High-output LED motorcycle headlamp?

[CDI]

Is there such a thing? I would really like to replace my headlamp with a brighter, whiter LED unit. The bike is a 2007 V-Star Classic.

 

[ACMarina]

Not at current, no - you'd need a lot of power to compete with a standard lightbulb. But you'd be saving a ton of battery power by converting your other lights to LED - I even did a strobe-style taillight from a firetruck on my Concours that got some serious attention

 

[Gunner12]

You might want HID for that.

Edit: Go HID only if you know what you are doing (reflector, ballast etc.), same with LEDs.

 

[ACMarina]

Not if the reflector isn't made for it you don't.. at least not in an automotive application. Last thing I'd want on my motorcycle is some schmuck swerving because the spot from my headlight doesn't hit him right..

 

[CDI]

Well, I found a 100w Xenon to replace my 55w standard, so we'll see what happens. I'm going to pick it up and install it now.

 

[VidPro]

which V-star classic?
ya know i put 2x 50W halogen driving lights on my motorcycle, along with a 10W increase in the headlight, and everything was peachy keno, then i drive it miles and miles with the extra juice turned on, and had to Push start it :-(
the "stator" on the bike had only an extra 100total watts available over what the bike already needed to run. they sold a different stator for like $170+ dollers and it would have taken some effort to install this new stator.

so i tossed out the halogen driving lights, and got 2x10W trailtech HID lights as driving lights instead.

with a 45W increase you wont "top out" the stator on any bike, unless you got electric underwear , and a t-bar light system or other accessories.

why did they take off the kick starter :-(

 

[mudmojo]

I would consider an automotive OE projector setup retrofitted into a motorcycle headlight housing if the housing is relatively deep.

 

[cuervo]

If you jump from 55W to 100W, you need to keep an eye on your wiring and the plug that connects to the light bulb--chances are both are going to start melting with the increased load since they were sized for a smaller load.

If you want to get a bright headlight, you generally have to do some wiring work and add a couple of relays coming right of the battery, and have your headlight switch wired to the relays to select high and low beams. There are plenty of options out there if you look around.

Short of that, you could look into a set of LED or HID riding lights that mount on your forks. They could then be adjusted to give you more side lighting than the headlight does for good peripheral lighting for night rides.

HIDs for headlights come only in low beam, and the reflector needs to be built for the bulb. Unless your motorcycle has two headlights, one for low and one for high, you'd lose your high beam if you went to HID. And, as others have said, the output would be disappointing.

 

[frasera]

there are probably laws on what is street legal. brightness has to be at a certain level, and more importantly its all gotta be designed so the beam doesn't blind other people.

course as we know with hids and badly aimed suv/tall truck lights, the laws are a bit lax as is

 

[CDI]

Well, the 80/100W lamp from NAPA works fine. I think I'll switch my other lamps to LED to decrease the load on the electrical system, though.

It's a 2007 V-Star Classic 650.

 

[Gran Nismo]

Damn, I am looking at the 2007 V Star Classic too, once I get my motorcycle license. There are complete HID Headlights system I saw on one of those motorcycle magazines. Go to the store and check it out, maybe able to find some online too. Good luck with it.

 

[CDI]

It's a very nice bike, but be aware it's not the fastest thing out there - you're hauling an 1100-size chassis with a 650 (albeit a fairly torquey one). If I could swing the $, I would buy the 1100 - but it was just more than I wanted to spend.

 

[soffiler]

Well, the 80/100W lamp from NAPA works fine. I think I'll switch my other lamps to LED to decrease the load on the electrical system, though.

It's a 2007 V-Star Classic 650.

cuervo is right. Stock switch/connector/wiring is most likely being overtaxed by the higher wattage lamp. When you say it works fine, you mean, it seems to work fine, right now at least. Do you really want to invite headlight troubles on a motorcycle?

I am a strong advocate for re-wiring with relays, so the stock wiring does nothing but switch the small relay coil current. Then you run a large-gage wire straight from battery (w/ inline fuse) to relay switch contact and from there to the bulb. You need one relay for low beam, another for high beam. Kits are available from various sources to make this all very plug-and-play simple (Google it).

Oh, I ride an '05 BMW R1200GS with pretty good stock lighting in the form of H7 halogen bulbs, one each for lo and hi beam.

 

[Der Wichtel]

A friend of mine has put 16 Seoul P4 into his bike. Well it's not really a motorcycle. We in Germany call it "Schwalbe".
That thing ist very bright. Actually he is thinking of removing some LEDs because it's a little bit too bright