LED fog/driving lights

[biker_guy]

I've been looking into switching every light on the bike (except the headlights that's a given) for leds. I'm almost ready to make a purchase and not those 12 or more 3mm or 5mm led bonnets. If you check out www.superbrightleds.com (gives you measurements for replacements to make sure it fits) or www.autolumination.com (same stuff but cheaper) there are WAY better options and WAY brighter replacements than the bonnets. I've gone to the nerd pages to read up on the leds and basicly I had to buy something to relate the numbers to to know how "bright" a certian LED is.

ANYWAY I bought the 16SMT H3 replacements. It's basicly the brightess that almost fits in the light housing. I had to open up my light housing some with a dremel to get it in. They do make a 32 but there's more leds up front which would make it an even bigger dia. I don't know how big the 32 is not on superbright and autolumination doesn't give measurements. With the 16 there's only 4 out front. the other 12 are supposed to reflect off of the reflector. Really the SMT leds would be awesome if all 16 were pointing out front. Either way they don't make a $20 or even $50 set of leds as bright as a 55 watt Halogen so it's not going to be something to really drive with. I was hoping for them to be a bit brighter though. My goal is to try and be seen more. For me my headlight is fine for driving with high or low. I just want to be seen. So tell me if you think it was worth the 30 bucks including shipping for these replacements.
I really wanted to post this pic because EVERYONE has a night pic with no other lights on. Well, duh! it's going to be deceivingly bright.

[bwringer]

Very nice, and not very expensive.

Several guys over on the Advrider.com forum have installed amber LED clusters in the same position. These are clusters specifically made for this purpose, and they are incredibly bright. And incredibly expensive.

[almarconi]

I've been looking into switching every light on the bike (except the headlights that's a given) for leds. I'm almost ready to make a purchase and not those 12 or more 3mm or 5mm led bonnets. If you check out www.superbrightleds.com (gives you measurements for replacements to make sure it fits) or www.autolumination.com (same stuff but cheaper) there are WAY better options and WAY brighter replacements than the bonnets. I've gone to the nerd pages to read up on the leds and basicly I had to buy something to relate the numbers to to know how "bright" a certian LED is.

ANYWAY I bought the 16SMT H3 replacements. It's basicly the brightess that almost fits in the light housing. I had to open up my light housing some with a dremel to get it in. They do make a 32 but there's more leds up front which would make it an even bigger dia. I don't know how big the 32 is not on superbright and autolumination doesn't give measurements. With the 16 there's only 4 out front. the other 12 are supposed to reflect off of the reflector. Really the SMT leds would be awesome if all 16 were pointing out front. Either way they don't make a $20 or even $50 set of leds as bright as a 55 watt Halogen so it's not going to be something to really drive with. I was hoping for them to be a bit brighter though. My goal is to try and be seen more. For me my headlight is fine for driving with high or low. I just want to be seen. So tell me if you think it was worth the 30 bucks including shipping for these replacements.

Are those reflectors near the bottom of the forks or lights?

[focus frenzy]

the biggest problem with those is the optics of the lights were designed to project light from a bulb set at a exact point. shoving a led cluster in there screws up the light pattern because the led cluster puts out light from multiple points and the reflector and lens was not designed for that.


no matter how bright a led cluster you use, it wont match the light output you would get using the stock bulb, or a higher output bulb of the stock type.

it is the same problem with people who get generic HID kits and just cut the hole bigger and shove the hid bulb in their headlights. the light pattern is very poor and you just blind everyone coming the other direction.

when I switched to all LED's on my SV I researched the subject and found a HID kit for the headlight that fit correctly and placed the HID lamp so that its light output was in exactly the same location as that of the halogen bulb. it also shifts the position of the lamp so it switches between low and high beam just like the stock bulb.

I now have a very bright headlight that has the stock cut off of the light pattern on low to not blind oncoming traffic, yet on high beam it burns a deep hole in the darkness.

[bakalorz]

I've been looking into switching every light on the bike (except the headlights that's a given) for leds. I'm almost ready to make a purchase and not those 12 or more 3mm or 5mm led bonnets. If you check out www.superbrightleds.com (gives you measurements for replacements to make sure it fits) or www.autolumination.com (same stuff but cheaper) there are WAY better options and WAY brighter replacements than the bonnets. I've gone to the nerd pages to read up on the leds and basicly I had to buy something to relate the numbers to to know how "bright" a certian LED is.

