Headlight Upgrades

[Mister_Fube]

I was wondering if anyone else has found the headlights to be somewhat inadequate on dark rural roads. I certainly find that, here in the UK in winter. Riding with full beams helps, but with a constant trickle of oncoming traffic, that's not really practical. Previously I installed an H7 HID upgrade to my BMW R1150rt in order to ride the same roads, and that definitely fixed it, but on the Forza, there are only a few places that do an HS1 HID upgrade, and chatting with my local Honda dealer - they actually say they've seen a few botched HID upgrades on Forzas where the headlight assembly or the wiring loom has got melted from the higher operating temperature or something. So now I'm wary, because my previous trusted supplier of HID upgrades doesn't carry an HS1 upgrade.

So does anyone have an opinion on good suppliers of HS1 HID upgrades that I can go back to afterwards, if it all goes horribly wrong?

Alternatively I have found these on ebay, which presumably run cold (although I don't know if the ballasts themselves get hot).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-LED-KIT- ... 20f3804b3d

Does anyone have any experience of bonafide LED replacement bulbs? I don't know anyone who has used these in the UK, although I notice with interest that the latest model PCX for 2015 comes with proper LED bulbs, which look VERY bright when I've seen them on the road.

[dkazzed]

I got H11 22W LEDs for my dad's Prius. They do throw out more light than halogens, but they err too much on the side of safety so they throw more light in the foreground to reduce glare for oncoming drivers. I haven't seen HS1 LEDs yet suitable for headlight duty, but the H4 LEDs may work with a bit of modification.

If you were so inclined, you can get an HID retrofit kit from The Retrofit Source. Involves a bit of cutting but you get a nice projector in with a super clean cutoff line that looks good and doesn't blind oncoming drivers, unless they're below that cutoff line of course.

[Mister_Fube]

Yeah.. I'm not averse to HID kits per se, as I had a good result fitting one on my old BMW (which had a proper glass headlight lens), but like I said, after the mechanic at my local Honda dealer kind of warned me off them for the all-plastic Forza, I was wondering if LEDs might be better as they run cold. This was a conversation I had with him when I gave him an H4 HID upgrade kit to install for me, while it was in for it's first service. He tried fitting before realising my mistake in ordering an H4 instead of an HS1. The conclusion was: "these won't fit, and they would have probably melted some of your headlight assembly anyway - I've seen it on Forzas before".

Current thinking in the UK has been that LEDs aren't up to the job of headlight duty and there are some strict legal guidelines as to brightness and focus range. I just thought that perhaps recently that might have changed, having discovered that the new Honda PCX125 this year now has a (lovely looking) all new LED headlight,

(As a footnote, the online info for identifying the headlight bulbs in the Forza NSS300 is very poor, and as I discovered - in some cases just plain wrong. I got my money back for the H4 kit I bought in error, though).

[dkazzed]

HIDs run cooler than halogens, they produce less waste heat. Which is why some method of deicing HID headlights is required whereas halogen lights can melt ice and snow off the lens.

With that said, if you're going to run into a situation where the HID bulb touches the headlight lens, you may run into issues.

[Mister_Fube]

Thanks for the opinions everyone. I think I am going to upgrade temporarily to some higher-performing incandescent bulbs as a cheap way forward, then see how I feel about a HID upgrade after I've discovered what's under the front fairing and how easy it is or not to get at.

[Mister_Fube]

I'm running some Osram night racers at the moment, but although they claim to be 15%- 20% brighter, they're still too dim for the roads I ride. The trouble is there are so many cagers on the same roads with HID or super-bright LEDs coming the other way that I can't see sh*t and also can't use my high beams for fear of dazzling them.

http://www.hdbright.com/hi-power-h4hs1- ... p-659.html

Has anyone had any experience of this internet retailer based in Ontario? These LED bulbs are what they have recommended to me, but they look rather bulky heat sink at the back. I'm lead to believe that houses a fan for air-cooling the aluminium heat sink. My local Honda dealer tells me there's not much space behind the lights. Sounds like these LED bulbs could get quite hot if the heat sink isn't able to freely blow it's warm air away.

[waspmike]

How about something a bit more old school?



They could be aimed at the road in front and the verge/hedge?

http://scootercommunity.com.au/forums/p ... 68596.aspx



http://scootercommunity.com.au/forums/s ... ot%202.jpg here's the beam spread.

But at night with oncoming traffic you are always going to be riding into a black hole, the secret as you may know is to look to the left side and not at the oncoming lights.

