Ok, legality stuff- if the headlight is not original equipment (ie, part of the bike as made by the factory and proved to be compliant when the bike is approved for registration in australia), does not carry an ADR compliance notice ( which needs to state what vehicle/type of vehicle the part is approved to be used on) or can be shown to be a HD Australia approved/complianced option then it is not legal to be fitted to a raod registered vehicle. So even those HID kits are illegal for many bikes and cars.

If a walloper wants to be cute they can bung on a canary if they suspect the light fitting is illegal, and that is regardless of whether the light beam dips correctly or has the correct cut off. The whiteness of the LED/HID beams gives them away.

I do like hID/LED lights though. The power efficiency alone make it worth while. 80% of the power going into a filament globe is turned into infra red (ie, heat) . HID/LED its more like 5-10%. So a 65W hi beam filament globe and a 20 -25W HID/LED will be about the same in terms of visible light down to the road and back to your eyes. So a 35W HID/LED will be about the same as a 100W filament headlight. Power wise, , a 65W globe draws 5 amps at 12V, a 100 watt globe draws 8and a bit amps, and a 36w HID/LED draws just under 3 amps.
Whats the big deal ? Well filament globes put a lot of heat into the wiring and junctions inside the head light housing , causing the insulation to age, connecters to expand and eventually cause reliability ssues. LED/HIDs dont cause any where near as much heat (if you halve the power , the heat generated drops to 1/4 !) and so there is less stress on your battery, switches, wiring and connections - all of which are good things to have happen.

Great post Lost! Some very good info in there.
Regards Andrew - T1

 

I have heard that they don't comply simply because they don't incorporate a parking light.

Wonder then if they would be acceptable legally if a stand alone park light is fitted to the bike?

 

steamer, the majority of headlights operate either on high, or low beam, indavidually, the standard H4 is an example.

(not sure I'd want both on at the same time due to the amount of heat generated)

 

I think that you'll find that it's the vehicles particular wiring and original set up that determines whether only one or both beams come on on high.

 

If you particularly want both on at the same time you'de have to modify the bikes wiring set up. (bridge between High and Low with a diode inline)

Sure if power was supplied to both high and low beam terminals of the LED units, they would both illuminate.

 

I would be a bit concerned that possibly the LEDs are not designed to be on together. There might not be enough heatsink; if they get too hot it will shorten their life.

Would be an expensive mistake to make ... but LED's dont produce fk'all heat? Might try after my trip.

Here are a couple of links that are on the forum that may help you out with wiring up the lights

http://www.hdforums.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=71&view=topic&postid=222765&forumid=7

http://www.hdforums.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=71&forumid=7&postid=191888&view=topic

 

 

 

 

I'd go for something rated higher, e.g. 50 volt 6 Amp (radio shack part #  276-1661) plenty on the fleabay or try tricky dickies.

Using the old  AVR formula,  Amps X Volts = Load,    ( or transposed,  Load / Volts = Amps)

Lets say, rate the LED low beam at 40 watts,  40 watts divided by 12 Volts = 3.3 Amps required,

Double that for safety factor,

6 Amps X 50 Volts = 300 watts,,, heaps of safety factor and lower heat generated at the diode.

 On a 12 volt system, 6 Amps X 12 Volts = 72 watts,,, plenty for low beam, ( which would probably only draw about 20 watts anyways).

(Shit, everyones got an old Bosch alternator out back on the bone yard, just pull a rectifier diode out of one of them, should have six in em)

 

Just mentioned the diode method cause it's the easiest and quickest way, 

The other two ways is to simply wire low beam permanent when the IGN is on,,,

or,,, if ya feel like mucking around, ya can install a 30 amp reley to the low beam that is signaled by the high beam circuit and powered from the battery, or main power. 

One other thing to consider is that both the diode, and the signal wire if going with a reley can be switched to revert back to normal if required, at the flick of that switch

More than one way to skin the cat.

 

As far as the park light question goes, I've decided to install stand alone LED parkers just in case it becomes a legality on the side of the road.

Used these little bullets from TomCat, www.tomcatdistribution.com.au/bikevis/bikevis-bullets-white

and stuck em up under the tool bag, they stick out like dogs balls when illuminated,

 

Spose I could install an isolator switch, but for the time being I've hooked em up direct to the H-D park light wiring that was left disconnected after fitting the LED headlight.

 

Oops, forgot the heat sink deal.

I'm of the same opinion as Ozroder, I don't think there's an issue with both high & low on at the same time as the LED's just don't generate that much heat, and the housing is really an elephant of a thing when compared to other heat-sinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you wish to isolate low and hi beam with a diode, a 10A unit will be fine. A 1N4008 (jaycar carry them) would do (yeah, it is an 8A diode, but 8 x 13.8 = 110watts, derate a bit for being inside a housing - say 20% derate, still gives you nearly 90 watts which should be enough! ) . But in reality, most cars do NOT cut the lo beam when hi beam is selected. Many bikes do so as to lower the alternator load. But as we are talking of LEDs, to have low and hi beam on at the same time will not be an issue as the current draw is about the same as the old filament low beam by itself. The current (amps) draw is the 'heat it up' bit of electricity, so no probs for the alternator, wiring, light housing or lens. I doubt the LED heatsink will over heat either, if it does it means the light is a crap design! generally you will use high beam when moving at medium to high speed on open road which means lots of air flow around the head light. If the LED cooks off in that situation then it wasnt designed right and so you have grounds for getting your money back.

those HD led beams are awesome...

I think these are the best lights on the market todate, I could do without mine now.

I think they are..

I got mine from Harley Heaven & the pricewas good, I also had a n issue with it & it was replaced under warrenty so I only had to send back to Melb.

 G'day all you fellows with the led headlight and auxilliary lights. It's been a while now and i am wondering how they are performing and also if anyone has had any issues at all.

I  would like to get a set for Tigger but the dealer up here says they are around $1100 for the set (7").  Where is the best place to buy them from in oz and how much did you pay.

Also, do you know if any of the dealers in the states are selling them as the last one i contacted said H-D america won't let them export privately to oz. 

Thanks for your co-operation. Hutch.

 That review was interesting once again & the P7 looks the way to go now but it still comes down to what each person wants. Its like anything as the years go by things get better with each version. I never like the look of the P6 always looked cheap but the HD just had a different look & I went with the black version & they look good on the bike with the dark coloured batwing.

Do they make the P7 for sportster models?
T1

Was looking at the 5 3/4" in the 2012 parts catalogue p/n 67700043A  for my 2012 wide glide

but the book says it won't fit a FXDWG. The dealer won't order without a 50% non refundable deposit.

Has anyone fitted one to a late model wide glide?

 

 

fleabitten,   They said the same about my 2010 Widey, but the LED simply sat in where the original 5 3/4 headlight came out,,, no probs,,, no mods.

 

pics in the first post of this thread.

OK so I've fitted the light & reckon it's money well spent, but now i'm left with an electrical fault light showing when i'm riding.

I presume this is because the parking light is no longer plugged in.

How do I get rid of this? Fit an inline resistor in the parking light circuit?

Any ideas?

 I haven't had this happen on my bike you sure its not somthing else causing it?

 

Had no probs here either, left the park light wiring open for a while, then fitted a couple LED running lights to the park circuit, no faults either way.

Like Rick says, you sure it ain't something else, might pay to re-check the headlight wiring.

 

edit; easy to check, just hook the park light back up with the LED out and see if the fault vamooses. If it does, tape it up and leave it inside the headlight can.