ANYWAY I bought the 16SMT H3 replacements. It's basicly the brightess that almost fits in the light housing. I had to open up my light housing some with a dremel to get it in. They do make a 32 but there's more leds up front which would make it an even bigger dia. I don't know how big the 32 is not on superbright and autolumination doesn't give measurements. With the 16 there's only 4 out front. the other 12 are supposed to reflect off of the reflector. Really the SMT leds would be awesome if all 16 were pointing out front. Either way they don't make a $20 or even $50 set of leds as bright as a 55 watt Halogen so it's not going to be something to really drive with. I was hoping for them to be a bit brighter though. My goal is to try and be seen more. For me my headlight is fine for driving with high or low. I just want to be seen. So tell me if you think it was worth the 30 bucks including shipping for these replacements.

I bought a couple of different kinds of LEDS, and didn't think any of them were as bright as the OEM turn signal or brake lights, especially sligtly off to the side

I eventually bought some semi-truck replacement LED turn signal and brake light assemblies.
Similar to this one, (although that was just the first one to pop up on ebay, and not the exact same type (and mine were much cheaper)
THOSE are bright enough. I will have to fabricate some kind of mounts though.

For general daytime visibility, I have (and like) a headlight modulator

[biker_guy]

Are those reflectors near the bottom of the forks or lights?

haha those are the led lights.

I eventually bought some semi-truck replacement LED turn signal and brake light assemblies.

How did you mount those. That's actually what I would rather do because semis have had led for a while now. So I know they would work. Besides being a lot cheaper.

[almarconi]

haha those are the led lights

Which ones did you buy?

I'm more interested in daytime visibility than driving at night.

[biker_guy]

yeah me too. thats why i posted this day time pic for everyone. I bought the 16 smt led h3 replacements from autolumination. If you're going to get a h3 replacement which is a regular fog light halogen bulb type that's as bright as it's going to get. Things are getting brighter with leds but the brightest I've seen anyone claim is as bright as a 23watt halogen. If that's true I have no idea and will not pay THAT much just to find out.

If I'm allowed to post this link

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=306743

these guy have some that look like they'll work pretty well. And they paid for it.

[almarconi]

yeah me too. thats why i posted this day time pic for everyone. I bought the 16 smt led h3 replacements from autolumination. If you're going to get a h3 replacement which is a regular fog light halogen bulb type that's as bright as it's going to get. Things are getting brighter with leds but the brightest I've seen anyone claim is as bright as a 23watt halogen. If that's true I have no idea and will not pay THAT much just to find out

I guess what I was asking is where did you get the lights that go on the forks? I have highway pegs on my bike and would like to mount some lights on the bar for increased daytime visibility.

Would these work #A135-12V from autolumination.com ?

[biker_guy]

I bought some cheap fog lights from walmart, took out the bulb, bought a replacement from autolumination, put that in, made and l bracket, mounted to the forks.

Where did you find those on the page? There's quite a few sections. I would say probably not because they just look like regular leds. I know you'd see them at night. for what your wanting it's probably going to cost you like $60 a pair or more like that one guys bike on the other forum I posted. The big circle ones he has cost a little over $60 a pair.

[almarconi]

I bought some cheap fog lights from walmart, took out the bulb, bought a replacement from autolumination, put that in, made and l bracket, mounted to the forks.

Where did you find those on the page? There's quite a few sections. I would say probably not because they just look like regular leds. I know you'd see them at night. for what your wanting it's probably going to cost you like $60 a pair or more like that one guys bike on the other forum I posted. The big circle ones he has cost a little over $60 a pair.

My biggest concern is the charging system in the GS. There is not alot of extra capacity so you really need to watch your total wattage on the lights.

I was riding in front of a guy on a Bandit 1200 that had small lights mounted near the bottom of the forks. They look like factory parts. Really made the bike standout during the day.

[almarconi]

These are nice but pricey

http://www.photonblaster.com/

[AOD]

For the turn signals, I don't see any issues with LED. For the brake light, from my experience, the LED was non-directional, and basically made a small circle in the center of my tail light lense. Not cool.

I swapped a regular bulb back in...

~Adam

[biker_guy]

My biggest concern is the charging system in the GS. There is not alot of extra capacity so you really need to watch your total wattage on the lights.

Yeah mine too. I've put too much stuff on my bike before and it was cool until it wouldn't start. I had to push start it and even then the lights wouldn't come on. I was only running one high beam at the time and it was with in limit so I had to turn that on and let it set for a few min. Luckly I was in a parking lot.

But my think is the high is to be 60 (i'm running a 65 watt just fine) which we all run our bike on high beam to be seen. SO if you run the low which I run a 55 low then these two "driving" led at 3 watts each making 61 watts should be fine. If I'm wrong in this thinking please correct me. I've had the wiring harness out of this bike more than once from stuff being just old. Not fun, would like to not do that again.