LED Auxiliary Lights

[puntoMX]

Originally Posted by aalegado

This Wrong Wrong Wrong.

Yes, I thought about it and you are right, PWM is the way to go... Should have been awake when I wrote it... my bad.

I don't think that a resistor before the the setup will smoke a LED but could heat up the driver unit indeed.

[Stromdog]

I'll post up some garage door shots once I get mine mounted. I switched out the stock lamps on my DL 1000 with a pair of ARC Xenon Super White bulbs a couple of years ago. An improvement over the already great stockers! The high beams really reach out there, while providing a decently wide beam. Stroms are known for their GREAT headlights. The best I've seen. The high beams will fry your eyes during the daytime. At night, no good for traffic conditions-they will blind oncoming drivers.

I'm looking forwards to Sandjoh"s units. I hope that these will give me a wider, brighter "ditch view". Not concerned about the "reach", as much as the wide angle of coverage of the lights on two lane country roads at night. I've had my share of close calls with various, "road crossing", critters over the past 35 years of motorcycling that could have put me down hard. Properly aimed, these should increase daytime visiblility to other drivers too.

We didn't have the quality of headlights 30+ years ago that we have now. I'm figuring that they would have saved alot of lives.

Ride safe, Brothers.

[aalegado]

Originally Posted by puntoMX

Yes, I thought about it and you are right, PWM is the way to go... Should have been awake when I wrote it... my bad.

I don't think that a resistor before the the setup will smoke a LED but could heat up the driver unit indeed.

Correct, a resistor connected in series with an LED lamp will act to further limit the current and so will not smoke the LED. It will make the LED lamp dimmer or even cause it not to light up at all.

** An LED lamp contains an LED (or array of LEDs) with a built-in current-limiting resistor whose value is chosen for the intended operating voltage (usu. a range, 12V to 14V) and for the particular arrangement of the LEDs. A multiple LED array may include series-connected LEDs (the LED Vf's add together) or parallel-connected LEDs (the LED If add together) or, typically, parallel arrays of series-connected LEDs (LED Vf's and If's add together).

I meant no offense to you personally, only the advice given.

[puntoMX]

Originally Posted by aalegado

I meant no offense to you personally, only the advice given.

Advice taken. It has been years that I used something that I studied for (Industrial Electronics was my specialty), and I know about how a diode works, also how to use a diode to lower voltage and about PWM as it's used in a wide range engines (from PC CPU fans to complete frequency control units in industrial control systems), general electronics and even lights. But, here is the deal; Some drivers units for LEDs Do accept half the voltage of the rated input voltage and when some one is telling me it can be dimmed, then I think about lowering the voltage and not going with PWM directly. Note that most of these drivers were made for flashlights or portable lights and there you just add more or less batteries for example. Now I must say that a 15USD step-less PWM module for 15USD is a no-brainer at all over a huge resistor that could be even the same price. I hope this could explain my impulsive post before in this topic... yes, I try to talk myself out of this. (I know I can't ).

[aalegado]

Originally Posted by puntoMX

Some drivers units for LEDs Do accept half the voltage of the rated input voltage and when some one is telling me it can be dimmed, then I think about lowering the voltage and not going with PWM directly. Note that most of these drivers were made for flashlights or portable lights and there you just add more or less batteries for example.

I think you might be referring here to devices with integrated DC-to-DC converters which allow you to power, for example a 3.3V load from a 1.5V battery.

Your flashlight example is very good: A lot of those super-bright, compact flashlights use white LEDs that have relatively high forward voltages (relative to standard LEDs, e.g. 3V or more) but they are powered by a single 1.5V battery. The "extra" voltage is made up by a DC-to-DC converter that trades current draw for voltage (power being mostly constant through the conversion).

It works the other way too: Those 4 cell Mag-Lites will have a series voltage of 6V which a DC-to-DC converter can step-down to the proper voltage for the LED, say 3.7V (Example).

The DC-to-DC converter is what makes those Mag-Lite LED conversion kits cost more than you'd expect them to.

[blackfly911]

Hey Sanjoh,

Any of your original spots back in stock yet?

