I bought a LED front projection lens bulb that fits my norton factory headlight socket. It is a 12v-20v dual function (high-low beam) DC bulb. The only thing is I cannot tell the difference between the high and low beams. It is super bright, but I cannot tell any difference in brightness or elevation of the light. I contacted the vendor and they said they tested bulbs from the same stock and could see a slight difference between the high and low beam. Has anybody had any experience with this type of led bulb and if so is there a noticeable difference that can be seen between the high and low beams? I really like the super brightness and the coverage of the road. Thanks Hershey
led headlight bulb
- Thread starter hershey
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Link to the part/vendor please.
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Huge number of these bulbs on the market, new ones arriving all the time. Some good and some bad and very bad. All have voltage regulation circuitry as LED's normally work at 3V and most have a bridge rectifier array so they take +ve and -ve DC, from there its a lottery on performance and best bought on recommendation. The ones I use state 6V to 24V which shows its voltage regulation capability.
I bought it on e:bay item number 165931209558
I think Iam going to send this one back and try another one, any recommended name or type of bulb or who sells them.
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I have thought about switching to LEDs headlights recently but have read on other old bike sites that that LED conversion is not recommended, saying they can cause problems with the charging system on old bikes. ???? Admittedly, that was on a Honda site, not Norton.
Further, re replacing an incandescent headlight bulb with an LED bulb -
I did a lot of searching and found articles stating that placing an LED bulb in a reflector lens designed for an incandescent bulb will result in illumination that is too bright in foreground, giving the impression of "better light" but actually producing less light at distance because an incandescent headlight reflector/lens will not correctly focus the LED. Also, the brightness of the foreground lighting causes the pupils of the eye to contract, further reducing night distance vision. For this reason, in the UK an LED bulb in an OEM incandescent headlight will fail an MOT. Same is true of safety inspections in the US/Canada/most of Europe.
Of course, whether a vehicle inspector actually checks/notices an LED bulb in an OEM incandescent headlamp is a different issue.
Further, re replacing an incandescent headlight bulb with an LED bulb -
I did a lot of searching and found articles stating that placing an LED bulb in a reflector lens designed for an incandescent bulb will result in illumination that is too bright in foreground, giving the impression of "better light" but actually producing less light at distance because an incandescent headlight reflector/lens will not correctly focus the LED. Also, the brightness of the foreground lighting causes the pupils of the eye to contract, further reducing night distance vision. For this reason, in the UK an LED bulb in an OEM incandescent headlight will fail an MOT. Same is true of safety inspections in the US/Canada/most of Europe.
Of course, whether a vehicle inspector actually checks/notices an LED bulb in an OEM incandescent headlamp is a different issue.
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This is due to type approval ie all bulbs need to be E marked and LED's very rarely are, but type approval only started in 1996 and is not retrospective so pre 96 and it just has to pass the beam alignment and dip effectiveness tests. That's if you take your over 40 year old vehicle to have an MOT which is no longer mandatory for old clunkers.
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"MOT which is no longer mandatory for old clunkers"
No MOT plus no tax = A happy thing for me and my "new" '76 Honda CB400 four!
It was the Honda 400 four site that discouraged LED headlights because "they stressed the charging system." That surprised me since old Honda's, except for a few oddities here and there, are generally pretty much bulletproof. I'm not sure how a light that draws less power than the OEM can cause a charging system issue...
No MOT plus no tax = A happy thing for me and my "new" '76 Honda CB400 four!
It was the Honda 400 four site that discouraged LED headlights because "they stressed the charging system." That surprised me since old Honda's, except for a few oddities here and there, are generally pretty much bulletproof. I'm not sure how a light that draws less power than the OEM can cause a charging system issue...
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Think its based on the lower power draw means the regulator is dumping the load more often. But that begs the question of where that was a problem when the bikes were new and daylight lights were not used.
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It is probably true that long rides without the 5 A current draw of a headlight bulb can cause a 1970s-80s Japanese electronic regulator to get hotter than it should.
Is it common to be still using original reg/rec boxes on these bikes?
Is it common to be still using original reg/rec boxes on these bikes?
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Notorious problem on Suzukis, for a while.
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It still has to be "taxed" if it's being used on the road (or SORNed if it isn't) just that it's £0.00.
Which one do you use?
Where can I purchase one. Hershey
