I've installed an LED headlamp similar to advMonster's
Native-H4. I'm documenting my procedure here.
Initially i searched DMF and found the following two threads:
Harley Daymaker LED headlightheadlight globe replacement with LED.i think the total headlamp replacement is the correct approach in terms of lite output (intensity & pattern), i did not pursue this route due to 1) cost, 2) losing parking lite / DRL, 3) changing the look of the bike (slitely for the worse IMO).
1) Corse Dynamics Daymaker $207 + $100 Adapter Ring, OR JWSpeaker 8700 EVO2 $256 + $160 Adapter
there are alternatives such as TruckLite 27270C, and Chinese knockoffs; but these still require an adapter to fit the 7" headlamp into the 7.5" bucket.
2) JWSpeaker makes a European variant with DRL, however these are not available in N.A.
I decided to try out the Native-H4 style LED bulb. skurvy had mentioned in
this post that the bulb is longer than oem and he could not seal the bucket.
my criteria for the installation was that everything should be reversible on the bike. this meant not making permanent modifications such as cutting a hole in the bucket. modding the LED bulb is fine.
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BULB:
the bulb I ordered is similar to advMonster. but i did not order it from them. what i purchased is advertised as 2800LM 25W bulb. they advertise the Native-H4 as 3600LM 25W bulb. the bulbs look very similar.
advMonster Native-H4:
my bulb:
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MEASUREMENTS:
A: OEM 25.6mm, LED 32.2mm
the LED bulb's diameter measured 35.3mm. skurvy mentioned in his post that the native-H4 fit perfectly. i had to grind the opening with a dremel in order to be able to insert the bulb in. once inside, there was no contact with the mushroom reflector inside.
after grinding there was a good amount of plastic dust covering the reflector inside the housing, even though i had the opening faced down. using a combination of compressed air and a vacuum cleaner i was able to clean the inside.
there is a screw protruding from the bulb:
this required the bulb to be rotated to find the rite spot where the screw could pass. after this, the bulb could be aligned to the correct position.
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MODIFICATIONS:
the LED is about 6.6mm longer than oem. i noticed that the H4 plug does not fully seat on the metal tabs of the bulb.
1) i cut off the tips of the metal tabs from the LED bulb. after this is done, the plug will no longer clip in. it will rest loosely on the tabs. however since the back of bucket is so close, the plug will not come out.
this did not provide sufficient clearance. i figured bending the metal tabs may do the job, however this required me to disassemble the black H4 plug.
after cutting (~3.6mm) and bending the metal tabs, measurement of "A" is 26.7mm.
the disassembly of the H4 plug is not difficult. snap off the top:
then using a flat head screw driver, apply some force to the female metal plug inside. do this from the end that attaches to the bulb. at the same time, using a smaller flat head push in the two plastic tabs:
do this one at a time. i heard a click as each plastic tab opened. when both plastic tabs have clicked, push the metal plug thru, by alternating force on each side.
cover the exposed metal plug with electrical tape:
i added a thin foam pad to the back. it is 2.3mm uncompressed. using this pad everything was snug and required a slite pressure to seal everything up.
the wire locations, looking into the bucket with the bulb facing me: YELLOW left, WHITE top, BLACK rite
Looking back - bending the metal tabs on the bulb is probably not necessary. i think there would be sufficient clearance that instead of the white foam, several layers of duct tape could be used at the back of bucket instead.
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LITE INTENSITY:
my procedure for measuring lite intensity for each bulb was:
1) fully charge the battery
2) with ignition on, engine off, measure the max intensity using UT383 lite meter
one thing i noticed with the oem halogen bulb was that the intensity was quickly diminishing as the battery lost charge. from memory, i recall seeing a hotspot of 8000LM, and by the time i found the max maybe 30sec later, it had come down to 7600LM which is what i recorded. with the LED, the reading was more stable. this could be due to the lower power consumption.
OEM max lo-beam: 7600 LM
LED max lo-beam: 13050 LM
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BEAM PATTERN:
OEM LO (1/30):
LED LO (1/125):
OEM HI (1/20):
LED HI (1/30):
the pictures are not good for judging lite intensity because the camera i use is auto only and the exposure time (written in parenthesis) is different for each pic. F#, ISO and white balance remained the same.
the LED HI beam definitely has a thinner beam pattern. this is because the hi-beam filament in the OEM bulb produces lite in 360 degrees, thus liting the bottom half of the reflector. this LED bulb utilizes only the top half of the reflector. the bottom half is covered by the heatsink.
i have not road tested the LED headlamp yet.
i have done very little nite riding in the past and do not anticipate doing much in the future. the lite output is a nice white glow (have not measured color temperature yet, but it's advertised as 6000K) and it matches the LED parking lite nicely. the reduced 30W of power is probably rough on the power regulator, but it will allow me to install an accessory such as hand warmers.
