Led Headlight Conversation
 

Can anyone give their thought on a good LED replacement bulb for a 2003 SV650.

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Re: Led Headlight Conversation
 

Be aware that the MOT regs change this year.
Incandescent bulbs heat a thin coil and use this as a focus point with the lens to produce a good beam pattern.
Led emitters are a different type of light...
While a halogen bulb is inherently omnidirectional, LEDs only project from those tiny little points (diodes.) .

Re: Led Headlight Conversation
 

The nearest you will get to a 'proper' filament shape is with Phillips ZES LED chips, the dimension and placement of led's exactly mimic the filament putting them on the focal point of reflector. Some bulb makers thought it was a good idea to use a single bulbous or even a square 'Cree' chip which in no way replicates a filament and those were the ones that dazzle other road users. I use classiccarleds.com Phillips LED bulbs in our cars and my motorbike and beam shape is as good if not better than filament but a lot whiter and brighter. The MOT guy passed the Civic in January but did remark that in March 2018 year that rules are changing on non-standard bulbs, may be a reaction to horrible aftermarket HID and cheapo LED bulbs that spray light everywhere.

THe light from LED's is much more like daylight than filament light, and much more effective on the road - I will take my bulbs out for next MOT and fit stone-age filament bulbs back for a few days, but having got used to them the old filaments look like a glowworm in a jamjar.

here are some previous threads on this subject

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.p...ight=headlight
http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.p...ight=headlight


here are some youtube videos from headlight revolution - not the shortest videos around but very informative..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQF5ESBHLrw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sonh4lHu4XE

Re: Led Headlight Conversation
 

Thank you for the help. I am looking at LED bulbs because I have HID bulbs now and I don't like them. The light is fine but slow warm up and I keep having problems with balast going bad.

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Re: Led Headlight Conversation
 

if it helps this is the link to the bulbs I used in my wifes car and my SV AL7 - they sell single bulb for motorbike and pair for 'car' (think they assume all motorbikes only have one headlight), but if you have twin headlight the twin pack is cheaper than two singles as the bulbs are identical. LED bulbs work on current not voltage, that is why they are labelled 9 - 32volts - the black box 'ballast' with the bulbs is a constant current power supply and as long as it has a least 9 volts can supply full power to the LED bulbs, that is why the LED bulbs do not dim on tickover, and unlike filament bulbs LED have a virtually unlimited life and are not damaged by over-voltage. These are the best price proper phillips chip bulbs I found - some are over £120 - I have been using them since last August with no problem, the LED light is much more visible in sunlight than yellow filament light, so safer IMHO.

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/col...-h4-motorcycle

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/col...nversion-9-32v

If you zoom in on the pictures you can see how the LED chips form a thin line just like a filament and the 'dipped beam' baffles that are the same as on a filament bulb.

Re: Led Headlight Conversation
 

If it's for a car you can get good legal (construction and use regs) by using 3.5 out of 5 stars 225 Reviews
Philips WhiteVision Xenon effect H7 .

Re: Led Headlight Conversation
 

I'm in the USA no problem with being legal. LED bulbs are DOT approved.


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Re: Led Headlight Conversation
 

Ah cool.
But we can get kinder surprise eggs lol.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...rprise_Egg.jpg

Re: Led Headlight Conversation
 

I wish our fuddy-duddy UK authorities were as clued up as yours in the USA (maybe after Brexit .......)

The bulbs I posted link to can be twisted and locked in their holder to make them suitable for LH or RH drive vehicles (it just matches position of LED to your reflector, it will not convert beam pattern on a LHD vehicle to make it suitable for driving on the left and vice-versa as the reflector shape is different), instructions are supplied how to do this. There is a numbered scale around the holder and once set can be locked in that position with a grub screw (allen key is provided in the kit). I found that the recommended position number for RH drive worked fine in our cars in UK and on the SV.

Re: Led Headlight Conversation
 

Good to know. Thank you for your help.

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