Conversion to LED bulb in Headlight

[k.rollin]

Thanks!! If I'm not mistaken, it's very very close to the bulb I am using! How much did you buy your JW Speaker for? When I google searched it, my eyeballs about fell outta my head   

Really a sweet lookin' light

$648.23 for the JW Speaker unit.

$63.14 for a new headlight bucket with retaining ring as the GS500 headlight assembly doesn't have separate trim and retaining rings.

$2.47 for some rubber and nylon washers to use as spacers between the bucket and mounts, as the GS500 bucket has wider mounting hole spacing.

It was a lot to put into a bike that I got for free, but it can easily be removed and reinstalled on whatever bike I want.

[mr72]

OE is rated at 12v nominal as voltage goes up, amp draw goes down.

Which opposite of true for a halogen bulb, or for an LED, or pretty much for any passive device.

Voltage goes up, current goes up, because of Ohm's Law. E  = I / R  ... R remains constant, so if E goes up I must go up.

OE bulb is 35 watts low beam at 12 volts or  2.91 amps. At 13.5 volts amp draw is 2.59. High beam is 55 watts at 12 volts or 4.58 amps. At 13.5 volts amp draw is 4.07 amps.

Except an ordinary H4 headlamp is 55W low beam and 60W high beam, rated at 12.0 volts. If you want to calculate current at 13.5V you must first find R. Let's go for 60W.

P = E^2 / R ...

60 = 12^2 / R

144/60 = 2.4 ohms.

Now you can recalculate for I

P = I^2 * R

75.9375 = I^2 * 2.4

I = 5.625 amps for a 60W H4 at 13.5V.

For 55W it's linear, (55/60) * I ... which is 5.15625 amps

I have installed quite a few advmonster units is the low draw at 25 watts high or low beam or 1.85 amps on high or low beam at 13.5 volts. The JW unit puts out about the same amount of light as the advmonster unit.

The power consumption has little to do with the light output in lumens since the efficiency of the system (reflector, lens, technology, etc.) is what determines lumens of light output and current draw is a side effect. Just because the LED draws 25W (presuming by spec, at 12.0V) doesn't necessarily mean the light output is the same, even if both are LEDs, or even if they both use identical LED units (they don't).

I still suspect the light output is similar, but just pointing out that it's not because current draw (or power consumption) is similar.

[ben2go]

Is that for the gen 2 models? All six of my gen 1 models have 35/55 bulbs OE.

[mr72]

Is that for the gen 2 models? All six of my gen 1 models have 35/55 bulbs OE.

I have never heard of a 35/55W H4 headlamp. Maybe this is a regional thing? Here in the USA an H4 is 55/60W. Our own gstwins wiki indicates such:
http://www.gstwin.com/replace_bulbs.htm

Still mostly wanted to correct the Ohm's law / current draw error. More voltage means more current when resistance is fixed in a DC circuit.

[ben2go]

Is that for the gen 2 models? All six of my gen 1 models have 35/55 bulbs OE.

I have never heard of a 35/55W H4 headlamp. Maybe this is a regional thing? Here in the USA an H4 is 55/60W. Our own gstwins wiki indicates such:
http://www.gstwin.com/replace_bulbs.htm

Still mostly wanted to correct the Ohm's law / current draw error. More voltage means more current when resistance is fixed in a DC circuit.