LED Globes and Headlights

  • Superglide2012
    Superglide2012
    10 years ago


    I have a headlight like this on my bike. It's a genuine HARLEY-DAVIDSON® BULLET HEADLAMP 68593-06. The light it throws is pathetic. I would get more light using two candles strapped to the front. I had to repair the grub screws the hold the light and trim rim in place as they had eaten themselves away and the treads were rooted. But I digress. It has a H4 globe 55/60 Watt and clear lens. I have seen the new led globes that replace the H4 halogen globes and wonder if anyone has tried them. My only other options are to replace the lens for better light throw or ditch the headlight altogether but I don't really want to turf a $440 light. Anyone used the led replacements I mentioned? Or has anyone another suggestion that I haven't thought about! Thanks in advance. 

     

  • pva68
    pva68
    10 years ago

    I tried this version which plugs into a normal light socket


    But found it gave a terrible light pattern (off to one side) on low beam.  But it was pretty bright and high beam was pretty good.  But because of the poor lowbeam light pattern i put a standard globe back in.

  • Bonkerz
    Bonkerz
    10 years ago
    Unless something's changed, standard reflectors aren't made for LED globes so the pattern is fucked.
    You could try a proper LED headlight (Complete glass/reflector with the LEDs built in) which aren't cheap and have mixed (mostly good) reviews - though the size of your headlight case might prove a problem. Otherwise you could try a better HID - if your headlight can handle it (some can't) 100w.
    There's also the Halogen H4s (blue globes) but the brighter they are the bluer they get and that isn't always legal.
    Then there's the HID kits which can be real bright (not sure of the legality) as long as the balist box can fix in your headlamp to hide it, and you can hook it up ok, and some don't have high/low beam so you need to check that.

    I think anything over 6500k goes blue...or even purple if you go really high.
  • Superglide2012
    Superglide2012
    10 years ago
    Thanks for the info gentlemen. Interesting light hot and heavy but I didn't want to replace the whole light body but I put the link in my favs for future reference. Thanks again.