[Mister Paul]

I've been wondering that - whether it's an idea to buy a couple LED spots and fixing them to the side mudguard mounts at the front.

[davenowherejones]

I've been wondering that - whether it's an idea to buy a couple LED spots and fixing them to the side mudguard mounts at the front.

That is what I want to do. I need to find some cheap eBay LEDs. I just want them to wake up the guys heading towards me during the day. I do not want to ride in the dark. Too many scary monsters.

[DailyRider]

Does anyone have any experience of bonafide LED replacement bulbs? I don't know anyone who has used these in the UK, although I notice with interest that the latest model PCX for 2015 comes with proper LED bulbs, which look VERY bright when I've seen them on the road.

This is of interest to me, as a new PCX rider.
Does the LED headlight look bright from other vehicles?

I was riding on a dark stormy day recently and was freaking out major
because I couldn't tell if my lights were on.
Finally I saw them in the reflection from a wet road and calmed down.

My PCX lights do do a brilliant job of lighting the road in front of them,
but I'm not sure about whether they're visible from other vehicles.

...And I love the old school solution,
but the drivers could be annoyed if I pointed mine upwards.

[waspmike]

I think kits for the old school solution are still available. Prolly expensive though.

[sendler2112]

has got melted from the higher operating temperature or something. So now I'm wary

I'm running HIDs in my PCX but I had to make them by cutting the plastic away from the stock bulbs and epoxying in an H7 HID bulb so it would fit since the HS1 HID bulbs that are available are typical cheapies that have the glass element sticking too far out so that the light pattern becomes splashed all over the place. Nothing will melt.
.
I have an HID in my CBR250R but since it is a single headlight system, I also added some LED spots. Now I can see better than any of my halogen cars.
.

I also have an HID in my Yamaha R3 and the pattern is perfect and is much brighter and whiter. I may try an LED on the other side for the High beam since they are more instant on. But they require a big heat sink sticking out the back with a fan.

[waspmike]

I know nothing about HID etc. what model of LED bulb did you use in your R3 ? I could put on in my venerable NSR. The back of the bulb is open so the fan won't matter. As long as the alignment of the bulb is OK.

[sendler2112]

I didn't buy an LED yet but there is a good thread on ADVrider.
.
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/h ... t-28001574
.

[waspmike]

Ok yes. There is a type of LED that I found that has copper braid heat sink so no fan. I remembered i bought some cheaper LED H4's once but they are covered with LED like ants not one or two at the focus point.

[sendler2112]

The copper braid ones are lower power and may not be any brighter than a halogen. And the HS5 bulbs are an oddball with a very short glass length so you have to make sure that you will get the correct focal point.

[beegmouse]

I would avoid HIDs like the plague in the Forza if you plan on owning it more than a year.

The lenses on it are plastic and HIDs throw out so much UV they age the plastic and reflectors and turn them yellow.

[sendler2112]

Ummm. All headlight lenses are plastic now. Including millions of oem cars that have been coming with HID for a decade.

[Mister_Fube]

Since starting this thread, I have continued to commute on dark, unlit A and B roads in the UK, and with all the dirt and rainwater kicking up from the road and other traffic, I have to daily wipe down the patina of scum from my headlights and tail lights - the few times I've forgotten to do so, it's been hard to tell if my lights were on at all, untill I come up behind traffic and see my lights reflected off the back of the car in front. I get better light to see by from the car behind me than from my own lights, FFS.

I tried and failed to source HS1 HID upgrades. The 2 different suppliers I found on ebay could not supply the correct HS1 ring adapters... the kept supplying H4s or something else.. even after sending them photos of the OEM bulb fitting ring. So I gave up, but I found a supplier of LEDs in Canada. After an email exchange, with Jean Marc Dube, (who was very helpful) I established that this product would fit the bill for the Forza.

http://www.hdbright.com/hi-power-h4hs1- ... p-659.html

Delivery was pretty rapid considering it was coming from overseas. Took about a week. Fitting was breeze - I just had to slightly slit the rubber caps to allow the connector to fit through, but so far so good. I've not taken it out on my commute, yet.. but I was too excited to wait and wanted to post my findings so far.

The LED bulbs are significantly brighter and whiter in low beam mode, but although I can't verify this yet, I suspect that the high beam mode will not be as much of a relative increase in brightness over the low beam as original incandescent bulbs had. If I can remember how to host/upload photos to this forum. I shall share the photos which might explain this phenomenon better. Either way it was an improvement over the low beam brightness that I was after, and these LED bulbs have delivered that much for sure.

[Mister_Fube]

Ah! "Full editor" mode engaged: