permanent solution to dim commando headlight

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How does the fan get any air to cool the heatsink when its inside the headlight shell?
 
I have one also. I have been running it all summer. No brainer so far.

Drop in. Nice white light.

I measured the amp draw at 1.5 amp low beam , 2.3 high.
 
batrider said:
How does the fan get any air to cool the heatsink when its inside the headlight shell?
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If you'll go back to post #47, you should find where this bulb was tested for temp versus the standard H4 halogen unit. The shell runs much cooler with the LED.

Nathan
 
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motorson said:
I currently have an LED H4 replacement bulb in my Commando. It is super bright and draws a lot less current than the Halogen bulb did.
Here is what I bought"
permanent solution to dim commando headlight


permanent solution to dim commando headlight
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So, Dan; after having run this for the Summer, what's your opinion?

Nathan
 
The 3200 lumen bulb is working great. It hasn't changed at all and seems to be holding up well. The fan has become a bit noisy and I can hear it sometimes when I have the light on before I start the bike. The heat issue that was mentioned is not a problem since the whole headlight shell is cooled by outside air and the inside air cools the bulb unit. I think the one listed right before this post is probably a better light. There is another one that I posted a picture of that does not have the external power pack.

One of my concerns was the focal point of the reflector. The one I have has the offset between high and low just like a halogen H4 bulb has. Still the focus is not all that sharp

The main comment I get about my head light is that it looks super bright to other people on the road.
Dan.
 
Sorry about this, I'm sure the answer is in this thread somewhere.

Will these H4 LED and HID work positive earth and will they fit inside the headlight shell?

Dave.
 
You have to ask but both types I have bought have worked in +ve earth and fitted with manipulation into the shell.
 
I bought this LED http://www.ebay.com/itm/1PC-Motorcycle- ... d6&vxp=mtr on e-bay as others have and while testing it outside of the bike I cannot get low beam to work. For starters, I bought an H4 conversion kit from Bonneville shop, yanked the bulb that came with it and plugged the LED into the socket. No problems there, it was a nice fit. I used a standard H4 wiring diagram and connected the supplied H4 pigtail straight into the 1973 Norton connectors, high, low and ground. I can only get the light to work when I switch on high beam.

I bench tested the light using a battery charger and was able to get high and low beam.

Should the set-up be wired differently for the positive ground bike? Sounded like plug and play from what I was reading. LEDs use less power, so I didn't think much more was needed. Any ideas? Easy enough to go back to stock, but the low beam on that was dismal. I don't plan on doing much night driving. I'm just doing this for increased daytime visibility to others.

I just bought the Norton this September and have been away from them for about 30 years, so I'm no expert.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill
 
Bill, that is the first type of bulb I bought and it worked out of the box in a positive earth bike, I already had the H4 connector as I did that change many years ago but did not have to change anything to get it to work. When you used the battery charger did it work when connected both ways eg -ve and +earth.
 
A1AVETTE said:
Should the set-up be wired differently for the positive ground bike? Sounded like plug and play from what I was reading. LEDs use less power, so I didn't think much more was needed. Any ideas?
Any help will be appreciated.
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Mine was, in fact, a plug and play after having already converted to H4. The lamp you refer to is the exact same unit I'm running. One of the principle reasons for purchasing that unit was the fact that it's not polarity sensitive. Compare this to your harness:
permanent solution to dim commando headlight

Use a test light or volt meter to verify correct harness outputs, and use the ground in the plug as a return for your test device. It's possible you have a bad ground in the headlight harness, and power is finding its way back down the wrong lead. That happens all the time with trailer lights.

Nathan
 

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Thanks Guys,

A deeper dive into the wiring showed previous owner had the pilot light swapped out with the low beam. No wonder it was so bad, even after 30 years I couldn't remember it being as dim as it was on low beam. I barely got an inspection sticker. The lady that did the inspection was very kind and passed it. She was impressed with the rest of the bike and I told her I didn't intend to drive it at night much if at all. I got it straight now and have it working. Previous owner did a great job with everything else. He didn't drive at night much from what I gathered, so he did not notice this.

The problem I'm now having is I think the back of the new LED headlight bulb is hitting the rather large dip switch in the housing. I think others may have had this too and I'll go back and read through. I recall someone wondering why the switch was so big. I can get it close, but it does not want to go all the way. Its really tough to tell if its hitting the switch, can't see in there and I don't want to force it too much. Now wondering if anyone had an issue with fit and if the switch should be changed to something with a smaller profile.

This forum is a great tool and I really appreciate the responses.

Thanks,

Bill
 
A 73 should not have a large dip switch in the shell but in the handlebar switches. The 73 should have a much smaller 2 postion switch for moving between pilot and dipped/main.
 
A1AVETTE said:
The problem I'm now having is I think the back of the new LED headlight bulb is hitting the rather large dip switch in the housing. I think others may have had this too and I'll go back and read through. I recall someone wondering why the switch was so big. I can get it close, but it does not want to go all the way. Its really tough to tell if its hitting the switch, can't see in there and I don't want to force it too much. Now wondering if anyone had an issue with fit and if the switch should be changed to something with a smaller profile.
Click to expand...

Same here, but, with some difficulty, it did eventually accept the lamp. The harness had to be carefully pushed to the sides of the shell to allow enough clearance for the LED cooling fan. It's kind of vague, but you can see how the switch is oriented on the '74. The contacts are to the right with the wires plugged into the switch terminals closest to the shell wall.
permanent solution to dim commando headlight

Nathan
 
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Further investigation showed I had installed one of the W clips incorrectly in the rim and that was hanging it up when I was trying to install the light and rim into the shell. The photos provided gave me confidence that it wasn't hitting the switch even though it seems close as I tilted it in. I corrected that, got it in and it is fine now.

Thanks,

Bill
 
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