HID vs LED?

[MARider]

for the leds turn signals how did you wire up everything..and if you could send me a link to where you bought them..Thank you.

[jsyzdek]

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=976505 - that's where I got the headlight, but as I said - it's a sucker to put in.

LEDs for indicator lights (T5) I got here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007G67JCS/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LEDs for the clock backlight and the front parking light (T10): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EPA7CZC/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
but you can also go with these (although I haven't received them yet, I'm not sure how much brighter they are and how they fit): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006R34PB4/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I haven't received the turn signal bulbs, but I ordered these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006RFC60Y/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I will only change the back bulbs. They draw a lot less current so their effective resistance is much higher. So when you swap both, the blinker will be more of a strobe. If you swap only one on each side, it will only double the blinker speed.

I'm planning to leave the front turn signals and rear braking/riding lights stock for now. There are some decent 2-intensity bulbs for the braking/riding light, but they are really expensive. And cheapies have very little difference in intensity between the low and high intensity (and they also leak current to the other circuit). And I want to avoid changing the entire system for the turn signals, so the front will remain as is (for now). I'm not a purist, won't split hair over just a few extra watts that I could shave off.


Coming back to turn signal indicator: a regular polarized LED will either show you right, or left turn blinker, not both (the way the circuit is wired, makes the current go either one way or the other, depending whether it's right or left turn). You need to either get a non-poralized LED, or solder in a couple of diodes. I'll dig out a diagram posted by late Adidasguy (RIP) that shows how to do it. I'm actually going to do it right now, because I just got the diodes in mail today

[jsyzdek]

There it is:

http://www.gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=60035.msg690197#msg690197

The diagram is in reply #1

[iceman86]

I brought some LED bulbs from superbrightleds.com that work perfectly on GS500F 2005.

Speedo/Tach Background Lights: 194 LED Bulb - 5 LED Wide Angle Wedge Base - Cool White - Fits perfectly no modification needed.

Turn Signal Indicator: 194 LED Bulb  1 LED Wedge Base- Green - Just need to shave the base a little bit to fit snuggy in. Rewiring not needed.
Neutral/High-Beam/Oil Indicator: 74 LED Bulb 1 SMD LED Wedge Base - Green/Blue/Red - Fits perfectly no modification needed.

[jsyzdek]

The only difference is that I got a pack of 10 for <$10 (with shipping), superbrightleds would cost me 4-5x as much.

[jsyzdek]

Coming back to the main topic - I took the bike for a night ride to test that LED bulb. It is significantly brighter than stock.

LOW BEAM: a nice, clear cut, good coverage of the sides of the lane and the narrow strip right in front of the bike. This is pretty much all you need to see, and all of that is well-covered.

HIGH BEAM: goes pretty high. The road still gets enough coverage, but the scenery around is well-lit, too.

For what I wanted it to do (decrease the power consumption and get some more light) - it is pretty damn good.
Does it make everything in front of you look like it does during a bright day? no. But it's a good balance between being bright and not blinding to other people (well-shaped beam helps). Didn't get a single flash from cars.

I think that concludes my oddysey with LEDs for now.
Next project - repainting the fairings. PO(s) had no mercy on the left side...

[iceman86]

The LED bulb sounds pretty good! Easy to install and have pretty good results. I think I will place an order on one as well!

Need that clear vision at night Thanks for sharing your experience, jsyzdek!

[jsyzdek]

Welcome. As far as easy installation goes - it took me 4h, resizing the bulb's own reflector. I didn't want to modify the entrance of the motorcycle's reflector (even though it's a faster and easier job), just in case I ever need to put a stock (or stock-like) bulb in. If you have time at hand - by all means go for it.


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[iceman86]

Welcome. As far as easy installation goes - it took me 4h, resizing the bulb's own reflector. I didn't want to modify the entrance of the motorcycle's reflector (even though it's a faster and easier job), just in case I ever need to out a stock (or stock-like) bulb in. If you have time at hand - by all means go for it.


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Yah, I think I am going to do the same thing as you too. Just resize the bulb reflector so it will fit snuggy and keep the old bulb.

I will probably make the swap and put back the old bulb I ever sell the bike. Good LED bulb!

[MARider]

jsyzdek thanks for all the info. My bike is once again taken apart for hopfully the last time so I will ordered the LEDs for the turn signals.

[jsyzdek]

welcome!

[GS4me]

I'll have to seriously consider doing this to my bike.   Every now and again, I'd turn on the ignition and I'd get no headlight.  I'd switch off the ignition then back on and it would come on.

I've never had the headlight apart (and really don't do any night driving).  I always guessed that the previous owner installed an updated H4 because my light always had a blueish tint to it.

Turns out, this weekend, I go to switch on and get no headlight.  Try a few more times - nothing - I do hear a short high pitched whine.....  What the heck was that??? .  Finally, it comes on and just for the heck of it, I switch it to high beam.  The beam does "rise" as shown on my garage door, but it didn't really get any brighter !   Although - my low beam is pretty darn bright.

I take it apart and find a fairly large black box, some modified wiring and an HID bulb / ballast etc.  No wonder my low beam was always so bright.

When the light is on and you select the High Beam, the bulb itself just "pivots up" - essentially just shifting the beam higher.  I do admit that my low beam was always pretty darn bright and "blueish" but I've never gotten flashed by other cars (the few times I drive at night).

Obviously something was going on with the ballast.  (The P.O. only used wire nuts and cut the original H4 plug off the factory wiring).

I didn't want to take a chance on it (who knows if it's been shutting off while I've been driving during the day).  I had a few old harnesses around so I wired up a new H4 plug and installed a factory bulb for now.  Now I have low and high beam. Although It's not as "crisp" as the other bulb, I wouldn't say it's that much different as far as light output (on high beam).

I'm glad I've been following this thread.  I've been leaning toward the LED (Just for some power saving - not so much for night driving).  I've gotten so used to the blueish tint to my light, I may have to pick up a blueish H4 in the meantime though .  My headlight looks so weird without that blue tint that I'm used to now

Glad to see the LED is doing well.

[jsyzdek]

yeah, you get 2x as much light with 1/3rd the power. The front shield doesn't get warm at all, the radiator in the back gets hand-warm, but not hot. Even if I didn't look for extra light at night, I'd still put it in, just for the energy saving and making it easier on switches, wires and battery. If I left my lights on I could walk away from the bike and the battery wouldn't go dry until 7h later...

If you don't do any night riding, you can always put in a cheap LED, use it for daytime riding, and have a real H4 under your seat. The swap takes 10 seconds.

[GS4me]

If you don't do any night riding, you can always put in a cheap LED, use it for daytime riding, and have a real H4 under your seat. The swap takes 10 seconds.

That's exactly what I was considering when I ran across your post here.  I've looked at a few lower priced LED's and figured I could just keep a stock H4 under the seat for a quick swap....