SV650S Headlight Upgrade Opinions

[Adam Ef]

I've got Osram Nightbreakers in there at the moment. They don't give out enough on the dark country lanes.


I don't tend to ride much at night. Usually just when I get caught out heading home late, so not sure if I can justify big expense and possible reg / rec problems too.


Maybe I would ride more at night if I felt I could actually see down the road though?

[SV650rules]

You have to admit those LED bulbs are damned impressive - much better than any filament bulb I have tried, and I have tried a lot (used to cover between 25 and 30K a year, much of it in dark at each end of the day so bulbs tended not to last very long) I used to change bulbs every 12 months because they did not last much longer than that (the +50% etc. bulbs burn hot and used to generally fail every 13 to 15 months, that includes Philips and Osram as well as Bosch and Halfords own brand).

[SV650rules]

Just updating this thread, my 2016 AL7 passed its first MOT today with the classiccarleds LED H4 headlight bulb fitted - tester never mentioned them at all.

You can buy single bulb for £39 or pair for £70.

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

[Adam Ef]

These are on my list of future upgrades. Definitely before next winter. Even with the auxilliary lights I've recently fitted I still struggle to see well enough riding at night.

[SV650rules]

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/pro...ion-5-15-volts


classiccarleds are now doing the 'direct replacement LED H4' means no separate power supply or fan to worry about. They are a couple of mm longer than a standard H4 filament bulb. I have no experience of these direct fit bulbs, but the classicarleds H4 bulbs i mentioned before in this thread are still going strong in my SV 2016 single headlight and both our cars ( the SV passes MOT with the bulb fitted and both our cars used to pass beam test before they tightened the rules on 'ALL' LED retrofit bulbs - so I have to remove the LED in the cars for MOT day and refit after MOT ). The LED bulbs use 2 amps compared to 5 amps for normal filament bulbs, but I fitted a electrex world series RR to replace the standard shunt Suzuki RR, and the Electrex unit runs 30 deg C cooler than the original shunt unit even with lower draw ( or maybe because of ) with the LED bulb fitted. For the most useful light output and by far the best light to show up in daylight ( and believe me it is very visible in daylight ) I used the 6000K white in my SV...



Apparently these bulbs have very latest 'CSP' LED chips, which are very efficient and produce less heat than earlier ones, hence they do not need a fan or large heatsink, the bulb is copper cored and the heatsink is the actual body of the bulb. https://blog.betterautomotivelightin...n-smd-led-chip


There is a section in the description of these bulbs that seems to say that 'the dip beam LED remains on when the main beam is selected' - if this is true this would be a big plus on a motorbike ( and also cars ) - I have emailed the seller to check if this is true. THE SELLER CAME BACK TO ME STATING THAT THE DIP BEAM LED DOES STAY LIT WHEN MAIN BEAM IS TURNED ON..... THIS IS GREAT, I JUST ORDERED ONE FOR MY AL7...


LATE EDIT ON THE DIRECT FIT COMPACT BULB -- THE BULB IS NOWHERE NEAR AS BRIGHT AS THE PHILIPS Z=ES BULB I ORIGINALLY POSTED https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/pro...nversion-9-32v - i TRIED ON IN A CAR HEADLIGHT, TOOK THE Z-ES OUT OF ONE SIDE AND REPLACED WITH CSP - LOOKS LIKE THE LACK OF A HEATSINK MEANS THEY CANNOT DRIVE THE LED SO HARD.



The average output of a filament halogen H4 bulb is between 900 to 1100 lumens per filament of 3500K ( yellow light ), some of the super bright halogen have up to 1600 lumen of 4200K light ( but in my experience a very short life ), the compact CSP LED above have 1600 lumens of 6000K 'daylight' white light and on main beam both LED 'filaments' are alight. The Z-ES chipped LED have 4600 lumens of 6000K light. I have had the Z-ES bulbs in both our cars and my SV since early 2017 and still going strong, so a good investment.






.

[NedSVS]

I found these cheap LED H4 bulbs far superior to the Osram Nightbreakers I took out and at only £8.00 a pair
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266381558...r=566198474491
I have been using them for four years and one blew recently, but 4 years and approximately 20k miles, including daytime running, isn't bad at that price; I was more than happy to purchase the same ones again. I originally purchased them because because Nightbreakers x2 (gen 1 S model twin bulbs)+heated grips+uprated carb heaters (2x25w [Carb heater - 13650-20E00 (25w) + temp switch moved to front of fairing = carb icing completely eliminated] instead of standard 2x15w)+USB socket for heated vest and insoles = struggling charging system/low battery; the Nightbreakers are 60/55w nominal but if you look at the Osram data sheet, they actually draw 75/68w. These cheap LED lights are the best I have ever used, car or bike, very white and stand out well during the day. At dusk they seem a little lacking, because they are a similar colour temperature to the remaining daylight, but once it is properly dark they are superb! The dip beam stays on when you select main beam, giving a brilliant spread of light. They are a doddle to fit too; remove old bulbs, remove the plastic mounting disc from the LED bulb (turn ACW) and fit to light unit, fit the rubber boot to the LED bulb, insert the LED bulb and turn CW until the wires point downwards, and finally push the rubber boot onto the back of the light unit.