LED replacment bulbs

[rodgs1100es]

Well my new found GS pals, here's my next question (s):
I'm in the process of replacing my stator, R/R (with a series type wired directly to the stator) and battery on my 83, GS1100ES
Going whole hog just to make sure that the charging system is as bullet proof as possible.
I'm also planning to replace all of the bulbs with LEDs and the headlamp with a halogen Xenon, as well as adding two extra forward facing LED lamps for more daytime visibility and night time vision.
Questions/Comments?
Have you done this yourself or know someone who has, pro's/con's ETC....
Thanks in advance gang, this site is a great!

 

[Steve]

It will not be cheap, but if you do it right, you will only have to do it ONCE.

A bit of confusion, though. Are you replacing the stock halogen light with another haolgen light or a Xenon light? (They are not necessarily the same.) You already have a very good light on there, you won't gain much by using another halogen in its place.

LED "driving lights" are a good addition. They make it easier for you to be seen, but don't expect a lot of help from them to light up the road at night. The only ones that I have seen that might do a decent job were REALLY expensive.

Replacing all the other bulbs will also add to the expense, but with minimal return. Since you are already planning on installing a series-type R/R, the reduced load on the stator will be handled nicely.

If you are changing bulbs for longevity, it might not be worth it. I have only changed a couple of bulbs in all of my bikes over the last several years (and about 150,000 total miles), so the cost of the LED replacement probably far outweighs the savings.

If you are changing bulbs for visibility, be careful what you install. Some LED 'bulbs' do not fill up the reflector area of the housing. The light they put out is rather intense, but it's only a small spot in a much larger lens. Again, quality lights that will do the job properly are NOT cheap.

You already have your stator? I have one for you at what will probably save you enough to get started buying your LEDs.

.

 

[rodgs1100es]

It will not be cheap, but if you do it right, you will only have to do it ONCE.

A bit of confusion, though. Are you replacing the stock halogen light with another haolgen light or a Xenon light? (They are not necessarily the same.) You already have a very good light on there, you won't gain much by using another halogen in its place.

LED "driving lights" are a good addition. They make it easier for you to be seen, but don't expect a lot of help from them to light up the road at night. The only ones that I have seen that might do a decent job were REALLY expensive.

Replacing all the other bulbs will also add to the expense, but with minimal return. Since you are already planning on installing a series-type R/R, the reduced load on the stator will be handled nicely.

If you are changing bulbs for longevity, it might not be worth it. I have only changed a couple of bulbs in all of my bikes over the last several years (and about 150,000 total miles), so the cost of the LED replacement probably far outweighs the savings.

If you are changing bulbs for visibility, be careful what you install. Some LED 'bulbs' do not fill up the reflector area of the housing. The light they put out is rather intense, but it's only a small spot in a much larger lens. Again, quality lights that will do the job properly are NOT cheap.

You already have your stator? I have one for you at what will probably save you enough to get started buying your LEDs.

.

My biggest worry was with regard to the reduced load on the stator but you've answered that question for me, thank you.
I have a stator on it's way to me otherwise we'd be talking about yours
I've also ordered the led bulbs and believe I've ordered what I need, I suppose we'll see in a few days, the reason for the LEDs is visibility, otherwise I would just stay with OEM type bulbs, they're cheaper and I know I wouldn't be replacing them often enough to worry about it.
As for the headlight, it's a Xenon I have coming, we'll see what benefit that's going to be once installed.
Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my post, your input is much appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Radianz LED lighting

Radianz LED lighting

LED "driving lights" are a good addition. They make it easier for you to be seen, but don't expect a lot of help from them to light up the road at night. The only ones that I have seen that might do a decent job were REALLY expensive.

I have put those on a couple of other bikes, like Steve said, they definitely provide added safety at night, since you will be seen better by other vehicles.
In addition to running lights, I have used them for turn signals, too.

The main company I have used for years, for LED's is:
http://www.radiantz.com/

Info:

Radiantz LED Lighting was started in 1998 in Irvine California. 2003 moved to Anaheim California. September 2006 Radiantz moved to Brookings Oregon.
(That is where the company is staying.)

The owner is an electrical engineer and when he saw that LEDs had become bright enough to use for many different applications he at that point decided to start Radiantz.

The main philosophy of the company being that it will always use the brightest and best LEDs that are available no matter the cost so when people think or talk about our company they know that there is nothing better out there.

Radiantz can design new products. Radiantz has a patent on the Flexible LED array and has many other designs that have been copied.

Facts about LEDs (light emitting diodes):

Use 1/10th of the power required by the normal incandescent bulb.

There are no filaments and are not susceptible to failure due to vibration.

Rated to have a 100,000 hour of continuous use life span.

Increase safety by lighting quicker than incandescent bulbs.

They run cooler and are physically smaller than conventional bulbs.

These advantages allow us to design the unique and brightest L.E.D. products in the industry.

 

[rodgs1100es]

I have put those on a couple of other bikes, like Steve said, they definitely provide added safety at night, since you will be seen better by other vehicles.
In addition to running lights, I have used them for turn signals, too.

The main company I have used for years, for LED's is:
http://www.radiantz.com/

Info:

Radiantz LED Lighting was started in 1998 in Irvine California. 2003 moved to Anaheim California. September 2006 Radiantz moved to Brookings Oregon.
(That is where the company is staying.)

The owner is an electrical engineer and when he saw that LEDs had become bright enough to use for many different applications he at that point decided to start Radiantz.

The main philosophy of the company being that it will always use the brightest and best LEDs that are available no matter the cost so when people think or talk about our company they know that there is nothing better out there.

