My low beam on the headlight is out (US headlight). I read other threads about good H4 bulb replacements. There were many recommendations for one of the PIAA alternatives, but which one???
http://www.rallylights.com/Hella_H4_Bulbs.aspx Here is a good place to do some research and buy bulbs.
I hadn't thought about the Hellas. Thanks. What is the correct bulb, the H4 or the 9003??? Or, is there a difference?
you might be surprised that many are all the same.. private labeled.. I prefer Sylvania Super whites..
...the Silverstar Ultras are the only commonly available replacements for factory lamps that are worth trying, and at $28 or so they oughta be. On other bikes they have made some difference, more with filling in holes than getting extra distance. With the Adventure, it is almost, but not quite, a waste of time. The best benefit of buying one is that you get to keep the factory lamp as a spare...spares are good! The reflector is just crap. I am still running it but with a bi-xenon HID. Its 35 W, about $40 delivered, quite an improvement, whiter light, less amps, about 4 hours to fit if you try to do it neatly and hide your ballast in the side fairing like I did...but still, I would have hit a deer a long while back if I didnt supplement it with some LED driving lights. A 55 W HID might be better, the Euro light better again. One thing I used to do to all my bikes in Australia was fit a 100/80W halogen bulb. I havent tried it here because you cannot generally buy them at Autozone, but they are available online at least. I put a 130/90 in the KLR600 I rode around Oz. It was a little yellow (probably taxing the OEM harness and dropping the voltage) but enough for me to see a dingo and a cow in time to avoid collisions (both on the same night! And the cow almost wiped its nose on my shoulder!)
The best H4 bulbs I have used to date in any vehicle are the IPF Fatboy II Super Clear bulbs. They cost about $80 for a pair and they put out a lot of nice clean light. The bulbs are beefy and each set has lasted about a year of use in my car in Vermont. "The Super Clear bulbs perform at an optically equivalent level of a 195/150 watt bulb even though it has a low beam draw of only 80 watts and high beam draw of 60 watts. " They put out more light on low beam which is where you need it since you are already cutting the beam down. They do not put as much of a load on the small wires that feed the bulb. While a 100w hella bulb will put out a lot of light it will also lead to wiring harness issues.
Thats true - if going up substantially in watts it is worthwhile going fatter on the wire - from a light output prspective as well as safety.
This item was shown on pg. 60 of Feb. 2014 Motorcyclist magazine. I have no affiliation with the vendor, nor I have I tried these, however, I am keenly interested. $80 each. same page linked here: http://bit.ly/19KA6IM It is my understanding that the fan and heat sink are required to keep the LED emitter cool. LEDs have about 13% efficiency [at most] right now, so 7/8 of the output will be heat, and LEDs don't work well at high temperatures. As I understand it, the emitters are cooled by an aluminum heat sink, which is, in turn, cooled by the fan. These require 25 watts of power, and I assume have workable high and low beams. The rated output is 1800 lumens, Vs. 1050 for a std. 55/60 watt H4 bulb [according to the vendor]. Here's a link to the vendor's photo: http://electricalconnection.com/images/hl-led-h4.jpg
