Small LED Headlights.

[6 Fingered Man]

I want to mount LEDs in the ram air vents on my F4I, then re-route the ram air. It has race bodywork and i want to keep it looking race but put it on the street. Any one know of a small/bright enough LEDs for that?

[scubasteveRR]

From a thread on 600rr.net... LED Headlights
From my understanding each tube has 1 or more LED's in it and then a lense on the end of the tube to project the light wider.

Maybe you can get a couple tubes from him and make your own

[6 Fingered Man]

Awesome! I will have to join and try to pm him. Thanks.

[Jim]

what about turn signals and tailights?

[Wishbone]

what about turn signals and tailights?

PFFFT

What do you need those for?

[6 Fingered Man]

what about turn signals and tailights?

Easy enough, I will use two small LED strips on the rear one for tail and one for break, bar end signals front and probably none in the rear unless i can integrate them smoothly into the tail light.

Thanks for your concern

[xrocket21]

YOU'LL NEVER USE ALL THOSE LUMENS





but seriously, maybe try small fog/driving lights for a car?

[wiggeywackyo]

I don't know how effective LED's would be for headlights. I'd imagine that a big factor would be in the lens and reflector assembly.

[Stegosaurous]

If your making your own, look into Generation 3 LED's. They are crazy bright... Though i wouldnt give up my HID's for them.

[scubasteveRR]

I don't know how effective LED's would be for headlights. I'd imagine that a big factor would be in the lens and reflector assembly.

I just got an LED flashlight for x-mas. It has one LED that runs off two AA batteries and I can not believe how bright it is. The lens looks like a bi-focal with a lens inside a lens.

After seeing this flashlight I believe that if you do it right it will work pretty decent

I agree the lense is going to make it or break it. The project from that guy Tripage was stalled for a bit becasue he couldn't find the lenses he needed.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

There are a ton of different kinds of LEDs. Cree was the hotness a year or two ago when I was doing it for a bicycle, I think there may be something better now. candlepowerforums is an awesome resource for lighting, even though they focus on flashlights they stay up on the technology and there is a ton of info and plenty of help homebrewing stuff.

6, if you decide to build your own, I'll help. If you can find something that'll fit, it'll be easier. Quite possibly cheaper, too. Still, knowing how much light a 3W Cree throws out, I'm sure you could build something really nice if you wanted to sink the time & $.

[6 Fingered Man]

6, if you decide to build your own, I'll help. If you can find something that'll fit, it'll be easier. Quite possibly cheaper, too. Still, knowing how much light a 3W Cree throws out, I'm sure you could build something really nice if you wanted to sink the time & $.

I don't mind throwing in the time its the $$$ i,m worried about, but that being said I know its not gonna be cheap.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

Check out CPF, they'll know what the current best stuff out there is, where to get the best prices, how many to use, what to use for lens & reflector, etc. If it's worth the $ to you we'll put in the time and get it done. Unless you can find something to just plug in, that is.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b.../specs/spl.htm

150 lumens for each 1.35" round light @ 12V? Not sure about beam pattern...

[Trouble]

I'd make an anonymous call to your inspection station before dropping the money. In Vermont the lights have to have a DOT lens. I didn't pass for having an aftermarket LED taillight. The LED headlights would be very obvious.

[Stegosaurous]

What did they say was wrong with your LED tail? My zx6 has one and it does fine...

[ZX-12R]

The problem right now with LED headlights is that a single LED die can't produce as much light as a single HID bulb. The best dice can make upwards of 200 lumens each where a HID bulb can make 3200. Companies are trying to improve the number by putting multiple dice into a single package (see http://www.luminus.com) but it amplifies the need for proper cooling due to the amount of heat that can be generated.

2 huge issues need to be overcome when working with high powered LEDs. First is heat. Power LEDs will die a quick death if their junction temperatures are allowed to get too high. To get a usable amount of light, you will need multiple LEDs or multi-die LEDs that will concentrate a lot of heat into a small area. If you install them in your ram air ducts, I would find a way to keep the intake air flowing through there to help keep them cool.

Second is optics. Headlights need to be able to throw a long distance as well as flood the immediate area in front of the bike. Power LEDs are not focused in their raw form and the current aftermarket lenses available were not designed to hold up against the abraision from road debris.

The costs and effort required to make a proper LED headlight make them unrealistic at the moment for hobbiests. Best bang for the buck right now is to find a way to fit 2 HID projectors on the bike and call it a day.

If you still want to look into powerful LEDs, look at the Phlatlight series from Luminus (http://www.luminus.com) and the OSTAR series from Osram (http://www.osram.com)

[Puppet]

Instead of trying to fit them to the ram air openings, have you thought about mounting one light in small hole centered in the nose of the fairing?

We just released LED driving lights that sound like they would work for what you're looking for. http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productlist/790/

I've driven with them. They'll give you enough light output to actually drive with (they'll overpower stock headlights anyway). We set up another bike with a headlight cut off switch and use the two driving lights instead of the headlight to free up some wattage (dual sport bike). For what you're doing, it sounds like one single pod mounted in the center and the wiring harness should work. Should be easy enough to fit and mount to the fairing stay.

[butcher bergs]

I wouldn't consider re-routing the air intakes on this bike. It will certainly be a detriment to engine performance.


You got any spare parts you wanna get rid of?

[slammp]

Why not just go to a streetfighter website and get some of the headlights that mount to the forks. You can put them under the fairing. Should be legal and they make them pretty good quality depending on your budget.

[Jim]

PFFFT

What do you need those for?

inspection stickers

[Trouble]

What did they say was wrong with your LED tail? My zx6 has one and it does fine...

It's an aftermarket tail light with an aftermarket lens and integrated turn signals. Long story short, two dealers and one shop told me that if the lens doesn't have "DOT" on it, they can't pass it. The integrated turn signals were not the issue - you don't need turn signals on a motorcycle in Vermont to pass inspection.