[FreedomLiftOff]

I installed H4 LED bulbs in my 2001 Bonneville. I used these Katana fanless H4 bulbs. Inside the reflector bucket, between the big glass lens and the reflecting piece, there is a cover over the bulb, built into the reflector. This is part of the original headlight. I'm told it's called a bulb shield. It supposedly prevents bright blinding light to oncoming drivers and to a degree I guess can help throw the light around the reflector bucket.

I'm curious if this bulb shield can be removed?

Most LED lights have the actual LED elements on the left and right of the bulb and not "head on". The bulb shield with Halogens and other bulbs (non LED) makes great sense. I'm unclear if that bulb shield is necessary with the LED. I do understand "leave it alone--if it ain't broke don't fix it." So I left the bulb shield in but if there would be some notable improvement by removing the shield then let me know.

I couldn't find any posts regarding these bulb shields but I did see many posts about them on headlight forums for cars and other manufacturer's cycles.

 

[01 Bonneville]

I cannot answer your question unfortunately. I would however like to know more about how it went with changing to LED. The reflector you speak of was broken on mine when I bought it used and I had to "ship in a bottle" rig the thing back into place. It actually is still working. My question is mainly did the H4 LED you chose fit easily in the bucket? Was it a simple plug and play type thing for you? Thanks.

 

[FreedomLiftOff]

I cannot answer your question unfortunately. I would however like to know more about how it went with changing to LED. The reflector you speak of was broken on mine when I bought it used and I had to "ship in a bottle" rig the thing back into place. It actually is still working. My question is mainly did the H4 LED you chose fit easily in the bucket? Was it a simple plug and play type thing for you? Thanks.

Hi--The H4 LEDs I used are fanless and fit right into the stock headlight assembly. It was as simple as installing a non-LED plain old bulb, zero issues with fit. The light is improved--more illumination. High beams are quite different--throwing the light on a wider field, lighting up any signs with reflective material quite well. I may experiment with twisting the bulb (rotating it 180 degrees) or just tilting the headlight but the improvement going to LED was notable.

There are many H4 LED bulbs that have a longer wire / tail on them , generally on the fanned models. I watched a few videos for Triumph folks where they just stuffed the longer wire into the light housing and it just seemed pretty easy. I didn't want to gamble or fiddle around too much. I will post more if the bulbs burn out in a season or if I notice excessive heat--so far no heat issues.

I'm a fan of these bulbs. If one is a night rider it's a real assist. If one is just needing to be sure other drivers are aware of you behind them (on a highway) etc. The high beam is very visible at long distances simply on in the day time.

The other route is simply to buy a headlamp assembly (LED) but that costs more and I'm tnot sure it's significantly better.

I still hope someone chimes in about the heat shield / light dispersion shield that exists between the bulb and the healdlight glass lens. Does it ultimately need to be there?