in the desert, off road, they would be GREAT).

Brian

Before this conversion, I ran Wagner Halogens in 80/100W. The bulb on the left (riders right) is the Wagner. The new LED module is installed on the other side.[...]

[just gone]

I fear the LED replacements will have the same issues as the HID replacements- focus/beam/pattern/scatter. 

I thought (mine included) that the HIDs had a very similar pattern to the OEM bulbs. Granted they (HIDs) are brighter so if the outside is dirty there will be more light scatter, but I think HIDs replacements have a pretty good pattern. The LEDs seem to have plenty of light, but perhaps some adjustment (in and out {easy now}) in positioning using spacers or what not, to get the LEDs in the right focal spot for a better pattern is needed. It looks like they would be great for instant on auxiliary brights in an H4 housing. 

[Richard. Wales UK]

Hi

They look good, looking forwards to some feedback when you get some miles in.
I have just fitted HID projectors to mine, not finished putting it all back together.
Will post some pics and a vid once finished

Richard

[B.D.F.]

Just going by those photos, it looks like there is no cut-off line at all. HIDs absolutely leave a sharp cut-off line between high beam and low beam, and most of the cut-off is due to the shielding on the lamp itself (burner in the case of an HID), not the focal point of the reflector. Note that there is a very small sheet metal cover on the bottom of an HID H4 burner (that does not move) as well as the full, chromed sheet metal burner cover: these two things are what causes the cut- off line. I do not see anything like that at all on the LED that the OP shows. ??

Brian

I thought (mine included) that the HIDs had a very similar pattern to the OEM bulbs. Granted they (HIDs) are brighter so if the outside is dirty there will be more light scatter, but I think HIDs replacements have a pretty good pattern. The LEDs seem to have plenty of light, but perhaps some adjustment (in and out {easy now}) in positioning using spacers or what not, to get the LEDs in the right focal spot for a better pattern is needed. It looks like they would be great for instant on auxiliary brights in an H4 housing.

[maxtog]

Just going by those photos, it looks like there is no cut-off line at all. HIDs absolutely leave a sharp cut-off line between high beam and low beam, and most of the cut-off is due to the shielding on the lamp itself (burner in the case of an HID), not the focal point of the reflector. Note that there is a very small sheet metal cover on the bottom of an HID H4 burner (that does not move) as well as the full, chromed sheet metal burner cover: these two things are what causes the cut- off line. I do not see anything like that at all on the LED that the OP shows. ??

Exactly- I didn't see that either.  Although LED's are very directional, the cutoff on a regular LED is far from sharp and can't possibly compare to any bulb with a shield.  So I might have to revise what I said earlier- it might not be that they have just the same issues as the HID, but perhaps even MUCH worse.  Attached is the [only] photo the seller provides- there doesn't appear to be any shield at all.   (top attachment)

Compare to the second photo, which is an HID bulb with cut-off shield on top and nearly full cover shielding on the bottom (it allows only high-beam light to flood downward).  The LED bulb appears to have bulbs on both sides, so there is also no cutoff or shaping of the high beam down-firing light either.  Although that is far less important (since high-beams should never be used when there is traffic ahead of you).

[dolomoto]

There is no cutoff. I don't think the glare is as bad as depicted on my pics, nobody flashed me on the way in this morning (darkness) nor this evening (twilight).

IIRC, ADVmonster LED modules have a cutoff (and are cheaper!) so that is another option.

So far, I like them and plan on keeping them.

As far as "beam pattern", I believe that is determined solely by the lens design. Different bulbs simply put more/less light into the lens coverage area. In this case, there is much more light in that area. The bulb on the (riders) left is a different orientation than the other by a few degrees, I think I can adjust it. As installed the LED's face up and down (vs. side to side).

YMMV.

[maxtog]

There is no cutoff. I don't think the glare is as bad as depicted on my pics, nobody flashed me on the way in this morning (darkness) nor this evening (twilight).

Actually, you will find that very few people will flash others.  Times have changed and there is so much road rage, most people are afraid.  Sad, but seemly true, based on my driving observations over the last 30 years.

As far as "beam pattern", I believe that is determined solely by the lens design. Different bulbs simply put more/less light into the lens coverage area.

Generally that is true, but there are areas of the reflector that were not meant to be used and all the rest of it was designed to be hit at one exact angle.  If the light source is not the exactly the same as the design specification for the reflector (size of the source, location of the source, and directed output of the source) the pattern will change in ways not in the design.  Plus, even the best of reflectors will still scatter some light in unintended directions, so if the intensity of the light is increased, the amount of unintended scatter light will also increase beyond the design threshold.

