Another LED light thread

[barbagris]

May I offer what I prepared for further explanation:

Interested in the MC vs Car statement. If I may get picky for a moment.

Interested to know how/why the self same bog standard 7" light unit assembly is worse on a bike than a car. The only factor I can think of is proximity to the ground.

If we refer to 5&3/4 as opposed to 7" - OK - but loads of cars had 5&3/4" lights. And yes - they were terrible.

I have a set of Bosch designed 7" Halogen P43T H4 light units that came out of a Toyota 4WD. Put one into a Harley - was excellent (within the bounds of the technology). Pre LED. I did fit HID and there was an improvement though NOT dramatic.

Part of the issue is (and most certainly at the cheaper end of the price range) is that the reflectors sold for M/C use are simply SO CRAP they would not be accepted as legal on most cars.
The 5&3/4" format was NEVER intended for replaceable bulbs - So getting ANY H4 bulb to correctly focus and beam is frankly like peeing into the wind.

I have seen documentation from Hella that shows a 35W sealed beam 5&3/4" puts more light on the road than a 60/55W H4 5&3/4". And, sadly, to our cost the Triumph 5&3/4" fitted to Rockets (not T's) are pretty poor. But of course the 747's at 10,000m can see us which is the main thing.

The Speaker Adaptives are the ONLY after-market light I have come across designed specifically for single track tilting vehicles.

ALL others are pretty much designed for Dual track non tilting vehicles. So should be no real surprise they function better in that application.

Yeah! - I know - I'm picky - bite me!.

 

[barbagris]

They arrived today:

I trust these will get fitted quicker than the last lot

 

[motolink]

This is a shot from the Daymaker box my LED light came in.

 

[1olbull]

Interested in the MC vs Car statement. If I may get picky for a moment.

Interested to know how/why the self same bog standard 7" light unit assembly is worse on a bike than a car. The only factor I can think of is proximity to the ground.

If we refer to 5&3/4 as opposed to 7" - OK - but loads of cars had 5&3/4" lights. And yes - they were terrible.

I have a set of Bosch designed 7" Halogen P43T H4 light units that came out of a Toyota 4WD. Put one into a Harley - was excellent (within the bounds of the technology). Pre LED. I did fit HID and there was an improvement though NOT dramatic.

Part of the issue is (and most certainly at the cheaper end of the price range) is that the reflectors sold for M/C use are simply SO CRAP they would not be accepted as legal on most cars.
The 5&3/4" format was NEVER intended for replaceable bulbs - So getting ANY H4 bulb to correctly focus and beam is frankly like peeing into the wind.

I have seen documentation from Hella that shows a 35W sealed beam 5&3/4" puts more light on the road than a 60/55W H4 5&3/4". And, sadly, to our cost the Triumph 5&3/4" fitted to Rockets (not T's) are pretty poor. But of course the 747's at 10,000m can see us which is the main thing.

The Speaker Adaptives are the ONLY after-market light I have come across designed specifically for single track tilting vehicles.

ALL others are pretty much designed for Dual track non tilting vehicles. So should be no real surprise they function better in that application.

Yeah! - I know - I'm picky - bite me!.

Different lights do have different beam patterns, but I reckon that the same light + same voltage should be the same output regardless if in a cage or MC - correct?
The mounted height is a factor of the aim which affects the distance where the light strikes the pavement.
I feel the largest factor is that cages have two lights and they are set wide apart.

 

[1olbull]

This is a shot from the Daymaker box my LED light came in.

This chart appears to be in feet and foot candles and not in meters and lux.
The appropriate foot candle measurement would be .3.
The bottom foot candle scale looks to be backwards and counter intuitive; however, where the green ends is 1 to .5 fc.
The .5 fc is fairly close to the visual limit and indicates a distance of 180 feet or less for low beam and about 212 feet for high beam.
The testing I did was from a R3R with two of these lights.

 

[barbagris]

Different lights do have different beam patterns, but I reckon that the same light + same voltage should be the same output regardless if in a cage or MC - correct?

Well if it isn't my comprehension of Physics is seriously flawed.

The mounted height is a factor of the aim which affects the distance where the light strikes the pavement.

If we assume the unit is the same and has a 1.5° under horizontal dip angle. And if we guesstimate heights of 1m for a bike and 0.5m for a car. I think we will find that whilst the bike beam travels further before hitting ground - it will also plant less usable light where it is wanted. It is one of those "clinical trials" I would love to do. Main beam should be identical to all intents and purposes.

I feel the largest factor is that cages have two lights and they are set wide apart.

On old designs I would concur - but modern wide angle and flat dipped beams I doubt benefit AS MUCH from the 2metre-ish separation.

Two lights rather than one is a bit of a no brainer. But in reality many cars have had 4 beams [2 plus 2) for ages whereas not so many bikes have had a 1+1 headlight (more yearly I admit), rather a 1 or 1. Most cars here also come with fog lights. So that's 6 light sources available.

This said some cars have stunning lights and others less so - French cars for some reason seem to have better than average lights. It was far easier to house the extra electronics for HID on cars, so for years they had that advantage.

 

[MikeCR]

I have a question regarding the actual behavior of adaptive vs non-adaptive headlights...

I get that "adaptive" means the light changes based on the position of fixture so if its going left it provides more light to the left side to help see through a turn.

So, does non-adaptive mean that all the lights are on all the time? If so then it wouldn't make a difference you would still get the light when turning left, but you'd get it all the time...

When I watch the youTube demo on the JW Speaker site it shows how the lights illuminate during adaptive changes... but those LEDs seem to be present in the non-adaptive light as well...

Is there something to do with how much power is available to drive the individual LEDs? I'm assuming people that know better than me spend their money on adaptive because it makes a difference, just not exactly sure what that difference is.

 

[JRock]

There is a pendulum in the light housing and LED bars on left and right of center start illuminating progressively as you lean the bike, one way or the other.

 

[MikeCR]

Ok, I've got that part, but those lighting elements are present in the non-adaptive fixture.

So I guess what I'm asking is how do those 10 LEDs that participate in the adaptive part behave when in the non-adaptive fixture?

Do they do nothing? or are they always on but only at half power because the power to drive them is being split between all ten instead of just the five on the side you are leaning to?

If they were always on at the power level they are on at in the adaptive fixture I would argue that that are just as useful as seeing around corners as the adaptive fixture is, and I assume that is not the case.

 

[barbagris]

The lenses are there on teh non adaptive - but I think you'll find there are no leds. And there most certainly is not a pendulum inside. It's an array of accelerometers And they are very sensitive.