SOHC.co.uk Forums > CB500/550
H4 headlight
McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
--- Quote from: deltarider on September 01, 2020, 07:27:07 AM ---
--- Quote from: Erny on August 31, 2020, 09:30:45 PM ---At least here, in Slovakia and Czech republic LED bulbs are illegal as retrofit of H4 bulb. And I think that also as bulb retrofit into tail/stop light (21W/5W bulb) or flasher (21W) are illegal too.
There is no LED replacement H4 bulb that is certified for road use to my knowledge (and will highly likely never be) due to its "beam" geometry, when in case of standard bulb source of light is very small piece of wire filament (kind of point source that is placed into specific place into headlight parabola to ensure defined beam geometry), while LED bulb uses multiple LEDs that emits light from other places compare to standard bulb and H4 parabolas are not designed for...
Only legal solution is to replace whole headlight that is "E" certified for motorbike.
--- End quote ---
Spot on, Erny! So far what buyers have 'seen'*, has not been confirmed by independent tests. What has been found however by the British AA, the German ADAC, the Dutch ANWB and the Austrian ÖAMTC, is that blinding headlights are the number one annoyance in todays traffic...
* What others, including me, see, is mostly: choice-supportive bias or post-purchase rationalization.
--- End quote ---
Most of the blinding headlamps I have experienced have been from manufacturers Bi Xenons not folk with old vehicles wanting something brighter than a candle as the reflectors go dull with age & the Polycarbonate goes milky. lol
deltarider:
Brightness is not a quality, not in itself. There is so much more to lights than brightness. I know special H4 all weather lamps that have been coated inside 6 times with blue and 4 times with yellow to perform better in rain, fog and snow, especially on unlit roads. If you're looking for just brightness, you can limit yourself to reading the advertisements but... you will be trapped in a spiral as others want more brightness than you have. What you need, is good vision at night and be seen during the day, street legal and not irritating to others, just like you don't want to be irritated by them. That's all. The rest is a childish projection, if you ask me.
Erny:
I'll add one 2 more experience with LED headlight - I have factory fitted LED headlight on my 2 other bikes - BMW R1200 GS (2016) and Honda CB650R (2019). While one on BMW performs excellent (perfect beam shape) one on Honda is total fail (at least on my bike), I wonder how it could gain approvals for road use. Having there any standard H4 would be much better. Fortunately, I do not ride outside city when dark..
sye:
There are LED H4 lamps currently seeking approval. They have come a long way and are undoubtedly what everyone will be using in a few short years. The bulb below mimics a halogen H4 perfectly and has an ideal beam pattern. It's also the same size as a standard H4 and fits in any headlight shell.
The downside is that they currently cost around £30 each but that will drop to around a fiver in the next few years.
Erny:
Interesting. If they will get approval, I'll go for it for my 550K1 due to permament charging issues
Can you share more details who is manufacturer / seller, where to find more details?
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