Efficient Lighting

Has anyone experimented with LED tail/brake lights and a more efficient headlight such as halogen or other?

I installed an LED taillight in a friends BSA and it worked wonderfully. They use very little power and are much brighter. Make sure you use the one that beams in a 180 degree pattern so it fills the whole lens with light (LED's on the side and front of bulb), otherwise it'll look like a dot. Also make sure you get one that operates tail lamp & brake lamp brightnesses (2 stage). Here's a site for LED's: http://superbrightleds.com
There are HID headlamp kits for all makes of bulbs, & there are companies that sell them all over the internet. But be careful, most countries outlaw them for aftermarket use (not factory installed). If you use them in a stock norton headlamp lens, it'll blind the on-coming traffic. HID reflector lenses have a piece of metal that covers the bottom half of the bulb to reduce glare, I haven't checked yet to see if one is made for norton headlamps. Just a simple halogen upgrade does wonders though, did it to my commando & I can see twice as far.

`Already converted to the CandlePower integrated Halogen headlight unit http://store.candlepower.com/ca53mohe.html this summer and (as JSPayne says) it does wonders. `Diference between night & day. :twisted:

That LED taillight settup at the SuperBright website looks interesting. I take it one has to reverse the polarity of the taillight assembly/shield to use the LED ? (I haven't looked lately, but isn't the shield ground to the frame?)

An alternator upgrade is a prerequisite IMO. I have the Sparx 3 phase and I love it.

I chose a Halogen headlamp from a Mini Cooper (Wipac brand, I think) with the pilot lamp hole. I run a 65 watt H4 bulb and a 20W pilot that works well for daytime running.

The LED bulbs from superbrightleds are negative ground. I made that conversion this season, and now have LEDs in my front blinkers. A noticeable difference in battery draw at stop lights. They're nowhere near as bright as std bulbs and I left the rear ones alone for visibility from behind. Haven't done the tail light yet.

Be careful about LED taillight bulb replacement. These give a linear beam and with the late model (sqauare) taillight, the bulb is pointed down. This will give very little light. The early style will work, but you will not have illumination for the license plate, a violation in most states. In addition these are usually not as bright as the stock incandescent.

The Bulbs-that-last-forever kits address this issue or if you are skilled, you can build your own.

If you are concerned about current draw, upgrade to a 3-phase and address the wiring harness rather than try to cut current draw at the tail/brake light. Clean all connections or better yet re-wire and eliminate unnecessary connectors.

I recently upgraded the headlight on my 03 Bonneville (hey, it's British) to a Cibie 7" lens with park light and noted a great improvement in over the stock system, which also used an H4 bulb. The quality of materials and design of the lens makes a great difference in how well you see the road ahead. A Cibie with a 45 watt halogen bulb will show you more of the road ahead, while putting less load on the battery, then a lesser unit (like the stock Triumph one) with a 55 or 65 watt bulb due to the greater light concentration in the hot spot, sharper cut off and fact that the hot spot on high and low beam coincide. Cibies were the standard for those who race in the dark, like LeMans. There is some interesting tech reading on the subject at http://www.danielsternlighting.com .
I plan to upgrade the headlight on my Norton eventually, right now it's a ways from being on the road.

Cheers

I'm running a stock alternator/charging system on my 1973 850 (& a big Odyssey battery) and was curious if I have enough power to run the H4 Candlepower halogen headlamp without zapping my system. I know I should go to a three-phase alternator, and that is on the list, but for now...

I recently installed an LED rear light and an Autopal headlight using an Osram Nightbreaker bulb. All are available from Paul Goff at http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/

I also used a three-position switch and a 12V 23W BA9s (part no. B1223B9QH) pilot bulb. This works realy well as a day-time headlight. I wired it so that when I switch on the real headlight the pilot bulb is switched off. It all works very well for me. Installing the LED was a bit fiddley, but I think that I made it more complicated than I had to. The tail/brake light works well now, though. With the LED tail light and the 23Watt running light I am visible, legal and don't use too much battery power for the alternator to keep up (I think!). The headlight is a 60/55W and is really bright, but I don't ride at night much, so I cannot truly comment on its effectiveness.

BTW - I bought the stuff from the UK. Shipping to the US was reasonable and quick.

more information about the LED tail light was posted here:

post36785.html#p36785

I just ran a voltmeter across the battery while keeping the engine at 2,500-3,000 to look at the effects of running the CandlePower H4 halogen main headlight. Except for the headlight, my `71's electrics are stock

- Engine only: 14.6V
- Engine + brake light: 14.4V
- Engine + Low Beam: 12.6V
- Engine + Hi Beam: 12.6 V (no appreciable drop)

I didn't bother w/ the "everything" combo as I make the assumption that brakelights are an additional 0.2V load regardless. This tells me I'm not discharging the battery (or doing great harm to the fuse/wiring), ...but Lucas is still the Prince of Darkness if I'm not running at speed at night for long stretches of time.

EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thanks!!

MEHAVEY said:

I just ran a voltmeter across the battery while keeping the engine at 2,500-3,000 to look at the effects of running the CandlePower H4 halogen main headlight. Except for the headlight, my `71's electrics are stock

- Engine only: 14.6V
- Engine + brake light: 14.4V
- Engine + Low Beam: 12.6V
- Engine + Hi Beam: 12.6 V (no appreciable drop)

Click to expand...

An interesting and useful test is to put an ammeter between the rectifier and battery. It'll tell you at what RPM your charging system starts taking the load from the battery. With headlight on my Sparx 3 phase is supplying all power at 2500 RPM, the stock setup was 3500.