Osram Night Breaker Laser H4

[aesmith]

The path from battery through the ignition switch carries all current for all parts of the bike, although I guess you could assume that the headlights make up most of the load. Also, on my K6 the headlight feed also passes through a second set of n/c contacts on the starter switch button, something that wasn't shown on the circuit diagram. You can check if yours is the same by setting the stop/run switch to stop, then see if the start switch cuts the headlights.

Originally Posted by aesmith

The path from battery through the ignition switch carries all current for all parts of the bike, although I guess you could assume that the headlights make up most of the load. Also, on my K6 the headlight feed also passes through a second set of n/c contacts on the starter switch button, something that wasn't shown on the circuit diagram. You can check if yours is the same by setting the stop/run switch to stop, then see if the start switch cuts the headlights.

That would be a fair assumption I think: that the two 60W headlamps are a much bigger load than anything else except the starter (as above).
In this test it would not make any difference though: it would be a dead test of the impedance of about 2m of wire, one fuse (for each of high and low), two (or three) movable switches, a few mechanical connections on one side, and about 2m of wire on the negative return side. It would be a dead test so loads would not make any difference.
I agree entirely that once the system is energised the voltage at the headlamp luminaires might be different due to other factors (on both the supply and demand sides). What I’m proposing as a test would be exactly the same as a R1+Rn test on a radial circuit in a building (wire/switches/mechanical connections are the same, so it would make sense). I think it would be a valid test.
I could also measure the potential difference between the furthest H4 connector and the negative terminal with both the system energised,and then with the engine running, and compare it with the potential across the battery terminals in both states to get a good estimate of actual voltage loss. When I get a mo I’ll run both tests, maybe not today, but I’m planning to have half a day working on the K6 to balance the throttle bodies some time this week or next, so I’ll do it then.
It will be interesting to see how healthy the wiring is after 13 years.


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[SV650rules]

I would definitely use relays if I was fitting higher wattage bulbs, a 10% drop in voltage to a filament bulb reduces output by about 20%, so maybe using relays with standard bulbs is worth it. Car makers use relays to switch headlight power as a matter of course and their electrical system has higher capacity than a bikes and a twin headlight bike draws just as much current as a cars headlights when H4 filament bulbs used.

IMHO £70 from classiccarleds for a pair of Philips Luxeon ZES chipped bulbs is a steal if you look at prices of other bulbs with same chips ( 2x or 4x the price), as I said we have been using these LED bulbs for pretty much 2 years now and no failures and headlights are chalk and cheese with best filament bulbs we could find - and I can assure you they have passed MOT even with the new rules on aftermarket bulbs and beam pattern that came in in 2016 and updated again in 2018.

https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk...t-is-changing/

[aesmith]

I switched to my winter bulbs this weekend, and while I was at it I did a quick measurement of voltage drop. Very rough and ready so pointless to record exact figures. I don't have a low ohm meter worked on voltage, which after all is what the bulb gets. Figures were taken without the engine running but with the run switch off.

Voltage across the bulb measured 9.5 volts
Voltage at battery just over 12.5V
Voltage between battery +ve and bulb +ve was just over 2V

At first I thought these contradictory, but then remembered that the positive feed to the bulb is the one that passes through all the switches and therefore more connectors. So it's quite feasible that it loses 2V on the positive side and only 1V on the return.

With hindsight I wish I'd done these tests with the engine running, but even if the voltage drop was no higher it sounds like the bulbs will be getting around 11 or 11.5V in normal use.

[gadget]

I have used the 'night breakers' in my 93 gsxr 750 and tbh.. I thought they were really good, a much improved beam of light both on dipped and main beam plus .... they were almost pure white which was exactly what I was looking for.
and as a bonus ... they didn't break the bank either.
I will defo be putting them in my sv for sure.

[garynortheast]

Originally Posted by gadget

I have used the 'night breakers' in my 93 gsxr 750 and tbh.. I thought they were really good, a much improved beam of light both on dipped and main beam plus .... they were almost pure white which was exactly what I was looking for.
and as a bonus ... they didn't break the bank either.
I will defo be putting them in my sv for sure.

Try the Night Racers. They're even better.

[gadget]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

Try the Night Racers. They're even better.

Cheers, I may give them a go, are they noticeably brighter than the night breakers or just a little better?
Would ideally like something as near to HID white without having to resort to actually fitting a full HID kit.

[SV650rules]

Originally Posted by gadget

Cheers, I may give them a go, are they noticeably brighter than the night breakers or just a little better?
Would ideally like something as near to HID white without having to resort to actually fitting a full HID kit.

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/col...roduct-reviews

These are 6000K and as near white daylight as you can get - I have one on my AL7 and they are in both our cars, pass MOT no problem with them in ( many people with HID aftermarket kits or dodgy LED bulbs have to take them out come MOT time ). The draw is about 1.5 amps per bulb compared to 5 amps for filament bulbs and they are inherently vibration proof and unlike the filament in high power bulbs the LED do not have a finite life, so they may be the last bulb you buy - and you can swap them between vehicles if you sell a bike you can take them out and fit them to the next one - it really is a no brainer..... The equivalent output vs filament is about 80watts, but the much whiter light shows things up so much better than yellow ( 3500 to 4000K ) filament light. The big problem with filament bulbs is that from the first time you turn them on the filament 'evaporates' and coats onto the inside of the glass envelope, this darkens the glass so that after even a short time there is less light getting through the glass and onto the road.

Having use these LED bulbs now for over 2-1/2 years I would never go back to filament ones, and I tried pretty much all of them up to +150% and with the mileage I covered had to replace them every 12 to 15 months.

[EssEllTwo]

Originally Posted by SV650rules

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/col...roduct-reviews

These are 6000K and as near white daylight as you can get - I have one on my AL7 and they are in both our cars, pass MOT no problem with them in ( many people with HID aftermarket kits or dodgy LED bulbs have to take them out come MOT time ). The draw is about 1.5 amps per bulb compared to 5 amps for filament bulbs and they are inherently vibration proof and unlike the filament in high power bulbs the LED do not have a finite life, so they may be the last bulb you buy - and you can swap them between vehicles if you sell a bike you can take them out and fit them to the next one - it really is a no brainer..... The equivalent output vs filament is about 80watts, but the much whiter light shows things up so much better than yellow ( 3500 to 4000K ) filament light. The big problem with filament bulbs is that from the first time you turn them on the filament 'evaporates' and coats onto the inside of the glass envelope, this darkens the glass so that after even a short time there is less light getting through the glass and onto the road.

Having use these LED bulbs now for over 2-1/2 years I would never go back to filament ones, and I tried pretty much all of them up to +150% and with the mileage I covered had to replace them every 12 to 15 months.

Thread resurrection time. How are you getting on with the LED bulbs after another 2 years? Tempted by these after doing my first night ride on the SV and being able to see jack **** unless I had full beam on. Amazed how badly designed the reflector must be to make a pair of H4 bulbs perform so poorly.

[SV650rules]

classicarleds 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 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 LED retrofit - 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...



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...


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




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.