Folks, please give me best recommendation on new headlight bulb. That’s right. I am trying to upgrade the stock bulb without breaking my bank acct. Thanks in advance, Matt
the main problem with the stock light being dim though lies with the thin wiring going through a switch then to the headlight. this creates a voltage drop that equates to a great loss of candle power or brightness in the bulb
to overcome either a LED bulb or use relays like the Eastern Beever relay kit which works wonders
then there is the issue with the cheap and crappy plastic headlamp itself of which there are several threads regarding an upgrade to Hella or Cibie
What Bonza said. Get an Eastern Beaver or other relay kit, or do it yourself to keep cost down, you need two relays and associated bits. It's the best single improvement you can make to the headlight. Your existing bulb will be brighter, although it won't last as long.
It will also preserve your ignition switch, which can't handle the current very well.
Still not convinced LED is way to go after installing Eastern Beaver relay to address the poor low gauge wiring, a major limiting factor on the stock later air cooled Triumphs . Ended up going back to an H4/9003 Sylvania after some research and call outs on this forum. Their brightest option (orange pack) is working well for me at $25 each or $45 for two.
Will see how long this one lasts? I've read the higher lumen H4/9003 bulbs have a limited life expectancy due to the extra heat as compared to the regular versions.
I've also read some reviews warning the shortened life expectancy with those higher lumen bulbs. Ordered an LED bulb and will see how it does. Thanks for your thoughts.
I just installed one of these yesterday and it's a noticeable improvement over stock. Given the universal comments that the lifespan is awful and considering how much night riding I do, I also ordered one of these LEDs which arrives today:
The only thing missing in that linked listing is the brightness of the bulbs, in lumens. This is the most important number to know when considering a replacement headlight bulb. The brightness of LED H4 replacements ranges widely. The listing says "up to 200% more brilliant brightness," which means nothing.
6500k is the brightness. It's there if you look at the pictures on the side of the display. I just mounted it and even in daytime it is radically brighter. Will test it out at night over the weekend and report back.
One thing I should mention is that the width of the base of the LED prevents you from using the standard retainer clip for the bulb. This is because it putts the whole LED assembly and fan in the front instead of in the back of the bulb like most other ones. It seems to fit very snug it the hole and the rubber boot on the back should prevent it from getting pushed out but just wanted to let everyone know about this quirk.
6500k is the color temperature. Brightness is in lumens, and you have to be careful to determine if the advertised lumens value is both filaments/LEDs together, or for each one.
I'm not trying to say it's a bad bulb, it might be very good, but the brightness should be disclosed for comparison purposes.
My goof. You are correct that 6500k is color temperature. The bulb emits a pure white lite and it is much brighter than the Sylvania 9003. My advice is that for $24 you can't go wrong trying this bulb.
I was close to pulling the trigger on a $700 Motodemic full headlight replacement and I am ecstatic that I didn't. I saw a new Indian today with the same style of light as the Motodemic (likely they use JW Player components as well) and it just looked completely wrong, like putting a futuristic laser weapon on a WW2 fighter.
What I think after using it for a few days is that the right LED bulb will give you most of the benefits of a Motodemic (obviously not the adaptive function of the Motodemic that move with the bike as it corners) but let's you retain the modern classic look of the bike. The $675 I saved not buying the Motodemic just bought me a new Merlin Yoxhall 3/4 length waxed cotton jacket with a Rev'It back protector for the soon to arrive cold weather in NYC and $300 left over for gas.
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