Installing: VisionX Solstice Solo LED Lamps

There's been some discussion in the Whelen's LED thread about these lights. I am starting this as its own thread rather than muddy that one (any further).

Over the next few days I'll be adding some Solos to my F650GSTwin as driving lights and posting to this thread as I get the BestRest light bar installed and these lamps wired up.

So, first let's open the boxes. I got a Euro (s1100) and a Spot (s1102) lamp and a multi-position switch will all be wired through an off-lo-hi switch mounted on my handle bars and powered from my recently installed relay-switched Centech fuse block.

Here's the box, a standard bubble pack:


In the box we have a lamp, a pig tail, a peg mount, an "omni mount" for joining multiple solos together, and some basic instructions.


Here's the light, all 12oz of it, with the pigtail attached.


Here's the the lens of the spot pattern light:


And here's the Euro, basically a spot with a bit more spread. You can see the diffuser in the center:


Here's the control:


The "Kill" button, provocatively named but currently I have no plan for it.


This is a work in progress, but I'll keep posting updates.

F

Good info F....but yer still a tease!!

Wire and fire!! Then pics.

I am just waiting for dark to do some "oooh aaah" shots against my back wall. I don't have a bench power supply that can run them both, but I can run one at a time. I have Friday off and plan to do the rest of the install then, but will spend tonight and tomorrow night getting the wires and switch gear prepped.

Hmmm.... maybe I can lash up a powerlet adapter for experimenting (whirrr whirrr grind ping).

F

No worries man...just damn interested in those little lights.

OK,
So, last night the weather gods decided to unload on Baltimore thereby short circuiting my plans for some night shots. So, I took my ever-so-technical rig and camera out behind my urban townhouse.

Here's my super-awesome rig: the light perched on top of a box about 2' off the ground, shining on a wall about 20' away.



First the spot pattern light, notice that the "square" lens is shining a "diamond" on the wall:



Next the Euro pattern, notice the much more diffuse and even spread to the light.


20' isn't a very good distance to truly test how the lights will perform, but I can say that for small lights with very low current draw: that's a lot of light! In theory these put out more light than a standard 55W headlight bulb.

Tomorrow I do the installation unless I find that I need to re-drill the light bar.

F

Nice!

I've been dying to find out about the performance of the Solo, but at over $100 a pop I was not going to experiment on myself.

Thanks for doing the leg work an am looking forward to seeing some night time shots down a road.

Dan

$100/pop isn't expensive when compared to the Touratech and BestRest ("Trail Tech") or similar systems. But, anyway I'm happy to be the guinea pig.

I'll take pics of a road or large parking lot as soon as possible.

F

I'm looking forward to some shots as well but came accross this after a quick goole of them: http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/4x4-off-road-tech/87627-solstice-solo-s1102-spot-2-inch-wow.html

The guy has some on his FJ but actually bought the small unit to mount on his motorcycle helmet. Impressive pics at about 150 feet.

OK, I am not going to post any pics of my wiring lash up, it's nothing special and can probably use a revisit to tighten things up. All of that said: the stuff is installed and working, but not yet aimed or tested in motion.

So... here are some pics.

The light bar is easy, getting into the forward part of the bike is not. Break it all down and run the wires before installing the light bar:



I ran a twin strand wire from my Centech along the right side of the frame. And everything went through the Off-Lo-Hi switch I mounted on my handle bars.





I ziptied off the unused wires on the switch: extra low lead, and the two "kill" button leads.


Lightbar from the left side:


and from the front



Now for the main business, getting the lights wired up. I leave that as an exercise for the reader. Here is a test pic of the lights immediately after being attached and wired up:


Here's a distance shot from about 60' in daylight with all lights on (headlights and driving lights)


I tweaked the left side Euro lamp to face slightly to the left for conspicuity:


So there we go. Next step some night time aiming work to maximize the benefit.

Fritz

Do you like the color? They look warmer (less blue) than most LED's but how does the color compare with normal halogens?

They are "bluer/whiter" than the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs in the main head light. They are subjectively brighter than the stock bulb, but the real test will be some night time experiments.

F

OK, so I have spent some time aiming the lights and riding around in the dark and have to say that I like what I am seeing. It's not a "night into day" result, but there's definitely more light be thrown farther than the road than with my regular headlights w/ high beams. As was noted in the Whelen's thread, these lights do not have a cut off, so the beam is conical and therefore there's more light headed "up." This results in some light reflecting from the leaves on trees over the road and may result in excess reflection back to the rider in heavy fog or rain.

As a general comment: If people are considering these lights, I would not get the "Spot" version; get the Euro version instead. I got both, thinking that I'd use the Spot on the right side of the bike for more "punch" though corners and along the sides of the road. However, the Euro (which is mounted on the left on my bike) appears to have similar throw with a more useful diffusion for real world riding conditions. The Spot might make sense if you are supplementing existing driving lights or are using the light as a bicycle-helmet mounted light, but it doesn't seem to be as effective for my riding style and conditions.

I'll try to get some pictures soon.

Fritz

Nice!

Keep it coming.

nice write up and pics thank you. i was considering the euro's for quite some time now. i think they would be a great addition to my dual sport bike since i do not have a lot of extra power.

Itching to see the results!

Sorry for the impatience.

+1

firstworks

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Impatient Cow

Impa......

Moooo

Dirty

Geez! OK, I will find some time to take nighttime photos this week. It's not easy to find somewhere dark and secluded but simultaneously photo-friendly AND to remember to pack my tripod AND do all of this while commuting home to/from work.

I don't want to disappoint y'all, but cut me some slack.

Here's what it will look like:

A photo of a dark field.

A photo of the field lit by my low beam

A photo of the field lit by my high beam

A photo of the field lit by low beam and Solos (oxymoron)

A photo of the field lit by high beam and Solos (oxy encore)

Summary: there'll be more light with the Solos.

Fritz

Do one w/ only the Solos too.

Thanks.

I apparently have a very small, very highly focused following...

I'll do some Solo-only shots as well.

F