As nice as the design of the HID bulb I selected is, I have been disappointed in the results.  In my case, the light output is certainly higher, but the *useful* part of the light is not much better than stock halogens.  Or certainly not enough to justify the scatter side effects (which are absolutely real/true) and expense/effort.  Too late now, but if I could do it all over, I would have waited for a better way... which is projector lenses- those designed to go with the light source.  http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=16611.0

[elp_jc]

I agree with Maxtog, and that's why I'm leaving mine alone. BUT would like a bulb with a little whiter light, but not at the expense of crapping out in a few thousand miles. Do any of you have good experience with such bulbs, like Sliver lights, hyper whites, etc? If not, will leave well alone. After adjusting my headlights yesterday, the low beams are not that great, but high beams have excellent coverage. Might try to raise the headlights a bit more, since they might still be low... but the high beams already light up perfectly. If I adjust the low beams higher, the high-beams will be lighting up the trees. Ha ha. Guess have to find a happy medium. Thank you in advance for your input.

[B.D.F.]

I do not believe that is correct. The cut- off line is created by masking the filament in the case of the original H4 lamp (just look at it: the low beam filament is totally shielded at the bottom and perhaps 1/2 of the sides) as well as blocking light from coming out directly from the lamp (black paint on the original H4, a metal cover on HIDs).  The major difference between the low beam and high beam filaments of an H4 is that the low beam is shielded while the high beam is NOT shielded.

Again, going by your pictures, you have no cut- off and that will  be blinding to anyone in front of your bike. I am not the 'light police' but IMO, casting that beam pattern is both rude as well as dangerous. Please take this (hopefully) constructive criticism in the manner it is extended: I am not saying you are a horrible person or anything like that. What I am saying is that throwing that light pattern is not a respectful and responsible social thing to do. And just like open exhaust pipes, it gives motorcycles and motorcyclists a bad reputation (what has three headlights and hurts your eyes as well as your ears..... rhetorical question).

And I am not picking on the legality of what you are doing either; I run HIDs myself and both of our headlights are equally illegal. But my HIDs do have a sharp cut- off line and I keep them aligned so they are always below oncoming driver's eyes (I adjust them as needed when carrying a passenger, heavily loaded bike, etc.).

The LED headlights are very interesting and thank you for posting your experience as well as pictures. I just do not think they are quite ready for use on public roads.

Brian

<snip>

As far as "beam pattern", I believe that is determined solely by the lens design. Different bulbs simply put more/less light into the lens coverage area. In this case, there is much more light in that area. The bulb on the (riders) left is a different orientation than the other by a few degrees, I think I can adjust it. As installed the LED's face up and down (vs. side to side).

YMMV.

[maxtog]

I agree with Maxtog, and that's why I'm leaving mine alone. BUT would like a bulb with a little whiter light, but not at the expense of crapping out in a few thousand miles. Do any of you have good experience with such bulbs, like Sliver lights, hyper whites, etc?

The Philips Xtreme Vision are pretty good.   All those "whiter" bulbs are "fake", they just have a blue tint on the lowbeam filament.  You can see it in the follow photo where I show the difference between the Philips Xtreme Vision halogen and the A&R HID shroud (which goes along with Brian's last post)

[elp_jc]

The Philips Xtreme Vision are pretty good. All those "whiter" bulbs are "fake", they just have a blue tint on the lowbeam filament.

Thank you for posting that photo, and for your comments. And it's only common sense that the blue tint reduces light output, at least to some degree. Plus it might contribute to higher heat, which could be the reason they last less, no? Hmmm. Do those Philips Xtreme Vision have that tint? Do you rate them better than the Sylvania BrightStars (previously SilverStars, I think)? Thx.

[MAN OF BLUES]

back in 09 I did a comparo with some Phillips bulbs Murph sent me, I compared them to OEM and also the NAPA 80/100's.
I found very little difference from the OEM, and a slight higher output (well, it should) from the 80/100's.
that said, Dolo's LED's are an awesome light for the bucks.. I say this because a pal bought the next lower priced lamp, installed in his DR650, and I'll say it t was bright, very bright, I saw shadows on the road from my body, when he was following me...
now, getting past the pricetag, I think I'd pick those up wayyy before going broke on HID lamps. no brainer.
I have seen these on the road, they are nice.

[MAN OF BLUES]

Phillips, OEM, and NAPA 80/100

can you tell which was which? hint... OEM is on the left in all photos...






my point is, the Big buck lamp was no better...