[sanjoh]

Originally Posted by blackfly911

Hey Sanjoh,

Any of your original spots back in stock yet?

Not yet, will advise

[viz]

Glad I stumbled on this thread - was looking at HIDs. Seems that LEDs are coming of age - finally!

One of the issues that I have always had with high powered driving lights is that when switched to low beam against oncoming traffic it is "Good Night Irene" with the light output dropping to zilch and can't see nuttin' in front.

What is the solution to this? HID low beam? I would love to have a couple of the floods, but also need a solution for low beam, *without* going the HID path if possible.

viz

[GsVs]

I agree with viz ...

You need to talk your supplier into developing a 6 to 7 watt Euro beam that can be ran day & night !

Originally Posted by viz

Glad I stumbled on this thread - was looking at HIDs. Seems that LEDs are coming of age - finally!

One of the issues that I have always had with high powered driving lights is that when switched to low beam against oncoming traffic it is "Good Night Irene" with the light output dropping to zilch and can't see nuttin' in front.

What is the solution to this? HID low beam? I would love to have a couple of the floods, but also need a solution for low beam, *without* going the HID path if possible.

viz

[Stromdog]

Just finished mounting a set of the 3 way lights on my DL 1000.

Looks to me like when they are on the "low", setting, they'll work perfectly for daytime driving lights.

When set on "high", these things are amazing. They are exactly what I was looking for in a night time riding, two lane country road scenario. Wild critters lurking in the shadows will really stand out with these. I plan on aiming them low and to the left and right in order to get a wide illumination pattern.

I'll try and get some pics posted of both a daytime low setting and at night on all three settings.

These appear to be high quality units and really look sharp on the bike.

[ZORBA]

Do you ship to Greece?

[PWRCRZR]

Originally Posted by Stromdog

Just finished mounting a set of the 3 way lights on my DL 1000.

Looks to me like when they are on the "low", setting, they'll work perfectly for daytime driving lights.

When set on "high", these things are amazing. They are exactly what I was looking for in a night time riding, two lane country road scenario. Wild critters lurking in the shadows will really stand out with these. I plan on aiming them low and to the left and right in order to get a wide illumination pattern.

I'll try and get some pics posted of both a daytime low setting and at night on all three settings.

These appear to be high quality units and really look sharp on the bike.

Very interested in your pics as I am looking at a set for my Strom as well

[honda_silver]

Originally Posted by viz

One of the issues that I have always had with high powered driving lights is that when switched to low beam against oncoming traffic it is "Good Night Irene" with the light output dropping to zilch and can't see nuttin' in front.

What is the solution to this?

If I could find a dual waterproof high-frequency PWM (Pulse wave modulator), then I can adjust the low beam to one level and the high beam to a different level ... and when I am traveling unknown roads at night I can adjust for more light.

After I find my dual waterproof high-frequency PWM ... I will order my LEDs

[JDLuke]

Originally Posted by honda_silver

If I could find a dual waterproof high-frequency PWM (Pulse wave modulator), then I can adjust the low beam to one level and the high beam to a different level ... and when I am traveling unknown roads at night I can adjust for more light.

After I find my dual waterproof high-frequency PWM ... I will order my LEDs

I've seen a dual PWM made for interior LED lighting, but with small capacity, so it would really only work for the spot, not the flood. And as for waterproof, that seems to be a real trick. Many of the PWMs I've seen have big heat sinks bolted to them and need moving air as well, so silicone and heat shrink tubing is out of the question.

I am considering these dimmers:

http://www.theledlight.com/dimmers.html

You can get a 12 volt model that is very small and rated for 8 amperes in a confined space. THAT is the kind of thing that I suspect you could build into an enclosure and pump power through all day long without trouble.

[cooter69]

Here's some shots mounted on a 1999 st1100
The headlight bulbs are silver stars.

The light examples were highlight exposed on the low beam and the settings were left that way via dslr

low


highbeam



highbeam + uber light



lowbeam + uber led



a few mounted shots sorry it was late n' the bike is dirty





Here's an alblum with more shots if needed
linky