Radiantz can design new products. Radiantz has a patent on the Flexible LED array and has many other designs that have been copied.

Facts about LEDs (light emitting diodes):

Use 1/10th of the power required by the normal incandescent bulb.

There are no filaments and are not susceptible to failure due to vibration.

Rated to have a 100,000 hour of continuous use life span.

Increase safety by lighting quicker than incandescent bulbs.

They run cooler and are physically smaller than conventional bulbs.

These advantages allow us to design the unique and brightest L.E.D. products in the industry.

Thanks gsgeezer
I truly do appreciate the help offered here and the fact that you take the time to post means a lot.
I'm just getting back to doing the work myself after not doing so for a good many years and along with relearning some of the stuff I've forgotten there is also a good deal of new information out there as well.
This site is a great resource.
If the bulbs I've ordered don't work out I'll look into these ones.

 

[Grimly]

adding two extra forward facing LED lamps for more daytime visibility and night time vision.

I have a pair of 27W LEDs mounted on front. They are an array of 3x3 3W units encapsulated in a square housing, just exactly the same as a driving lamp, and totally weather proof.
They're sold all over ebay or aliexpress - mine cost ~$50 the pair, iirc.
http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=led+worklamp&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20140624161040
The one drawback is they're main beam/driving use only - you can't get decent low beam or dip with them, but on the unoccupied back roads around here, it's good. You will see they come in two types - wide beam and narrow - I got the narrow, as the wide is too wide and is useless for a dip, as there's too much scatter upwards. They are 'worklamps' after all, and designed for the front of fork trucks, tractors, etc.
Ignore the BS claims from LED sellers - a good working assumption is 80lumens/W of power consumed - all else is bollocks. If you realise your normal headlight is putting out between 900~1600 lumens, it gives you a comparison to work with. My two auxiliary/driving lamps are knocking out, on that basis, 2000+ lumens each, and I'd say it's not far from the truth.
It becomes obvious when the bushes burst into flames...

 

[rodgs1100es]

I have a couple I've purchased on ebay coming my way, they're not as bright as the ones you have but my main concern is to be seen by others.
I never want to hear these words again:
"I didn't see you man!" after being knocked down by an idiot driver.

 

[mikerophone]

LED's are great for visibility, instant on, instant off, so I love them for my brake light, I think they catch attention better then slow on/slow off incandesants.

Here's a recent thread of mine with some of my DIY LED additions.

I had to lock up my brakes today in the city because some lady in an SUV turned right in front of me in an intersection and I have these:

4) 15W 6500K MR16 LED's that I made housings for. Don't love the look when they are off but man, 60 watts of power is a lot of light. They light up the road a bit more at night, but they are mostly for visibility. I also wired LED's into the front turn signals but they don't add much.

Been meaning to post about them and my build, but hjere's what they look like off:

I wired the outer ones to the headlight and the inner ones come on with my high beam. Until you replace your Rectifier/Regulator do NOT replace all of your bulbs with LED's - asks me how I know this is not a good idea link here of what happened to my LED's and battery when I replaced all mine and hadn't done my R/R yet.

 

[rodgs1100es]

I had thought about mounting mine there but I'm wondering about suspension travel?
Once again, I've learned something just by logging on to this site, it's a good thing too, because in my estimation lowering the load with LEDs would have been a good thing even with the OEM style R/R.
Now I know not to do it until my new one gets here.
Thanks

 

[Steve]

... I have these:

They light up the road a bit more at night, but they are mostly for visibility.

Yes, they do make you more visible, but to be even MORE visible, move two of them down to your crash bars.

Although you have added light to the front of the bike, it is all in one place, just making it a bigger 'blob' of light. Moving two of the lights away from the headlight will make a bigger triangle of light, giving a bigger target to notice.

The lights just below the fairing on my Wing are only on with high beams, but the lower ones are on whenever the key is ON.
They don't appear to be very bright in this picture, but the camera is above their projected beam.

.

 

[JTGS850GL]

I like that.

 

[mikerophone]

I had thought about mounting mine there but I'm wondering about suspension travel?

They actually did hit a couple of times over really big bumps, but I had a leaking fork seal, which I have since re-sealed, drained, flushed with ATF and refilled with new oil and air. They haven't bottomed out since.

...in my estimation lowering the load with LEDs would have been a good thing even with the OEM style R/R.
Now I know not to do it until my new one gets here.
Thanks

That's exactly what I thought too. Not the case, the OEM R/R has no option but to short the excess current the stator provides to ground, overheating the stator and eventually frying the R/R. That's what happened to mine. Less wattage/current apparently ISN'T always a good thing in this case. :-s

Yes, they do make you more visible, but to be even MORE visible, move two of them down to your crash bars.

Wish I had crash bars, I would do that for sure. Separation is a good thing. I've thought about trying to mount them to my forks, but I don't like the idea of running wires down there. Mine are separated enough for now, the LED's are so brilliant and intense - the blob of light is quite blinding, especially at eye level, and mine are pointed out a bit and up slightly with the contour of the fairing.

The lights just below the fairing on my Wing are only on with high beams, but the lower ones are on whenever the key is ON.
They don't appear to be very bright in this picture, but the camera is above their projected beam.

That is a good looking 'Wing Steve - I've seen several newer ones with lights down on the crash bars and wow are they more visible. No doubt there.

 

[Guest]

Yes, they do make you more visible, but to be even MORE visible, move two of them down to your crash bars.

Something I keep forgetting about doing

 

[rodgs1100es]

I've fabricated a couple of brackets for mine.
I'm going to mount them just below the bottom outside corners of the faring.
That should separate them enough for added visibility.
I'll post some pics once it's done.