gnyce
Site Supporter
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2015
- Messages
- 338
- Reaction score
- 195
- Points
- 43
- Location
- north of Philadelphia PA, US
Background - got my '05 fz6 back in early Oct (after not being on a bike for... well, a very long time). It didn't need much work, but I've slowly been changing a few things, nothing major - seat re-forming, new windshield, used hard-cases, fix heated-throttle-grips. Headlights were next on the list.
Wasn't happy with the amount of light from the existing bulbs. Looked into better (PIAA etc) bulbs, but it just seemed like brighter --> shorter lifespan. Toyed with the idea of the HID conversion, but I'm not ready to take that on, and that seems to be a more drastic change. Thought about LED, but don't care for the 6000k color temp of 'blue' light. Nevertheless, it seemed like LEDs would be not horribly more expensive than better bulbs, an easier mod, the expected life is much greater, brighter, and they require less current/draw, which gives me more capacity for other 'gear' (whatever that end up being). So after kicking it around a bit, I ordered an h4 and h7 from cyclopsadventuresports. Arrived last week. I have 1 installed... the h7/low-beam. Can't do the h4 right now, I need a different plug-size from what they sent.
Installation on the h7 was a little tricky, but do-able - it's not an exact-fit replacement, but pretty close. I had to 1) enlarge the rubber-boot circle in the middle, to make room for the LED fan housing/shroud (yes it has a cooling fan), and 2) pull the wire headlight-bulb-holder out and re-shape it a little, to account for the larger shroud/circumference, and to push the bulb a little further forward. Not awful in terms of modifications, but more than a 3 minute swap.
I did a short test-ride last night (yes, with mixed bulbs), just around town - including a small highway stint, as well as an isolated road with no street lights. It indeed appears to provide more illumination (tho' the light color-change can also affect that perception I think). I did not adjust the light at all - was suggested I might have to - but no one flashed their high beams at me. Pulling up to a car at a stoplight, the LED topline 'cut-off' seemed to be at or just below their top car trunk-line, so I dont' think I was blinding them in their rearview mirror either. If the opportunity presented, I was going to pull up beside a car I'd been following and ask them, but the situation never presented itself.
Again, not usually a fan of the extreme-blue light color, but this doesn't seem to offend me - I think the stated color is 5700k/5500k (for the two bulbs). The stated power draw is 30 watts (h7) and 20/40 watts (h4 low/high). They offer an h4 LED for 4000k, but as you can't match that with the h7, I didn't want to have that mismatch. We'll see after I get a replacement plug and do the other, but - so far I think I'm happy with the change. Time will tell.
(unable to attach pic - says no permissions - so let's see if this URL works).
https://goo.gl/photos/DyGP7vjnpmbipwbF8
Wasn't happy with the amount of light from the existing bulbs. Looked into better (PIAA etc) bulbs, but it just seemed like brighter --> shorter lifespan. Toyed with the idea of the HID conversion, but I'm not ready to take that on, and that seems to be a more drastic change. Thought about LED, but don't care for the 6000k color temp of 'blue' light. Nevertheless, it seemed like LEDs would be not horribly more expensive than better bulbs, an easier mod, the expected life is much greater, brighter, and they require less current/draw, which gives me more capacity for other 'gear' (whatever that end up being). So after kicking it around a bit, I ordered an h4 and h7 from cyclopsadventuresports. Arrived last week. I have 1 installed... the h7/low-beam. Can't do the h4 right now, I need a different plug-size from what they sent.
Installation on the h7 was a little tricky, but do-able - it's not an exact-fit replacement, but pretty close. I had to 1) enlarge the rubber-boot circle in the middle, to make room for the LED fan housing/shroud (yes it has a cooling fan), and 2) pull the wire headlight-bulb-holder out and re-shape it a little, to account for the larger shroud/circumference, and to push the bulb a little further forward. Not awful in terms of modifications, but more than a 3 minute swap.
I did a short test-ride last night (yes, with mixed bulbs), just around town - including a small highway stint, as well as an isolated road with no street lights. It indeed appears to provide more illumination (tho' the light color-change can also affect that perception I think). I did not adjust the light at all - was suggested I might have to - but no one flashed their high beams at me. Pulling up to a car at a stoplight, the LED topline 'cut-off' seemed to be at or just below their top car trunk-line, so I dont' think I was blinding them in their rearview mirror either. If the opportunity presented, I was going to pull up beside a car I'd been following and ask them, but the situation never presented itself.
Again, not usually a fan of the extreme-blue light color, but this doesn't seem to offend me - I think the stated color is 5700k/5500k (for the two bulbs). The stated power draw is 30 watts (h7) and 20/40 watts (h4 low/high). They offer an h4 LED for 4000k, but as you can't match that with the h7, I didn't want to have that mismatch. We'll see after I get a replacement plug and do the other, but - so far I think I'm happy with the change. Time will tell.
(unable to attach pic - says no permissions - so let's see if this URL works).
https://goo.gl/photos/DyGP7vjnpmbipwbF8
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